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Speakt Languages Insights

Do you know there are 7,111 spoken languages in the world today? This is according to Ethnologue which is the most extensive language catalogue in the world. However, the number of languages decline every year. Of the 7,111 languages, more than 90% are spoken by less than 100,000 people. This means that the less dominant languages are more likely to decline in number as compared to the more dominant languages.

Language Facts

Of all these languages, there are interesting facts about that that will surprise you

1. There is a language spoken by 8 people

Can you imagine this? The Busuu language is spoken by eight people in the world! It's the language of Southern Bantoid of Cameroon. There were 8 speakers of the language in 1986 and 3 in 2005

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2. Over 300 languages are spoken in the US

The US is considered to be one of the most diverse countries in the world. There is a huge number of unique settlers here such that they had a problem choosing the official language when creating laws by the continental congress.

3. There is no official language in the US

With so many languages in the US, there is no official language, some people think its English but it's not. There are so many settlers bringing confusion in the official language to use.

4. Spoken languages become extinct

A language dies out if there is no one to speak it, or record using written variations. The dialect dies out and today, there are 241 languages that have become extinct.

5. Half the population of the world speaks 23 languages

More than half of the global population speaks 23 languages only. This is as compared to more than seven thousand languages is interesting.

6. Half the world is bilingual.

At least more than half of the world's population speak more than one language.

7. One country has more than 800 languages

Papua New Guinea is the country with the most number of languages in the world. It has 841 languages but its predicted that 40 of these languages are to become extinct as only a few people speak them.

8. Most translated document

The bible is the most translated document followed closely by Pinocchio. The bible is translated to 683 languages and parts of it has been translated to more than 3000 languages.

9. Oldest written language

Sumerian is the oldest written language dating back to 3500 BC followed by Egyptian dating back to 3300BC. Old Chinese dates back to 1250BC

10. The love language

French is known in the world today as the love language. Not only because of the accent but France and Italy are known to be fine love destinations and it happens to be the most dominant in these countries.

11. Smallest alphabet

The Papuan language is the language of Rotokas and its known to have 11 letters only. This makes it the smallest alphabet.

12. Almost all languages in the world have been influenced by another language.

This is all thanks to diversity and immigration of people in different places in the world.

13. Basque is the only language in the world that has no correlation to any other language.

It is spoken in the mountains between Spain and France and the people here didn't get out too much hence the isolation of the language.

14. Most official languages

While the US boasts having no official language, South Africa is known to have the most official languages totaling to 11. All this thanks to the diversity of the country and their culture.

15. Most spoken language

Chinese mandarin is the most spoken language in the world with more than 1.3 billion speakers. However, these are more native speakers and the language isn't well adopted in the world.

16. The language of War

One of the most beautiful languages to learn is Russian. It's also considered by most people as the language of war. Not to know why but the average Russian is said to be always angry and the languages doesn't do their moods any good.

17. Most dominant language

While it's not the most spoken language in the world, English is the most dominant. It's well received and adopted in the world with many people finding it easy to learn and it's an official language in most countries.

18. Thank the British empire and the iPhone

The dominance and diverse qualities of the English language are all thanks to the iPhone and the British empire. England had so many territories and colonies and they had no other option other than to adopt the language.

19. The official language of the air

Did you even know anything like this exists? This is the language of airplane travel and it happens to be English adding to its dominance in the world. Everywhere in the world, the pilot and his crew know English.

20. Longest alphabet

The Cambodian language has the longest alphabet with more than 73 characters. It's also one of the toughest languages to learn by yourself.

Instead of alphabets, the Chinese mandarin language consists of symbols. These represent different letters and are written differently. Most people assume they are drawn not written.

22. Toughest language to learn

Chinese Mandarin is considered to be the toughest language to learn in the world. All thanks to the lack of alphabets. They have symbols instead and its estimated that the average Chinese local knows more than 8000 symbols while you have to know more than 3000 symbols to read a newspaper.

23. Alphabet is Greek

Alphabet is an English word derived from Greek. The first two letters of the Greek alphabet are alpha and beta that in turn make the word alphabet.

24. First printed language

The first language to be printed was German. It wasn't the first language to be written however but it was printed on a book.

