 What language is spoken by the most people in the world?

1. Mandarin Chinese million 2. Spanish million 3. English million 4. Arabic million 5. Hindi million 6. Portuguese million 7. Bengali million 8. Russian million 9. Japanese million 10. German - 96 million

 How many languages do you think are spoken in the world today?  Write your estimate on your notes

 Between 6,000 and 7,000 living languages in the world today  Many of these are endangered…

 Language is important to culture because it is the main means of communication  One generation passes customs and skills to the next generation through language

 Eastern New England  Pahk the cah  New York City  fugedaboudit

 Chicago Urban  They call any sweet roll doughnuts.  North Midland  They call doughnuts belly sinkers, doorknobs, dunkers, and fatcakes.

 If someone speaks the same language as you…  How do you communicate?  If someone speaks the same language as you, but a different dialect…  How do you communicate?  If someone speaks a different language than you…  How do you communicate?

 Lingua franca = language of trade and communication  What do you think is the lingua franca of the world?

 English is the most widespread language in the world.  English spread rapidly when Britain began to colonize large areas of the world.  Today, English is the main language of the internet.

 English is the universal language of airline pilots and air-traffic control.  Many students in European countries are multi-lingual.

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 Religious differences are a key component of many conflicts around the world  Religion is an important part of many people’s identity and connection to a certain place

 Ethnic religions – focus on one ethnic group and generally have not spread into other cultures. They do not seek to convert people to their beliefs.  Ethnic group – human populations that share a common culture or ancestry

 Universalizing religions – seek followers all over the world. They hope to appeal to people of many different cultures.

 Animist religions - People believe in the presence of the spirits and the forces of nature  Common in many traditional societies  likely were practiced long before more modern types of religions became common

BC – “before Christ” AD – Latin “anno domini”, “in the year of our Lord” BCE – before common era CE – common era

 2000 BC: Hinduism  1500 BC: Judaism  600 BC: Buddhism, Confucianism  0 AD: Christianity  600 AD: Islam

 Polytheism – belief in many gods  Hinduism, animist religions  Monotheism – belief in one god  Christianity  Islam  Judaism

 While religion remains important around the world, in some places it has declined.  A growing number of people in these places are secular, or non-religious.  Example: Europe