This third edition of Kenneth Katzner's best-selling guide to languages is essential reading for language enthusiasts everywhere.Written with the non-specialist in mind, its user-friendly style and layout, delightful original passages, and exotic scripts, will continue to fascinate the reader.This new edition has been thoroughly revised to include more languages, more countries, and up-to-date data on populations. Features include:*information on nearly 600 languages*individual descriptions of 200 languages, with sample passages and English translations*concise notes on where each language is spoken, its history, alphabet and pronunciation*coverage of every country in the world, its main language and speaker numbers*an introduction to language families