All about language. Language popularity around the world and language terms. Language facts on Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and many other languages.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Official languages of the Philippines
The official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and English.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Portuguese word televisão
You may already know the Portuguese word televisão. It is spelled television in English.
Portuguese alphabet
The Portuguese alphabet has 26 letters.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
Case distinction in Arabic
Arabic does not have a case distinction. There are no upper or lower case letters.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
North Germanic languages
North Germanic languages are known as Scandinavian languages. They are from Europe. Some of them are Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish.
Germanic languages
Germanic languages are from Europe. They are divided into North, West, and East Germanic. East Germanic languages are now extinct. Germanic languages have over 400 million speakers. Some of them are English, German, Danish, Swedish, and Dutch.
West Germanic languages
West Germanic languages are from Europe. Some of them are German, English, and Dutch.
Romance languages
The Romance languages are known as the Latin languages; languages that are from Latin. Some of them are Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Italian.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Dutch word blauw
You may already know the Dutch word blauw. It is a color. It is spelled blue in English.
Dutch word banaan
You may already know the Dutch word banaan. It is a fruit. It is spelled banana in English.
Dutch word peer
You may already know the Dutch word peer. It is a fruit. It is spelled pear in English.
Dutch word appel
You may already know the Dutch word appel. It is a fruit. It is spelled apple in English.
Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script is a writing system that is based on Early Cyrillic. The Belarusian language, Russian, Ukrainian, and many other languages use it.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Hangul syllabic block rule
Every Hangul syllabic block must have at least one consonant and one vowel.
Kanji kun’yomi reading
The kanji kun'yomi reading is the Japanese reading that closely approximates the meaning of the Chinese character; a Japanese equivalent word to that meaning would get associated with that character. As with on'yomi, there can be multiple kun'yomi readings for the same kanji. Some kanji may have no kun'yomi readings.
Kanji on’yomi reading
The kanji on’yomi reading is the Chinese reading of the character; the original sounds they make in the Chinese language at the time the character was introduced. The sound is also based on the area it was imported from. Since Japanese and Chinese languages have different sounds, the sounds that Japan gave to these characters are a close approximation of the original Chinese pronunciation. Some kanji were introduced from different parts of China at different times, and they have multiple on'yomi readings. They many also have different meanings. Almost all of the kanji characters have on'yomi readings except for most of the kanji that were developed in Japan.
Writing Hangul
The Korean Hangul alphabet is written in syllabic blocks. Each block must have at least two letters.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Top five languages
The top five languages by total number of speakers are: Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, Hindi, and Arabic.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Korean script
The Korean alphabet Hangul can be translated to mean "Korean script" or "great script".
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Hanzi
The Chinese characters are called hanzi. They are logograms used in the writing of the Chinese language.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Official language of the Dominican Republic
The official language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
Mandarin Chinese tones
In Mandarin Chinese, there are four tones. The examples for the Chinese word ma are below.
In the first tone, mā means mother
In the second tone, má means hemp
In the third tone, mǎ means horse
In the fourth tone, mà means scold
When there is no tone mark, it is sometimes referred to as a neutral tone or fifth tone. If there is no tone mark, ma means a question.
In the first tone, mā means mother
In the second tone, má means hemp
In the third tone, mǎ means horse
In the fourth tone, mà means scold
When there is no tone mark, it is sometimes referred to as a neutral tone or fifth tone. If there is no tone mark, ma means a question.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Official languages of India
The official languages of India are Hindi and English.
Labels:
English Language,
Hindi Language,
Official Languages
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Latin script
The Latin script is a writing system that is based on the classical Latin alphabet. The English language, French, German, Italian, and many other languages use it.
Simplified and traditional Chinese characters
Simplified and traditional Chinese characters are two sets of Chinese logographic characters. In the 1950s and 1960s, a number of characters were simplified by the Chinese government. This was done in order to make them easier to learn. The traditional Chinese characters require more strokes to write than the simplified ones. Taiwan and Hong Kong though still use the traditional Chinese characters.
Pinyin
Pinyin is the system for transcribing the sound of Chinese characters into the Latin script alphabet.
Chinese characters
The Chinese language does not have an alphabet. It uses Chinese characters (hanzi) which are logograms. These number in the tens of thousands. Only a few thousand though are necessary for reading.
Dutch alphabet
The Dutch alphabet has 26 letters.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
Swedish alphabet
The Swedish alphabet has 29 letters.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Å, Ä, Ö
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Å, Ä, Ö
Polish alphabet
The Polish alphabet has 32 letters. There are 23 consonants and 9 vowels.
