11 Interesting Facts About World Languages

Interesting Facts About World Languages

I have been fascinated by world languages all my life. This has resulted in a great passion for studying and learning languages. My interest in languages began when I studied Latin and Spanish in high school. Later, I took German and French classes in college. After joining the Navy, I learned Chinese Mandarin. Mandarin, Chinese dialects, and the Thai language kept me busy while working for the federal government. I am now learning new languages using online sites such as Memrise and Duolingo.

Learning new languages is highly beneficial for a few key reasons, including improved cognitive capacities like better attention and stronger brain function in old age. Further, there is evidence that learning at least a second language broadens your cultural horizons and appreciation and even makes your brain larger.

In this article, I discuss the following 11 interesting facts about world languages learned in my studies.

11 World Language Facts

1. 7,151 languages are spoken in the world today
2. English is the most widely spoken language in the world today
3. Eight alphabet groups are in use today
4. The Khmer alphabet has the most letters
5. The Rotokas alphabet has the fewest letters
6. English has the most words
7. Papa New Guinea is the most multilingual country
8. Tamil is the oldest language still in use
9. Eight major varieties of English are spoken in the world
10. The Sumerian language is the oldest written language
11. The Chinese language has 10 major varieties

1. 7,151 Languages Are Spoken in the World Today

Based on Ethnologue statistics, 7,151 languages are spoken today. Of these, 40 percent are endangered, with less than 1,000 speakers. Surprisingly, only 23 languages account for more than one-half of the world's population.

2. English Is the Most Widely Spoken Language in the World Today

According to a September 2021 Berlitz article, English is the most spoken language in the world. English is closely followed by Chinese Mandarin, then Hindi, Spanish, and French. Specific statistics of language speakers follow.

English: 1.132 billion speakers

• 379 million native speakers (NS)
• 753 million non-native speakers (NNS)

Mandarin: 1.117 billion speakers

• 919 million NS
• 199 million NNS

Hindi: 615 million speakers

• 341 million NS
• 274 million NNS

Spanish: 534 million speakers

• 460 million NS
• 74 million NNS

French: 280 million speakers

• 77 million NS
• 203 million NNS

3. Eight Alphabet Groups Are in Use Today

According to an article on WorldFactsInc. and Encyclopedia Britannica, eight alphabet groups are in use today. An alphabet must have consonants and vowels to make words.

These eight alphabet groups have evolved from the ancient Phoenician alphabet. Phoenician was spoken from the 3rd to 10th century CE in North Africa and Eastern Mediterranean coastal regions.

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The eight alphabet groups are:

• Arabic
• Hebrew/Aramaic
• Armenian
• Brahmi
• Cyrillic
• Georgian
• Greek
• Latin

The modern Hebrew alphabet is Aramaic. It is used in Israel.

The Armenian alphabet is used in Armenia.

Brahmic alphabets are found in the Khmer, Myanmar (Burmese,) and Thai alphabets, and were the progenitor of Sanskrit in India.

The Georgian alphabet can be found in Georgia in Asia.

Cyrillic is found in the Russian alphabet.

The Greek alphabet is used in the Greek language.

The Latin alphabet is used in English, Spanish, and most European countries.

4.The Khmer Alphabet Has the Most Letters

According to the Guinness World Records, the Khmer (or Cambodian) alphabet—with 74 letters—has the most letters of any alphabet. Unlike the English alphabet, the Khmer and Thai alphabets are abugida (or alpha syllabic). This is a writing system in which letters represent consonants with diacritical marks used for vowels.

5. The Rotokas Alphabet Has the Fewest Letters

Stuart Robinson, a psycholinguist, reveals that Rotokas is the shortest alphabet with 12 letters. It is spoken in Papua New Guinea.

6. English Has the Most Words

If we measure the number of words in various dictionaries, English has more words than any other language. The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary lists over 171,476 words currently in use. When added to the additional lists of obsolete words, combinations, derivatives, and phrases, there are an astounding 600,000+ word forms in English.

The English language evolved from German and later borrowed words from French, Greek, and Latin. It has also borrowed words from languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic.

7. Papua New Guinea is the Most Multilingual Country

According to Ethnologue's 2022 rankings of the number of languages spoken as a first language, Papua New Guinea has more than 840 living languages.

The ten most multilingual countries with the number of first languages are as follows:

1. Papua New Guinea–840
2. Indonesia–715
3. Nigeria–527
4. India–456
5. The United States–337
6. Australia–317
7. China–307
8. Mexico–301
9. Cameroon–277
10. Brazil–238

8. Tamil Is the Oldest Language Still in Use

According to the editors of Day Translations, Tamil is the oldest language still in use today. It is over 5,000 years old and dates back to 2500 BCE. 78 million people speak Tamil an official language in Sri Lanka and Singapore. It is also the most widely spoken language in Tamil Nadu and one of India's official languages.

9. Eight Major Varieties of English Are Spoken in the World

Grammarist.com reports eight major varieties of English are spoken in the world today. They are as follows:

1. British English
2. American English
3. Canadian English
4. Australian English
5. New Zealand English
6. South African English
7. Indian English
8. World English

British English is the oldest variety with 60 million native speakers in the United Kingdom.

American English has 225 million native speakers.

10. The Sumerian Language Is the Oldest Written Language

According to the editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, Sumerian is the oldest written language. The first evidence of this language was found about 3100 BCE in Southern Mesopotamia. Sumerian was prevalent during the 3rd millennium BCE. Around 2000 BCE, it was replaced by Semitic Assyro-Babylonian but continued in written usage almost to the beginning of the Christian era.

11. The Chinese Language Has 10 Major Varieties

Studycli.org reveals that the Chinese language has 10 major varieties. They include:

1. Standard Mandarin
2. Min Chinese
3. Wu Chinese
4. Cantonese (Yue)
5. Jin Chinese
6. Gan Chinese
7. Hakka (Kejia) Chinese
8. Xiang Chinese
9. Hui Zhou Chinese
10. Pinghua Chinese and other unclassified dialects

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Sources and Further Reading

Gelb, Ignace J. "Sumerian language." Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Mar 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sumerian-language. Accessed 12 June 2022.

"How many languages are there in the world?" Ethnologue, 2022, https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/how-many-languages. Accessed 12 June 2022.

Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook. "The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual." Dana Foundation, https://dana.org/article/the-cognitive-benefits-of-being-bilingual/. Accessed 12 June 2022.

Mårtensson, Johan, et al. "Growth of language-related brain areas after foreign language learning." NeuroImage, vol. 63, no. 1, 2012, pp. 240-44, https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1053811912006581. Accessed 12 June 2022.

Meredith, Anne. "What Languages Are Spoken in China?" Chinese Language Institute, 12 Feb 2022, https://studycli.org/learn-chinese/languages-in-china/. Accessed 12 June 2022.