<hw>Afrikaans</hw>A dialect of Dutch spoken in South Africa developed from the Dutch colonists in the 1600s featuring a variety of West Germanic, but with many loan words from Bantu and other languages. It became a written language in the late 19th century. In the Namaland region of south-west Africa there is an Afrikaans-based pidgin used in communication between tribesmen and Afrikaners.
<hw>Arabic</hw>Written from right to left, Arabic is a language of the South Semitic group within the Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken by over 150 million people as a mother-tongue, it has two forms: Colloquial Arabic, the vernacular variety spoken in countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Syria; and Classical Arabic, a common, standard written form and the language of the Koran.
<hw>Bengali</hw>One of the 500 Indo-Aryan languages (the easternmost branch of the Indo-European languages) spoken in North and Central India, Bengali is prevalent in the eastern regions along with Assamese. Together, these two languages are spoken by over 150 million people and are mutually intelligible with Hindi and Urdu, both prevalent in the north. 98% of Bangladesh residents use Bengali.
<hw>Bosnian</hw>Although from the same Balkan territory, Bosnian was not created from the frameworks of Serbian or Croatian, but instead, is closer to resembling Latin. Bosnian has suffered as a language in recent times due to the decision to make Serbo-Croatian the official language of the republics of the former Yugoslavia.
<hw>Bulgarian</hw>One of the dialects of the north-east branch of the Indo-European languages, Bulgarian is classed as South Slavic and has official status and a standard form. Spoken by about 8 million people throughout Bulgaria, the remainder use Turkish.
<hw>Burmese</hw>From the Sino-Tibetan family of languages, Burmese is the official language of Burma (now Republic of Myanmar). Although there are several ethnic groups with individual languages here, Burmese is recognised as the official language for media, education, business and intra-communications. Spoken by about 22 million people, Burmese sounds similar to Thai in that they are both tonal dialects.
<hw>Cantonese</hw>One of the eight major Chinese dialects (there are many minority languages), Cantonese is widely spoken in the south of China. Other Chinese dialects include Wu, Minbei, Minnan, Xiang, Gan, Hakka and, of course, Mandarin.
<hw>Croatian</hw>Within the Indo-European group of languages, Croatian is classified as Central South Slavic. In 1954, Croatian was deemed similar to Serbian and, amidst much political controversy, Serbo-Croatian became the official language of Yugoslavia. Today, Serbo-Croatian is spoken by about 18 million people in the republics of the former Yugoslavia and surrounding areas.
<hw>Danish</hw>One of the languages of the North Germanic branch of Indo-European, Danish is spoken by about 5 million people in Denmark, Germany and the USA. Along with Norwegian and Swedish, Danish is a continental Scandinavian language varying from the insular Scandinavian dialects, Icelandic and Faroese.
<hw>Dari</hw>Used by 25% of the population in Afghanistan, Dari is spoken by about 7 million people in various Afghan, Iranian and Pakistan provinces. From the Indo-Iranian family of languages, Dari is still taught in Afghan schools in the south-west, while Pashto is the preferred dialect elsewhere. Its formal style is closer to Tehrani Persian or Farsi .
<hw>Farsi</hw>One of the Iranian languages, a branch of the East Indo-European language family, spoken in the region of present-day Iran and Afghanistan. Modern Iranian languages are spoken by over 60 million people with Farsi being used by about 22 million. Old Farsi has been recorded since the 6th century BC.
<hw>French</hw>One of the Romance languages developed from the spoken form of Latin used throughout the Roman Empire, French is spoken by about 60-70 million people as a mother-tongue in France, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Luxenbourg, Monaco and many parts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. It is used as a second language by a further 200 million and is historically divided into Old, Middle and Modern French.
<hw>German</hw>Belonging to the West Germanic set of languages (also including English, Dutch and Frisian), German vernacular became established as a medium over Latin by the 12th century, although precursors of modern German stretch back to the 8th century. Part of the Indo-European languages, German is spoken by over 100 million people in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, parts of Eastern Europe, the Americas and South Africa.
