Latin language, or Latin, is one of the oldest Indo-European languages that had writing. He appeared among the peoples ancient Italy Around the second millennium BC, it replaced other languages spoken by the Italians and became the main language in the western Mediterranean. The language reached its greatest flourishing in the first century BC, with the development of the so-called classical Latin - the literary language in which Cicero, Horace, Virgil, and Ovid wrote. Latin was improved simultaneously with the development of Rome and its emergence as largest state on the Mediterranean Sea.
Further, this language survived the periods of Postclassic and Late Latin, in which similarities with the new Romance languages were already outlined. In the 4th century it was formed medieval Latin, which was significantly influenced by Christianity. The Bible was translated into Latin, and since then it has become a sacred language. All theological works were written on it. Figures of the Renaissance also used Latin for their works: Leonardo da Vinci, Petrarch, Boccaccio wrote in it.
Latin is a dead language
Gradually, the Latin language disappeared from people’s speech; in the Middle Ages, local dialects were used more and more often as an oral language, but Latin lived on in religious texts, scientific treatises, biographies and other works. The rules for pronunciation of sounds were forgotten, the grammar changed a little, but the Latin language lived on.
Officially dead tongue it can be called from the 6th century, after the fall of the Roman Empire, when barbarian states began to flourish and Latin gradually fell out of everyday use. Linguists call a dead language a language that does not exist in everyday life, is not used in live oral communication, but exists in the form written monuments. If there is not a single person who speaks it like a native speaker, then the language is considered dead.
But Latin is special dead language, which can be called such with a stretch. The fact is that it is still actively used in many areas of life. Latin is widely used in medicine and biology, as well as in other sciences, but even in everyday life people still use some Latin.
In addition, Latin is actively used Catholic Church, is the language of the Vatican, the Holy See and the Order of Malta.
It is quite difficult to learn to read Latin, simply because it is an extinct language that is now used in scientific community, encyclopedias. However, students of language specialties should also master it at a good level. But even if you do not belong to the circle of scientists or students, you also have every chance of learning to read Latin.
You will need
- - computer;
- - Internet;
- - teacher.
Instructions
Start by learning the basics of the Latin language, namely the alphabet and phonetic rules. Go to the website http://latinista.tk/doca/phonetica.htm. You will be presented with all the features of reading vowels and consonants, as well as various exceptions, which should also be taken into account. Read everything carefully and take notes in workbook so that understanding comes faster.
Start learning in the same way and lexical structure Latin language. Remember that this language has not been used in everyday communication for more than 1 thousand years and only contains words such as “sailor”, “fields”, “oceans”, “senator”, etc. You won't find it there modern expressions, like “how are you?” and so on. Click on the link http://latinista.tk/vocabularium.htm. You'll see a short list of basic words that you can read and remember the meanings if you need them. Go through each one, following the phonics rules you've already learned. For example, the word ratio is like “ration”.
Learn the rules of pronunciation of vowels and consonants, diphthongs, digraphs and other letter combinations. Do some exercises on declension of nouns, repeat degrees of comparison of adjectives, etc. To make it easier for you to remember grammatical rules, draw an analogy with the Russian language. For example, in Latin there are five cases, in - six, nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), two numbers (singular and plural), as in Russian, etc.
The development of the society of new states led to the gradual emergence of new translations of the Bible into other languages. The era of navigation, which allowed previously unknown countries, gave the opportunity for the development of the missionary movement. This, in turn, required new efforts to translate Holy Scripture into the languages spoken by the inhabitants of distant territories. A special impetus in this direction was the development of printing. The first printed Bible, the Gutenberg Bible, was published in 1456. Since then, copies of the Holy Scriptures, translated into different languages of the peoples of the world, have been published with increasing progression. On this moment The Bible is readable in whole or in part by 90% of the world's population.
