Language facts
Did you know…
- There are between 6,000 and 7,000 languages in the world, spoken by 7 billion people in 189 independent territories.
- There are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe, which is roughly 3% of all languages in the world.
- Most of the world’s languages are spoken in Asia and Africa.
- At least half the earth’s population is bilingual or multilingual, i.e. speaks two or more languages.
- Europeans are increasingly in contact with foreign languages in their daily lives. There is a need to create greater interest in languages among Europeans.
- Many languages have 50,000 words or more, but one knows and uses only part of this vocabulary. In everyday conversation people use a hundred of the same words.
- Languages are in constant contact and influence each other in different ways. English has borrowed many words and expressions from other languages in the past, and European languages now borrow many words from English.
- In its first year, a baby pronounces many different sounds. In the first year, it also pronounces the first understandable words. In the third year the baby forms intelligible sentences. In the fifth the child handles several thousand words.
- Mother tongue is the language one learns best and which is used most often. But “ideal bilinguals” may exist who speak two languages equally well. In most cases, however, bilinguals do not show a perfect balance between the two languages.
- Bilingualism brings many contributions: It facilitates learning other languages, facilitates the thought process and encourages contact with other people and cultures.
- Bilingualism and multilingualism also bring economic advantages: those who speak several languages find jobs more easily and multilingual companies are more competitive.
- Languages are related to each other like members of a family. Most European languages belong to the large Indo-European language family.
- Most European languages belong to three groups: Germanic, Romance and Slavic.
- The Germanic language family includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, English, Yiddish, and many others.
- The Romance language family includes Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian and many others.
- The Slavic language family includes Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and others.
- Most European languages use the Latin alphabet. Some Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet. Greek, Armenian, Georgian, and Yiddish have their own alphabets.
- Most countries in Europe have regional or minority languages, some of which have official status.
- Non-European languages that are common throughout Europe are Arabic, Chinese, and Hindi, each with its own writing system.
- Russia (with a population of about 148 million) has the highest number of languages spoken on its territory. Depending on the criterion they are between 130 and 200.
- Due to the influx of immigrants and refugees, Europe has become multilingual. Some 300 languages are spoken in London alone (Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Berber, Hindi, Punjabi, etc.).