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 There
are 195 countries in the world. And there are more than 6,500 different
languages! This week, let’s
learn some more interesting facts about languages
in the world.
** It has been estimated that the number of actively spoken languages
in the world today is about 6,000.
** The word “queue” is the only word in
the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the
last four letters are removed.
** No language has more synonyms than English.
** “One” is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.
** “Four” is the only number whose number of letters in the name equals the number.
** “Forty” is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical
order.
** “Rhythm” is the longest English word
without the vowels: a, e, i, o, u.
** The most common letters in English
are: R, S, T, L, N, E.
** The language of a society changes slowly but steadily with the result that an educated person will have
great difficulty reading or understanding words in his or her own
language written 500 years ago.
** Of all the words in the English language, the word “set” has the
most definitions. Don’t be surprised. It has 424
definitions!
** Somalia is the only African country in which the entire population speaks the same
language: Somali.
** There is only one word in the English language with three consecutive sets of double
letters: bookkeeper.
** Don Quixote돈키호테, written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, has been
translated into more languages than any book except for the Bible.
** Many languages in Africa include a “click” sound that is pronounced
at the same time as other
sounds. You must learn these languages in childhood to do it properly.
** The Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
** The six official languages of the
United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. |
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