Interesting Linguistic Facts⠀ - Ordentop

🔸 7000 different languages are spoken in the world today. Asia alone accounts for 2000 of these.⠀

🔸 The most widely translated children’s book in the world is The Little Prince (in 253 languages), followed by Pinocchio (in 240 languages).⠀

🔸 The most extensively translated author is Agatha Christie, with 7,117 versions of her novels.⠀

🔸 The most commonly spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese, followed by English. However, English tends to vary slightly according to where it is spoken. Just think of the differences between the English spoken in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.⠀

🔸 English is the language with the most words: 490,000. The language with the fewest words is Sranan Tongo (also known as “taki”, a name that derives from the English “talk talk”), a Creole language with just 340 words. It is spoken in the Republic of Suriname, a former Dutch colony in South America. This language derives from a blend of Dutch, English, Portuguese and central and western African languages.⠀

🔸 South Africa is the country with the most official languages: eleven, including two Indo-European languages and nine Bantu languages.⠀

🔸 Papua New Guinea is an interesting case that is well worth mentioning. It has three official languages (English, Tok Pisin, and Hiri Moto), but a further 850 languages are used on a local level. It seems incredible, but 10% of the world’s languages are spoken here in Papua New Guinea.⠀

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Interesting Linguistic Facts⠀Interesting Linguistic Facts⠀