We all sometimes want to impress the attention of our interlocutor in a conversation or to show off in a beautiful phrase correspondence. Good way to do this is to use phrases from the Latin language. The Latin tribe, which once inhabited the territory of modern central Italy, communicated with each other in Latin. According to legend, the most famous representatives This tribe - the brothers Romulus and Remus - are the founders of Rome. Sometimes we use Latin expressions without even knowing their origin. They are so firmly entrenched in the Russian language that we use these phrases without realizing their origin. For example, these are the words “alibi”, “alter ego”, “alma mater”. What other phrases will be of interest to those who would like to show off their oratory skills? We present to your attention several such expressions.
Achieve success from scratch
Authorship of one of the most popular Latin aphorisms often attributed to the philosopher Seneca: Per aspera ad astra, which literally translates as “Through thorns to the stars.” What does it mean? Each person goes through many stages on the path of his development. For some they are easy, but for others they have to make serious efforts in order to move to a new level. This expression can be used, for example, in cases where a person managed to open his own business without having a large amount of start-up capital. A year ago, he was “counting pennies,” but through hard and long work he managed to make his life and the life of his family comfortable. In this case, we can say that he went to his success through thorns and to the stars.
Man to man...
And here is another Latin aphorism, firmly rooted in ordinary speech: Homo homini lupus est. It is translated as “man is a wolf to man.” This expression is usually used when a speaker or letter writer wants to emphasize that people are usually strangers to each other. Few people will help to a stranger, and someone else’s misfortune rarely bothers anyone. This expression was first heard in the comedy “Donkeys” by the ancient Roman playwright named Plautus. In one of the most everyday scenes in this comedy, a man was supposed to transfer money to another through a slave, but refused to do so.
When asked again, he said, “You can’t convince me to put money in the hands of a stranger. A man is a wolf to a man if he does not know him.” We see that initially it was a matter of simple mistrust. But more late time this Latin aphorism acquired a slightly different meaning. It began to be applied to a society where everyone fights only for their own interests. This phrase was also used in T. Hobbes’s work “Leviathan”.
A beard is not an indicator of intelligence
Here's another Latin aphorism that the Romans liked to use to make a point: age is not always prerequisite mind. Barba crescit, caput nescit, which means "The beard grows, the head does not know." It often happens that a person, having reached a certain age, still has not acquired practical knowledge. In this case, age is just a mark in the passport, which in no way indicates the presence life experience. The ancient Romans had another analogue of this aphorism: Barba non facit philosophum, which means “the beard has grown, but there is no intelligence.”
Forgive mistakes of yourself and others
And the following Latin aphorism is well suited for those who tend to take a philosophical view of things: Errare humanum est, which means “to err is human” (or “to err is human”). With the help of mistakes, a person really has a chance to gain invaluable experience. We also often say that only those who do nothing make no mistakes - that is, insurance against committing wrong actions can only be their complete absence. They knew about this back in Ancient Rome. Why not use this Latin aphorism when the opportunity arises?
The principle of power
Divide et impera - and this phrase translates as “divide and conquer.” This phrase can often be heard when we're talking about about governing a country divided into several parts. But it is often used in cases where we are talking about managing a group of people, for example in an enterprise. Who was the author of these words? Scientists have long wanted to find out who first said them. These words were a maxim in the Roman Senate, but are absent from classical Latin texts. But the expression “divide and conquer” is often found in French literature, for example, in the work “Roman History” by the author Charles Rollin.
The meaning of this phrase boils down to the following: a large team needs to be divided into several small ones - this will make it much easier to manage. Small groups are unlikely to be able to fight back existing form board.
Carpe diem
And here is a Latin aphorism with a translation that is probably known to everyone who is even more or less familiar with the English language: Carpe diem, which translated means “seize the day.” This phrase is often translated as “seize the day” or “enjoy life.” For many, the ability to live in the present moment is a certain psychological difficulty. But in fact, every person who wants to live a full life must master the ability to “seize the moment.” healthy life. People, unlike our smaller brothers, have the gift of abstract thinking. This allows us not only to perceive the situation around us, but also to analyze it. Thanks to abstract thinking, we are able to adequately assess the situation and make the right decisions.
