China the Beautiful

[chinapage]

How many languages are there in the world?

Hard to tell. Possibly more than 415 according to
one web site.

If you wish to learn to speak just 4 sentences in
these languages, go to:

http://www.travelphrases.info/

Have fun.

[Mulan]

Hi,
you must know that there are a lot of languages in the world. According to http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=area it is up to 7000 ... ! It could be even more.
It also depends in the definition of a language. One example: The low German "Plattdeutsch" is normally considered as a dialect - but in the constitution of the German federal land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern it is an official language together with German. Or look at the different Chinese languages written with Chinese characters, like the Mandarin, Kantonese or the Hong Kong Chinese... Only the spelling allows the people to understand each other.

Bye!
Mulan

[Aolung]

Dear Ming,

there are of course many more languages than just those mentioned there. (Many many are endangered, though! And it'll be a tremendous loss for mankind.)

I once ran into that site too - and tried to coin some sentences according to the model given (yet, never sent them to that site ).

Here they are:


Lakota:

Oyanke mitawa kin tuktel han hwo/he?
Mniwanca huta kin tuktel hpaya hwo/he?
Mniwakan tipi kin tuktel han hwo/he?
Hel mayutan sni yo!

Burgenland-Romany:

Kaj hi mro kher?
Kaj hi o schtraund (baro paj)?
Kaj hi o kotschma?
Ma vastar man aun adaj!

Magyar:

Hol van a szobám?
Hol van a strand?
Hol van a bár?
Ne nyúlj hozzám!

Româneste:
Unde este camera mea? (Unde-i camera mea?)
Unde este plaja? (Unde-i plaja?)
Unde este barul? (Unde-i barul?)
Nu mã atinge acolo!

Lojban:

ma stuzi le mi kumfa
ma stuzi le canxaskoi
ma stuzi le barja
.oi ko na pencu mi fo ta



Regards

Alfred