Language families of the world

In short: Languages are grouped into families according to common origin. Worldwide there are around 7000 languages, distributed over a few dozen families.

In more detail: Relationship shows in regular sound correspondences and similar basic vocabulary.

In detail

• Indo-European: German, English, Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Hindi, Persian.
• Turkic languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Uzbek.
• Sino-Tibetan: Chinese, Tibetan, Burmese.
• Afroasiatic: Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic.
• Uralic: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian.
• Isolates: Basque has no known relatives.
• Language contact: Loanwords spread independently of relationship (wie-sprachen-sich-wandeln).
• Endangered languages: Many small languages die out if they are not passed on.