American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States, where approximately two-thirds of the world’s native speakers of English live. The predominant accent of American English, free from regional, ethnic, or cultural distinctions, is known as General American. English is the common language used by the federal government and is considered the de facto language of the United States due to its widespread use. The use of English in the United States is a result of British colonization. The first wave of English-speaking settlers arrived in North America during the 17th century, followed by further migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Writing system: Latin script (English alphabet)
Official language in: 54 countries, 27 non-sovereign entities
Tigrinya (or ትግርኛ, pronounced [tɪˈɡriːnjə]) is an Afro-Asiatic language, belonging to the family’s Semitic branch. Tigrinya speakers primarily inhabit the Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia (65%), as well as the contiguous borders of southern Eritrea (35%). Tigrinya is written in the Ge’ez script, which is an abugida: each symbol represents a consonant+vowel syllable. The earliest written example of Tigrinya is a text of local laws found in the district of Logosarda, which dates from the 13th century.
Writing system: Tigrinya alphabet (Ge’ez script)
Official language in: Eritrea
Pashto language (or پښت, pronounced [ˈpəʃtoː]), alternatively spelled Pukhto, Pakhto or Pushto and also known historically as Afghani and Pathani, is the native language of the Pashtun people of South-Central Asia. Pashto is a member of the Eastern Iranian languages group and is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan along with Dari. Pashto employs the Pashto alphabet, primarily written in the Naskh script, which is a specific Arabic calligraphic style written using a small, very fine pen known as a cava pen.
Writing system: Arabic script (Pashto alphabet)
Official language in: Afghanistan
Papiamento (pronounced [pæpjəˈmɛntoʊ]/) is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean islands, having official status on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The language is also recognized on Bonaire by the Dutch government. It is derived from African and Portuguese languages with some influences from English, Dutch and Spanish. Papiamento has two main dialects: Papiamento, spoken primarily on Aruba; and Papiamentu, spoken primarily on Bonaire and Curaçao.
Writing system: Latin alphabet
Official language in: Aruba, Curaçao, Caribbean Netherlands
Nepali or Nepalese (नेपाली, pronounced [‘nepalɪ]), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately around 17 million people in Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and India. The language was first called the Khas language, then Gorkhali or Gurkhali before the term Nepali was taken. It is written with the Devanāgarī alphabet, derived from the Brahmi script in the 11th century AD. In use from the 7th century onward, Devanāgarī is characterized by long, horizontal strokes at the tops of the letters, usually joined to form a continuous horizontal line through the script when written.
Writing system: Devanagari script (Nepali alphabet)
Official language in: Nepal, India (in Sikkim and Darjeeling district of West Bengal)
The Kurdish languages (also Kurdî or کوردی, pronounced as [ku:’rdi:] in Kurdish) are several Iranian languages from the Indo-European family, spoken by the Kurds in western Asia (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan), of which Kurmanji Kurdish has the largest number of speakers, the other varieties being Sorani, Laki and Kermanshahi. Today, however, Kurdish is an official language only in Iraq. It is written using four different writing systems, depending on the geographic region.
Writing system: Latin (main); Arabic
Official language in: Iraq
Flemish (оr Belgisch-Nederlands, pronounced [ˈbɛl̪giʃ ˈn̪eːd̪ərl̪ɑn̪t̪s̪] in Flemish), also known as Belgian Dutch, is the Dutch language as spoken in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. The adjective Flemish (first attested as flemmysshe, c. 1325) meaning “from Flanders”, was probably borrowed from Old Frisian. There are four principal Dutch dialects in Flanders: Brabantian, East Flemish, West Flemish, and Limburgish. Generally Flemish includes more French loanwords in its everyday vocabulary than does Netherlands Dutch.
Written alphabet: Latin (Dutch alphabet)
Official language in: Flemish Region of Belgium
Afrikaans (pronounced [æfrɪˈkɑːns]) is a West Germanic language, spoken in South Africa and Namibia, and to a lesser extent in Botswana and Zimbabwe. It originated in the 18th century, from the dialects spoken by the Dutch settlers of what is now South Africa. Historically Afrikaans is a branch of Dutch, and in spite of the influences from Portuguese, Malay, and the Khoisan languages, an estimated 90 to 95% of its vocabulary is of Dutch origin. With about 7 million native speakers in South Africa, or 13.5% of the population, it is the third-most-spoken mother tongue in the country.
Writing system: Latin (Afrikaans alphabet)
Official language in: South Africa, Namibia
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