The world is full of diverse and unique languages. Exploring them is fascinating and can give us a broader appreciation of our existence and the role we play in the history of language. Here, at thelingwist, we list some language facts that you may have never heard of.
- Language came from the Latin word lingua (tongue).
- On average, people only use a few hundred words in daily conversation, while most languages have 50,000+ words.
- There are over 7,000 languages worldwide, and most of them are dialects.
- Only 23 languages account for more than half of the world’s population!
- About ⅔ of all languages are from Asia and Africa.
- onomatopoeias are not shared across languages.
- Papua New Guinea has the most languages, at 840.
- Language first evolved 50,000–150,000 years ago around the time of the modern Homo sapiens.
- The Bible is the most translated book, followed by Pinocchio.
- About 2,400 of the world’s languages are in danger of becoming extinct, and about one language becomes extinct every two weeks.
- There are over 200 artificial languages in books, movies, and TV shows, such as “Klingon.”
- At least half of the world’s population is bilingual!
- Cryptophasia is a language phenomenon that only twins, identical or fraternal, can understand.
- William Shakespeare invented 1700 words.
- Many linguists believe that language originated around 100,000 BC.
- South Africa has the most official languages with 11.
- There are about 24 official languages spoken throughout Europe.
- The word “goodbye” is a combination or contraction of “God be with you.”
- Learning a second language can improve memory and slow the process of aging. This is one of our favorite language facts!
- Cambodian language has the longest alphabet with 74 characters.
- Botswana has a language made up of five primary “click” sounds.
- The language of La Gomera spoken off the coast of Spain consists entirely of whistles.
- Hawaiians have over 200 different words for “rain.”
- Russian was the first language on space.
- Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. If you speak it, you can speak to 13% of the world’s population!
- The English word “alphabet” comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet – alpha and beta.
- The letter “N” is the most common English consonant.
- Over 300 languages are spoken in London alone. No matter what, you have a pretty good chance of finding someone to speak with!
- About 30% of English words come from French.
- The first printed book was in German.
- German is the most spoken language in Europe. Four countries have it as their official language.
- German words can have three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Most languages only have either masculine or feminine.
- The Papuan language of Rotokas only has 11 letters, making it the smallest alphabet.
- French is the primary foreign language taught in the UK.
- Over 20,000 new French words are created each year.
- Other than English, French is the only language taught in every country.
- Spanish contains about 4,000 Arabic words.
- Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world.
- Basque is a language spoken in the mountains between France and Spain, and it has no relation to any other known language.
- Physical contact during a conversation is completely normal when speaking Spanish.
- The United States has no “official language.” Most people just assume it’s English.
- The US has the second-highest number of Spanish speakers, after Mexico.
- More than 1.5 million Americans are native French speakers.
- The languages spoken in North Korea and South Korea are different. They have distinct vocabularies and grammatical rules due to being separated for so long.
- The Florentine dialect was chosen as the national language of Italy. Most regions in Italy primarily speak their own dialect to this day.
- Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the world’s second-largest French-speaking city after Paris.
- Italian is a minority language in Brazil.
- Japanese uses three different writing systems: Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana.
- Hindi didn’t become the official language of India until 1965.
