Split into groups. Make up presentation about different languages. Browse the Internet to find some more data related to languages

Match the paragraphs with their titles.

A	Which are the hardest languages to learn?
B	Artificial languages
C	Alphabets from A to Z
D	Languages in the world
E	A native language
F	How many languages are there in the world?
G	Endangered languages
H	What are the most spoken foreign languages?

Project work

Here are some more facts and statistics about languages we speak. Enjoy reading them!

ü There are only two living speakers of the Ayapaneco language, spoken in the state of Tabasco in Mexico. The two speakers refuse to speak to one another!

ü In nearly every language around the world, the word for "mother" begins with an m sound. Some exceptions can be found in the Uralic language group.

ü China has more English speakers than the United States.

ü In some Inuit (Eskimo) languages, a noun can have over 1,000 forms.

ü In order to read intelligently books in their native language, Chinese pupils must be familiar with 1,000 different signs.

ü The language of the Khoi-Khoin tribe in South Africa consists of clicks, clacks, and kissing sounds, and is spoken by breathing in instead of out.

ü Beware of bottles labelled "Gift" in Germany. In German, Gift means poison!

ü In most languages, just 200 words comprise are enough for an average conversation.

ü In the Inuktitut language, spoken by the Inuit (Eskimo), there are 14 words for snow: anuigaviniq (very hard, compressed, or frozen snow), apijaq (snow covered by bad weather), apigiannagaut (the first snowfall of autumn), katakartanaq (snow with a hard crust that yields when stepped upon), kavisilaq (snow roughened by rain or frost), kinirtaq (damp, compact snow), mannguq (melting snow), masak (wet, falling snow), matsaaq (partially-melted snow), natiruvaaq (drifting snow), pukak (crystalline snow that breaks down and separates like salt), qannialaaq (light-falling snow), qiasuqaq (snow that has thawed and refrozen with an icy surface), and qiqumaaq (snow whose surface has frozen after a spring thaw). Of course, the English language has many words for snow as well, such as "snow", "slush", "powder", "flakes", and the like.

ü The Guinness Book of Records lists Harold Williams – the foreign editor of The Times – as the world’s greatest linguist, speaking 58 languages. He was born in Christchurch on April 6, 1876 and died November 18, 1928.

STATISTICS

ü How long have languages existed: Since about 100,000 BC

ü First language ever written: Sumerian or Egyptian (about 3200 BC)

ü Oldest written language still in existence: Chinese or Greek (about 1500 BC)

ü Language with the most words: English, approx. 250,000 distinct words

ü Language with the fewest words: Taki Taki (also called Sranan), 340 words.

ü Language with the largest alphabet: Khmer (74 letters).

ü Language with the shortest alphabet: Rotokas (12 letters) spoken in Papua New Guinea.

ü Language with the fewest consonant sounds: Rotokas (6 consonants)

ü Language with the most consonant sounds: Ubyx (81 consonants). This language of the North Causasian

ü Language family, once spoken in the Haci Osman village near Istanbul, has been extinct since 1992. Among living languages, !Xóõ has the most consonants (77).

ü Language with the fewest vowel sounds: Ubyx (2 vowels). The related language Abkhaz also has 2 vowels in some dialects. There are approximately 106,000 Abkhaz speakers living primarily in Georgia.

ü Language with the most vowel sounds: !Xóõ (31 vowels)

ü The most widely published language: English

ü Language with the fewest irregular verbs: Esperanto (none)

ü Language which has won the most Oscars: Italian (12 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film)

ü The most translated document: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written by the United Nations in 1948, has been translated into 321 languages and dialects.

ü The most common consonant sounds in the world's languages: /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, /n/

ü Longest word in the English language: pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters)

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Дата добавления: 2014-12-23