Transcription
Do you ever pay attention to how fast you talk? Well, turns out it's different depending on the language that you're speaking. Some languages are really slow, while others are so fast you feel like you're trying to keep up with a Formula One driver.
The situation, the indicate in this video, I'm going to take you on a tour of the fastest spoken languages in the world. If you never tried learning another language but felt a little bit lost to keep up with native speakers, well, this video is going to help because I'll also show you how understanding language speed can actually help you become a better, more confident language learner.
Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world with over a billion speakers, and when you first listen, it might seem quite slow. But don't be fooled. It's like cramming a novel into a postcard. What it's all about is how much information is in one single syllable or one single sound. See, turns out we humans have a pretty amazing knack for getting our point across, fast or slow. But first, should we see how they do the measuring?
Researchers from universities in Leon and Hong Kong figured out how fast people speak by counting what's called syllables per second. That's how many syllables you can say in one second. Now, some languages pack more syllables into less time. But get this: your brain has one goal: communicate efficiently, no matter the language. In some languages, that's five words; in others, it's 25. But it all evens out in the end, and as you're about to see, there's some crazy trade-off going on.
The average 20-year-old knows between 27,000 and 52,000 different words spoken out loud. Most of these words last less than a second. See, it's not just about speed, and Mandarin's a great example. See, Mandarin averages 5.18 syllables per second, which is on the slow side, believe it or not. But it crams a ton of meaning into each syllable. Check this out. See what I mean? Just one syllable, one sound, really packs a punch. Because also, you've got tones. And Mandarin's tones, where the sound goes up or down or stays the same, it instantly changes the meaning. So it's not just about the number of words, it's about the amount of information that's being packed in.
Now, of course, it also depends on how fast someone is speaking. Or not. "I am doing just as well as I can." Okay, that could get annoying. But Mandarin is proof that speed is not everything. It's what you can squeeze into each sound. But don't get too comfortable, because we are just getting started over here. I'm Ollie Richards, by the way. I'm a linguist and an author, and it's my job to study languages, so I know how to help you in those very difficult early stages of a language where everything sounds a little bit like mumbo jumbo.
Try this. Oniz, this is this really fascinating theory that our brains perceive a difference between machine-gun-rhythmed language and Morse code-rhythmed language. Yeah, that's actually what they called it. And Vietnamese definitely falls into the machine-gun category. It's fast and relentless, especially with its six tones. "Man, man, man, man, man." That's 5.28 syllables per second, although some people crank it up to six. This is what you might be taught at school, but this is what you will encounter in real life. I just love listening into Vietnamese conversations. If you've ever wandered around a street market in Ho Chi Minh City, you'll know exactly what I mean. Those sellers can fire off their chitchat at breakneck speed.
But you have not seen impressive yet, my friend. "Bad, bad, really, really bad. You know I'm bad, I'm bad. You know, you know, bad, bad, really, really bad. You know I'm bad, I'm bad." Come on, come on. "You know, bad, bad, really, really bad." "To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. To die, to sleep..." You get the idea.
Surprise! Well, I wasn't going to include English, but how could I not? When we have the FedEx guy. I just wanted to ask him how on earth he even does this. If you have five seconds to spare. So I went home and I started flipping through the book and decided I was going to eat a car. So the next best thing was to lock myself in a room and teach myself how to do the fast talking. Did you catch that? Well, if you're not a native English speaker, I promise this is not how we speak when you're not looking.
What is it? Truth is, English isn't exactly known for its speed. But don't underestimate it. Try spending a week somewhere like New York. You meet people who can switch gears like bad weather rolling in. Being from New York, I think people automatically talk a lot faster to start off with. I mean, you can talk as fast as you want in New York and nobody even blinks an eye. And let's not forget Texas. Exactly. None of us know what he just said.
