Languages

Swedish is the sole official language in Sweden and is spoken by over nine million people. It is known as a North Germanic language, with its origins in Old Norse from the Viking era. There are 29 letters found in the Swedish alphabet. Several Swedish words have been adopted by English speakers, for example, orienteering.

Spanish is known as the world's second most spoken language, with its origins traced to Iberia in the ninth century. Three-quarters of the vocabulary is derived from Latin, and it is the official language in 20 different countries. It is the third most used language for internet purposes, and there are 27 letters in the alphabet.

Japanese is the national language for the country of Japan. It is currently spoken by around 128 million people. This East Asian language is part of the Japonic family. It is now the ninth most spoken language in the entire world. The phonetic system is relatively simple compared to other languages.

Italian is the national tongue of the country of Italy. It is one of the Romantic languages. It has over 70 million speakers. The language is part of the Italic family. The majority of those who speak Italian reside in central Europe. Each region of Italy has a unique dialect.

Indonesian is the officially recognized language of Indonesia and is spoken by over 43 million people. It is used in education, governance and media, although there are over 700 other different languages throughout the region. Its origins come from the Old Malay language which initially had only 157 words, but evolved with the advent of Dutch traders.

German is one of Europe's 'big three' languages, alongside English and French. Spoken in Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland, German has linguistic similarities to English and the Scandinavian languages. However, an approach to word order, cases, articles and the general structure of sentences, make it unique among European languages.