From the dawn of humans,we've been communicating with each other through spoken words and written texts. The earliest signs of languages are present in Sumeria, in (of course) Sumerian and Cuneiform. Both of these are ancient languages, as old as 3000 B.C! Imagine, people were able to speak and write that far back in history. It gives an amazing scope at how long languages have connected us.
Now, I'm going to skip a few millenniums and talk about our modern languages, which you're probably more familiar with. Note that these are in no particular order, they're simply languages I find interesting.
Mandarin
你会说中文吗? Mandarin is the most common language worldwide, with about 955 million speakers. That's 14% of the world! It uses isograms, meaning different symbols mean different words in Mandarin. It's not an easy language to learn, as you can tell. But nowadays, more and more people are learning it in order to gain economic partnerships in the workplace. Of course, others learn it simply because of the experience. You'll find it spoken in places like China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Check out this TED Talk about learning Chinese!
Korean
한국말 하실 줄 아세요? Korean is spoken in Korea, and is also the most common second-language in Japan. It's often been praised for it's very simple writing system, Hangul (한글), which was created and instituted in Korea by Sejong the Great in 1443. I can attest for this, I managed to learn the alphabet in a day! Whether you're obsessed with Kpop, want a top electronics jobs, or want to become a pro LoL player, Korean is definitely worth checking out.
Do you know who these Korean guys are?
Xhosa
Uyakwazi ukuthetha isiXhosa? You probably don't, but if you do please show me it sometimes! Jumping from Asia to Africa, Xhosa is an original language spoken in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It's unique and known for it's "clicking" sounds in speech. There are many dialects, but Xhosa is one that stands out to me the most.
Check out this Xhosa song!
Klingon
tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'? Traveling to the planet Kronos, Klingon is - wait what? Let's start over. Klingon is a fictional language created by Mark Okrand, for used in the hit film series "Star Trek". In the films, Klingon is spoken by an alien race appropriately named the Klingons. Okrand purposely created Klingon to sound alien, giving it a distinct nasal syntax. Outside of the film, Klingon is rarely spoken casually. However, it's often popular at conventions and fan meetings. Klingon is a great example of how language is not limited to what is evolved.
A Klingon.
These are just a few examples of languages, of course, There are tons of languages out there, and I encourage you to learn or learn about some of them! You never know when knowledge of a few words or phrases may come in handy, and it's also good to be aware of other cultures. Well, until next time. Au revoir! さようなら! 안녕! Paálam! Tạm biệt! Adiós! Goodbye!
Wow, I've heard of Star Trek but never Klingon, that was new. You had several examples of different languages, but I would have preferred if you went into their importance a bit more. Languages are a key factor in the business world and traveling, not just for fan meetings or earning a position as a technician in Korea. For example, my parents had me learn English, Spanish, and Mandarin as a child in order to give me the basis of something life is subconsciously based around, talking. By the time I graduate from college, hopefully I'll have one more vernacular down, maybe it'll be Xhosa.
ReplyDeleteI love your post! I'm also very fascinated with different languages and cultures and I love learning about them. I did not know that Klingon was an actual language that's so interesting there's also Minionese, the language of the Minions in Despicable Me, have you heard about that? I really liked how you included videos of the languages so we could get to listen to them and I like how you actually wrote in those languages too. Is the Korean alphabet really that easy? I really want to look into it and try and teach myself now.
ReplyDeleteKLINGON YES. My inner geek came out reading that paragraph. When you said you learned the Korean alphabet in a day, I was quite surprised; I never knew different languages could be so simple (as you say), especially the East Asian languages, their writing system always scared me with their apparent complexities. I've always been sort of confined to using English - and poor Spanish - since that is the primary language of both my ethnic backgrounds, however after reading your post, I think I might give a couple other languages a try, maybe learn some basic phrases and such. Very interesting post.
ReplyDelete