However, this same gift is also an obstacle, which makes it difficult for a person to relax and enjoy the current moment.
Failure to live according to the advice of the Romans always results in trouble. For example, if a young man wants to approach a girl, but begins to feel shy, then no matter how attractive he may be in appearance, most likely it will be very, very difficult to start a conversation. The same thing happens in interviews. When an applicant constantly pays attention to how he looks, whether he says everything correctly and appropriately, then the focus of his attention is constantly lost, which leads to unpleasant consequences. Most likely, the employer will not be interested in the personality of such a candidate and is unlikely to consider his ideas seriously.
Carpe noctem
There is another aphorism in Latin, which is the antonym of the above: Carpe noctem, or “catch the night.” This expression can be used to get additional motivation to adhere to the daily routine. It is better to finish all work before dark, and devote the evening and night to rest. Night rest is no less important than daytime work - after all, if a person does not rest in the dark, then he is unlikely to work productively during the day.
Useful phrases
Latin aphorisms in modern culture occupy an important place - and first of all they can be found in literary works. The widespread distribution of phrases from the Latin language is a consequence of the literacy of the population, mass education. But earlier, in the Middle Ages and even in modern times, knowledge of the Latin language and various phrases was the privilege of a few words of the population.
Here is a list of several aphorisms that will be useful both in writing a letter and for those who would like to create some kind of work of art - for example, write a book, a script for a movie, and possibly a song:
- Alea jacta est - [Alea jacta est]. “The die is cast,” in other words, there is no turning back.
- Docendo discimus - [docendo discimus]. This phrase translates as “by teaching, we learn.”
- Festina lente - [festina lente]. "Hurry slowly."
- Tertium non datur - [tertium non datur]. "There is no third".
These Latin aphorisms with translation and transcription will help you demonstrate your erudition and decorate any speech.
History of Archimedes
Both the ancient Greeks and Romans valued education very highly. Often learned men were under the tutelage of rulers. This position was occupied by one of the most famous mathematicians and engineers of that time - Archimedes. The fact is that during the Second Punic War, Archimedes’ inventions more than once saved the city of Syracuse, where the scientist lived, from enemy attacks.
But, unfortunately, respect for the scientist was not universal. According to historical sources, Archimedes was killed at the age of 75 by a Roman soldier for alienating him while immersed in work. Then the mathematician uttered one of the phrases that turned into an aphorism: “Don’t touch my circles!” (Noli turbare circulos meos!).
Latin aphorisms about medicine
Catchphrases that relate to human health, may be of interest to both the common man and those who are somehow connected with medicine.
For example, here is one of these expressions: Hygiena amica valetudinis. It is translated as “hygiene is the friend of health.” Of course, it’s hard to argue with this phrase: where there is unsanitary conditions, there is always a risk of various diseases.
And here is another Latin medical aphorism: Medica mente, non medicamentis. Its literal translation is in the following way: “Treat with your mind, not with medicine.” Indeed, if a person is simply prescribed medications that will affect one or another symptom, it will be extremely difficult to cure the disease once and for all. For example, many diseases have psychological roots. In this case, it is necessary to treat the root cause. By eliminating the psychological component that causes a person to experience constant stress, a noticeable improvement in his condition can be achieved. Moreover, if the disease is treated with conventional medications, then perhaps an improvement will occur, but the remission is unlikely to be long. Once the person is under the influence again negative factor, which will cause stress, the symptoms of the disease will make themselves felt again.
Phrases about love
There are also many Latin aphorisms about love. An example is the phrase Amor Caecus, which means “love is blind.” Another phrase is also known - Amor vincit omnia. It translates as “love conquers all.” Yes, the ancient Romans knew a lot about love. And therefore, Latin expressions can be successfully used in romantic correspondence.
