Languages are complex and fascinating systems for communication. However, despite the fact that we use languages on a daily basis, there are many interesting facts about languages that people often overlook or never learn. In this article, we present to you 12 interesting facts about languages that might surprise you.
- There is a language that’s spoken by only a handful of people.
The Busuu language is spoken in the southern Bantoid region of Caeroon. In 1986, only a total of 8 people were recorded still using this language, while in 2005 there were only 3 such individuals left. - There is a country where over 800 languages are used
Papua New Guinea is a country where 841 languages are used. However, it is predicted that in the near future, 40 languages that are used by a very small number of people in this country will disappear. - The Bible is the most translated book in the world.
The entire Bible can be read in 683 languages, and parts of it have been translated into a total of 3000 different languages. - The smallest alphabet has only 11 letters.
The language in question is called Rotokas, which is spoken in Papua New Guinea, and this fact makes it the language with the smallest number of letters in the world. - Only one language has developed completely independently from all others.
The Basque language, spoken by the inhabitants of the mountains that separate Spain and France, was created without the influence of any other language. The reason for this is the great isolation of this region from the rest of the world. - There are over 200 made up languages.
These languages are used in various movies, TV shows, and literary works. Among them are Klingon from Star Trek, as well as Na’vi spoken by the inhabitants of the planet Pandora in the movie Avatar. - Air means water
Believe it or not, but the Indonesian word used to refer to air actually means water. - The longest alphabet features 73 characters
This is the language used in Cambodia and is also one of the most difficult languages to learn. - The shortest sentence has only two letters
The English expression “Go!” represents the shortest, grammatically correct sentence in any language. The subject is not mentioned, but is self-evident. - The Germans created the English language
This means that the English language derives its roots from the Angles, a people who once lived on the shores of Western Germany. - The Japanese use three writing systems
In the “Land of the Rising Sun”, three writing systems are used daily: hiragana (characters that represent syllables), katakana (characters for writing foreign words and names), and kanji (pictorial characters borrowed from the Chinese language).
