Over 41,000 languages and dialects are spoken in the world (6,800 are considered to be “main languages”).

Numerous studies have revealed that in every country, native-speakers use only about 2,500 distinct words and phrases on a daily basis.

What is the most difficult language to learn? Some say Chinese; others say Arabic, Polish, Finnish or English!

There is a language called Lesbian! It was an Aeolic dialect of Ancient Greek spoken in Lesbos.

French figures: Between 70 and 99, counting in French becomes complex or simplified, depending on your perspective: the number 80 translates as “four twenties”; 92 translates as “four twenties and twelve”; 99 translates as “four twenties and nineteen”.

Easy ABCs? The Korean alphabet (Hangul) has been called the easiest alphabet to master in the world. Invented by King Sejongg in 1443, it comprises 24 characters (14 consonants and 10 vowels).

Arabic, a Semitic language spoken across North Africa and the Middle East, is the 4th or 6th most spoken in the world, one of six official languages used at the United Nations and the holy language of Islam and the Qur’an. Arabic script is the 2nd most used script in the world.

The Georgian language, spoken in Georgia (between Turkey and Russia), has a beautiful script. In contrast to so many other languages, “mama” in Georgian means father and “deda” means mother.

Going from bad to worse in Guatemala (Spanish Proverb): Saliste de Guatemala y te metiste en Guatapeor. You left Guate-bad and went to Guate-worse.

Mi’kmaq (Micmac) is an Algonquian language spoken by 8,000 native habitants in the Canadian Maritime provinces. The name comes from a word in this language meaning “my friends”. Good for tourism!

Spanish is the fastest-growing language market in the Western Hemisphere. Hispanics must indeed be excitable people since question and exclamation marks function as brackets on both sides of the clause, opening with inverted symbols: ¿? around questions and ¡! around exclamations. Both ¡exciting! and ¿mysterious?

German is one of the most inventive languages, constantly creating new and colorful words by stringing words together. Example of such creative compound words (not always hyphenated for easy deciperhing): Nasenspitzenwurzelentzündung – means ‘inflammation of the root of the tip of the nose’, and comes from a cautionary tale for children.

Congo word ‘most untranslatable’: The world’s most difficult word to translate has been identified as “ilunga” from the Tshiluba language spoken in south-eastern DR Congo. Ilunga means “a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time”.

The second most difficult word to translate in the world is shlimazl, Yiddish for “a chronically unlucky person”.

The third most difficult word to translate in the world is Naa, used in the Kansai area of Japan to emphasise statements or agree with someone.

The wordiest language in the world! Chinese computerized fonts for word processors include 6,500 characters for the simplified form (used in China) and 13,500 characters for the traditional form (used in Hong Kong).

The measure of literacy for the Chinese language: Children in China have to master the basic 2,000-3,000 characters; most Chinese dictionaries have about 50,000 characters.

Friendliest people on earth? Fijians are called some of the happiest, friendliest, most hospitable people to be found on the planet. They laugh as much or more than any culture and most lead simple, stress free lives with a high value placed upon spending time with family and loved ones.

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: The Great Pyramid of Giza, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, The Colossus of Rhodes, The Pharos of Alexandria.

The tallest building in the world is Toronto, Canada’s CN Tower at 1,815 ft. (finished in 1976). The second tallest is the Taipei 101 tower in Taipei, Taiwan at 1,670 ft. (2004); the two Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1,483 (1998) come in third place.

The oldest spoken language in the world – unknown precisely; very many will say Tamil, Sanskrit, Chinese, Jomon, or some exotic African language.

The oldest written language in the world – dead languages: Sumerian or Egyptian from around 5200 years ago; non-dead languages, Greek and Chinese from around 3500 years ago.

The most widely spoken languages in the world (according to one source): 1. Mandarin: 1 billion+ speakers. 2. English: 508 million speakers. 3. Hindustani: 97 million speakers. 4. Spanish: 392 million speakers. 5. Russian: 277 million speakers. 6. Arabic: 246 million speakers. 7. Bengali: 211 million speakers. 8. Portuguese: 191 million speakers. 9. Malay-Indonesian: 159 million speakers. 10. French: 129 million speakers.

Say “hello” in Mandarin: “Ni hao” (Nee HaOW); in Hindustani: “Namaste” (Nah-MAH-stay); in Spanish: “Hola” (OH-la); in Russian: “Zdravstvuite” (ZDRAST-vet-yah); in Arabic: “Al salaam a’alaykum” (Ahl sah-LAHM ah ah-LAY-koom); in Bengali: “Ei Je” (EYE-jay); in Portuguese: “Bom dia” (bohn DEE-ah) in Malay-Indonesian: “Selamat pagi” (se-LA-maht PA-gee); in French: “Bonjour” (bohn-JOOR).

Albert Einstein: Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.

Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables contains one of the longest sentences in the French language – 823 words without a period.

The origin of the word “checkmate” comes from a Persian phrase “Shah Mat”, which means “the king is dead”.

The world’s largest alphabet is Cambodian, with 74 letters (for ideograms, not letters, the Chinese win hands down).

The “O” when used as a prefix in Irish surnames means “descendant of”.

 

31 Famous Landmarks – Answers to our Homepage Challenge

• Statue of Liberty – New York, USA
• Statue of Christ over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• St. Petersburg Cathedral, Russia
• The Great Pagoda /Gold Pagoda or Chedi, Thailand
• Windmill, Holland
• Laughing Buddha / Hotei,- China/Japan
• Stonehenge, England
• Tower of Pisa, Italy
• Roman ruins at Jerash, Jordan
• Niagara Falls (Horseshoe Falls), Ontario, Canada
• Parthenon – Greece
• CN Tower, Toronto, Canada
• Bullfighter, Spain
• Macchu Pichu, Peru
• Medina Mosque, Saudi Arabia
• Top of Buddhist Temple, Tibet
• Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
• Aztec Pyramid, Mexico
• Orthodox Cathedral, Russia
• Temple of Heaven, Beijing, China
• Taj Mahal, India
• Azay-le-Rideau Castle/Château, Loire Valley, France
• Temple of Zeus (interior), Olympia, Greece
• Japanese boat gate – Japan
• St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow (Red Square), Russia
• Terra Cotta Warrior, Xian, China
• The Little Mermaid, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Royal Castle of Warsaw, Poland
• The Colisseum, Rome, Italy
• Tower of Babel, Ancient Babylon
• Eiffel Tower, Paris, France