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UncleJlovesbrazil · 61-69, M
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@UncleJlovesbrazil Thank you for your answer. Is it very different from Portuguese Portuguese?
UncleJlovesbrazil · 61-69, M
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@UncleJlovesbrazil Very interesting. Thanks.
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
"The six largest language families by language count are Niger-Congo, Austronesian, Trans-New Guinea, Sino-Tibetan, Indo-European, and Afro-Asiatic.
Of the 142 different language families, these six stand out as the major language families of the world. They can be found throughout the world, spreading uniquely to different regions and countries. See the map below to picture where each language family is found – countries are colored if they are the primary country for at least one language in the family.
Each of these families has at least 5% of the world’s languages, and together account for two-thirds of all languages. Niger-Congo and Austronesian are the two largest from this perspective, each with over 1,000 languages due to the incredible language diversity in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, respectively.
These six families also make up five-sixths of the world’s population. Based on speaker count, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan are the largest two language families, with over 4.6 billion speakers between them. The two most spoken languages are in these families – English is classified as Indo-European, and Mandarin Chinese is classified as Sino-Tibetan."
https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/largest-families
Of the 142 different language families, these six stand out as the major language families of the world. They can be found throughout the world, spreading uniquely to different regions and countries. See the map below to picture where each language family is found – countries are colored if they are the primary country for at least one language in the family.
Each of these families has at least 5% of the world’s languages, and together account for two-thirds of all languages. Niger-Congo and Austronesian are the two largest from this perspective, each with over 1,000 languages due to the incredible language diversity in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, respectively.
These six families also make up five-sixths of the world’s population. Based on speaker count, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan are the largest two language families, with over 4.6 billion speakers between them. The two most spoken languages are in these families – English is classified as Indo-European, and Mandarin Chinese is classified as Sino-Tibetan."
https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/largest-families
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Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@Vivaci Most people have no clue that Punjabi and Bengali have so many native speakers. I remember speaking with a lady from Bengal in England and she was delighted that I knew her native language is Bengali and not Hindi. One of my best friends in university was a Punjabi. She spoke also Hindi and Urdu.
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@Cierzo It is a list of native speakers. I guess that most Africans who speak French learn it as a second or third language. Far more people in Latin America speak Spanish as their native language than Africans speak French as their first language. I guess the reason for that is that tropical Africa is far more dangerous place to live for Europeans than South America. The Conquistadores brought the dangerous diseases with them to Latin America where up to 90% of all Amerindians died during the 16th century while in Africa it was the Europeans who died from yellow fever, malaria and other diseases and not the natives.
@YukikoAmagi 🦋
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@YukikoAmagi What language was that? Not an Indo-European one.
Budwick · 70-79, M
No.
I'm more a fan of the Western Hemisphere.
I'm more a fan of the Western Hemisphere.
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@DarkHeaven One could summarize the entire history of mankind that one group of people displaced another group of people. Mostly violently in form or other. There are only very few places where the first group of people who arrived there is still in place and power. For example Iceland.
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@Budwick If you are white American - or European-American if you prefer - then you are certainly related with @DarkHeaven. Very distantly related of course but anyway. The speakers of the proto-Indo-European language - see the bottom of the tree - once lived all north of the Caspian and Black Sea about 5,000 or 6,000 years ago. From there they spread to Europe, Iran and India, where they displaced other people or ruled over them. And of course in more recent times Europeans moved in large numbers to North America, South America and Australia. Betweeen the 1820 and the 1920, between 55 and 60 million Europeans moved to the New World. About 60% of them to the U.S. and the rest to Canada or Latin American countries.
@Mugin16 ☮️
JoyfulSilence · 46-50, M
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
Languages in brackets [...] have gone exstinct.
Interestingly enough, Estonian does not belong to the Baltic language group.
Interestingly enough, Estonian does not belong to the Baltic language group.
SW-User
@Mugin16 I don't think Maltese is Indo-European either, but I could be wrong.
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@SW-User I don't know. Would be interesting to find out. Might be derived from Arabic?
SW-User
@Mugin16 aha. It’s a Semitic language, so it’s related to Arabic
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TheSirfurryanimalWales · 61-69, M
SW-User
@TheSirfurryanimalWales I only understood diolch yn fawr lol
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@CrazyMusicLover Unfortunately, the pic is not good quality.
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@SW-User Very nice. I was in Lithuania in 2017. A lovely country.
Reflection2 · 41-45, M
Mugin16 · 46-50, M
@Reflection2 Which ones if you care to share?
deadgerbil · 22-25