Latin, or Latin, is the language of the Latin-Faliscan branch of the Italic languages of the Indo-European language family.
Latin is one of the most ancient written Indo-European languages.
Nowadays, Latin is official language The Holy See, the Order of Malta and the Vatican City State, as well as, in part, the Roman Catholic Church.
The name “Latin” comes from a small tribe of Latins (Latini), who inhabited ancient region Latium (now Lazio), located in the very center of the Apennine Peninsula. It was here, according to legend, that Rome was founded by the brothers Romulus and Remus in 753 BC.
The Latin alphabet is the basis for writing many modern languages.
Today, the study of Latin remains relevant for a number of humanities and natural sciences: philologists, historians, lawyers, as well as doctors, pharmacists and biologists in varying degrees master the basics of Latin, its vocabulary and grammar.
In literary Latin there are 4 periods. The first period is the period of archaic Latin: from the first surviving written sources until the beginning of the 1st century. BC. The second period is the period of classical Latin: from the first speeches of Cicero (80-81 BC) until the death of Augustus in 14 AD. Cicero played a huge role in the formation of classical Latin. It was in his prose that the Latin language acquired that grammatical and lexical norm, which made it “classic”. In most higher educational institutions Classical Latin is being studied in our country.
The period of post-classical Latin extends to the 1st-2nd centuries. AD This period is almost no different from the previous one: grammatical rules classical Latin is almost not violated. Therefore, the division into the classical and post-classical periods is more literary than linguistic meaning. The fourth period is the period of late Latin - III-IV centuries. During this period, the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of barbarian states after its fall took place. In the works of late Latin authors, many morphological and syntactic phenomena already find their place, preparing the transition to new Romance languages.
The spread of the Latin language in the western Mediterranean occurred as follows: by the end of the 2nd century BC. The Latin language no longer dominated not only throughout Italy, but also penetrated as the official state language to the Roman-conquered regions of the Iberian Peninsula and modern southern France, where the Roman province of Narbonese Gaul was then located (it is noteworthy that the name of the modern French region of Provence comes from Latin word provincia).Conquest of the rest of Gaul ( modern territories France, Belgium, partly the Netherlands and Switzerland) ended in the late 50s. I century BC.
Latin belongs to the Indo-European languages. Today it is one of the dead languages. But, unlike many of them, it has practical use, although quite limited. This language is actively used in many fields - in addition to Catholic rites, one can name biology, medicine and law. Books are translated into Latin, radio broadcasts are conducted in it, etc.
The Romans, who dominated many peoples and tribes, could not help but influence their culture and, of course, their languages. The Roman Empire at its peak included most Europe, part of Africa and Asia. For some languages, this influence was decisive and they are considered descendants of Latin, but even those languages that have other roots would become an order of magnitude poorer if all Latin borrowings were removed from them. It is also worth noting that a significant part vocabulary and the writing of most European languages is rooted in Latin.
Latin had a special variety - vulgar or folk Latin, which differed from classical Latin and served as a colloquial variant in many provinces of the ever-expanding Roman Empire. It was this that became the basis for the Romance languages (from the Latin romanus - “Roman”) - Portuguese, Moldavian, Romanian and some others. By mixing with local dialects, Latin received impetus for the development of new branches.
One of the reasons for this was that the Roman conquest of other less developed peoples entailed the dominance of Latin in those areas where words native language lacked science, technology, medicine, etc. On initial period development Romance languages dispensed with writing and were considered common dialects.
At the same time, if the language was sufficiently developed, he might not experience too much strong influence and remain original, as happened with the Greek.
Indirectly, other languages were influenced by Latin, such as. This was inevitable, since trade interactions took place between nations. In addition, the spread of Christianity also brought with it a whole layer of borrowings.
Besides for a long time, until the 18th century, Latin was in Europe not only the only language science and education, but also the language of international communication. Without knowledge of Latin it was impossible to gain knowledge, read scientific works and the most famous literary works.
