This rapid decline in indigenous languages is due to the overwhelming presence and pressure of the European settlement over the past years. In Australia , more than aboriginal languages have become extinct since European settlers arrived. Based on current circumstances, linguists are now able to estimate that at least 3, languages will be lost within the next century.
During the 2nd millennium BC, only seven languages became extinct. As the years past the number of dead languages increased like rapid-fire. The highest number of languages lost was during the 20th century when a total of languages were declared extinct.
Already this century 12 languages have been classified as dead. The most recent being the Klallam language, when in February Hazel Sampson, its last native speaker passed away.
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What separates her from other linguists is her ability to explain complex topics in a no-nonsense, straightforward manner. Roughly 40 percent of languages are currently endangered, many of which are being sustained by handfuls of less than 1, speakers.
Of course awareness helps enormously. In many countries, such as Spain and France, successful attempts are being made to preserve and to some extent revive the local languages and dialects. Whenever governments set up education and health systems, one language will automatically be used as an official language. The descendants of the Ainu people learned and grew up with Japanese in order to have better access to education and therefore a better life.
Due to persecution and stigmatization, some languages die out faster than others. For example, Ainu has long been regarded as an inferior language, and therefore speakers of Ainu in Japan were often excluded from society. In such cases, population groups may decide to abandon their own language entirely and exclusively teach their children the majority language in order to ensure their social integration.
There have been many other examples of genocide and forced assimilation throughout history that have placed minority language speakers in even more oppressive circumstances. But even if a local language is not regarded as inferior, increased mobility and globalization are contributing toward the disappearance of languages — and by the way, so is climate change.
If these two decide to start a family together, chances are high that their children will not grow up with all four languages. Moreover, maintaining a language is also a question of cost for a nation. Out of these 90 million people speak French as a second language. Approximately, million people use French on a daily basis.
Do you know that 1 out of 5 Europeans speaks French as a second language? These statistics are enough to show that French is also one of the most spoken languages in the world. The Chinese language has gained more importance because China is making progress by leaps and bounds and it is expected that China will supersede the USA by Moreover, China is the most populous country in the world and the official language of this populous country is Mandarin which is one of the dialects of the Chinese language.
It is estimated that Mandarin Chinese is spoken by a whopping million people. Do you know Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world? It is spoken by a whopping million people. Approximately 31 countries around the world speak the Spanish language making it the most spoken language of the world. Every language has its importance.
Other languages that are mostly spoken around the world are Persian, German, Russian, Malaysian, and Portuguese.
The importance of these languages will be categorized by checking how many countries they are spoken in. For example, Persian is spoken in 29 countries, German in 18 countries, Russian in 16 countries, Malaysian in 13 countries, and Portuguese in 12 countries.
Although Asia boasts of the maximum number of languages, they are not necessarily divided that way by country. If we zoom in further on the countries, it becomes evident that many of the popular languages are spoken not just in one, but across multiple countries. That is the reason that English , French, and Arabic are the bosses with a large number of countries where their speakers reside.
Take a look at the number of countries and the languages are spoken there. English is spoken across countries, with Arabic and French being spoken in 60 and 51 countries, respectively. Other languages follow suit with Malaysian and Portuguese having the least number of countries to their name.
With every passing day and month, fewer and fewer languages see the light of the day. It is a fact that when a language ceases to be learned, it ceases to survive, and a language dies with the death of the native speakers. Updated October 12, Infoplease Staff.
See also:. Esperanto Speakers. Trending Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about. Is Vatican City a Country? The Languages of Africa. The Mongol Empire. The Most and Least Religious Countries.
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