Internationalisms

Globalization doesn't stop at languages. This is evident in the increase in ‘internationalisms’. Internationalisms are words that exist in multiple languages. The words can thereby have meanings that are the same or similar. The pronunciation is often the same. The spelling of the words is usually very similar as well. The spreading of internationalisms is interesting. They do not pay any attention to boundaries. Nor to geographic boundaries. And especially not to linguistic boundaries. There are words that are understood on every continent. The word hotel is a good example of this. It exists almost everywhere in the world. Many internationalisms come from science. Technical terms also spread quickly and worldwide. Old internationalisms are derived from a common root. They have evolved from the same word. However, most internationalisms are usually borrowed. That is to say, words are simply incorporated into other languages. Cultural circles play an important role in the adoption. Every civilization has its own traditions. That is why not all new concepts catch on everywhere. Cultural norms decide which ideas will be adopted. Some things are only found in certain parts of the world. Other things spread very quickly around the world. But only when they spread do their names also spread. That's exactly what makes internationalisms so exciting! When we discover languages, we always discover cultures too.

Guess the language!

Chinese is the language with the most speakers worldwide. That said, there is not one but rather several Chinese languages. They all belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family. A total of about 1.3 billion people speak Chinese. The majority of those people live in the People's Republic of China or in Taiwan. The largest Chinese language is Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin. As the official language of the People's Republic of China, it is the native language of 850 million people. Other Chinese languages are often only recognized as dialects.

Mandarin is understood by almost all Chinese-speaking people. All Chinese have a common writing system that is between 4000 and 5000 years old. For this reason, Chinese has the longest literary tradition of any language. Chinese characters are more difficult than alphabetic systems. The grammar is relatively easy to learn, however, which allows a person to advance quickly. And more and more people want to learn Chinese. Have the courage to try it - Chinese is the language of the future!