Name used by its speakers (Endonym): Elliniká ( Ελληνικά )
Native speakers (estimated): < 13.5 million
Total speakers, including second-language (estimated): 13.5 million
Where it’s spoken: Greek is spoken by nearly all the population in Greece, where it is the sole official language, and by three-quarters of the population of Cyprus, where it shares official status with Turkish (though the island remains divided along linguistic lines since Turkish invasion in 1974). Greek is recognized as a minority language in several European countries, due to small populations in neighboring Albania and Turkey, as well as Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and Italy. The Greek-Italian minority in the southern regions of Apulia and Calabria have ancient roots; in fact the name ‘Greek’ is derived from the name of the Graikoi (Latin Graeci), the first Hellenic tribe to colonize the Italian peninsula.
Due to immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, the worldwide Greek diaspora includes significant populations of Greek descent in the United States (1.2 million), Australia (424,000), and Canada (262,000). Due to assimilation over time, the majority of Greek-Americans and -Canadians no longer speak the language, though over half of Greek-Australians still report that they do. The city of Melbourne claims the largest Greek-speaking population outside of Greece or Cyprus. In Europe, the highest number of Greek citizens and speakers (outside Greece itself) live in Germany.
Language family: Indo-European, Hellenic branch.
Related languages include: No other modern languages belong to the Hellenic branch, though there are various spoken dialects of Greek. Standard Modern Greek (or Demotic, based on contemporary speech) has only been the official national language since 1976, when it was chosen over a more conservative, literary version (called Katharevousa) that was closer to classical Greek.