25. Most popular languages

English and French are two of the most popular languages used on the internet. These two are taught in every country in the world with some of these countries adopting either as their official national language.

26. Death pledge

The English language has been influenced heavily by other languages. The word mortgage means death pledge in French.

27. Nigeria has more English speakers than UK

Africa is one of the continents where the English language is well adopted. Nigeria has approximately 90 million English speakers as compared to the UK which has approximately 60 million.

28. English Dialects

Did you know there are more than 24 English dialects and in the US alone? A native speaker can tell you people from New York, California, Boston and other places sound different.

29. English dominates even in the digital world

Of the information stored by computers in the world, 80% is in English.

30. Fastest spoken language

Japanese speakers speak faster as compared to any other language while mandarin speakers speak slower.

31. Japanese and Chinese are not related

As much as different languages are influenced by others, Japanese and Chinese aren't related in any way. Japanese is not related directly to any other language but the writing systems are similar but not the same.

32. English has no guiding institution

Of the top ten most spoken languages, English is the only language with no institution setting language standards. Experts can dictate the language's rules but they don't have decisive powers.

33. English is the most evolving language

Each year, the English dictionary sees and addition of almost 4000 new words. This is as a result of the diversification of the language and technology which has led to the replacement of older words.

34. English has the shortest grammatically correct sentence

GO! This is a command or sentence that instructs people to do something. Here, the subject isn't written or spoken but only understood.

35. The English and British royalty have a motto

Surprisingly, this motto isn't written in English yet these two are the mother of the English language. The motto is written in French. The motto of the Order of the Garter which is UK's third most prestigious honor is also written in French.

36. English did not originate in England

Even though England is the land of the English language, the language itself traces its roots in Germany from Angles who were a people living in the West German seaside.

37. Asia has the most languages

Asia has more than 2300 languages spoken closely followed by Africa with 2138 languages. Surprisingly, Europe has the lease languages with only 286 of them.

38. The English alphabet gets smaller

Over the years, the English alphabet has gotten smaller. It used to have 28 letters now it has 26.

39. Ghost words

The English dictionary had a ghost word, 'dord' which appeared in the dictionary for more than 7 years before it was noticed and removed.

40. There are over 200 fake languages

These are the languages made up from books, TV, or film. Klingon is one of these languages.

41. The US has more than 300 language speakers

While the US doesn't have an official language, it has more than 300 languages making it daunting to come up with one official language.

42. Italian is not the official language of Italy

They choose a dialect known as the Florentine as their official language. Most regions here speak their own dialects.

43. Kinshasa is the second largest French speaking city

Paris is the largest French speaking city closely followed by Kinshasa the capital city of Congo.

44. German has three genders

While most languages have either feminine or masculine, German has feminine, masculine and neuter.

45. English is a French variant

Reason being 30% of the English words are derived from French.

46. Half brain

When you speak and understand English, you use only the left side if the brain while when the same applies to chines, you use both sides of the brain.

47. The first language in outer space

Russian was the first language to be spoken in outer space not English as many people believe.

48. Most words

The English language has the most number of words with over 250,000 of them.

48. North Korea and South Korea speak different languages.

They have been separated for so long they have different grammatical rules and vocabularies.

49. London has more than 300 different language speakers.

Anyone has a good chance to find someone who speaks their language here.

50 The pope understands a lot of languages

Not sure how many languages the pope can speak but he tweets in nine languages. The Spanish account has the majority of followers.

51. Water and air

Did you know that in Indonesian, "air" means "water"?

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50+ Language Facts that Will Surprise You - Speakt.com

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Speakt Languages Insights Do you know there are 7,111 spoken languages in the world today? This is according to Ethnologue which is the most extensive language catalogue in the world. However, the number of languages decline every year. Of the 7,111 languages, more than 90% are spoken by less than 100,000 people.

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Can You Guess the Country By Its Outline?

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Even though they make just be imaginary lines drawn on a map, there is no denying that political boundaries shape the world that we live in. How familiar are you with these borders? Take the quiz and find out!

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Flags of the World Quiz - World Geography Games

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Challenge yourself with the hardest multiple-choice flags quiz game, including 197 world flags. Fasten you seatbelts for an adventurous road trip across the world of flags!