<hw>Greek</hw>An Indo-European language. Mycenaean Greek has been found in 14c.BC Cretan inscriptions. Ancient Greek (8BC-4BC), Hellenistic or Koine ('common') Greek (4BC-AD 400), and Byzantine Greek (AD 400-1500) followed. Two main forms of Modern Greek are now used: Dimotiki ('popular language'), based on the spoken dialect; and Katharevusa ('pure language'), closely reflects the ancient language.
<hw>Hebrew</hw>A Semitic language which dates from around the 2nd millennium BC. Classical Hebrew is the written language of Judaism (most of the Old Testament was recorded in Hebrew), and its modern variety is the official language of the state of Israel. It is spoken by about 4 million people around the world.
<hw>Hindi</hw>Over 180 million people in India regard Hindi as their mother-tongue with another 300 million using it as a second language. Of the Indo-Aryan family of languages, Hindi features several dialects and is only distinguished from Urdu (the national language of Pakistan) on socio-political grounds.
<hw>Indonesian</hw>A division of the Austronesian languages, Bahasa Indonesia is the Malay dialect of the South Malay Peninsula, which has been the standard language of Malaysia since 1949. (Also called Bahasa Malayu.) It was first given official status by the Japanese occupiers during World War II. It is often referred to simply as Indonesian and is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia.
<hw>Italian</hw>One of the Romance languages developed from the spoken form of Latin used throughout the Roman Empire, Italian is spoken by about 60 million people in Italy and adjoining localities. This figure includes dialectical varieties, such as Sardinian and Rhaetian. Other regions that speak Italian include parts of North Africa and the Americas.
<hw>Japanese</hw>The relationship of Japanese to other languages is not certain, though it is thought to resemble the Altaic family. It is not related to Chinese, however, written records in Chinese characters (Kanji) dating back to the 8th century remain the basis of one of the Japanese writing systems. Japanese is spoken by about 118 million people in Japan and a further 2 million people elsewhere, mainly in Brazil and the USA.
<hw>Korean</hw>A language of uncertain origin, showing resemblances to the Altaic family and to Japanese. It is spoken by over 50 million people in North and South Korea (where it is the official language), China, Japan, and Russia.
<hw>Kurdish</hw>Derived from the Indo-European family of languages, Kurdish is the official language of the region Kurdistan. It is spoken by about 3 million people in Iraq and also in Iran, Turkey, Syria and the USA. Consisting of many dialects, Sorani is said to be the purest Kurdish.
<hw>Macedonian</hw>Macedonian is a South Slavic language divided into two large groups, the Western and the Eastern dialects. The literary form of the language was based on the Central district. Although the Roman alphabet is widely known, the Cyrillic alphabet is still prominent in Macedonia.
<hw>Magyar</hw>Magyar is spoken by approximately 15 million people in and around Hungary. It is not at all related to the Indo-European languages that surround this country, but actually belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family (which includes Finnish and Estonian) and is much closer to several obscure Siberian dialects.
<hw>Malay</hw>A division of the Austronesian languages, the dialect of the Malay Peninsula provides the modern standard language known as Bahasa Malayu. A pidginized form, Bazaar Malay, has been a lingua franca in the region for many centuries before the advent of Western trade and colonialism. A further variety, Baba Malay, is used by Chinese communities in Malaysia. It is estimated that about 19 million people speak Malay in all its forms.
<hw>Mandarin</hw>The chief Chinese dialect, Mandarin is spoken by 726 million in the North, West and Central China, and especially in Peking. Known as putonghua (literally 'common language')it is by far the most popular of the eight main Chinese dialects and was originally spoken by officials and educated people under the Manchu dynasty.
<hw>Pashto</hw>From the Indo-Iranian family of languages, various forms of Pashto are spoken widely around Afghanistan, particularly in the east, south and south-west. One of the two official languages taught in schools (the other being Dari), Pashto is spoken by about 8 million people in Afghanistan, 4 million in Tajikistan and thousands in Iran and United Arab Emirates.
