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Some facts about the world's 6,800 tonguesEight countries account for more than half of all languages.
Papua New Guinea, 832 languages. The island of New Guinea, which the nation of Papua New Guinea shares with the Indonesian state of Irian Jaya, is home to just 0.1 percent of the world's population, yet its residents speak one-sixth of all languages, or some 1,100 tongues. More than 100 languages can be heard on the tiny archipelago of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific Ocean near Australia. It is home to about 190,000 people. India has 15 official languages, more than any other nation. The 10 most common first languages, and number of speakers:
Mandarin Chinese, 885 million.
Percentage of world's languages of Asian origin: 32 -- The Associated Press Sources: Worldwatch Institute, Summer Institute of Linguistics |
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