Wanna get ahead? Learn Mandarin

I had no idea that an estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. That number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades.

Here are some factoids:
    •    6% of the world's languages are spoken by 94% of the world's population
    •    The remaining 94% of languages are spoken by only 6% of the population
    •    The largest single language by population is Mandarin (845 million speakers) followed by Spanish (329 million speakers) and English (328 million speakers).
    •    133 languages are spoken by fewer than 10 people

According to Ethnologue, a U.S. organization owned by Christian group SIL International that compiles a global database of languages, 473 languages are currently classified as endangered. Among the ranks are the two known speakers of Lipan Apache alive in the U.S., four speakers of Totoro in Colombia and the single Bikya speaker in Cameroon.