Fascinating Facts About Our Most Common Tongues

The approximately 7,000 languages spoken worldwide vary enormously, yet a small handful dominate thanks to global reach and large native populations. The languages we encounter daily shape culture and commerce around the planet. In Voccent you can choose a language to practice and improve your skills. Here are intriguing facts about the world’s most widely used languages that reveal the power of our shared tongues.

Mandarin Chinese

Native speakers: 1.1 billion Mandarin holds the top spot as the language with the most native speakers worldwide. Its logographic writing originates from 4,000 year old oracle bone script.

However, Mandarin features over 400 dialects. While mutually intelligible, dialects like Manchu and Cantonese feature pronounced differences.

In 1958, the People’s Republic of China simplified the Chinese writing system to boost literacy. Complex traditional characters were replaced with pared down forms.

Chinese languages utilize lexically obscure poetry and proverbs referencing history and literature to express deeper meaning. Chengyu four character idioms like “non-flowers offer no fruits” condense wisdom.

The ubiquitous Mandarin filler word “ma” has no real meaning, but serves as a thoughtful pause indicating the speaker has more to say.

Spanish

Native speakers: 442 million With over 400 million native speakers, Spanish edges out English in second place. It originated from Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula beginning in 210 BC.

Spanish is an official language of 21 countries, making it the world’s second most widely adopted lingua franca. It holds official status across South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Spain.

Argentinian Spanish is defined by the pervasive use of “vos” for the informal you and “che” to emphasize statements and attract attention. The unique dialect varies across the nation.

Spanish is characterized by an intuitive pronunciation system with consistent rules that make learning easier than other languages with myriad exceptions. Each letter represents one sound.

Like French, Spanish grammar assigns every noun a gender as masculine or feminine, demanding use of gendered articles and adjectives. Inanimate objects have designated genders.

English

Native speakers: 379 million Despite third place in native speakers, English reigns as the world’s lingua franca for commerce, travel and politics based on over 1.1 billion total speakers.

English developed from an amalgamation of languages and influences. Anglo-Saxon Old English transformed through Norse, German, Latin, and Norman French invasions, becoming Middle then Modern English.

The English lexicon contains more words than any other language, owing to its multicultural evolution and global dominance. Estimates range up to 1 million words.

English contains an astounding number of idioms estimated around 25,000. That means English speakers utter about 20 idioms per hour without realizing it.

The most common English word is “the”. About 7% of all written English comprises this one ubiquitous definite article.

Hindi

Native speakers: 322 million Hindi holds official status in India along with English, with over 90% of Indians having at least some familiarity. Hindi film and music permeate Indian culture.

Hindi grammar applies complex inflectional rules. For example, adjectives must correspond in both gender and plurality with the nouns they modify.

Hindi makes prolific use of loanwords adopted from other languages. English, Arabic, Portuguese and Persian have all contributed terms. Even various dialects mix into Hindi.

Devanagari is the primary Hindi alphabet. Its intricate symbols have evolved over centuries and bear spiritual significance in Hinduism and other Indian religions. Many consider it sacred.

Linguistically, Hindi is Indo-Aryan derived from ancient Sanskrit. The Hindi Urdu Controversy strove to purify Hindi by replacing words of Persian origin dating to the Mughal Empire.

Arabic

Native speakers: 221 million Arabic holds official status in over 20 Middle Eastern and North African countries and is the liturgical language of Islam spoken by Muslims worldwide.

With countless dialects, Arabic is traditionally classified into five groups based on similarity: Egyptian, Maghrebi, Levantine, Iraqi and Gulf. Colloquial dialects can prove mutually unintelligible.

The Arabic alphabet descends from Phoenician and Aramaic scripts. It is written right to left in cursive style and includes 28 letters. Diacritical marks indicate unique consonant sounds.

Spoken Arabic exhibits diglossia between Literary Arabic and vernacular dialects. The literary form preserve classical language for sacred texts and formal settings. Dialects drive daily chatter.

Arabic lyrics rely on intricate rhetorical devices like semantic parallelism and hypallage which complicates translating poetic themes. Interpretation requires grasping cultural subtleties.

Russian

Native speakers: 258 million Russian holds dominance in Eastern Europe and Central Asia as the official language of Russia and other states. It borrows the Cyrillic alphabet from ancient Slavic languages.

Eccentric author Mikhail Bulgakov relied on complex Russian syntax in works like The Master and Margarita to allow readers to interpret sentences in multiple ways based on grammar.

Cyrillic originally contained 43 letters including obsolete ones. Reforms in 1918 excluded archaic letters bringing the total to 32. Some orthography rules dictate stress placement.

Russian includes over 200,000 words including detailed terminology for everything from colors to mining equipment. Its vocabulary integrates international terms alongside Slavic and Orthodox Christian language.

Languages unite humanity across diversity through the sharing of culture, art and ideas. Appreciating the richness behind our most common tongues fosters intercultural exchange and understanding in an interconnected world.

Read in our blog about Effective Strategies for Raising Bilingual Kids