Impressive Facts About Origins of Language

To start us off with a fun fact, did you know that there are slightly over 6500 different languages spoken around the world according to Google results? 

Well, this number goes above the 7K mark, but of course, some are more common than others. Some are even extinct, but this diversity is perhaps one of the most intriguing facts about languages!

All in all, language is what allows us as humans to communicate and understand each other. It facilitates friendships, business, and intimate relationships. But did you ever stop to think about how your local dialect or some of the most popular languages came to be? If you are yet to find an answer, this article is for you. Here are some impressive facts about the origins of language you ought to know.

1. The Most Common Language – Chinese 

If by answering this question correctly, you get a gate pass to heaven, most of us would not make it to that place. Interestingly, English is widely spoken but Chinese is the most commonly used native language in the world. If you guessed right, this has something to do with population density. Spanish comes second. Do not be surprised when you find out that English isn’t the most widely spoken language despite being internationally recognized. Facts can be interesting. Hindi is also among the most used languages that top the list.

Nonetheless, most people use Asian and European languages. This is because of the widespread colonization and the sheer density of the population in these areas. At the end of the day, English tends to carry the day because it’s easier to learn, understand, and master as long as you get some formal education. You get better the more you speak.

2. Languages Become Extinct 

You could be wondering how this would happen, but, just like anything else that has a beginning, languages too have an end. If there is no one to read, write, or speak a language, chances are that the language will die out. As seen on this page from Unscrambler.net, many languages have stood the test of time after many centuries of use. Some of them are still popular to date. Just to name a few, these include languages like:

• Korean
• Tamil
• Irish Gaelic
• Arabic
• Aramaic
• Egyptian
• Farsi

In most cases where languages (like Latin) go extinct, dialects are what die out more often than the established languages. There are over 231 languages that have gone completely extinct and another 2400 languages are in the danger zone of dying out. And as times pass by, other languages are born and gain popularity considering factors such as location, profession, technology, and the like.

3. The Most Translated Book 

You are probably wondering about the book that could be popular. If you are a reader, you will probably say that Harry Potter has the most popularity in our libraries. Well, that is very correct but, the Christian Holy Bible remains to be the most translated book in the world. This could make sense because there are many languages all over the world and they each want to read the gospel in their language. 554 languages have been fully translated while 2900 languages have been partially translated.

4. How Many Languages Are In Existence

Deutsch, French, and English are assumed to be the most popular languages but wait a second. All over the world, it is believed that there are more than 7000 languages and half of them are variations on the original language. These dialects depend on several factors, which vary from one thing to the other. The geographical area and cultural influences are among the factors that dictate a dialect. Interestingly, most of these languages do not exist in literature form. They solely exist in the spoken word. There are over 2700 dialect languages worldwide.

5. The Most Common Letter 

In this case, let us stick to the English language. Can you guess the most common letter? Maybe ‘vowels’ is the answer bouncing back and forth but what you should settle on is the letter “e.” Not only is it the commonest letter in English, but the letter is also still common in Finnish, Norwegian, French, and Italian. The next frequent letter is “a” while the least frequent letter is “q.” Most people say “x.” Kick out all the assumptions and get the facts right. Maybe we should say that vowels are more commonly used in languages than consonants.

Finally, literature has various descriptions of how languages were born. This is based on various linguistic theories, including the Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European ancestry theories. Truth be told, languages evolve, and new ones are born over time. The most interesting fact is the diversity and perhaps how kids are better at learning languages compared to adults!