language

[eupraxia]

How many languages are there in use today in the entire world and How many countries are there.

Thanks for your time.

[jno]

about 6800 languages, says this site.

[bernardo]

It depends on how you define "language" and how much different they have to be to count as languages rather than dialects.  But the total number is something like 3,000 to 10,000 ish.  There are c. 195 countries in the world.

[maxi29]

It's expected that at least half of the world's languages will die out by the end of the century, with some linguists predicting that 90% will disappear.

[Quizmonster]

The problem with the number of languages is that not even linguists themselves agree on what "a language" actually is, as Bernardo says though around 7,000 seems to be most generally suggested.

As regards the number of countries, it is probably safest to go with 193. It depends, you see, on whose list you accept. The American Government, for example, does not recognise Taiwan, but most other countries do. The United Nations does not include the Vatican or Switzerland, though the people of the latter country recently voted to join.  (I am not sure whether that has now been completed.) Are Scotland, England and Wales three countries or just one as the bulk of the United Kingdom?  And so it goes on.
The figure of 193 includes the Vatican and Switzerland and treats the countries of the UK as one.
Another way to reach a conclusion is to consider the earth's various  hemispheres.  These are North/South and East/West.  Re North/South, the equator cuts through 12 countries, so they may be considered both northern and southern. There are 148 countries solely in the northern hemisphere and 33 solely in the southern.  Re East/West, the 0 degrees and 180 degrees lines cut 9 countries - including Britain - so they may be considered both eastern and western.  There are 135 countries solely in the eastern hemisphere and 49 solely in the western hemisphere.)  A bit of simple arithmetic now shows that a. 12 + 148 + 33 = 193 and b. 9 + 135 + 49 = 193, which is the total number of countries in the world.

[eupraxia]

Thanks to all of you. Jno thats an interesting site. Thats more languages than I thought. I was expecting more countries. Still 193 is enough to be going on with. Does this include all the seperate countries with in Africa. Why doesn't America recognise Tiawan. Is it not on their maps or something. The Vatican is, like Monoco ( hope thats the right spelling), is a princapality, Never understood what that means reallyI tried, with a globe, to count the countries myself but I have always come up with different totals or I lose count althogether.

[jno]

about Taiwan... it claims to be more or less independent of China (depending which party is in power) but China insists it is a rebel-held province that must be reunited with it. The USA needs to be friendly with China (which is a potentially big export market) and so refuses to acknowledge Taiwan as a separate country, following the Chinese line. The island of Taiwan is shown on maps, it's just that the US government doesn't properly recognise the Taiwanese administration.

Most countries accept the Vatican and Monaco (and San Marino and Andorra) as independent countries, though they're tiny. The 193 (or so) will include all the countries of Africa, but perhaps not colony-type places like Gibraltar or those Caribbean islands that are regarded as part of France. Britain is mostly regarded as one country but as Quizmonster points out it could be seen as three, and maybe that will come about as Scotland and Wales win more autonomy (they have their own football teams, after all). So none of this is hard and fast.

[jno]

PS I did read recently about a language - sorry, I've no idea of its name - that died out not long ago in the Amazon region - apparently the last speaker of it was a parrot! This was said to be a true story, though I can't vouch for it myself.