The Aspiring Polyglots Guide to 14 Diverse Languages Spoken in Asia

The Aspiring Polyglots Guide to 14 Diverse Languages Spoken in Asia The Aspiring Polyglots Guide to 14 Diverse Languages Spoken in Asia Language learners have the best kind of problem.There are just so many wonderful languages out there, all beautiful and challening in their own way.How could you ever possibly choose which ones to focus on?Its a dilemma but like we said, a pretty fun and exciting one to have.Even single continents have a huge diversity of languages for aspiring polyglots to explore.Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in Asia.There are more than 4.3 billion people speaking nearly 2,300 living languages across Asia. Youve probably considered some of the common ones, like Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.But there are a lot of other widely spoken languages that may not be as familiar to you. Some of them are closely related, giving you more bang for your linguistic buck. Others are doin their own thing, creating a unique language learning opportunity.In this post, well climb across 14 branches of the Asian language family tree. No matter what your personal interests or language goals are, youll find something to fire up your leaning motivation. Why Are Asian Languages So Diverse?As we mentioned earlier, there are over 4.3 billion people in Asia. Thats nearly six times the population of Europe (roughly 739 million). It should perhaps come as no surprise, then, that there are also a lot more languages.Additionally, Asia is home to many different language families. Most Europeans speak Indo-European languages, such as Germanic, Romance and Slavic languages. However, Asian languages span a much broader variety of families, including Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Altaic, Dravidian and many others.This diversity of linguistic families and origins means that theres less overlap between the languages as theyre spoken today.Finally, remote regions of Asia have allowed many individual languages to develop without outside influence. Asia is home to mountains, islands, deserts, vast plains and jungles. All of these terrains can isolate communities.When communities are in close contact wit h one another, some languages will die out as more common ones take over. However, geographic isolation can help more distinct languages endure.On this flip side, this is also why there are many  endangered languages in Asiaâ€"if these types of communities dwindle, their languages tend to go with them.The Aspiring Polyglots Guide to 14 Diverse Languages Spoken in AsiaAs you may already know, the fastest way to get started in any language is immersive learning (in other words, surrounding yourself with the written and spoken language). Of course, if you dont currently live in Asia, thats a lot harder to achieve. FluentU is a great way to mimic the immersion experience no matter where you areâ€"it offers authentic videos like movie trailers, music videos, inspiring talks and more.Each video comes with interactive captions, flashcards and exercises, so youre actively building your vocabulary while you absorb the native sounds of the language. FluentU also keeps track of your learning a nd suggests more videos thatll suit your level and goals. Better yet, you can take this personalized and immersive language practice anywhere with the mobile app for iPhone  and  Android.FluentU has videos in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Korean and several other languages that you can start watching today with a free trial.ArabicWhere its spoken:  On the Asian continent, Arabic is an official language in the Middle Eastern nations of Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.Whos in the language family:  Arabic is a Semitic language, making it a relative of Amharic, Hebrew and several other languages spoken primarily in the Middle East.Aspiring polyglots, take note!  If youre thinking about learning Arabic, you may already have a head start.  Due to the influence of Arabic culture on Europe during the Middle Ages, there are a lot of Arabic words that made their way into European languages l ike Spanish, Portuguese, French and English.BengaliWhere its spoken:  Bengali, sometimes called Bangla, is spoken in Bangladesh and some of eastern India, close to Bangladesh.Whos in the language family:  Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language, making it a close relative of Hindustani and Punjabi.This also makes it a distant relative of European languages, including Slavic, Germanic and Romance languages.ChineseWhere its spoken:  Variations of Chinese are spoken throughout China, Taiwan and Singapore. Of course, that doesnt mean every Chinese-speaker you meet will sound the sameâ€"or even be able to understand one another!Even though Chinese is considered the most spoken language in the world, its actually composed of many distinct dialects, some of which arent mutually intelligible (meaning that speakers of some dialects cant understand speakers of other dialects).Whos in the language family:  Chinese is a Sino-Tibetan language, making it a relative of Burmese, Tibetan and several other languages in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. The Chinese language has also had notable influence on Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.Which variation will you choose? The first step in Chinese studies is to decide which variation youll learn. The most popular options are typically Mandarin, which is spoken in Beijing and is the official language of China, or Cantonese, which is spoken in southeastern China and Hong Kong.Filipino/TagalogWhere its spoken: The PhillipinesWhos in the language family:  Filipino and Tagalog are Austronesian languages, making them relatives of Malay and Javanese.Learn a language, plus some.  