So what's going on? Does English deserve a spot near the top, or is it just pretending to be faster than it really is? Let's check the magic speedometer. 6.19 syllables per second. Yep, looks like English makes the list, fair and square. It's tricky, though, because English has what's called stress-timed rhythm. Now, what is that? Do you remember that Morse code style that I mentioned? See, these are the pauses that make it feel slower than it actually is. And the FedEx guy, where we clocked him at 14.65 syllables per second, which is absolutely insane. Of course, and if you're here because you're still learning English, for goodness sake, please remember to breathe.
Now we are picking up speed. What language makes you think of lively and chaotic markets with amazing colors everywhere you look? Hindi hits 6.55 syllables per second, and it sounds fast because maybe it needs to be. India's streets are incredibly vibrant, and it's a fast-paced life. If you aren't sure what Hindi is, well, it's one of the official languages of India, and more than 600 million people speak it in cities like Mumbai and Delhi.
If you decide to learn Hindi, well, one thing that works in your favor is it has lovely, clear vowels and consonants. There's only one way to say each vowel: A, E, I, O, U. So you can skip through sentences without sacrificing meaning. And Hindi is interesting because each syllable takes roughly the same amount of time to pronounce. It's not like English.
By the way, the reading speed of a language isn't necessarily going to match natural speaking speed. That's a different thing altogether. Speech comprehension is different from reading comprehension. But it's similar to sign language comprehension. These science guys know them. They say that while we can talk quickly, our eyes need more time to scan and process words that we read. So your brain is very busy taking in all the things. It's got the, the size of the fonts, the contrast of the text, and your eyes, well, your eyes are also deciding if they can even see the words or not. So reading takes longer to process, which is great if, if you ask me, something more chilled you can do.
If you are learning a language, I mean, I've definitely made this reading thing work for me. I even teach languages this way, using stories, and I call it story learning. People really seem to like it. We have tens of thousands of happy students who enjoy learning languages through stories. I came up with this idea when I realized that stories, stories are the most natural way to learn and remember pretty much anything. They work great, whatever language you go for. It's fast or slow, English, Hindi, whatever, it's going to stick in your head if you learn the language in a story. And the truth is that story learning is where real language learning begins.
If you want to know just how this works, where you can scan the QR code in the description up there, or click the link in the description. I've made you a little fun pack that shows you how it all works. It's completely free, so go grab yours and start having fun with languages.
Is this Turkish? That's a funny one. Turkish might not seem an obvious choice for speed, especially if you've watched a Turkish movie, and you really should. It's not even a very hard language to learn, but it's tough to use in real life. And that's because of how a conversation will go when you're speaking with a native Turkish speaker. When you hang out with them enough, you realize that Turks like to speak all at once. And when they do it at 6.87 syllables per second, you might get dizzy trying to keep up. 6.8? You just wait until we hit number one.
But here's the fun part. See, in Turkish, the action word, or the verb, comes right at the end of the sentence. So whatever the person is saying, you are left hanging until right at the end of the sentence to find out what's actually going on, like what's actually happening here. Say you're listening to a guy telling this story, and all you're hearing is "ship" and "captain" and "storm." Meanwhile, he's telling you that a whole crew just got rescued. See where I'm going here? There's a big difference. And all that tension, waiting for the punchline, can make Turkish feel like you're a little bit out of breath.
Turkish also likes to stack small words together to make big ones, like German, but way more complicated. They're saying a whole sentence, and you think they are still on the first word. Now, throw this in the pot: Turks use a ton of fancy idioms and expressions that don't follow logic, and people are always making up new ones as well. They're a very creative language, and this also makes the language seem faster than it is. But don't let this put you off. You can totally get the hang of a language like Turkish, as long as you focus on some of the fancy sayings and the big words. Because once you know what to expect, what happens is the language will start to slow down in your brain because you are used to it.
But there is no slowing down at all on the next one. Portuguese is like speaking to the beat of a song. And when I was living in Brazil, I really didn't care that people spoke fast. I just got so swept up in the beautiful sounds and rhythms. I swear, you feel this beat in the language, and this is part of what helped me get fluent in Portuguese. Portuguese is known for being very expressive, and it speeds through at 6.88 syllables per second. So you see, you can be expressive but also fast.
