Top 10 Most Popular Languages:

There are 6,909 languages actively being spoken in the world today. Only about six percent of them have more than a million speakers each. As globalization becomes more common so does the learning of languages. Many people see the value of learning a foreign language to improve their international business relations. Because of this, the number of people who speak certain languages will continue to rise.

There are 10 languages that dominate the globe. Here's a list of the 10 most popular languages spoken worldwide, along with the approximate number of primary or first language speakers for that language.

10 MOST SPOKEN LANGUAGES

1. Chinese/Mandarin - 882 million
2. Spanish - 325 million
3. English - 312-380 million
4. Arabic - 206-422 million
5. Hindi - 181 million
6. Portuguese - 178 million
7. Bengali - 173 million
8. Russian - 146 million
9. Japanese - 128 million
10. German - 96 million

THE LANGUAGES OF CHINA

With 1.3 billion people, it's no surprise that Chinese is the most commonly spoken language. Due to the size of the population, the country is able to sustain many unique and interesting languages. When speaking of languages, the term "Chinese" encompasses the many dialects spoken in the country. Because it is the most commonly spoken dialect, many people use Mandarin and Chinese interchangeably. While roughly 70 percent of the country speaks Mandarin, many other dialects are spoken as well.

Chinese dialects include (in order of popularity):

1. Mandarin
2. Shanghainese
3. Taiwanese
4. Cantonese

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPANISH SPEAKERS?

While Spanish isn't a commonly heard language in most parts of Africa, Asia, and the majority of Europe, that hasn't stopped it from becoming the second most commonly spoken language.

The spread of the Spanish language is rooted in colonization. Spain colonized the majority of South, Central, and large parts of North America as well. Before being incorporated into the United States, places like Texas, California, New Mexico, and Arizona were all part of Mexico, a former Spanish colony. While Spanish isn't a common language to hear in most of Asia, it's very common in the Philippines because it too was once a colony of Spain.

Like Chinese, there are many dialects of Spanish. The vocabulary between these dialects varies greatly depending on what country one is in. Accents and pronunciation also change between regions. While these dialectic differences can sometimes cause confusion, they do not block cross communication between speakers.

ENGLISH, A GLOBAL LANGUAGE

After World War II, the United States led the world in both technological and medical innovation. Because of this, it was beneficial for students pursuing work in these fields to learn English. As globalization occurred, it was useful to have a shared common language. This caused many parents to push their children to study English as a second language in the hopes of better preparing them for the business world.

It's also a useful language for travelers to learn because it's spoken in so many parts of the globe.

Winter Vacation Begins..!!

Winter is one of the four seasons.

It begins on the Winter Solstice and ends on the Vernal Equinox.

Winter is the season with the shortest days and the lowest temperatures.

Wind chill can cause problems during the winter. Wind chill is the combination of wind and temperature and is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin.

When it is Winter in the Southern Hemisphere, it is Summer in the Northern Hemisphere. This occurs because the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun and the Northern Hemisphere faces the sun more directly because of the way the earth is tilting toward the sun.

Trees and plants stop growing in the winter.

Many animals hibernate or migrate away from the cold weather.

In the United States, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, New Year’s Day, Presidents’ Day, Valentine’s Day and Ground Hog’s Day are all celebrated in the winter.

Ice and snow are associated with Winter in many places on the earth.

Besides snow, sleet, hail, and freezing rain are associated with winter.

Interesting Facts About Earthquakes:

A fire hydrant in San Francisco that survived the 1906 earthquake and aided firefighters in saving the Mission District was painted gold in memory of the event. 

One of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in US history, the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811-1812, were so powerful that they reversed the flow of the Mississippi River, rang church bells in Boston, and cracked sidewalks in Washington D.C. 

The man who supervised the construction of the CTV Building, which collapsed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, faked his engineering degree. 115 people died, over half the total earthquake deaths. Gerald Shirtcliff had stolen the identity of a retired engineer based in the UK, William Fisher.

Yakuza, Japan’s largest organized crime syndicate, provided food, water, blankets, diapers, etc. during both the 1995 and 2011 Japanese Earthquakes and at a much faster response time than even the Japanese Government.

