As of today, the world has 7164 languages, according to Ethnologue. A staggering third of these languages are endangered and only spoken by very few people, 1000 speakers at best. What’s even more serious is that more than 50% of the world’s population is covered by 23 major languages.
Languages appeared about 100.000 years ago and have been evolving ever since. They are always in a state of flux; some die out and some branch out and give us more languages. Exceptionally, some languages have survived long periods and erosion and made it to the modern world. Here are 10 of the oldest languages that are still spoken today:
1. Hebrew:
- Year: 10th century BCE.
- Country: Israel.
- Number of speakers: 9 M.
2. Basque:
- Year: Unknown.
- Country/region: Basque.
- Number of speakers: ~750,000 people.
3. Arabic:
- Year: 1000 BCE.
- Country: Countries of the Arab League.
- Number of speakers: 310 M.
4. Tamil:
- Year: 300 BCE.
- Country: India and Sri Lanka.
- Number of speakers: ~80 M.
5. Persian/Farsi:
- Year: 600 BCE.
- Country: Iran.
- Number of speakers: ~110 M.
6. Greek:
- Year: 1450-1350 BCE.
- Country: Greece.
- Number of speakers: 13 M.
7. Chinese:
- Year: 1250 BCE.
- Country: China and parts of Southeast Asia.
- Number of speakers: 1.2 Billion.
8. Lithuanian:
- Year: 1500 AD.
- Country: Baltic region.
- Number of speakers: ~ 3 M.
9. Icelandic:
- Year: 1100 AD.
- Country: Iceland.
- Number of speakers: 358,000 people.
10. Irish Gaelic:
- Year: 4 Century AD.
- Country: Ireland.
- Number of speakers: 1.2 M.
Language is the archive of history.Ralph Waldo Emerson