But there is Brazil, there's Portugal, there's Angola, there's all these different places, varieties of Portuguese. So who speaks the fastest? Is there a difference? Well, Brazil has a reputation for seeming faster, especially in places like Rio. And so, funny thing is, that's just a perception. When they measured speaking speeds, it worked out to be more or less the same in Portugal and Brazil. You see, in Portugal, native speakers, for me, are actually a lot harder to follow because they cut off their vowels. So even though in Brazil it's all rhythm, in Portugal, they can lay a strong claim to having the fastest speakers.
You see, it's not just about the speed, it's also about the clarity of the sounds you're making. Seriously, where did his vowels go? Whatever you do, never, ever ask people to speak more slowly. Because one of the universal rules of human beings and language learning is that if you go to someone and say, "Can you speak more slowly, please?" they will just repeat it back to you at exactly the same speed, maybe even faster.
Italian sounds like lots of short bursts of words. And if you listen to native Italians speaking on the radio or a podcast, well, I wouldn't blame you at all for wondering what this one insanely long word is that they're saying. But I promise you, they're actually saying lots of different words. They really are. What she said. So how fast is it? We are talking 6.99 syllables per second. That's basically seven. But you should hear the southern dialects. Wow. Some Italians have been recorded speaking naturally at nine syllables per second. Germans only give 5-point-something. So let that sink in for a second. Well, I don't know about you, but even to me, at that breakneck pace, Italian, well, it still sounds like music to my ears, to be honest. It's crystal clear. You hear all the vowels. Pronunciation is very predictable and regular, and the rhythm is even more dramatic than Portuguese. And yes, the hands. What? They're all part of the conversation. On that, Italian is a full-body language: hands, tone, and syllables.
But now, one wondering, could all this extra stuff affect the speed of a language? What could possibly be faster than Italian? Well, I'm glad you asked. I'm not being fair. Rappers don't count. But ever tried understanding native French speakers in, say, Paris? For well, looks like the challenge is on. French averages 7.18 syllables per second, depending on the variety. See, French has a lot of different ones, as you've probably guessed if you've been paying any kind of attention. There's more to it than speed. You might have heard that the French have a reputation for being sophisticated. Well, this kind of thing rubs off on the way they speak, and it's very important to them to sound articulate, especially when they're speaking to each other. It's part of the culture. As for the rest of us, well, we just try to keep up. Was in French, even a simple word like "please" turns into "s'il vous plaît." And in French, a lot of letters don't even get pronounced, right? As you can see.
So here's the interesting part. French has an absolute ton of something called elisions. Now, elisions are the way that speakers blend their words together smoothly when they speak. So, like, instead of saying "le homme," you say "l'homme." You blend them together, right? You hear that? It makes a faster, more fluid sound. And French is a master of that. Between the speed and the elisions, you might think that you need subtitles in real life. But listen, 'cause I'm serious now. You can definitely learn French if you want to. Don't let this put you off. It wouldn't be so crazy popular if it was impossible to learn. And if I could do it with my intellect, what so could you? And I've made my share of incredibly embarrassing mistakes in French, quite a lot of them, actually. And guess what? I'm still here. It didn't matter.
Now, before we get to the speed freak language number two, I'm going to throw in two honorable mentions that I think deserve to be here. Basque and Catalan can both be very fun, fast, at 7.2 syllables per second each. We just need more evidence. And if you're keen on investigating even further, well, there are 800 languages in Papua New Guinea that no one has even tested yet.
Okay, now I think you are ready for this fascinating nugget of truth. We've been talking about speed all this time, but in actual fact, all languages share the same amount of information in any given minute. That's right. The University of Hong Kong measured this with a whole bunch of languages, and guess what? Regardless of how fast we speak or what our hands are doing, our brains process information at the same rate: at 39 bits per second. Yeah, bits. Just, just go with it. All I know is that is twice the speed of Morse code.
