Hi.today I want to tell you some facts about languages that will surprise you. 1) There are 2,700 languages with over 7,000 individual dialects spoken around the world today. The most widely spoken languages are Chinese, Spanish, English, in that order. Chinese, the most spoken language around the world, has over 50,000 characters. But you only need to know 2,000 of those characters to be able to read the newspaper. 2) Every two weeks, another language or dialect goes extinct. There are over 231 completely extinct languages, and 2,400 of the world’s languages are considered to be in danger of dying out. 3) The Bible is the most widely translated book available in 2,454 different languages. Pinocchio is a close second. But the world’s most translated author is Agatha Christie. 4) The language with the most extensive alphabet in the world belongs to the Cambodian language Khmer and is 74 characters long. The shortest alphabet is 12 characters long and belongs to Rotokas. The language with the most words, however, is English, boasting over 250,000 words. 5) Over 300 languages are spoken in the United States, but South Africa holds the record for the country with the most official languages (11). In the United States, 21% of citizens five years and older speak another language other than English at home. Of that 21 percent, 62% speak Spanish. 6) The oldest known languages include Sanskrit, Sumerian, Hebrew, and Basque. But, the only reason we really know this is because there is a written record of those languages. 7) Learning a second language can make you smarter. Many scientists agree that becoming a polyglot can boost your brainpower. Other studies also suggest that speaking more than one language can help to slow down the aging process of the mind. 8) Languages are constantly influencing each other. The English language is 28.3% French, adapting words through lexical borrowings. This is particularly true when we think about ballet.