Language is the greatest medium of communication and expression, whether written or spoken. This article is about Oldest languages.
Man invented language to express his needs and thoughts and to communicate with others. At first, gestures were used, but soon humans realised that this resource was insufficient.
Despite the amazing diversity of languages in letters, pronunciation, and history of origin, we have no yardstick by which any language can be dated. However, it is accepted that languages that have been around for 500 years are old.
Number of languages spoken worldwide
According to Siddithi magazine, it is not possible to give a final answer to the question regarding the number of languages in the world.
According to an official survey conducted in this regard, 6809 languages are spoken worldwide.
Ninety percent of them are languages whose number of speakers is less than one hundred thousand.
There are 357 languages with less than 50 speakers.
46 languages are that will become extinct in the next few years if a human is found to speak them.
There are 150 to 200 languages with more than a million speakers.
History of some ancient languages in use today
Egyptian: practised from 2600 BC till today, its age is about 4700 years.
Sanskrit: From 1500 BC to the present day Its age is about 3500 years.
Greek: around 3500 years old, prevalent since 1450 BC.
Chinese: It has been around since 1250 BC and is 3300 years old.
Aramaic: It has been alive since eleven hundred BC; its age is about 3100 years.
Hebrew has been in use since 1000 BC and is still around 3000 years old.
Persian: It started in 800 AD. It is speak in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and other regions. Its age is around 2500 years.
Tamil: Introduced in 30.0 BC. Spoken in India, Singapore, and Sri Lanka. Its history is older than Sanskrit; its age is around 2300 years.
Korean: existed since 57 BC. Age is around 2100 years.
Italian (Latin): Born in 75 BC. Still the official language of Poland and the Vatican, it is 2100 years old.
Arabic is one of the Semitic language. It is speak in the Arab world as well as in Turkey, Iran, Chad, Mali, Senegal, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. 1060 years old; its origins are much older than that.
