Ancient Languages that are still spoken today

A language that has thrived for over 2500 years is alive and being profusely used even today in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and some regions in Sri Lanka and Singapore and other countries. Basic Tamil has over 83 million native speakers. It is also contemplated that Tamil could be even older than has been found because of the oldest surviving text on grammar Tolkappiyam which refers to some sections of grammar with older references. However, not having found substantial evidence, historians have stuck to their findings.

There is a debate if the Greek that we speak today, a descendant of Mycenaean Greek, can be called one of the ancient languages. Whatever the case, what is important is that the language has a rich heritage, and some of the oldest poetry texts the Odyssey and Iliad were written in the Greek language. There are old works on subjects like astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics in the Greek language. The language is said to have existed for over 3400 years.

Hebrew is the language of the Jewish community and is spoken in Israel. There was a time this 3000 years old language had diminished to a very small group speaking it and was about to get extinct towards the 4th century AD, however, it saw a revival in the 19th and 20th centuries with the reviving Zionism. Today, several people from across the world are learning the Hebrew language for differing reasons.

The language of Arameans, Aramaic was popular during the Mesopotamian civilization era with the Semitic speakers. This was some 3000 years ago. During those days the language spread to eastern regions with the rise of trade and territorial spread towards the East. The language continues to be spoken in the region of its origin.

All of the present-day languages in China are derived from the original Chinese which dates back to 1250 BC. The present-day standardized version of Chinese is referred to as Mandarin and is a most spoken language by native speakers in the world.

The determined life of this language through available records is around 2200 years. However, the history of the region where it is spoken goes back to many more years before that. The original Egyptian language, though still in use has very few speakers across the world. It will require some serious effort to stop it from becoming extinct.

Latin is another old European language that is the precursor of most of the European languages of today. Europe is one of the cultural and educational hubs of the world, many of the scientific and literary journals were written in most of the last two millennia in this language. Latin is still spoken in Rome as an official language. It is also the language of the Vatican.

Though attested in the first century BC, it holds a history of 2800 years. Arabic was and continues to be spoken in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and other Middle-Eastern nations and also some nations in Europe.

The language of Persia, which is also spoken in neighboring nations like Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Farsi as it is called today has evolved from Old Persian and as it stands today it took that shape around 800 AD. An extremely beautiful language with the equally beautiful script, Farsi stands for a lot of beauty.