Just started this audiobook, enjoying and learning much...

“The world’s 20 biggest languages, which are the subject of this book, are causing the decline of hundreds, even thousands of smaller ones.”

"Among them, these 20 languages are the mother tongues of no less than half the population of the world. Take second-language speakers into account, and the numbers are much larger still. Again, the figures are debatable, but it’s safe to claim that at least 75 per cent of people on this planet are able to communicate in one of the Babel Twenty. A less pertinent but more exact figure would be this: over 90 per cent of humankind live in countries where one or more of the twenty are routinely used by central government."

20 Vietnamese | 85 million 19 Korean | 85 million 18 Tamil | 90 million 17 Turkish | 90 million 16 Javanese | 95 million 15 Persian | 110 million 13 Japanese | 130 million 12 Swahili | 135 million 11 German | 200 million 10 French | 250 million 9 Malay | 275 million 8 Russian | 275 million 7 Portuguese | 275 million 6 Bengali | 275 million 5 Arabic | 375 million 4 Hindi-Urdu | 550 million 3 Spanish | 575 million 2 Mandarin | 1.3 billion 1 English | 1.5 billion

Amazon.com: Babel: Around the World in Twenty Languages (Audible Audio Edition): Gaston Dorren, George Backman, Audible Studios: Books




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HAT Manifesto Part 1/3 - Rubric Cube - 241201 revision

Image
  HAT Manifesto part 1 of 3, December 1, 2024, always some edits… Rubric Cube Veracity and/or Efficacy Summary 1- The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds. - William James 2- All experience has shown mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. - Thomas Jefferson 3- Wherever good fortune enters, envy lays siege and attacks it. And when it departs, sorrow and repentance remain behind. - Leonardo da Vinci 4- Struggle is the indispensable accompaniment of progress. If men were entirely social, man would stagnate. A certain alloy of individualism and competition is required to make the human species survive and grow. Without qualities of an unsocial kind men might have led ...
Read more
  From article What 10 Years of U.S. Meddling in Ukraine Have Wrought (Spoiler alert: Not democracy). Aaron Mate. April 30, 2024. Section 2. Seeking to capitalize on the unrest in Ukraine in 2013, U.S. figures including State Department official Victoria Nuland, Republican Sen. John McCain, and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy visited Maidan Square. In a show of support for the movement’s hardline faction, which went beyond supporting the EU trade deal to demand Yanukovych’s ouster, the trio met privately with Tyahnybok and appeared with him on stage. The senators’ mission, Murphy said, was to “bring about a peaceful transition in ukraine.” … The Maidan Movement’s most significant U.S. endorsement came from then-Vice President Joe Biden. “Nothing would have greater impact for securing our interests and the world’s interests in Europe than to see a democratic, prosperous, and independent Ukraine in the region,” Biden said. According to Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian...
Read more
Image
  Weight at 163 pounds, got to 160 pounds five years ago and have recently been bouncing between 163 and 170. Common sense ways to lose and keep off weight are eat right and light and get lots of exercise. Main exercise is walking, do 1~2 miles most days. Over career worked as a salesman in the steelmaking, fasteners, and auto manufacturing industries, lots of travel in U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Japan. Have visited every U.S. city with a major league, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, sports team except Sacramento, have gotten as close as Travis Air Force Base. Often traveled on Sundays, much time on the road so could not eat right and get enough exercise so got heavy, up to 200 lbs. Was on commission and made enough to retire early, now eat right and light, get enough exercise, and now am spending most time reading and writing. Our Wick branch goes back to the brother of owner of the Wick House at Morristown National Historical Park in Morristown New Jersey and on back to Staines England. Have ...
Read more