At the Wall of Love in Paris, France, the words "I love you" are written in 250 languages.
Language is a system that people use to communicate, or share information. Language includes speaking and writing. It also includes making gestures or body movements.

Early human ancestors started using spoken language several million years ago. Humans began writing about 5,000 years ago. Language is very important in the history of humans. It made it possible for human societies to develop. Once people could communicate, they could live in groups and tell each other things.

Humans are born with the ability to understand language. Without any special training, children learn to speak. They do this by listening to other people’s speech. Other forms of language, however, must be taught. These include writing and sign language.

Movement And Gestures As Well As Words

The most basic part of language is a sound. Sounds can be combined into words. Words can be combined into sentences, and sentences into paragraphs.

Every language has several types of words. The most basic types of words are nouns and verbs. Nouns represent people, places, things and ideas. Verbs describe action.

Every language has its own rules of grammar. These rules control the order of words in a sentence. The order of the words gives the sentence meaning.

Students in Laos, a country in Asia, learn some words of Lao sign language.
Not all languages are spoken. Sign language is one example. In sign language, hand movements stand for letters, words and sentences. Sign language is used by people who are deaf, or who cannot hear. But many people who use spoken language also communicate through movements. For example, in many countries, nodding your head up and down means “yes.”

Some Languages Are Grouped Together

There are thousands of languages all over the world. Some are spoken by millions of people. Mandarin Chinese, English and Spanish are the most widely spoken languages in the world.

Most countries have a standard language. This is so that most citizens can understand each other. Some countries have more than one standard language. For example, Canada has two standard languages: English and French.

Many languages are related, and some can be grouped together. English, German and Swedish belong to the Germanic group of languages. French, Spanish and Italian are called Romance languages. Slavic languages include Russian and Polish. Chinese belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family of Asia.

English Borrows Words From Italy, Japan And Other Places

Sometimes, people need to communicate with others who do not know their language. The Europeans who came to the Americas hundreds of years ago are one example. They needed a way to speak with Native Americans. So they spoke using a simple mixture of their languages. These mixtures are called pidgin languages. Sometimes, a pidgin language replaces the original language of the group. Then it is called a creole language.

People who share the same language can still develop different ways of speaking. People in different parts of a country may pronounce words differently or use local expressions. These varieties of the same language are called dialects. In the United States, people speak many different dialects.

Languages often blur together. Countries have borders, but languages and dialects do not. One language may borrow words from another language. Many English speakers use such words as "pajamas" (from Hindi), "pasta" (from Italian), "karate" (from Japanese) and "fiesta" (from Spanish).

Languages grow and change as people use them. People create new words all the time. Sometimes they do this just by shortening words that already exist. "Cellphone" is an example. These handy devices were first called "cellular phones."

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