All over the world people will share New Year greetings in their own language. There are 7,151 languages spoken in the world today
That number is constantly in flux, because we’re learning more about the world’s languages every day. And beyond that, the languages themselves are in flux. They’re living and dynamic, spoken by communities whose lives are shaped by our rapidly changing world. This is a fragile time: Roughly 40% of languages are now endangered, often with fewer than 1,000 speakers remaining. Meanwhile, just 23 languages account for more than half the world’s population.
The top four languages most widely spoken by native speakers are:
Mandarin Chinese 920,000,000
Spanish 475.000,000
English 373,000,000
Hindi 344,000,000
In London 300 different languages are spoken.
At St John’s there are at least 12 languages spoken. So here is how to say Happy New Year in each of them:-
Happy New Year English
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda Welsh
Szczęśliwego nowego roku Polish
Bonne année French
Ddafrohes neues Jahr! German
gelukkige nuwe jaar Afrikaans
سال نو مبارک (selamat Tahun Baru ) Malay
سنة جديدة سعيدة (sunuh jadidah saeiduh) Arabic
Omwaka omulungi Luganda
Ezi afọ ọhụrụ Igbo
feliz Ano Novo Portuguese
Now read the tribute to Viv Williamson, our Senior Community Gardener here
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