Ethiopia donated $5000 to earthquake victims in Mexico because Mexico supported Ethiopia when Italy invaded in 1935.

China is the birthplace of the seismograph. Built-in 132 A.D., it consisted of 8 metal dragons holding 8 carved balls over 8 frogs. If an earthquake made the ground vibrate, the dragon facing the quake’s source would drop a ball into the mouth of its corresponding frog.

The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, stood for a mere 50 years before it was destroyed by an earthquake. Its ruins stood and attracted visitors for way longer than the original statue (reportedly hundreds of years) before it was finally recycled for scrap metal.

Earthquakes can permanently alter the length of a day. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan accelerated Earth’s spin, shortening the length of a 24-hour day by 1.8 microseconds. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake shortened earth’s day by 2.68 microseconds.

A 5-year-old child was sacrificed in Chile after the largest earthquake ever recorded (1960 Valdivia earthquake). The two charged were released after 2 years, as the judge ruled they “acted without free will, driven by an irresistible natural force of ancestral tradition.”

Seattle fans cheered and celebrated so loudly during Marshawn Lynch’s 67-yard run in which he broke 9 tackles and scored the winning run that it registered earthquake activity on many nearby instruments.

After an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Mexico City in 1985, nearly all newborn babies survived a collapsed hospital. They are known as “Miracle Babies” for surviving 7 days without nourishment, water, warmth or human contact. 

In 1916 German agents blew up a munitions depot in New Jersey. The explosion was so large that it could be compared to a 5.5 Richter scale earthquake. $100,000 in damage was done to the Statue of Liberty and people as far away as Maryland were woken up by what they thought was an earthquake. 

Hawaii’s largest-ever earthquake occurred in 1868, and the aftershocks are still being observed.

In the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, three men were caught alive on the roof of a hotel that was ablaze. Rather than see the men fall and be burned alive, a nearby military officer ordered his men to shoot them.

In response to the rioting and looting that followed the San Francisco 1906 earthquake, Mayor Eugene Schmitz authorized federal troops and local officers to “kill any and all persons found engaging in looting or in the commission of any other crime.”

Riddles:

Here are five logic brainteasers that will get your brain into thinking shape! Give it a shot…

Through all the cities

I know this sounds like a difficult question but the answer is easy. All you have to do is to use your brain in the correct direction. Want to know the correct answer?

The hard game of chess

If you love playing chess, this should be an easy question for you. Prove the world how smart you are. You are going to love this answer.

A mathematical one?

Let's test your Mathematical power. Just to let you know, this question has 3 correct answers. Can you tell any of them?

A tale of 5 sisters

The answer to this question is genuinely very simple. Just read the question again and you’ll figure it out.

Something is fishy…

Here is another tricky mathematical question. Do all calculations, everything you think you should do. Just reach the right answer.

Awesome..!!!

What Is the Longest German Word?

The classic longest German word is Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän, clocking in with 42 letters. In English, it becomes four words: "Danube steamship company captain." However, it's not the only super long word in the German language and, technically, it's not even the longest.

WHY ARE GERMAN WORDS SO LONG?

Most languages, including English, string smaller words together to form longer ones, but the Germans take this practice to new extremes.

As Mark Twain said, "Some German words are so long that they have a perspective."

But is there really such a thing as the longest German word... das längste deutsche Wort? Some of the suggested "longest" words are artificial creations. They are never used in daily spoken or written German, which is why we'll look at some words that far surpass our 42-letter title winner mentioned above. 

For all practical purposes, this longest-word contest is really just a game. It's more fun than practical and German just happens to offer us some really long words. Even a German or English Scrabble board only has room for 15 letters, so you won't find much use for these. Yet, if you'd like to play the longest-word game, here are a few selected items to consider.

THE 6 LONGEST GERMAN WORDS (LANGE DEUTSCHE WÖRTER)

These words are listed in alphabetical order, with their gender and letter count.

Betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung

(die, 41 letters)

It's a mesmerizing word that is rather difficult to read. This lengthy one refers to a "regulation requiring a prescription for an anesthetic."

