1. © 2014, Justine Warunek-Lane
Alphabet of
World Languages
© 2014, Justine Warunek-Lane

2. A is for American Sign Language
There are about 500,000 people who use American Sign Language in the world.
ASL was developed in America by two men named Gaulladet and Clerc. They based it off French Sign Language.
Signed languages have grammar, an alphabet, an a huge vocabulary, just like spoken languages.
Watch some kids and teachers sing a song in ASL!

3. See 50 in Bengali with the Bangladeshi Sesame Street characters!
B is for Bengali
Bengali is one of the most common languages in the world, with over 250 million speakers. Most of these speakers live in
Bangladesh.
See 50 in Bengali with the Bangladeshi Sesame Street characters!

4. Listen to the traditional Cree sunrise song
C is for Cree
Cree is a language spoken by the indigenous Cree people of Canada. More people speak Cree than any other indigenous language in Canada.
Listen to the traditional Cree sunrise song

5. D is for Dutch
People speak Dutch in the Netherlands, in Belgium, and in some Caribbean islands like Aruba.
Count to 10 in Dutch!

6. E is for Esperanto
Esperanto is an invented language. It takes good parts from other languages and combines them together. There are no people whose only native language is Esperanto.
L.L. Zamenhof is the inventor of Esperanto.
The Esperanto Flag
Listen to a story in Esperanto

7. This language is related to Norwegian and Estonian.
F is for Finnish
Finnish is the national language of Finland, with more than 5 million native speakers.
This language is related to Norwegian and Estonian.
My name is…

8. G is for Greek
Greek is spoken in Greece, by about 12 million speakers.
English gained many words from Ancient Greek.
In Greek, the word for “Greek” is:
ελληνικά
See the Greek alphabet

9. Learn the Hawaiian alphabet song!
H is for Hawaiian
Hawaiian is the language of the native people of the state of Hawaii.
Hawaiian only has 13 letters in its alphabet.
Learn the Hawaiian alphabet song!

10. Learn how to say the days of the week in Icelandic
I is for Icelandic
Icelandic is a European language spoken by about 350,000 in Iceland.
Iceland celebrates its national Icelandic Language Day every year on November 16.
Learn how to say the days of the week in Icelandic

11. J is for Javanese
Almost 100 million people speak Javanese in Indonesia and around the world.
People speak Javanese differently depending on how formal the situation is.
This is the word “Java” written
in Javanese:
Greetings in Javanese

12. K is for Korean
Korean is spoken in North Korea and South Korea, by about 80 million people.
It is also on of the official languages of neighboring China.
The Polliwog Song

13. L is for Latin
Latin was spoken by the Romans. You can still learn Latin today, but there are no native speakers of it.
Many English words come from Latin roots.
“Do you Want to Build a Snowman?”
This is one of the most popular Latin phrases still used today.

14. Watch a Macedonian dance group!
M is for Macedonian
Macedonian is spoken by about 2 million people in many countries.
It uses the Cyrillic alphabet, like the Russian language.
Watch a Macedonian dance group!

15. N is for Nahuatl
Nahuatl is the language of the indigenous Aztec people of what is now Mexico.
It is considered an endangered language, because there are fewer and fewer native speakers of Nahuatl.
The name of the language is pronounced as “Nah-wah-tul”.
Count to 20 in Nahuatl

16. O is for Ojibwe
Ojibwe is the fourth most spoken indigenous language in America.
There are many French words in Ojibwe, because of the Native Americans’ interactions with French colonists.
Basic Ojibwe words

17. Listen to a Polish nursery rhyme
P is for Polish
Polish is the official language of Poland. It belongs to the Slavic family, so it is related to Russian.
There are 40 million speakers of Polish in the world.
Listen to a Polish nursery rhyme

18. Listen to a traditional Quechuan folk song!
Q is for Quechua
Quechua is the native language of the Inca people, from Peru in South America.
The language is also called Runa Simi, or “the people’s language.”
Listen to a traditional Quechuan folk song!

19. Romanian is spoken by about 24 million people as a first language.
R is for Romanian
Romanian is spoken by about 24 million people as a first language.
It belongs to the Romance language family, so it is actually related to Spanish, French and Italian.
Romanian Fairy Tale

20. Learn to count to 10 in Somali!
S is for Somali
Somali is one of the official languages of The Republic of Somalia in Africa.
It is also a major language in Djibouti and Ethiopia.
Learn to count to 10 in Somali!

21. “Rosa Goes to the City”, a story in Turkish
T is for Turkish
The first evidence of the Turkish language showed up over 1,200 years ago!
About 70 million people speak this language all over Southwestern Asia.
“Rosa Goes to the City”, a story in Turkish

22. Learn the Urdu alphabet!
U is for Urdu
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan.
There are about 70 million speakers.
People who speak Urdu can usually also understand the Hindi language.
Learn the Urdu alphabet!
This is the flag of Pakistan.

23. V is for Vietnamese
Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam in Asia.
The language originally used Chinese characters for its writing system, but now uses the Latin alphabet with special symbols added above and below the letters.
Watch children sing a traditional Vietnamese kids song.

24. W is for Welsh
Welsh is one of the native Celtic languages of the British Isles. Most of the speakers live in Wales.
In Welsh, the name of the language is Cymraeg.
Watch a commercial for yogurt in English an in Welsh

25. Listen to “The Eensy Weensy Spider” in Xhosa
X is for Xhosa
Listen to “The Eensy Weensy Spider” in Xhosa
Xhosa is the language of the Bantu people in Africa.
Xhosa is a “click” language. Part of its language includes sounds like kissing noises and tongue clucks.

26. What are some common conversational sayings in Yiddish?
Y is for Yiddish
There are people who speak Yiddish all over the world. Their heritage is Jewish.
Yiddish uses the Hebrew alphabet.
This is the word “Yiddish” in Yiddish:
יידיש
What are some common conversational sayings in Yiddish?

27. Learn how to say some Zulu phrases!
Z is for Zulu
Zulu is spoken by over 10 million people in South Africa.
It belongs to the Bantu family of languages.
Learn how to say some Zulu phrases!