London: Where Over 300 Languages Are Spoken

London is one of the world's most linguistically diverse cities, with over 300 languages spoken by its residents.

Beyond English, the most common include: Polish, Bengali, Gujarati, French, Urdu, Arabic, Tamil, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Italian, Somali, Lithuanian, Persian, Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese), Tagalog, Romanian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Greek, Vietnamese, Pashto, Kurdish, and many African languages (Yoruba, Igbo, Twi, Swahili, Amharic, Tigrinya).

This diversity stems from centuries of migration: Huguenots, Irish, Jews, Caribbeans (Windrush), South Asians (1960s–70s), Africans (1990s–), Eastern Europeans (post-2004 EU expansion), and recent refugees. Schools routinely teach 50+ languages. The 2021 Census recorded 300+ main languages; the true count including dialects is higher.