It can be confusing to differentiate between Filipino and Tagalog.Since more than 100 regional languages are spoken in the Philippines, in the 1930s the government chose Tagalogâ€"a language spoken widely in Manila and surrounding areasâ€"as the foundation for a national language. The effort was to try to establish a common language.Today, Filipino is the official nat ional language of the Philippines. However, TAGALOG LANG refers to Filipino as Tagalog Plus, since Filipino also includes words adopted from other languages such as Spanish.The name of the language has changed throughout the years, so you might also see it as Pilipino.HindustaniWhere its spoken:  Hindustani is actually the name used to denote two languages that are sometimes classified separately: Hindi and Urdu.Hindi is the official language of many states in the northern part of India. Throughout the years, thereve also been attempts to make it the national language. Urdu is an official language in Pakistan and several states in India.Whos in the language family:  Hindi and Urdu are both from the Indo-Aryan family of languages, making them close relatives of Bengali and Punjabi and more distant relatives of European languages.Hindi and Urdu are usually mutually intelligible. However, they do have some different vocabulary and different writing systems.But waitâ€"theres more!  Whil e Hindi is probably the most well-known Indian language, its just the tip of the iceberg. Other widely spoken Indian languages include Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati and Pashto.Indian languages span several families, but most belong to the Indo-European and Dravidian families.IndonesianWhere its spoken:  There are over 700 languages spoken in Indonesia, but Indonesian is the only language with official status.This is where it gets a little tricky. Indonesian is a standardized language based on Malay. As Indonesian, the language is spoken in Indonesia. However, Malay is also spoken in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore.At the time of its adoption as the national language, Indonesian was only the second most widely spoken native language in Indonesia, with Javanese being the most popular. To this day, theres a significant population that speaks Javanese as a native language, and Indonesian is a second language for many Indonesians.Whos in the language family:  Indonesian/Malay and Javanese are members of the Austronesian language family, which also includes Filipino/Tagalog.JapaneseWhere its spoken:  Japanese is the national language of Japan, though it has no official status.Whos in the language family:  According to Today Translations, the origins of the Japanese language are hotly debated, with some claiming its related to Chinese, Korean and/or Polynesian languages.Like alphabet soup?  While Japanese isnt currently thought to be related to Chinese, it does use some Chinese characters and uses some words of Chinese origin.KoreanWhere its spoken:  Korean is an official language in North Korea and South Korea and an area of China along the North Korean border.Whos in the language family:  Korean is thought to be a  language isolate, meaning its not related to other languages.Korean is, however, thought to have some extinct relatives. Some also postulate that it could be a Dravidian language, related to several Indian languages including Tamil and Telugu, or an Altaic language, related to Turkish, Mongolian and possibly Japanese.PersianWhere its spoken:  Persian is an official language in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, though each variety has some distinct differences.Whos in the language family:  Persian is an Indo-Iranian language, making it a relative of several Indian languages, including Hindustani, Bengali, Punjabi and Marathi.Whats in a name?  Persian is a language that goes by many names. In English, its often called Persian. In Iran, the language is often called Farsi. The Afghani version of the language is called Dari. In Tajikistan, the language is called Tajik or Tajiki.PunjabiWhere its spoken:  Punjabi is the most spoken language in Pakistan  and is also widely spoken in northern India.Whos in the language family:  Punjabi is an Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan language, making it a relative of Persian and several other Indian languages, including Hindustani, Bengali, Punjabi and Marathi.The Punjabi language has also been inf luenced by Arabic and Persian.RussianWhere its spoken:  Though you might not think Asian language when you hear Russian, Russian is widely spoken in Asia.A lot of Russias land mass is located in Asia. Additionally, Russian is an official language in the Asian nations of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.Whos in the language family:  Russia is a member of the Indo-European family, making it a distant relative of a wide array of languages, including Spanish, French, Bengali, Hindustani, Punjabi, Persian and countless other popular languages.Its closest relatives, though, are Belarusian and Ukrainian.Good news for flashcard haters! Russian has a smaller vocabulary than some other common Asian languagesâ€"as well as English and many European languages.ThaiWhere its spoken:  Thai is the official language of Thailand.Whos in the language family:  Thai is a member of the Tai-Kadai family, making it a relative of Lao. However, according to  Thai Language/Lao Language, the two languages arent consid ered mutually intelligible.Many Thai words come from other languages, including Old Khmer, Pali and Sanskrit.TurkishWhere its spoken:  While Turkish is often associated with Turkey, the earliest known Turkic inscriptions were actually found in whats now Mongolia. In the early middle ages, Turkic languages spread out from Central Asia to Europe.Now, Turkish is an official language in Turkey and Cyprus and is the most widely spoken Turkic language.Whos in the language family:  Turkish is a member of the Turkic language family. According to writer Robert Lindsay, it may be partially mutually intelligible with other closely related Turkic languages, such as Azerbaijani and Turkmen.VietnameseWhere its spoken:  Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam.Whos in the language family: Vietnamese  is a Austroasiatic or Mon-Khmer language. Its closest relatives include Khmer (spoken in Cambodia) and some regional languages spoken in eastern India and southern China.Know the history:  Since Vietnam was under Chinese rule for about 1,000 years, Vietnamese is greatly influenced by Chinese. And since Vietnam was also under French control for a time, the French language has had a hand in shaping the Vietnamese language.These 14 diverse and intriguing languages are just the tip of the iceberg of languages spoken in Asia. Which of the more than 2,000 other Asian languages will you learn about next?