In the Russian language, many words also have their roots in Latin. For example, “animation” - from the Latin root anima - “life”, vocals - from vox - “voice”, cabbage - from caput - “head”, etc. Many everyday concepts we also borrowed from the Romans. Such, for example, as the names of months or the names of planets. And besides, in everyday speech we often use direct borrowings from Latin, such as incognito, status quo, et cetera, de facto, vice versa, etc.
Latin is so firmly rooted in many languages and has become so integral part everyday communication and literature, that the question of whether Latin is truly a dead language or is it alive remains open.
1. The words “cheerfulness” and “tea” are denoted by the same characters in Chinese.
2. In the language of the tribe Australian Aboriginals, living in the Murray River Valley, 1 sounds like “enea”, 2 sounds like “petcheval”, and 5 can be said as eight different ways, for example, “petcheval petcheval enea.”
3. The most meaningful word on Earth is considered to be “mamihlapinatana”, which means “looking at each other in the hope that someone will agree to do something that both sides want, but do not want to do.”
4. In Arabic there are 28 letters that are written differently at the end of a word than in the middle, in Hebrew there are 5 such letters, in Greek there is one, and in the rest European languages there are no such letters.
5. AD and BC in date designations mean Anno Domini and Before Christ.
6. Those whom we call “new Russians” in Cuba are called “masetos”.
7. “Absurd” translated from Latin means “from the deaf” (ab surdo).
8. “Solar eclipse” in Latin would sound like “defectus solis.”
9. Abbreviated English name Christmas “Xmas” contains in the first place not the Latin letter “x” at all, but the Greek letter “chi”, which was used in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation of the word “Christ” (i.e. xus=christus).
10. Residents of Papua New Guinea speak almost 700 languages (this is approximately 15 percent of all languages in the world). Among these languages there are many local dialects, used for communication between people between villages.
11. In the Explanatory Dictionary of 1940, edited by Ushakov, there is the following definition of the word “Figli-migli” (!): “... used to denote some tricks, jokes or some approaches to achieve something, accompanied by pleasantries, antics, tricks , with a wink.”
12. The names of the Zodiac signs in Latin sound like this: Aquarius - Aquarius, Pisces - Pisces, Aries - Aries, Taurus - Taurus, Gemini - Gemini, Cancer - Cancer, Leo - Leo, Virgo - Virgo, Libra - Libra, Scorpio - Scorpius , Sagittarius - Sagittarius, Capricorn - Capricornus.
13. “Hermitage” translated from French means “place of solitude.”
14. Cartoon "Cinderella" on Polish language called "Kopciusezek".
15. “Symposium” translated from Latin means “shared libation.”
17. The world's longest palindrome word is the Finnish word "saippuakivikauppias", meaning "silk merchant".
18. Karamzin came up with the word “industry,” Saltykov-Shchedrin came up with the word “softness,” and Dostoevsky came up with the word “to shy away.”
19. On African continent more than 1000 different languages. And the Berber language has North Africa There isn't even a written form.
20. The names of the days of the week among the Akan blacks are pronounced as (respectively): judah, beneda, munuda, yauda, fida, meneneda and quasida.
21. In Chinese writing, the character for “difficulty, trouble” is depicted as two women under one roof.
22. Almost - the most long word English, in which all the letters are arranged in alphabetical order.
23. The words of Persian origin “pajamas” and “suitcase” have the same root (“pi-joma”, “joma-dan”).
24. The name of the island of Curacao literally translated from Spanish means “fried priest” (cura asado).
25. The word “mediocrity” was introduced into the Russian language by the poet Igor Severyanin.
26.V Ancient Egypt The apricot was called the “sunny egg.”
27. In Filipino, “hello” would sound like “mabuhay.”
28. “Fujiyama” means “steep mountain” in Japanese.
29. Until the 14th century in Rus' everything obscene words were called "ridiculous verbs".
30.V English language there are no words that rhyme with month, orange, silver and purple.
