Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
Icelandic (or íslenska, pronounced [‘islenska] in Icelandic) is an Indo-European language belonging to the Germanic languages. It is the closest living relative of the Faroese language which, along with Norwegian, historically represent the West Scandinavian descendants of Old Norse. The oldest preserved texts in Icelandic were written around 1100 AD, mainly in the form of historical works and the eddaic poems. Icelandic is spoken by only 320 000 people, living primarily in Iceland.
Writing system: Latin (Icelandic alphabet)
Official language in: Iceland
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
The Hungarian (or magyar, pronounced [ˈmɒdʒɒr] in Hungarian) belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family. It was originally written in right-to-left Old Hungarian runes but later, when Stephen I of Hungary established the Kingdom of Hungary in the year 1000, the old system was gradually discarded in favor of the Latin alphabet and left-to-right order. Hungarian has complex grammar and specific pronunciation and spelling rules which make the language one of the most challenging for foreigners to learn.
Writing system: Latin (Hungarian alphabet)
Official language in: Hungary, Vojvodina, Burgenland, European Union
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
Hindi (or हिन्दी, pronounced [‘hɪn’di:]) is a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language, part of the Indo-Aryan language group. Linguistically, Hindi and Urdu are the same language, yet Hindi is written in the Devanagari script and uses more Sanskrit words, whereas Urdu is written in the Persian script and uses more Persian words. The Devanagari script (देवनागरी लिपि devanāgarī lipi) also called Nagari, consists of 11 vowels and 33 consonants, and is written from left to right.
Writing system: Devanagari (Brahmic)
Official language in: India
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
Hebrew (or עִבְרִית/Ivrit, pronounced [ivˈrit]) is a West Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE, in the form of primitive drawings. Hebrew had ceased to be an everyday spoken language by around 200 CE, and survived into the medieval period only as the language of Jewish liturgy and rabbinic literature. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, is now the language of 9 million people worldwide, of whom 7 million are from Israel.
Writing system: Hebrew alphabet
Official language in: Israel
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
Gujarati language (or ગુજરાતી, pronounced [ɡudʒə’raːt̪i]) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the west Indian region of Gujarat. Its writing system is abugida (each symbol stays for a consonant) rather than an alphabet. 4.5% of population of India (1.21 billion according to 2011 census) speaks Gujarati, which amounts to 54.6 million speakers in India and 65.5 million speakers worldwide, making it the 26th most spoken native language in the world. Gujarati was the first language of Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel, the “Iron Man of India”.
Writing system: Gujarati alphabet (Brahmic)
Official language in: Gujarat, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli (India)
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
Greek langauge (or ελληνικά, pronounced [elini’ka] in Greek) has its origins in the Indo-European linguistic family and is the longest known language in history to be still officially spoken. The most ancient Greek text is dated back from 2500 – 1700 BC. The Greek language has made significant contributions to humanity in general, being the base of the Latin alphabet and numerous scientific terminologies as well as giving the world the canon of ancient Greek literature and its works of great value and importance.
Writing system: Greek alphabet
Official language in: Greece, Cyprus, European Union
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
The German language (or die Deutsche Sprache, pronounced [diː ˈdɔitʃe ‘ʃprahe] in German) derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. The first comprehensive guide to the words of the German language was written and published between 1852 and 1860 by Brothers Grimm. German is a pluricentric language, with multiple countries having their own standardised variants (e.g. Austrian German, Swiss Standard German) as well as many dialects.
Writing system: Latin (German alphabet)
Official language in: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol (Italy), Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Belgium, European Union (official and working language)
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
The Georgian language (or ქართული, pronounced [kɑr’tuli] in Georgian) is a Kartvelian language spoken by approximately 4.2 million people in Georgia, a country in the Caucasus. The language has its own unique writing system, known today as mkhedruli (military), which was developed as a consequence of the conversion of the Georgian elite to Christianity in the mid-4th century and constructed on the Aramaic tradition. The first Georgian texts are inscriptions and palimpsests dating to the 5th century.
Writing system: Georgian script
Official language in: Georgia
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
The French language (or la langue française, pronounced [la ‘læŋ frɑːn’se]) is currently spoken by approximately 350 million people around the world. It is one of the main Romance languages belonging to the Indo-European group and is official in 29 countries. From the 17th century to approximately the middle of the 20th century the French was the most important language of diplomacy and international relations.
Writing system: Latin (French alphabet)
Official language in: Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Vanuatu
Posted on: March 14th, 2014 by asapbademko No Comments
The Finnish language (or suomen kieli, pronounced [‘suɒmen kiː’eli] in Finnish] is the main official language of Finland, spoken by 93% of the country’s 5 million inhabitants. The other official language, Swedish, is spoken by around 6% of the population. Sami is an ancient Uralic language, dating back to 1000 BCE, which is spoken by around 2,000 people in northern Finland nowadays. Prior to the Middle Ages, Finnish was an oral language – its first comprehensive writing system for Finnish was created by Mikael Agricola, a Finnish bishop, in the 16th century.
Writing system: Latin (Finnish alphabet)
Official language in: Finland, European Union
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