Last September 26 was the European Day of Languages, which aims to celebrate the rich and diverse culture behind each and every language. Their website offers information about the purpose of the celebration, a calendar of events in different countries, a self-assessment language test, etc. Have a look!
Language Facts
Did you know that...
- There are between 6000 and 7000 languages in the world - spoken by six billion people divided into 189 independent states.
- There are about 225 indigenous languages in Europe - roughly 3% of the world’s total.
- Most of the world’s languages are spoken in Asia and Africa.
- At least half of the world’s population are bilingual or plurilingual, i.e. they speak two or more languages.
- Many languages have 50,000 words or more, but individual speakers normally know and use only a fraction of the total vocabulary: in everyday conversation people use the same few hundred words.
- In its first year a baby utters a wide range of vocal sounds; at around one year the first understandable words are uttered; at around three years complex sentences are formed; at five years a child possesses several thousand words.
- The mother tongue is usually the language one knows best and uses most. But there can be “perfect bilinguals” who speak two languages equally well. Normally, however, bilinguals display no perfect balance between their two languages.
- Bilingualism brings with it many benefits: it makes the learning of additional languages easier, enhances the thinking process and fosters contacts with other people and their cultures.
- Languages are related to each other like the members of a family. Most European languages belong to the large Indo-European family.
- Most European languages belong to three broad groups: Germanic, Romance and Slavic.
- The Germanic family of languages includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, English and Yiddish, among others.
- The Romance languages include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, among others.
- The Slavic languages include Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and others.
- Most European languages use the Latin alphabet. Some Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet. Greek, Armenian, Georgian and Yiddish have their own alphabet.
- Most countries in Europe have a number of regional or minority languages – some of these have obtained official status.
- The non-European languages most widely used on European territory are Arabic, Chinese and Hindi, each with its own writing system.
- Russia (148 million inhabitants) has by far the highest number of languages spoken on its territory: from 130 to 200 depending on the criteria.
- Due to the influx of migrants and refugees, Europe has become largely multilingual. In London alone some 300 languages are spoken (Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Berber, Hindi, Punjabi, etc.)
(source: http://www.ecml.at/)
Self-evaluation game: would you like fo find out your level of English? Language quiz: what do you know about European Languages? Memory game. How many flags do you know?
Self-evaluation game: would you like fo find out your level of English? Language quiz: what do you know about European Languages? Memory game. How many flags do you know?
- self-evaluation game. Would you like to find out your level of English?
- plain English quiz (done in class)
- Language quiz: how much do you know about European languages?
- Memory game: How many flags do you remember?
Check this extremely interesting document: GUIA DEL APRENDIZ DE LENGUAS (in Spanish)