31. There are 72 letters in the Khmer alphabet, and only 11 in the alphabet of the natives of the island of Bougainville.
32. Unusual tongue twisters: “a crime for which revenge was a similar crime”, “a walk enjoying dried-out baking”, “the simultaneous failure of several pilots”.
33. In Georgian kebab is called “mtsvadi”, and in Armenian it is called “khorovts”.
34. In the 19th century, in Russian translations, “Ivanhoe” was called in Russian - “Ivangoe”.
35. In Spanish, a UFO is called OVNIS (“objeto volador noidentificado”).
36. The junior clergy - novice, in Georgian is called ... mtsyri.
37. Yes grammar rule, according to which native Russian words do not begin with the letter “a”(!).
38. The word "subway" in Japanese consists of three characters meaning "bottom", "soil" and "iron".
39. Artificial international language Esperanto was created in 1887 by the Warsaw doctor L. Zamenhof.
40. Dahl suggested replacing foreign word“atmosphere” in Russian “kolozemitsa” or “mirokolitsa”.
41. Swahili is a combination of African tribal languages, Arabic and Portuguese.
42. The longest English words, in which there is not a single vowel - “rhythms” and “syzygy”.
43. American gesture“Everything is okay” (fingers folded into a ring) in Cyprus means “homosexual”.
44. The nickname of Alexander the Great’s horse “Bucephalus” literally means “bull-headed”.
45. The oldest word in the English language is “town”.
46. In Chinese, the sounds “r” and “l” are not distinguished.
47. “Sahara” means “desert” in Arabic.
48. In Ukraine, the Milky Way is called Chumatsky Way.
49. The Serbian alphabet is called Vukovica.
50. There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.
51. The Viking alphabet was called Futhark.
52. There are more than 600,000 words in the English language.
53. Latin name Mickey Mouse - Mikael Musculus.
54. The words “for future use”, “all-in” and “full face” are adverbs.
55. latin letters W in Latin alphabet No.
56. Chinese writing has more than 40,000 characters.
57. Writer Ernest Vincent Wright has a novel called Gadsby, which is over 50,000 words long. There is not a single letter E (the most common letter in the English language) in the entire novel.
58. Pomors have a sign: “The mother makes a fool of shame.” On modern language it would sound like this: “During aurora The compass doesn't work."
59. American President Benjamin Franklin collected more than 200 synonyms for the word "drunk", including such masterpieces as "cherry-merry", "nimptopsical" and "soaked".
60. There are only six official languages of the United Nations: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.
61. In the Eskimo language there are more than 20 words for snow.
62. Adverb mandarin Chinese language is the most widely used language in the world, spoken by more than 885 million people. Spanish ranks second (332 million), English is third (322 million), and Bengali is fourth (189 million). By the way, Russian is in 7th place on this list (170 million)
63. At one time, the ampersand (&) was a letter of the English alphabet.
64. Just like in America it is customary to ask “How are you?” when meeting someone. (the answer is usually “good” or “normal”), and in Malaysia it is customary to ask “Where are you going?” But since this is not a question, but a greeting, they usually answer “Just for a walk.”
65. Translated from Latin, the word “virus” means poison.
66. On average, priests, lawyers and doctors each have 15,000 words in their professional vocabulary. Skilled workers who have not received higher education- somewhere between 5-7 thousand words, and farmers - about 1,600.
67. The words harem, veto and embargo literally mean “ban.”
68. In the vast majority of languages of the world, the word “mother” begins with the letter M.
69. Victor Hugo's Les Misérables contains one of the longest sentences in history. French— 823 words.
70. There are approximately 6,500 languages in the world today. However, 2000 of them are on the verge of extinction. Each of them has less than a thousand speakers.
71. Some biblical scholars believe that Aramaic (the language ancient bible) did not have a way to express "many" and used a word equal to 40. This means that in many places in the bible the reference to "40 days" means many days.
