Do you know the difference between language, idiom and dialect?

When you fill out a resume or get to a job interview, you are often asked how many languages ​​you speak, right? And you may have already heard about the new grammatical rules applied to a given language or about the different dialects spoken in a given country.

As you can see, the terms language, idiom and dialect are very common in our daily lives and, despite being used in similar situations, they have considerable differences between them. So much so that when asked what the distinction between the three is, many people get confused to define.

The truth is that this confusion is more than justifiable because, in fact, there are no very well defined borders on what each one is. However, linguists try to differentiate the concepts in order to facilitate understanding. Let's see.

What is language?

First of all, language is the instrument for communication belonging to those who speak it for interaction in society. It is a system formed by rules and values ​​established in that linguistic community.

Its greatest expression is the act of speech, the form of expression that people use to communicate. We know that speech is a dynamic and living instrument, therefore, subject to variations, the so-called linguistic variations. They are the accents, jargon or differentiations of the so-called “standard norm”.

Here are some curiosities:

• one of the most difficult languages ​​is Basque, spoken in parts of Spain. As it has no relationship with other spoken languages ​​in the world, its grammatical structure is unique and quite complicated.
• the only country in the world that speaks only one language is Somalia. There, citizens are Somali practitioners.
• Africa has over a thousand languages ​​throughout its length

What, then, is language?

Language is a term used to designate a particular nation in relation to others. Deep down, it is closely related to political issues because, for a language to exist, it is necessary to create a Political State.

Precisely because it characterizes a certain people, many still consider it as synonymous with “language”. However, we open a parenthesis to explain that language has a specific character as it encompasses a set of codes and words structured under certain rules.

Language, in turn, is linked to language because, politically, it designates a nation. Therefore, it is always linked to the official language of a given country. It is also important to remember that languages ​​were spread around the world thanks to migrations and colonization.

Currently, the ten most spoken languages ​​in the world are Chinese, Hindi, English, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Indonesian and French.

More curiosities:

• Russian is not only spoken in the country of the Cup. About 137 million people residing in 31 countries have it as their first language.
• almost a billion people speak chinese and about 200 million speak english
• Latin was the most spoken language in the world for a long time. Much of this was due to the influence of the Catholic Church. However, it is less and less practiced.

And what is the dialect?

Dialects function as versions of the official language when distinct grammatical structures and vocabulary are added. These variations can originate for regional or social reasons.

The first is the case of champagne, spoken in France. In the second case we have examples of professional slang and expressions. In short, they are the ways of speaking, the language of a particular region or social group.

How many dialects and languages ​​are there in the world? It's in Brazil?

• Currently, there are around 6,912 languages, 2,700 tongues and 7,000 dialects in the world.
• In Brazil, Portuguese and Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) are considered official languages.
• However, the 2010 Census detected 305 indigenous ethnic groups in Brazil, accounting for 274 different languages. Not to mention the dialects that originated thanks to immigration. This is the case of Hunsrückisch, a High German dialect, and Talian, of Italian origin.