Global Language

It is difficult to tell exactly how many languages there are in the world today. (SCIENCE) say there are about 2,700 languages, but no one has ever made a more definite count. In most countries there are at least two native languages, and in some cases — as in Cameroon — there are hundreds. The number of languages (NATURAL) changes as tribes die out or linguistic groups are absorbed. Nowadays, globalization influences the (DEVELOP) of languages. New words appear, existing words acquire new meanings, native words give way to international terms. Almost all languages change. A rare exception is written Icelandic, which has changed so little that (SPEAK) of modern Icelandic can read sagas written a thousand years ago. If you drew a map of Europe based on languages, it would be different from a conventional map. For example, Switzerland would practically (APPEAR), becoming part of the surrounding areas of French, Italian, and German. Italy, too, would appear on the map not as one language, but as a whole (VARY) of broadly related but often mutually incomprehensible dialects.