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There are 6,912 languages around the world, according to the Ethnologue compendium, considered the largest inventory of languages on the planet. The book, edited since 1951, is a kind of bible of linguistics, indicating which languages are in use, where they are spoken and how many people use the language. According to the organizers of the encyclopedia, the total number of languages on the planet could be even higher. It is estimated that there are between 300 and 400 languages not yet cataloged in regions of the Pacific and Asia. In addition to summing up all the languages that exist, Ethnologue brings other curiosities to the tip of the tongue. Below, we selected the coolest ones.
Brazil has 188 of the more than 6,000 languages spoken in the world
IN BRAZIL
Our country has 188 languages in use – Portuguese (of course!), plus 187 indigenous varieties. One of them is Apiacá, spoken by just two Brazilians, and Ofaié, practiced by 11 Indians from Mato Grosso do Sul. Around 30 of these languages are on the verge of extinction and 47 languages that were once spoken in the country have disappeared forever.
THE MOST SPOKEN
The most popular language on the planet is Mandarin, the main Chinese dialect, spoken by something like 870 million people. In second place is Hindi, the official language of India, used by around 500 million people. Spanish comes in third place, English in fourth and our Portuguese in seventh
IN EXTINCTION
Ethnologue lists 497 languages that are at risk of disappearing in a few decades. And according to Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) half of the languages spoken today may disappear during the 21st century, because of the predominance of English on internet pages
MORE AND LESS
The country with the most languages in the world is Papua New Guinea, where no less than 820 different languages are spoken – neighboring Indonesia is the runner-up, with 742 languages. At the other extreme, North Korea is the only country where only one language is spoken. Then comes Haiti, with two languages