Language Is a system of communication. It uses written and spoken forms. People use language to communicate with each other in a society. They exchange knowledge, beliefs, wishes and feelings through it. Languages vary greatly from region to region. They are so different that a person may not understand the language of someone from another region, country or continent. It is not surprising to hear that today about 7000 languages exist in the world. There are more than 2000 languages in Africa. 1000 in the Americas. More than 2250 In Asia. About 230 in Europe. And more than 1300 in Oceania. Native speakers of these languages range In number from very large. With hundreds of millions of speakers, to very small, with fewer than 10 speakers. The most popular language in the world Is Chinese. More than one billion people In the world speak Chinese.
Interestingly. English has fewer native speakers than Chinese. But there are about one billion learners of English all around the world. They learn English as an international language. About filly percent of the world's languages have fewer than 5000 speakers. In the beginning of the twenty-fast century., 204 languages had fewer than 10 speakers and 344 languages had between 10 and 99 speakers. The 548 languages with fewer than 99 speakers make up nearly 8 percent of the world's languages. We call them 'endangered languages'. As the speakers of such languages grow old and die. Their languages will die. Too. All languages are really valuable, despite their differences. Every language is an amazing means of communication that meets the needs of its own speakers. It is impossible to imagine the world without language. Therefore. We should respect all languages, no matter how different they are and how many speakers they have.
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