最新英美报刊选读Unit I Focus Return Background Information How many languages are endangered? Most linguists agree that there are well over 5,000 languages in the world.A century from now,many of these languages may be extinct.Some linguists believe the number may decrease by half. Some say the total could fall to mere hundreds as the majority of the world's languages-most spoken by a few thousand people or less-give way to languages like English, Spanish,Portuguese,Mandarin Chinese,Russian,Indonesian, Arabic,Swahili,and Hindi.By some estimates,90%of the world's languages may vanish within the next century. 最新英美报刊选读_Unit 1 Focus How many languages are endangered? Most linguists agree that there are well over 5,000 languages in the world. A century from now, many of these languages may be extinct. Some linguists believe the number may decrease by half. Some say the total could fall to mere hundreds as the majority of the world's languages— most spoken by a few thousand people or less—give way to languages like English, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Indonesian, Arabic, Swahili, and Hindi. By some estimates, 90% of the world's languages may vanish within the next century. Background Information