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Albanian (, or shqip, ) is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million people,Gheg 2,779,246 + Tosk 2,980,000 + Arbereshe 80,000 + Arvanitika 150,000 = 5,989,246. (Ethnologue, 2005)Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.), 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: ethnologue.com. primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, Montenegro, and southern Serbia. Albanian is also spoken by native enclaves in Greece, along the eastern coast of southern Italy, and in Sicily. Additionally, speakers of Albanian can be found elsewhere throughout the latter two countries resulting from a modern diaspora, originating from the Balkans, that also includes Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. An estimated 2 million Albanians are believed to be the total of the diaspora concentrated mostly in Western Europe and North America.

Arabic ( ', () or ') is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, Arabic is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as a first language, most of whom live in the Middle East and North Africa, and by 250 million more as a second language. Arabic has many different, geographically-distributed spoken varieties, some of which are mutually unintelligible."Arabic language." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Retrieved on 29 July 2009. Standard Arabic is widely taught in schools, universities, and used in workplaces, government and the media.

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) derives from Classical Arabic, the only surviving member of the Old North Arabian dialect group, attested in Pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions dating back to the 4th century.Versteegh, 1997, p. 33. Classical Arabic has also been a literary language and the liturgical language of Islam since its inception in the 7th century.

Arabic has lent many words to other languages of the Islamic world. During the Middle Ages, Arabic was a major vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As a result, many European languages have also borrowed many words from it. Arabic influence is seen in Mediterranean languages, particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and Sicilian, due to both the proximity of European and Arab civilization and 700 years of Arab rule in the Iberian peninsula (see Al-Andalus).

Arabic has also borrowed words from many languages, including Hebrew, Persian and Syriac in early centuries, and contemporary European languages in modern times.

The Armenian language ( in TAO or in RAO, ? '''') is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora. It has its own script, the Armenian alphabet.

Linguists typically classify Armenian as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family,Armenian language - Britannica Online Encyclopedia though many Indo-Europeanists believe it forms a subgroup with the Greek and Indo-Iranian families. (Renfrew, Clackson and Fortson 1994).

Cantonese is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in and around the city of Guangzhou in Southern China, by the majority population of Hong Kong and Macau, and as a lingua franca of Guangdong province, eastern Guangxi province, and some neighbouring areas. It is used in Hong Kong and Macau as the de facto official spoken language of government and instruction in schools. It is spoken by overseas Chinese communities in Canada, the United States and Australia, as well as throughout Europe and Southeast Asia, being the most widely spoken dialect and a lingua franca in many of these communities. In common usage, "Cantonese" usually refers to the spoken forms from Hong Kong or Guangzhou, or other closely related dialects, although it is sometimes also used to refer to the Yue dialect group.

Mandarin ( or ), is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. When taken as a separate language, as is often done in academic literature, the Mandarin language has more native speakers than any other language. The "standard" in Standard Mandarin refers to the standard Beijing dialect of the Mandarin language.

Mandarin is also a general term describing any grade of nobility in the Chinese Imperial Court.

In English, Mandarin can refer to either of two distinct concepts:

*In everyday use Mandarin refers to Standard Chinese or Standard Mandarin (Putonghua / Guoyu / Huayu), which is based on the particular Mandarin dialect spoken in Beijing. Standard Mandarin functions as the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China, the official language of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and one of the four official languages of Singapore. "Chinese"?in practice Standard Mandarin?is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

*In its broader sense, Mandarin is a diverse group of Mandarin dialects spoken in northern and southwestern China (Guanhua / Beifanghua / Beifang fangyan). This group of dialects is the focus of this article.

The latter grouping is defined and used mainly by linguists, and is not commonly used outside of academic circles as a self-description. Instead, when asked to describe the spoken form they are using, Chinese speaking a form of non-Standard Mandarin will describe the variant that they are speaking, for example Southwestern Mandarin or Northeastern Mandarin, and consider it distinct from "Standard Mandarin" (putonghua); they may not recognize that it is in fact classified by linguists as a form of "Mandarin" in a broader sense. Nor is there a common "Mandarin" identity based on language; rather, there are strong regional identities centred on individual dialects, because of the wide geographical distribution and cultural diversity of its speakers.

Like all other varieties of Chinese, there is significant dispute as to whether Mandarin is a language or a dialect. See Identification of the varieties of Chinese for more on this issue.

Croatian () is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Croatian minorities in some neighbouring countries, in the Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croatian diaspora.

