Is a language endangered? Thriving? What might they speak as a second language? How about its family or dialects? Our profiles are cross-linked to help you see connections, and you’ll often find qualitative notes about attitudes, religion, and more.

Ludwig Wittgenstein As our society becomes increasingly globalized, the incentive for people to know and speak more than one language will not only seem advantageous, it will become de rigueur. While it is presently normal for persons in the United States to speak only English, the limitations of that reality will become more evident as the planet continues to diversify and cross-pollinate.

It seems almost humorous at this juncture that, in the past, people believed that babies indoctrinated with more than one language were at risk of not only being less intelligent, but of becoming schizophrenic. Of course, that theory has since been debunked. To be fair, present-day conjecture that multi-lingualism can create nurseries filled with budding geniuses is a bit far-fetched, as well.