How many languages are there?

Finding out the finite number of languages in the world is complicated. One of the many definitions of a language is (from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company):

Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.

Does this mean that the different versions of English are individual languages? Like American English and British English, or we could go into more detail and seperate English based on regions in England due to each region having its own styles and mannerisms. This would end up with there being a nearly infinite number of languages.

The best method is to look at the most spoken languages. Looking at the Nationalencyklopedin (2007 Swedish Encylopedia), the 100th most spoken language has 7 million speakers and the top 100 most spoken languages cover 85% of the world.  Also according to the Linguasphere Observatory there are over 70,000 linguistic names.

It seems like the number of languages vary depending on the definition of a language.

So How Many Languages Is it Possible to Learn?

This really depends on a number of factors details below.

1. Decide how many languages there are.

Figure out how many languages you think are in the world. A lot of different publications and authorities have come up with different number depending on their definition of a language.

Decide which number you accept.

2. How long will it take to learn each language?

Learning is completely dependant on your ability and how in-depth you want to learn. No one can fully learn a language, but you have to decide to what degree you want to learn. Do you want to know how to greet someone in every language or do you want to learn the languages to be fluent and speak like a native? The more you want to learn in each language the longer it will take.

3. Prioritise because time is a factor.

Being human you don’t have forever to learn languages, so prioritise which language you are going to learn first, second and onwards.

Learning multiple languages can be difficult but with the right help and assistance it can be a highly rewarding task. And if you base your job around learning languages it could make you an invaluable asset to any international business. But it is a long road to learn every single language to the level of a native, but it never hurts to try.

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