Papua New Guinea's Linguistic Mosaic

Secrets of the world's ultimate polyglots

Chapter 1

The brain's linguistic hard drive

Chapter 2

Earth's natural multilingual hotspots

Chapter 3

History's mind-boggling hyperpolyglots

Chapter 4

The toolkit of the language masters

YOUR GOAL

Master of Secrets of the world's ultimate polyglots

Ch 2 · Earth's natural multilingual hotspots

duolingo The unique multilingual culture of the islands of Vanuatu

duolingo Linguistic Hotspots

Deep in the valleys where hundreds of voices rise, Eight hundred languages under the island skies.

With only 9 million people, Papua New Guinea has 12% of the world's languages.

duolingo The diverse languages spoken across the valleys of Papua New Guinea

Vanuatu's island-hopping vocabulary

duolingo A colorful map displays Vanuatu's islands labeled with their local and national languages.

India's effortless daily language switching

duolingo Precise labels on glass and chrome paths show daily language switching in India.

Polyglot Planet

BETA

duolingo Match multilingual greetings to discover how many languages one person can actually speak.

Fun Fact

Vanuatu's density: This tiny nation has the world's highest linguistic density, averaging only two thousand speakers per indigenous language.

Gossip

Which multilingual country to visit?

Quiz

What is Tsotsitaal, spoken in urban South African cities like Johannesburg?

duolingo Indian citizens switch between multiple languages during a typical day.

Quiz

Which country is home to over 840 distinct languages, the highest number of any single nation?

duolingo The blending of different languages in urban South Africa

Quiz

What is the national creole language spoken across the islands of Vanuatu?

Quiz

Which small Pacific island nation has the world's highest density of languages per capita?

Quiz

How many official languages are recognized by the constitution of South Africa?

Quiz

What is the name of India's educational policy that encourages students to learn three languages?

Quiz

Why did Papua New Guinea develop so many distinct, isolated languages?

Quiz

In Mumbai, India, which three languages would a resident most commonly switch between daily?