Saturday, August 06, 2022

Mapping the World's Languages

The Map of World Languages is an interactive map of 6,000 languages spoken around the world. The map includes 4,000 different living languages, around 2,000 historic languages and 6 constructed languages. 

On the map colored circles of different sizes are used to show the number of each language's speakers. The circle's colors indicate the different language families. For example all Arabic languages are shown using a yellow circle, with the larger circles indicating the Arabic languages with the most speakers.

If you click on any of the languages shown on the map you can access Language Player's resources for learning that language. These resources include conversation practices and videos in which you can actually listen to the language being spoken.

The Langscape Map is another interactive map which allows you to explore the thousands of languages spoken around the world. If you click anywhere on this map of the world you can discover more about some of the languages which are spoken at that location. 

The Langscape Map includes 6,400 of the world’s languages. After clicking on a location on the map you can select one of the listed languages to view more information about it beneath the map. As well as helping you discover which languages are spoken where, the map includes information about the demographics of each language's speakers and information about the different language families. The map also includes audio recordings & text materials related to many of the world's languages. 


There are around 7,151 languages still being spoken around the world. However at least a third of those languages are in danger of dying out. Ethnologue's Living Languages interactive map shows where all 7,151 living languages (as of 2022) are spoken around the world. 

The language markers on this map are colored by continent (with locations assigned to primary countries). Nearly two thirds of the world's languages are from Asia and Africa. These two continents have the densest concentration of different languages. However the vast majority of the world speak a European or Asian language. 18.5% of the world's languages are Pacific languages. However on average only about 1,000 people speak each of these Pacific languages, therefore only a very small percentage of the world's population speak any one of the individual Pacific languages.

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