Standard Croatian is dialectally based on the Western ?tokavian dialect with the Ijekavian reflex of the Common Slavic yat vowel. The Croatian linguistic area encompasses two other major dialects, ?akavian and Kajkavian, which contribute lexically to the standard language. It is written with the Croatian alphabet, based on the Latin alphabet. Along with Serbian and Bosnian, Croatian belongs to the Central South Slavic diasystem (also referred to as "Serbo-Croatian").

Knji?evni (hrvatski) jezik (literally: (Croatian) book language ) is a common phrase that is used for Standard Croatian (both written and spoken). Knji?evni jezik (literally: book language) is a common phrase for any standard language.

The modern Croatian standard language is a continuous outgrowth of more than nine hundred years of literature written in a mixture of Croatian Church Slavonic and the vernacular language. Croatian Church Slavonic was abandoned by the mid-15th century, and Croatian as embodied in a purely vernacular literature (Croatian literature) has existed for more than five centuries.

Czech (; ?e?tina ) is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. Czech is similar to and mutually intelligible with Slovak and, to a lesser extent, to Polish and Sorbian.

Danish (dansk, ) is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages), a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 6 million people, mainly in Denmark; the language is also used by the 50,000 Danes in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany where it holds the status of minority language.The Federal Ministry of the Interior of Germany and Minorities in Germany Danish also holds official status and is a mandatory subject in school in the Danish territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Danish was formerly a mandatory subject in schools in Iceland. There are also Danish language communities in Argentina, the U.S. and Canada.

Dutch () is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." (page 153) Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is relatively small. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, with smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other West Germanic languages (e.g., English, West Frisian and German) and somewhat more remotely to the North Germanic languages.

From a perspective of political correctness, to avoid national bias or chauvinism, there is a modern or more or less progressive tendency to consider "Nederlands Nederlands" ("Dutch Dutch"), "Surinaams Nederlands" ("Surinam Dutch") and "Vlaams Nederlands" ("Flemish Dutch") as three equal natiolects.

Dutch is the parent language of several creole languages as well as of Afrikaans, one of the official languages of South Africa and the most widely understood in Namibia. Dutch and Afrikaans are to a very large extent mutually intelligible, although they have separate spelling standards and dictionaries and have separate language regulators. The Dutch Language Union coordinates actions of the Dutch, Flemish and Surinamese authorities in linguistic issues, language policy, language teaching and literature.The Nederlandse Taalunie

English is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,Ammon, pp. 2245?2247.Schneider, p. 1.Mazrui, p. 21.Howatt, pp. 127?133. it has become the lingua franca in many parts of the world.Crystal, pp. 87?89.Wardhaugh, p. 60. It is used extensively as a second language and as an official language in Commonwealth countries and many international organisations.

Historically, English originated from several dialects, now collectively termed Old English, which were brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers beginning in the 5th century. English was further influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders.

At the time of the Norman conquest, Old English developed into Middle English, borrowing heavily from the Norman (Anglo-French) vocabulary and spelling conventions. The etymology of the word "English" is a derivation from the 12th century Old English englisc or Engle, plural form Angles ("of, relating to, or characteristic of England").[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/English]

Modern English developed with the Great Vowel Shift that began in 15th-century England, and continues to adopt foreign words from a variety of languages, as well as coining new words. A significant number of English words, especially technical words, have been constructed based on roots from Latin and ancient Greek.

Persian (local names: Category: wikt - :?????|?????, Farsi ; or Category: wikt - :?????|?????, Parsi , see Nomenclature) is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and to some extent in Iraq, Bahrain, and Oman. New Persian, which usually is called also by the names of Dari, Farsi, Parsi or Parsi-Dari, can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Persian is a pluricentric language and its grammar is similar to that of many contemporary European languages.Richard Davis, ?Persian? in Josef W. Meri, Jere L. Bacharach, ?Medieval Islamic Civilization?, Taylor & Francis, 2006. Ppg 602-603. ?The grammar of New Persian is similar to many contemporary European languages.? ?Persian has in general confined its borrowing from Arabic to lexical items, and its morphology is relatively unaffected by the influence of Arabic, being confined to a few conventions such as (usually original) use of Arabic plurals for Arabic-derived words (as in English speaker may use Latin plurals for Latin loan words, in English). Similarly, the core vocabulary of Persian continued to be derived from Pahlavi, but Arabic lexical items predominate for more abstract or abstruse subjects and often replaced their Persian equivalents in polite discourse. The Persian language has been a medium for literary and scientific contributions to the eastern half of the Muslim world.

