We have already compiled the 10 most spoken languages in the world but what about the least spoken languages? Believe it or not but there are more than 3,000 languages that are about to go extinct today. According to research conducted by National Geographic, we lose one language every fourteen days as well.
1. Khanty / Hanti (Around 10,000 Native Speakers)
Khanty, which is also known as Hanti, is mainly spoken in Western Siberia and it is one of the endangered languages. Unfortunately, the number of native speakers of Hanti is less than 10,000 these days.
2. Lemerig (2,000 Native Speakers)
Lemerig is a unique language that is spoken on a small island called Vanuatu, which is home to a few endangered languages. This language is only spoken by around 2,000 native speakers, which the new generations learn Vera’a or Mwotlap languages and puts Lemerig under a huge risk of extinction.
3. Ongota (10 Native Speakers)
Ongota is spoken in Southwest Ethiopia. Unfortunately, the language is only spoken by 10 elders in a small village and it is not taught to new generations. The language is mainly dying because mothers prefer to teach Tsami to their children.
4. Chung / Sa’och (10 Native Speakers)
Chung is only spoken in Cambodia, which is the home of 19 endangered languages. The language is spoken by ten people in a small village, and it is going to die because of a communist regime in the country back in the 1970s. The language was once banned to be spoken, which led to the extinction of an amazing culture.
5. Njerep (6 Speakers)
Njerep is spoken in a small village between Cameroon and Nigeria border, and it has no native speakers left. Instead, there are only six people who remember some Njerep words, phrases, and songs. It is considered to be one of the dead languages already.
Languages Known Spoken by a Single Person in the World
If you felt sad about the above-mentioned languages, you should also know that there are 18 languages in the world, and each of them is spoken by a single person. These languages and their regions/countries are listed below:
- Bikya & Bishuo (Cameroon)
- Volow (Vanuatu)
- Laua, Yarawi & Lae (Papua New Guinea)
- Dampelas (Indonesia)
- Wintu-Nomlaki, Tolowa & Patwin (The United States)
- Yahgan (Chile)
- Tinigua (Colombia)
- Taushiro (Peru)
- Pemono (Venezuela)
- Chana (Argentina)
- Kaixana, Diahoi & Apiala (Brazil)
These were all the least spoken languages in the world, and researchers are doing their best to save them.
