More than 7,000 languages are spoken in the world today. Papua New Guinea holds the record for most languages in one country, with an estimated 840. Even the United States, a country not known for its multilingualism, is home to over 350 languages.
But languages, much like animals, can become extinct. You probably won’t encounter someone speaking Coptic (an Ancient Egyptian language) at your local coffee shop. And though Latin is still used and even occasionally spoken, it is no longer the native tongue of any community of speakers.