<hw>Pilipino</hw>One of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, referred to locally as Tagalog. Featuring several different dialects, Tagalog is the official national language of the Phillipines and is spoken by about a quarter of the population.
<hw>Polish</hw>Part of the north-east branch of the Indo-European languages, Polish falls into the West Slavic category. It is spoken by about 40 million people in Poland and surrounding areas, as well as by emigrants in several parts of the world such as the UK and the USA.
<hw>Portuguese</hw>One of the Romance languages developed from the spoken form of Latin used throughout the Roman Empire, Portuguese is spoken by about 160 million people, mainly in Brazil, Portugal and parts of Africa.
<hw>Romanian</hw>The least widely used of the Romance languages, Romanian is the official language of Romania although French is also spoken there. Colonialism has dispersed the Romance languages throughout the world, so that over 700 million people now speak a Romance language or a Creole based one. Romanian was developed from the spoken form of Latin used throughout the Roman Empire.
<hw>Russian</hw>One of the dialects of the north-east branch of the Indo-European languages, Russian is classed as East Slavic and has official status and a standard form. Russian is spoken by about 150 million people as a mother-tongue and by a further 270 million as a second language throughout the republics of the former USSR. All the East Slavic languages are still written in Cyrillic script.
<hw>Serbian</hw>One of the Slavic or Slavonic languages, Serbian is spoken throughout the former Yugoslavia and surrounding areas. It uses both Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, although Cyrillic is the official script.
<hw>Somali</hw>The official language of Somalia, Somali (also called Ajuran) is spoken by approximately 8 million people in four countries - Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia. It belongs to the Cushitic group of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages.
<hw>Spanish</hw>One of the Romance languages developed from the spoken form of Latin used throughout the Roman Empire, Spanish is spoken by over 250 million people in Spain (they also speak Catalan, Galician and Basque), most Latin-American countries throughout Central and South America and by rapidly increasing numbers in the USA.
<hw>Swedish</hw>One of the languages of the North Germanic branch of Indo-European, Swedish is spoken by about 8.5 million people in Sweden, Finland and the USA. Along with Norwegian and Danish, Swedish is a continental Scandinavian language varying from the insular Scandinavian dialects, Icelandic and Faroese.
<hw>Thai</hw>The official language of Thailand, spoken by about 30 million people, with much dialectical variation. Its relationship with other language groups in neighbouring China and the Pacific is still unclear, however, there is written evidence of the language from the 13th century.
<hw>Turkish</hw>The Altaic languages are a hypothesized family of languages extending from the Balkan peninsula to the north-east of Asia and are not accepted as a genetic family by many linguists. About 40 languages fall into three groups, Turkic, Mongolian and Manchus-Tungus. Turkish is the main member of the Turkic group and is spoken by about 45 million people in and around Turkey.
<hw>Ukrainian</hw>One of the Slavic or Slavonic languages which form the north-east branch of the Indo-European languages. Ukrainian is spoken by 45 million people throughout the Ukraine (where it's the official language)and some republics of the former USSR.
<hw>Urdu</hw>The national language of Pakistan and one of the official languages of India. Urdu is one of the most widely spoken languages of South Asia and, in the UK, it is regarded as the major cultural language by most Muslims from Pakistan and North India. Essentially the same language as Hindi, 41 million people use it worldwide.
<hw>Vietnamese</hw>An Austro-Asiatic language, spoken in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by over 50 million people. A Latin-based alphabet, called Quoc-ngu (national language), was introduced in the 17th century. Annamese (from the former kingdom Annam, now part of Vietnam) is also considered part of the Vietnamese language.
<hw>Yiddish</hw>A language used by Eastern and Central European Jews and their descendants, developed from Old High German in the 9th century, and written using Hebrew characters. It flourished as a medium of literature in the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th century, but its literary use has diminished following the establishment of Hebrew as the official language of Israel.
