DYK #20: World of Words

Letters in Hawaiian

1. There are between 6000 and 7000 languages are spoken in the world 
2. Most of the world’s languages are spoken in Asia and Africa. 
3. 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. 
4. The non-European languages most widely used on European territory are Arabic, Chinese and Hindi, each with its own writing system. 
5. The Germanic family of languages includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, English and Yiddish, among others. 
1. The Romance languages include Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, among others. 
2. The Germanic family of languages includes Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, English and Yiddish, among others. 
3. The Slavic languages include Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and others.
6. 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. 
7. Spanish is one of the world's most phonetic languages. If you know how a word is spelled, you can almost always know how it is pronounced. 
8. Dutch is said to be the easiest language for native English speakers to pick up, while research shows that for those native English speakers who already know another language, the five most difficult languages to get your head around are Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean. 
9. The United Nations uses six official languages to conduct business: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic. 
10. The Hawaiian language has only 12 letters. 
1. 5 vowels: a-e-i-o-u 
2. 7 consonants: h-k-l-m-n-p-w

Source:

• http://www.vistawide.com/languages/language_statistics.htm
• http://alohaisles.com/hawaii/language.html
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/guide/languages.shtml