Breaking the Language Barrier
K-12 Program
Welcome!!
Bienvenidos!!
Willkommen!!
Bienvenue!!
tÝnh tõ!!
Language today is an important aspect of every culture. Each language, in its unique way, introduces us to the rich aspect of a native countries culture, civilization, and sophistication. When asking where languages come from many of us think well German comes from Germany, French from France, etc. Actually, if we go back a few thousand years those languages were not even heard of in respect to that country or area of land. More specifically, some of those languages did not even exist.
It appears that the use of language came from several different places. Today, there are more than 6,000 languages spoken throughout the world. The top languages are Chinese because of sheer population as number one, English and Spanish are about tied for second place, French and Arabic are about tied for third, and Russian and Hindi follow close behind. Today, languages are important in any aspect of business, travel, culture, and mere communication. Language, whether English, French, Swahili, or Hindi, is what distinguishes humans from every other animal species. It is a mere phenomenon and still to this day no language less community has ever been found. Continue on in the language section to discover your roots and pick a few words in other languages. There are several resources listed here to help you on your language journey.
This is a great site showing translation for the numbers 1 - 10 in 200 different languages. Languages in red are the twelve languages with the greatest number of speakers-- over 100 million or so. Take a look, especially at the red languages and have students learn to count in several different languages.
http://www.zompist.com/million.htm
This second link offers a variety of activities for learning the numbers in other languages. This site primarily focuses on Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian. This is also geared toward students in the K-3 level.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/languages/
At this site you can learn how to say several words and phrases in hundreds of different languages. Jennifer's goal is to include every language, so that people will be able to say at least a few words to anyone they meet, anywhere in the world.
http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/