Most scholars agreed that in ancient times there was a single proto-language, from which all languages that exist in the world today originated. But why did the single language disintegrate into so many different and, at first glance, not at all similar to each other dialects? People have been interested in this question for a long time. Foreigners who came to the country from distant lands caused surprise and distrust. They spoke in a language incomprehensible to local residents, and very often they were considered people of a kind of “second class”. The Greeks contemptuously called them “barbarians” (due to the fact that the speech of strangers was incomprehensible to them and seemed a meaningless set of sounds: “bar-bar-bar”) and considered themselves much higher than them in development. Similarly, the Chinese and many other peoples also treated the wanderers. Trying to understand where these incomprehensible languages came from, people composed legends and myths. The most famous of them is the myth of the construction of the Tower. Once upon a time, people were one people and spoke the
same language. And all was fine, and they lived happily ever after, because they could always come to an agreement with each other. Any task was within their reach, because they worked together and harmoniously. Because of this, people became terribly proud. They decided to gather together in the city of Babylon and build a tower as high as the sky to prove that they are equal to God. But God punished them for their pride. He “mixed their languages” – made it so that people began to speak in different dialects and ceased to understand each other. Because of this, the construction of the tower stalled, and people dispersed throughout the world, taking each of their languages with them.

Linguistic scientists are still arguing about how many languages we have on the planet. Some number them 2 thousand, others – up to 20 thousand! This is due to the fact that it is difficult to distinguish between language and dialect. Maybe someday in the future a single language common to all peoples will appear on the globe? But that would be very sad! After all, language is not just letters and sounds. It contains the history, character, experience of the people. The more languages a person knows, the richer he becomes. Charles V said: “How many languages you know, so many times you are a man.”