Fun facts about languages

There are a lot of fun facts about languages, and we bring you some of them.

There are more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world today. Some are used by hundreds of millions of people, while others are spoken by only a small community. Some use alphabets, others use characters, and many have sounds that do not even exist in English.

Languages can be surprising, strange, funny and incredibly revealing about the people and cultures behind them.

So, how much do you really know about the languages we speak?

Fun facts about languages – did you know?

• More than 7,000 languages are still spoken around the world today. UNESCO documents more than 8,000 languages in total, with approximately 7,000 still in use.
• Around 1,500 languages are at risk of losing their speakers. Linguistic diversity is enormous, but it is also disappearing.
• Only around 1,000 languages are currently represented online. So while the internet may feel global, much of the world’s linguistic diversity is still missing from the digital world.
• The European Union has 24 official languages, written across three alphabets: Latin, Cyrillic and Greek.
• Those 24 EU languages create 552 possible translation and interpretation combinations when every language can be translated into each of the other 23.
• The United Nations has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
• South Africa has 12 official languages. South African Sign Language became the country’s 12th official language in 2023.
• And no, sign language is not universal. Different countries and communities use different sign languages, with their own vocabulary, grammar and even regional variations.
• Written Chinese uses characters rather than an alphabet. Interestingly, Chinese grammar does not require verb conjugation for tense in the way many European languages do.
• Nearly half of upper-secondary students in the European Union study two or more foreign languages.
• English is still one of the EU’s 24 official languages, even after the United Kingdom left the European Union.
• A language is much more than vocabulary and grammar. It carries humor, habits, history and ways of looking at the world that can be difficult to translate perfectly into another language.

And that may be the most interesting language fact of all: learning another language doesn’t simply give you different words. It gives you another way to communicate with the world.

When a language leaves the classroom

You can learn vocabulary from an app. You can study grammar from a book. But something changes when the language suddenly becomes part of your everyday life.

Ordering lunch. Asking for directions. Understanding a joke. Talking to someone your own age from another country. Realizing that you have just spent ten minutes speaking another language without mentally translating every sentence first.

That is when a language stops feeling like a school subject.

It becomes useful. And personal.

This is one of the reasons we at Verbalists have always believed so strongly in language learning through international experience. A classroom is important, but the city, the people and the culture outside that classroom can become part of the learning too.

English in London, New York or Malta. German in Berlin or Vienna. Spanish in Valencia, Barcelona or Malaga. Italian in Florence, Rome or Milan.

Different languages. Different cities. And very different experiences.

For young learners, teenagers and adults alike, studying abroad can also mean something beyond improving language skills: learning to communicate independently, meeting people from other countries, becoming more confident and discovering how much you can actually do with the language you have been studying.

Where could your next language take you?

If these language facts have made you curious, don’t stop at reading about languages.

Explore our most popular language courses and programs abroad for young learners and adults, including English, German, Spanish and Italian programs in some of the world’s most exciting study destinations.

Top language courses worldwide – adults & young learners

Then choose a language, choose a destination – and join Verbalists where languages are actually spoken, lived and remembered.

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Verbalists Education & Language Network, part of PRODIREKT, connects students with carefully selected language schools, summer programs and study abroad opportunities worldwide. Through our international network of accredited education partners, we help young learners, students and adults choose programs that combine high-quality teaching with meaningful international experience.