What are the origins of this fun-filled festive custom?
Some 2,400 of the world’s languages are in danger of becoming extinct. About one language becomes extinct every two weeks.
Ambigrams are words that look the same from different angles. For example, the word "swims" will look the same even when upside down. Similarly with "suns."
The Khmer language has the largest alphabet in the world, with a total of 74 letters, consisting of 33 consonants, 23 vowels, and 12 independent vowels.
Spoken in the autonomous communities of Navarre and the Basque Country across northern Spain and south-western France, the origin of the Basque language is completely mysterious. It has no known relation to any other language.
It's estimated that about 30% of English words come from French. The main influx of French words can be traced back to the Norman invasion of England in 1066.
In 1950, the Indian constitution declared Hindi as the official language of the union. Unless Parliament decided otherwise, the use of English for official purposes was to cease 15 years after the constitution came into effect.
Plural words are not individual words, but a combination of the word plus a number before it. In some cases, repetition of kanji indicates plurality.
Studies on monkeys support the idea that languages may have evolved to replace grooming as a better way of forging interpersonal bonds. Two other theories suggest that humans began to develop language by imitating natural sounds, or that it started with the emanation of involuntary sounds.
The Hawaiian language, also known as ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, is an important part of the native culture. The relationship between land and language is quite symbolic, which can be displayed in how many words exist for "rain" alone.
Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. If you speak it, you can speak to 13% of the world’s population.
Most linguists agree that language began around the time when modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa with modern skull shapes and vocal cords.
Current estimates predict that around 43% of people are bilingual, with a further 17% being multilingual.
The largest number of community languages in Europe can be found in London. Some of the most established are Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Hokkien.
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space, so it's no surprise that the first language ever spoken in space was Russian. He traveled in the Vostok 1 capsule on April 12, 1961.
South Africa's constitution recognizes 11 official languages: Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, and isiZulu.
Researchers have found that people who speak Mandarin use both sides of their brain to understand the language, whereas English only uses the left side.
After Mandarin, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. In total, 21 countries have Spanish as their official language.
The English word "alphabet" comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta. The modern English alphabet with 26 letters started in the 16th century. It had influences from the Semitic, Phoenician, Greek, and Roman scripts.
Pope Francis tweets in nine languages, but it's his Spanish-language account that has the most followers. The pontiff also tweets in English, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Latin, French, German, and Arabic.
The Bible is the most translated book, followed by 'Pinocchio' (1883). The beloved children's tale about the wooden boy has been translated into more than 260 languages.
The Papuan language of Rotokas has only 11 letters, making it the smallest alphabet in the world. It’s spoken by around 4,000 people in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
Based solely on dictionary entries, English is among the largest languages by word count. It has more than 250,000 words.
Sources: (Dynamic Language) (Language Trainers)
See also: History's greatest orators
The US has no official language; most people just assume it’s English. It's also the country with the second highest number of Spanish speakers, after Mexico.
William Shakespeare is credited with the invention and introduction of over 1,700 words that are still used in English today. Shakespeare used more than 20,000 words in his plays and poems.
Known as the Gomeran whistle, it's used by inhabitants of La Gomera, on the Canary Islands, to communicate across the deep ravines and narrow valleys of the island.
The world is an incredibly diverse place, which can be seen through its huge variety of languages. The most widely spoken languages are Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Hindi, in that order.
There are over 200 artificial languages in books, movies, and TV shows, such as Klingon ('Star Trek') and Quenya ('The Lord of the Rings'), the latter one of the many Elvish languages created by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Language is a complex and fascinating part of our lives that has evolved century after century. We all use it in some form or another, and truly the way we use languages are endless. Language has come a long way from the days of our early ancestors; some have died, and others developed into the languages we know of today.
So, want to discover some fascinating facts about languages, both past and present? Then check out this gallery.
Fascinating language facts you didn't know
For instance, did you know Hawaiians have over 200 different words for 'rain'?
LIFESTYLE Communication
Language is a complex and fascinating part of our lives that has evolved century after century. We all use it in some form or another, and truly the way we use languages are endless. Language has come a long way from the days of our early ancestors; some have died, and others developed into the languages we know of today.
So, want to discover some fascinating facts about languages, both past and present? Then check out this gallery.