Bezirksschornsteinfegermeister

(der, 30 letters)

This word may be short in comparison to those below, but it is a real word that you might be able to use someday, but even that's not likely.

Roughly, it means a "head district chimney sweep."

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft

(one word, no hyphen) (die, 79 letters, 80 with the new German spelling that adds one more 'f' in ...dampfschifffahrts...)

Even the definition is a mouthful: "association of subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services" (the name of a pre-war club in Vienna). This word is not really useful; it's more of a desperate attempt to lengthen the word below.

Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän

(der, 42 letters)

As mentioned, in classic German this is considered the longest word. Its meaning of "Danube steamship company captain" makes it unusable for the majority of us, though.

Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften

(die, plur., 39 letters)

This is one you might actually be able to pronounce if you take it one syllable at a time. It means, "legal protection insurance companies." According to Guinness, this was the longest German dictionary word in everyday usage. However, the word below is a longer legitimate and official "longest word" — in semi-everyday usage, anyway.

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

(das, 63 letters)

This hyper word references a "beef labeling regulation and delegation of supervision law." This was a 1999 German Word of the Year, and it also won a special award as the longest German word of that year. It refers to a "law for regulating the labeling of beef" — all in one word, which is why it is so long. German also likes abbreviations, and this word has one: ReÜAÜG.

GERMAN NUMBERS (ZAHLEN)

There is another reason why there really isn't a single longest German word. German numbers, long or short, are written as one word. For example, to say or write the number 7,254 (which is not really a very long number), the German is siebentausendzweihundertvierundfünfzig.

That is a single word of 38 letters so you could imagine what larger and more complex numbers may look like. For this reason, it's not difficult at all to make a number-based word that far exceeds any of the other words we've discussed.

HOW DO THE LONGEST WORDS IN ENGLISH MEASURE UP?

For comparison sake, what are the longest words in English? Contrary to popular belief, the record holder is not "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (an invented word made famous in the movie "Mary Poppins"). Just as in German, there is disagreement about which word is actually the longest. There's little argument, however, that English can't keep pace with German in this department.

The English language's two contenders are:

Antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters): This is a legitimate dictionary word from the 19th century meaning "opposition to the separation of church and state."

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis (45 letters): The literal meaning of this term is "lung disease caused by breathing in silica dust." Linguists claim this is an artificial word and that it does not deserve true "longest word" billing.

Likewise, there are many technical and medical terms in English that qualify as long words. However, they are usually excluded from consideration for the longest word game.

How Much Weight Can You Gain in a Day?

Have you ever wondered if there is a limit to how much weight you can gain in a day, no matter how many calories you eat?

CALORIES AND GAINING WEIGHT

If you do the math, you need an excess 3500 calories to put on one pound of fat. Keep in mind, a pound of fat translates into more body weight because you gain water weight in addition to gaining fat. Given that your stomach can only hold so much food at a time, there is a practical limit to how many calories you can consume in a day.

If that day is Thanksgiving, for example, you're actually filling up on some foods that aren't incredibly high in calories. You're eating a combination of food, not just pure fat, which would be your quickest route to high calories. This means it's unlikely you'll intake more than 10,000 calories, no matter how determined you are to feast until you can't eat anymore.

That translates into a couple of pounds, at most, because you're burning calories while you're consuming them. If the meal is high in sodium, you may retain additional water weight, but you'll shed that over the next couple of days, assuming you return to your normal eating habits.

THERE'S A LIMIT

Another factor to consider is that you only produce a certain amount of the enzymes needed to digest your food. Now, don't delude yourself into thinking you'll meet that limit with a normal large meal, but there is a limit to how much of any nutrient you can process and absorb.

You also have your metabolism to consider. If you severely restrict calories, your metabolism adapts so you can burn them more efficiently. Eating too many calories can have the opposite effect, revving up your metabolism as part of a physiological process to maintain a 'set point'.

Whether you can alter your metabolism with a single day's change is debatable, but even competitive eaters don't necessarily gain weight.

If you do gain weight, most of it will be water and fat, since it takes time to add more muscle mass. Also, keep in mind you can increase your metabolism on your own by increasing your activity level.