A, Ą, B, C, Ć, D, E, Ę, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ó, P, R, S, Ś, T, U, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ż,
A, Ą, B, C, Ć, D, E, Ę, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ó, P, R, S, Ś, T, U, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ż,
Italian alphabet
The Italian alphabet has 21 letters. There are 16 consonants and 5 vowels.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Z
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Z
Hebrew is written right to left
The Hebrew language is written from right to left, not left to right.
German alphabet
The German alphabet has 26 letters.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
French alphabet
The French alphabet has 26 letters.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet has 28 letters.
غ ,ظ ,ض ,ذ ,خ ,ث ,ت ,ش ,ر ,ق ,ص ,ف ,ع ,س ,ن ,م ,ل ,ك ,ي ,ط ,ح ,ز ,و ,ه ,د ,ج ,ب ,أ
غ ,ظ ,ض ,ذ ,خ ,ث ,ت ,ش ,ر ,ق ,ص ,ف ,ع ,س ,ن ,م ,ل ,ك ,ي ,ط ,ح ,ز ,و ,ه ,د ,ج ,ب ,أ
Friday, May 24, 2013
Italian word spaghetti
You may already know the Italian word spaghetti. It is a long and thin pasta.
Spanish alphabet
The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
English alphabet
The English alphabet has 26 letters. There are 21 consonants and 5 vowels.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
Russian alphabet
The Russian alphabet has 33 letters. It uses the Cyrillic script.
А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я
А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, Ё, Ж, З, И, Й, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ш, Щ, Ъ, Ы, Ь, Э, Ю, Я
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Learning Japanese language
The best learn order for learning the Japanese language is: hiragana, katakana, and then kanji. Romaji is also sometimes used at first for non-speakers of the language.
Dakuten and handakuten
Dakuten ゛ (also called ten-ten ("dot dot") and handakuten ゜ (also called maru ("circle") are two signs that are used in the Japanese kana syllabaries hiragana and katakana to change the sounds of some of the characters. They are written after the character. Ten-ten is used more than maru.
An example is the katakana character ハ ha.
It becomes バ ba with ten-ten added. It becomes パ pa with maru added.
An example is the katakana character ハ ha.
It becomes バ ba with ten-ten added. It becomes パ pa with maru added.
Romaji
Using the Latin script alphabet to write Japanese is called romaji in Japan. Romaji is used for non Japanese speakers who can't read kanji or the kana scripts hiragana and katakana. It is used in dictionaries and textbooks and other places. It is also used to input text into computers.
Kanji
Kanji are adopted logographic (logograms are visual symbols that represent a part of a word or whole word) Chinese characters which are used in the Japanese language along with hiragana and katakana. Several thousand kanji are in regular use in Japan.
Japanese language scripts
The Japanese language uses two syllabic scripts; hiragana and katakana. These are known as kana and are modified Chinese characters.
Kanji is also used. Kanji are adopted logographic Chinese characters. Several thousand kanji are in regular use in Japan.
The Latin script alphabet is also used. Using the Latin script alphabet to write Japanese is called romaji in Japan. Romaji is used for non-Japanese speakers who can't read kanji or the kana scripts hiragana and katakana. It is used in dictionaries and textbooks and other places. It is also used to input text into computers.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Official language of China
The official language of China is Standard Chinese. This is also known as Mandarin or Modern Standard Chinese.
American Sign Language
American Sign Language is a language used by the deaf. It uses signs made by the hands along with facial expressions and posture. The language has a hand and finger position for every letter in the English language. It is mostly used in the United States and Canada.
Official language of the United States
The United States does not have an official language, but English is the most spoken language followed by Spanish.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Modern Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic is used today in newspapers, magazines, television, modern literature, and formal speech. Modern Standard Arabic is easier than Classical Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic is based on the Classical Arabic language.
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic is the language of the Quran. It is used in older literary texts. It is mostly a written language today than a spoken one. Classical Arabic is harder than Modern Standard Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic is the Arabic language in use today. It is based on the Classical Arabic language.
Spanish question mark
In questions, the question mark in Spanish is used at the beginning and end of sentences. ¿Qué hora es?
German word kindergarten
You may already know the German word kindergarten. It means children's garden.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Spanish language in UN
Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The others are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, and Russian.
Russian language in UN
Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The others are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish.
French language in UN
French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The others are Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian, and Spanish.
English language in UN
English is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The others are Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.
Chinese language in UN
Chinese is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The others are Arabic, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
Arabic language in UN
Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The others are Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
Arabic is written right to left
The Arabic language is written from right to left, not left to right.
First language
A first language is a language that a person has learned from when they were born. A first language is also called a native language.
Native language
A native language is a language that a person has learned from when they were born. A native language is also called a first language.