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 & layout, delightful original passages, & exotic scripts, will continue to fascinate the reader. This new edition has been thoroughly revised to include more languages, more countries, & up-to-date data on populations. Features include: *information on nearly 600 languages *individual descriptions of 200 languages, with sample passages & English translations *concise notes on where each language is spoken, its history, alphabet & pronunciation *coverage of every country in the world, its main language & speaker numbers *an introduction to language families