Persian has had a considerable influence on neighboring languages, particularly the Turkic languages in Central Asia, Caucasus, and Anatolia, neighboring Iranian languages, as well as Armenian and other languages. It has also exerted a strong influence on South Asian languages, especially Urdu, as well as Hindi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki.Professor. Gilbert Lazard, : The language known as New Persian, which usually is called at this period (early Islamic times) by the name of Dari or Parsi-Dari, can be classified linguistically as a continuation of Middle Persian, the official religious and literary language of Sassanian Iran, itself a continuation of Old Persian, the language of the Achaemenids. Unlike the other languages and dialects, ancient and modern, of the Iranian group such as Avestan, Parthian, Soghdian, Kurdish, Balochi, Pashto, etc., Old Middle and New Persian represent one and the same language at three states of its history. It had its origin in Fars (the true Persian country from the historical point of view) and is differentiated by dialectical features, still easily recognizable from the dialect prevailing in north-western and eastern Iran in (Lazard, Gilbert 1975, ?The Rise of the New Persian Language? in Frye, R. N., The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 4, pp. 595?632, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Lazard, Gilbert, "Pahlavi, Pârsi, dari: Les langues d'Iran d'apès Ibn al-Muqaffa" in R.N. Frye, "Iran and Islam. In Memory of the late Vladimir Minorsky", Edinburgh University Press, 1971.Ann K. S. Lambton, "Persian grammar", Cambridge University Press, Cambridge University Press 1953. Excerpt: "The Arabic words incorporated into the Persian language have become Persianized".

French (français, ) is a Romance language globally spoken by about 77 million people as a first language (mother tongue), by 190 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France, where the language originated. The rest live essentially in Canada (particularly Quebec, and to a lesser extent Ontario and New Brunswick), Belgium, Switzerland, French-speaking Africa (31 countries, including Cameroon, Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire), Luxembourg, Monaco, and certain parts of the U.S. states of Louisiana and Maine. Most second-language speakers of French live in Francophonic Africa, arguably exceeding the number of native speakers. La Francophonie dans le monde 2006?2007 published by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. Nathan, Paris, 2007. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the Francophone country with the largest population.

French is a descendant of the Latin language of the Roman Empire, as are national languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian and minority languages ranging from Catalan to Neapolitan and many more. Its development was also influenced by the native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the Germanic language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders.

It is an official language in 28 countries, most of which form what is called, in French, La Francophonie, the community of French-speaking nations. It is an official language of all United Nations agencies and a large number of international organizations. According to the European Union, 129 million (26% of the 497,198,740) people in 27 member states speak French, of which 65 million (12%) are native speakers and 69 million (14%) claim to speak it either as a second language or as a foreign language, which makes it the third most spoken second language in the Union, after English (2nd rank) and German (1st rank). In addition, prior to the mid 20th century, French served as the pre-eminent language of diplomacy among European and colonial powers as well as a lingua franca among the educated classes of Europe.

As a result of France's extensive colonial ambitions between the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to America, Africa, Polynesia, and the Caribbean. As a result, many creole languages developed as a result of the mixture of French and native languages.

German (, ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers. Standard German is widely taught in schools, universities and Goethe Institutes worldwide. It is overall the third most learned language worldwide.

Greek (, or , ), an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In its modern form, it is the official language of Greece and Cyprus, and spoken by approximately 15 million people (first language for ca. 12 million), including minority and emigrant communities in numerous parts of the world. Its written form uses the Greek alphabet.

Haitian Creole language (kreyòl ayisyen), often called simply Creole or Kreyòl (pronounced ), is a language spoken in Haiti by about eight million people, which is nearly the entire population, and via emigration, by about one million speakers residing in the Bahamas, Cuba, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Belize, Puerto Rico, and United States. The language is notable for being the most widely spoken creole language in the world.http://www.indiana.edu/~creole/creolenatllangofhaiti.html

Haitian Creole is one of Haiti's two official languages, along with French. It is a creole based largely on 18th-century French with various other influences, most notably African languages (including some Arabic), as well as Spanish and Taíno - and increasingly English.

Partly due to efforts of Félix Morisseau-Leroy, since 1961 Haitian Creole has been recognized as an official language along with French, which had been the sole literary language of the country since its independence in 1804. The official status was upheld under the country's 1987 constitution. The use of Creole in literature has been small but is increasing. Morisseau was one of the first and most influential authors to write in Creole. Since the 1980s, many educators, writers and activists have emphasized pride and written literacy in Creole. Today numerous newspapers, as well as radio and television programs, are produced in Creole.