72. Seoul simply means “capital” in Korean.
73. In English greatest number synonyms.
74. They say that “Thesixthsicksheik’ssixthsheep’ssick” is the most difficult tongue twister in the English language.
75. Canada translates to " big village"in the language of one of the local Indian tribes.
76. The word “news” in English actually comes from the letters on the compass, indicating the cardinal directions: North, East, West, South. Therefore, this word has no distinction between singular and plural.
77. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, is credited the following words: "I speak Spanish with God, in Italian with women, in French with men, in German with my horse.” There are options for German: “with a dog”, “with enemies”; Italian is replaced by French in the case of women, men are replaced by friends. In any case, it turns out beautifully, but the semantics change a little. The Emperor meant in the case of German language the fact that German is suitable for teams.
78. The ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphs only for rituals and official inscriptions. In everyday life they used hieratic writing, and from 700 BC. Demotic script was used.
79. About half the world's population speaks languages that are descended from an Indo-European language spoken 6,000 years ago. Scientists suggest that Indo-European language originated in a temperate climate, since the languages that originated from it have similar words to designate flora and fauna, seasons, etc. For example: cold, Kalt, cold; snow, Snaw, snow, snow; etc. The territory most suitable for these parameters extends from Lithuania in the North to the Central regions of Ukraine in the South; Western Voivodeships of Poland in the West to Eastern regions Belarus in the East.
80. Sumerian is considered the oldest known language written language. It originated in Mesopotamia 3500 BC. Main characteristics: cuneiform, syllabic representation of individual characters.
81. All major alphabets developed from a single alphabet invented 3600 years ago in the Middle East.
82. The word "gift" in English means "poison" in German.
83. The names of the state of Minnesota and the Canadian province of Winnipeg are translated the same way: in the language of the local Sioux and Cree Indians it is “dirty water”.
84. In Thai, to appear particularly polite, we use "slave" instead of "I".
85. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound structure of a language. One of the Khoisan languages, Hu, has about 141 phonemes, while Hawaiian has only 13.
86. The Cambodian alphabet has 74 letters, but the Solomon Islands alphabet has only 11 letters.
87. In Indonesia alone there are more than 583 different languages and dialects, including English and Dutch.
88. In Mexico, the men of the Matsateco tribe came up with special language whistling “for men”, which women did not understand.
89. Tongue twisters in different cultures were created to emphasize sound combinations characteristic of their language in order to distinguish “strangers” from “us”:
English~ She sells seashells by the seashore
French~ Combien de sous sont ces saucissons-ci? Ces saucissons-ci sont six sous.
Spanish~ Que rapido corren los carros, cargados de azucar, del ferrocarril!
German~ Zwei schwartze schleimige Schlangen sitzen zwischen zwei spitzigen Steinen und zischen.
90. In many African languages There is a clicking sound that is pronounced simultaneously with other sounds. To pronounce it correctly, you need to learn the language from childhood.
91. Most languages are found in Asia and Africa.
92. At least half of the people around the world speak two or more languages.
93. One way to say in German “None of your business!” will be “This is not your beer!” in original: DasistnichtdeinBier!
94. German has almost become an official language in the USA. During the revolution the question arose to accept new language for the future of the USA, as one of the methods to break ties with England. During the voting, the German was one vote short!
95. The most common sounds in the world's languages: /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, /n/
96. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been translated into 321 languages. No other document has been translated into so many languages.
97. The most common words in the Russian language: and; V; Not; He; on the; I; What; That; be; With.
98. The most common words in the English language: the, be, to, of, and, a, in, that, have, I.
99. All Chinese dialects have the same base of about 40,000 characters that are “understood by everyone.” IN oral speech the varieties of Chinese are practically separate languages.
100. Originally Russian and Ukrainian words don't start with the letter "A". For example, in common parlance, some dialects in Ukraine have developed prefixed consonants like “Gamerika” for borrowed words.