Latest / Kidcast Daily / Ep182: Top spoken languages of the world

Transcript

Ep182: Top spoken languages of the world · Kidcast Daily

• 0:08
  Spin the wheel, let's take a ride.
• 0:11
  Sports and science bursting from inside a world of wonder.
• 0:17
  Open wide. Come on kids, let's amplify kid
• 0:22
  cats. Daily starts yours.
• 0:25
  Welcome to Kick Ass Daily, where we bring news, trivia, fun
• 0:29
  facts, and more just for curious kids like you.
• 0:32
  Today, we're going on a journey around the world using only our
• 0:35
  voices and our ears. That's right, we're exploring
• 0:39
  the world's most spoken languages.
• 0:42
  Language is how people share their thoughts, feelings, and
• 0:45
  stories. Imagine walking through a busy
• 0:48
  market, visiting a new school, or traveling to another country.
• 0:52
  Everywhere you go, you'll hear people speaking in different
• 0:55
  ways. That's because there are
• 0:57
  thousands of languages spoken all around the world.
• 1:00
  Let's start by answering a big question.
• 1:03
  What does it mean for a language to be most spoken?
• 1:06
  Usually this means the language is used by a lot of people
• 1:10
  either as their first language, the one they learn from birth,
• 1:13
  or as a second language which they learn later.
• 1:16
  Some languages are spoken all over the world, while others are
• 1:19
  used mostly in certain countries or regions.
• 1:23
  So which languages are the most spoken?
• 1:26
  Let's count down some of the top ones.
• 1:28
  First up is English. English is used in many
• 1:31
  countries like the United States, the United Kingdom,
• 1:35
  Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
• 1:37
  It's also an official language in places like India, Nigeria
• 1:41
  and South Africa. About 1.5 billion people around
• 1:45
  the world can speak English either as their first or second
• 1:48
  language. That's almost one in every five
• 1:51
  people on Earth. Next is Mandarin Chinese.
• 1:55
  Mandarin is the official language of China and Taiwan,
• 1:58
  and it's one of the official languages in Singapore.
• 2:01
  Over a billion people speak Mandarin as their native
• 2:04
  language. That means if you walk through a
• 2:06
  busy city in China like Beijing or Shanghai, you'll hear
• 2:10
  Mandarin everywhere, from classrooms and shops to homes
• 2:13
  and playgrounds. Hindi is another widely spoken
• 2:16
  language. It's one of the main languages
• 2:19
  in India and is spoken by hundreds of millions of people.
• 2:22
  Hindi is used in Bollywood movies, on television and in
• 2:26
  daily life all across northern and central India.
• 2:29
  Now let's talk about Spanish. Spanish is the main language in
• 2:33
  Spain, Mexico and most countries in Central and South America
• 2:37
  like Argentina, Colombia and Peru.
• 2:40
  Over 500 million people speak Spanish worldwide.
• 2:44
  If you ever eat tacos, burritos or paya, you're enjoying food
• 2:48
  from Spanish speaking cultures. Another big language is Arabic.
• 2:53
  Arabic is spoken in countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq
• 2:57
  and Morocco. It's the language of the Quran,
• 3:00
  the holy book of Islam. Arabic has many different
• 3:03
  versions called dialects. So the way people speak Arabic
• 3:06
  and Egypt might sound different from the Arabic you hear in
• 3:09
  Morocco. Bengali is another important
• 3:11
  language. It's the main language in
• 3:13
  Bangladesh and is also spoken in parts of India, especially in
• 3:17
  the state of West Bengal. About 230 million people speak
• 3:21
  Bengali. Portuguese is spoken in Portugal
• 3:24
  and Brazil and also in a few countries in Africa.
• 3:28
  Brazil is the largest country in South America and most people
• 3:31
  there speak Portuguese. Now let's zoom in on 2 languages
• 3:35
  from India that are also widely spoken, Tamil and Telugu.
• 3:39
  Let's start with Tamil. Tamil is one of the oldest
• 3:42
  languages in the world that people still speak today.
• 3:45
  It has a history going back more than 2000 years.
• 3:49
  Tamil is the main language in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu,
• 3:52
  and it's also spoken in Sri Lanka and Singapore.
• 3:56
  About 80 million people speak Tamil.
• 3:59
  Did you know that Tamil has its own script?
• 4:01
  That means it has a special way of writing with unique letters
• 4:04
  that look very different from English or Hindi.
• 4:07
  Tamil is used in literature, movies, music and even in
• 4:11
  technology. There are Tamil websites, apps
• 4:14
  and newspapers. Now let's talk about Telugu.
• 4:17
  Telugu is spoken mostly in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh
• 4:21
  and Telangana. More than 80 million people
• 4:24
  speak Telugu, making it one of the most spoken languages in
• 4:27
  India and the world. Telugu is known as the Italian
• 4:30
  of the East because it has lots of words that end with vowels,
• 4:34
  which gives it a musical sound. Telugu also has its own script
• 4:38
  with beautiful rounded letters. If you see Telugu writing, it
• 4:43
  looks very different from Tamil, Hindi or English.
• 4:46
  Did you know that both Tamil and Telugu are Dravidian languages?
• 4:50
  That means they belong to a group of languages that have
• 4:52
  been spoken in southern India and parts of Sri Lanka for