Speeding into second place at 7.82 syllables per second is a language that does not mess around. It's fast, passionate, and always moving. Native speakers are known for not holding back when the fire comes out. It's the perfect example of a machine-gun-rhythmed language. It is Spanish, of course. Weren't you waiting for Spanish? You were expecting him, weren't you? Oh, did you think it would be number one? Sorry, that's coming up in a second. Fun fact: Spanish is spoken 25% faster than English on average. But what if I told you that you're not actually getting more information at that speed? Hold that thought. Meanwhile, this could be your Spanish teacher. If you can handle her. Well, we are getting to the good stuff here about why fast or slow doesn't even matter, and it's mostly in our heads.
Now, check this out. The word "está" has lots of fun, fast syllables in it: three, right? Because the impression of being really fast. And "street" has just one syllable in it. So even though "street" is actually a much shorter word, our brain hears the fast syllables of "está" or those sounds coming close together and decides that Spanish is faster, even though it has three more syllables, three syllables instead of one. Words in Spanish have a lot more vowels and syllables than English. Plus, the Spanish syllables, all the sounds of Spanish are shorter, like that machine-gun sound, so you can say them, them more quickly. This means that to say the same sentence, you have to use way more syllables and way more vowels in Spanish. This is an example sentence to show how many syllables Spanish words have. And then in Spanish, it would be "himself." Could race through sentences, firing syllables quicker than a jackrabbit, just to say the same thing. So maybe if you just pick up enough Spanish words, sound manic. Well, everything she just said was basic, everyday words. Once you know enough words, your brain will keep up, I promise. And this is why I always recommend that you listen to the language that you're learning every day. Listening is so important as a skill because you need to tune your ear into the sound. Believe me, you'll soon realize that no language is on a sugar high. Mind you, I can't speak for language number one.
And the winner is... Well, it's a language where precision is highly valued in many aspects of the culture. Coming in at 7.84 syllables per second, damn fast, Japanese is the fastest spoken language in the world. So what's different with Japanese? Well, the beauty of Japanese is how efficiently it uses its sound. Japanese has simple syllables: one consonant followed by a vowel. This makes it sound very smooth and predictable and super easy to glide quickly through sentences. There's no need to pause or slow down for effect.
What really sets Japanese apart is how much meaning they can pack into just a few words. See, Japanese, as a language, relies so heavily on context and what's going on around you. They often don't need many words to get their points across. So Japanese sounds fast, not only because of syllable speed, but because speakers leave out the that listeners just get. So there's no need to overexplain. Very efficient, right? Oh, and if you're learning Japanese, here is a little win for you. See, Japanese has far fewer distinct syllables than English. About one Japanese syllable for every 11 in English. But the crazy thing is, you're still getting the same amount of information. It's back to this whole thing of speed versus density. You can say a lot of sounds really fast, but it doesn't mean you're actually giving much information. Speed, density, they're not the same thing. But we've already covered how that works. So let's just celebrate our winner.
Or is it the winner? What if I told you that there's an ace up my sleeve that makes all the rest just feel like baby talk? What's your name? It is too fast for most people to even process because your ears have to already know the difference between 80 clicking sounds. The wild card: Taa. And it isn't just a fast language, it's in a league of its own. It doesn't beat Japanese in terms of syllables per second, but Taa has over 80 different clicks, 164 consonants, and 20 vowels. And each syllable is packed with so much meaning, it sounds like a language in hyperdrive. Here was a fun clue: I dare you to try reading this sentence out loud.
Now that you know that faster doesn't mean harder, would you like to know how long it really takes to learn these languages? Well, check out our next video about the FSI, the Foreign Service Institute chart. It is your ultimate guide to learning times for each language. Maybe not Taa. I'm calling Taa that one.