Most people don't realize there are many languages in the world. English, Chinese and Spanish showing up in the top five isn't surprising. Would you have guessed Hindi is number three and French is number five? Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese and Indonesian round out the top 10. There are far more languages in the world than that. In last week's article, How Many Languages Exist?, I used the estimate of 7,139 languages, from...
Tag: Ethnologue
How Many Languages Exist?
In 1999, a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) resolution recommended February 21 be celebrated as International Mother Language Day. International Mother Language Day was first observed in 2000, but not formally approved by the United Nations General Assembly until 2002. This resolution is not unique, as there has been a significant effort to preserve all languages.
- 1999: UNESCO proclaims 21 February...