• 4:55
  thousands of years. Some other Dravidian languages
• 4:58
  are Kannada and Malayalam. Let's take a quick trip to see
• 5:02
  how many languages can be spoken in just one country.
• 5:05
  In India, there are more than 20 official languages and hundreds
• 5:09
  of smaller languages and dialects.
• 5:11
  In one city, you might hear people speaking Hindi, Tamil,
• 5:15
  Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and many more.
• 5:19
  People in India often know two or three languages, and
• 5:23
  sometimes even more. Why do people speak so many
• 5:26
  different languages? Sometimes it's because of
• 5:29
  geography. Mountains, rivers and forests
• 5:32
  can separate groups of people, so they develop their own ways
• 5:35
  of speaking. Sometimes it's because of
• 5:37
  history. When groups of people move to
• 5:39
  new places, they bring their languages with them.
• 5:42
  Sometimes it's because of trade and travel.
• 5:45
  When people from different places meet, they often share
• 5:48
  words and ideas. Let's talk about how languages
• 5:51
  can be similar or different. Some languages share words,
• 5:55
  sounds, or grammar. For example, Spanish and
• 5:58
  Portuguese have many words that look and sound alike because
• 6:01
  they both come from Latin, the language of ancient Rome.
• 6:05
  But Tamil and Telugu, even though they are both Dravidian
• 6:08
  languages, have their own unique words and ways of speaking.
• 6:13
  Did you know that some words in English come from other
• 6:15
  languages? For example, the word shampoo
• 6:18
  comes from Hindi and the word pyjamas comes from Persian.
• 6:22
  Languages are always changing and borrowing from each other.
• 6:26
  Now, how do people learn so many languages?
• 6:29
  Sometimes kids grow up in a family where each parent speaks
• 6:33
  a different language. For example, a child in
• 6:36
  Singapore might speak English at school, Tamil at home, and
• 6:39
  Mandarin with friends. In many countries, schools teach
• 6:43
  in one language and people speak another language at home.
• 6:47
  Learning new languages can help you make friends, understand
• 6:50
  different cultures, and even play new games or sing new
• 6:53
  songs. If you ever travel to another
• 6:55
  country, knowing the local language can help you order
• 6:58
  food, ask for directions, and learn more about the people who
• 7:01
  live there. Let's do a quick Did you know
• 7:04
  round. Did you know that Papua New
• 7:06
  Guinea, a country in the Pacific Ocean, has over 800 different
• 7:10
  languages spoken by its people? That's more than any other
• 7:13
  country in the world. Did you know that the United
• 7:16
  Nations has 6 official languages?
• 7:19
  They are English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, and
• 7:23
  Chinese. People from all over the world
• 7:26
  use these languages to communicate during important
• 7:28
  meetings. Did you know that some languages
• 7:30
  are written from right to left, like Arabic and Hebrew?
• 7:34
  Most other languages are written from left to right.
• 7:37
  Did you know that sign languages are real languages too?
• 7:40
  People who are deaf or hard of hearing use sign languages to
• 7:43
  communicate with their hands and faces.
• 7:45
  There are many different sign languages around the world,
• 7:48
  including American Sign Language and Indian Sign Language.
• 7:52
  Let's talk about why it's important to keep languages
• 7:54
  alive. Every language is a treasure
• 7:57
  chest full of stories, songs, and knowledge.
• 8:00
  When people stop speaking a language, those stories and
• 8:03
  traditions can be lost. That's why many people work hard
• 8:07
  to teach their children, their families language, even if they
• 8:10
  live far away from where that language is usually spoken.
• 8:13
  In places like Singapore, Malaysia, and South Africa, you
• 8:17
  can find people speaking Tamil, Telugu, and many other languages
• 8:21
  even though they are far from India.
• 8:23
  This is because people have moved to new countries for work,
• 8:26
  school, or family, and they bring their languages with them.
• 8:29
  Before we wrap up, let's review what we've learned today.
• 8:33
  We learned that the most spoken languages in the world will
• 8:35
  include English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic,
• 8:40
  Bengali and Portuguese, Tamil and Telugu.
• 8:43
  They're spoken by millions of people and have their own unique
• 8:47
  scripts, cultures, and histories.
• 8:49
  We talked about how languages can be similar or different and
• 8:53
  how people use them to share stories, celebrate festivals,
• 8:56
  and express their ideas. We discovered that the world is
• 9:00
  full of languages over 7000, and each one is special.
• 9:06
  Remember, learning a new language can be fun, and it
• 9:09
  helps us connect with people from all over the world.
• 9:12
  Whether you speak one language or many, your words are powerful
• 9:16
  tools for making friends, learning new things, and sharing
• 9:19
  your own stories. Thanks for listening to Kid Cast
• 9:22
  daily. Keep asking questions, keeping
• 9:25
  curious, and try to learn new languages as you grow up.
• 9:28
  See you tomorrow, grab. Your breakfast feelings fine
• 9:32
  adventure.