Written with the non-specialist in mind, this third edition of Kenneth Katzner's best-selling guide's attractive style and layout, delightful original passages and exotic scripts will continue to fascinate all language scholars and linguists. This new edition has been thoroughly revised to include more languages, more countries and current data on populations. This indispensable resource contains information on nearly 600 languages-individual descriptions of 200 languages with sample passages and English translations; concise notes on where each language is spoken and its history, alphabet and pronunciation; coverage of every country in the world and its main language and speaker numbers; English borrowings from other languages; an introduction to language families. This will be your passport to the speech of the world.