Lists of languages facts for kids

This page helps you explore different lists of languages. It's like a guide to finding out more about the thousands of languages spoken around the world!

How Languages Are Counted

People have created many ways to list and organize languages. This helps us understand how many languages exist and where they are spoken.

Big Language Lists

Some organizations work hard to count and describe all the languages on Earth.

• Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a huge list created by SIL International. It includes over 7,100 spoken and signed languages! Imagine how many ways people communicate.
• The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) gives special codes to most languages. These codes are like short nicknames for languages.
  • List of ISO 639-1 codes uses two letters for 184 major languages, like "en" for English.
  • List of ISO 639-3 codes uses three letters and tries to include all known natural languages. This list is much bigger!
• Glottolog is another big database that helps track languages and their families.

Languages on Wikipedia

Wikipedia has many articles that list languages in different ways.

All Kinds of Languages

These lists try to include all living languages from around the world.

• By country:
  • List of official languages by country and territory shows which languages are used officially in different countries.
  • Number of languages by country tells you how many languages are spoken in each country.
• By name: List of language names helps you find languages by their native names.
• By family: List of language families groups languages that are related, like a big family tree. For example, the List of Indo-European languages includes languages like English, Spanish, and Hindi, because they share ancient roots.
• By speakers:
  • List of languages by total number of speakers shows which languages have the most people speaking them, including those who learned it as a second language.
  • List of languages by number of native speakers focuses on languages spoken by people from birth.

Languages by Region

You can also find lists of languages based on where they are spoken in the world.

• Languages of Africa
• Indigenous languages of the Americas (languages spoken by the first peoples of North and South America)
  • Languages of North America
  • Languages of South America
• Languages of Asia
• Languages of Europe
• Languages of Oceania (languages from islands in the Pacific Ocean)

Special Language Types

Some languages have unique stories or features.

• Languages that are disappearing or coming back:
  • Lists of extinct languages are languages that no longer have any speakers.
  • Lists of endangered languages are languages that are at risk of disappearing.
  • List of revived languages are languages that were almost gone but are now being spoken again, like Hebrew.
• Sign languages: List of sign languages are languages that use hand movements, body language, and facial expressions instead of sound.
  • List of sign languages by number of native signers shows how many people use different sign languages as their first language.
• Made-up languages: List of constructed languages are languages that were invented by people, not developed naturally over time. Some are for books or movies, like Elvish from The Lord of the Rings, while others are for international communication, like Esperanto.

Languages and Their Use

Languages can also be listed by how they are used in the world.

• Common languages: List of lingua francas are languages used by people who speak different native languages to communicate with each other. English is a good example today.
• Official languages: List of official languages shows languages that are recognized by governments for official business.
• Internet languages: Languages used on the Internet lists languages that are most common online.
• Similar languages: List of mutually intelligible languages shows languages where speakers can understand each other, even if they speak different versions. For example, someone speaking Norwegian might understand some Swedish.

More About Languages

• List of writing systems shows all the different ways people write languages, like alphabets or symbols.
• Lists of programming languages are languages used to write computer programs.
• Omniglot is a website that explores many different languages and writing systems.