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When we communicate with others using words, we're using We're also using a and an , whether we're aware of it or not. But what do all of these words mean? How are languages, dialects, and accents different from each other?

In this article, we will talk about the differences between languages, dialects, and accents while providing examples of each.

The word language describes a body of words and the systems we apply to those words, such as grammar and spelling, in order to communicate with each other. A language includes the spoken, written, and signed forms of the words and systems. Some examples of languages include English, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, and Hindi.

The word dialect describes a particular variety of a language. A dialect often follows most of the rules of its respective language, but it may have different vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciations. Most dialects are recognized by their usage in a specific geographic area, but dialects may be determined by other criteria such as social class. Some examples of dialects include Australian English, Chilean Spanish, Egyptian Arabic, and Jamaican Patois.

The word is more general, while the word is used to refer specifically to a particular variant of one language. Additionally, a includes the written form of communication, while the word is often used specifically to refer only to a spoken variety of a language. The many dialects of English, for example, all use the same Latin alphabet but will often sound very different from each other when spoken aloud.

Just like English has dialects around the globe, so does Spanish. Learn more about where you can find Spanish spoken worldwide.

While a dialect can include differences in pronunciations from the language it comes from, it also includes differences in vocabulary and grammar.

The word accent , however, describes just a distinct way of pronouncing a language. It does not include differences in vocabulary and grammar. Like dialects, accents are often distinguished based on geographical area, social class, or other common features among speakers.

Often, an accent is described as being a subset of a dialect in the same way that a dialect is a subset of a language.

Examples of dialects and accents

Let's look at examples of both dialects and accents to help explain the difference. In the United States, English is the most commonly spoken language, and the specific version of English that Americans speak is referred to as American English . American English is considered a dialect of the English language because Americans often use vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation that are different from those of English speakers from other places, such as Canada, Britain, or Australia.

American English is often further divided into different American dialects, usually based on location but not always. Examples of specific American dialects include Cajun English, African American English, and Southern American English.

Take a quick linguistic trip across the pond and learn how the American English dialect differs from British English.

In the United States, people also pronounce English words in a large variety of ways. That is, they have different accents, often depending on where they live in the US. Some well-known examples of American accents include the New York accent common in and around New York City, the Boston accent spoken in the New England area and originating from the city of Boston, and the Southern accent found across the southern part of the country.

Let's look at some examples of both dialects and accents.
Examples of dialects: Examples of British accents:

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Language vs. Dialect Vs. Accent: Learn The Differences

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Want to know what distinguishes a language from a dialect and an accent? After reading this article, you might find the differences speak for themselves.

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Going to a new city can be intimidating. You might ask yourself, how easy will it be to navigate? (Philly's easy - our streets are laid out on a grid.) How will I get around? (We have great public transportation.) Will the food be ok? (Philly food is amazing!) Will I understand the accents and the lingo? That one could take a little more time. But, never fear! I'm here to help.

Here is a guide to Philly jargon and what it means. I've also included a pronunciation guide at the end for some uncommon regional names and then some very common words that Philadelphians pronounce in a very different way.

Philadelphians have a great accent and slang, and you'll pick up on them quickly.

Philly Jargon

Jawn (rhymes with fawn, dawn, etc.) - this could literally mean anything:

"Hand me that jawn." Translation: Hand me the thing I'm pointing to (ice cream cone, remote control, small child, etc.).

"We went to Chickie's and Pete's last night. That jawn is fantastic." Translation: That place is fantastic.

CHOP - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. If a friend says, "I got a co-op at CHOP!" that does not mean they're working at a restaurant, a barber shop, or a knife store. It means they're going to work at the country's first hospital dedicated to helping children.

HUP - Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. If someone mentions HUP, they're not talking about a military march, they are talking about the closest hospital to campus.

Birds - Philadelphia's NFL team, the Eagles. If you see your friends walking around campus with their Eagles gear, make sure to yell "Go Birds!"

Shore - the beach, typically referring to New Jersey's beaches. Often you'll hear it phrased a certain way: "I'm going down the shore this weekend." Translation: I'm going to the beach this weekend.

Wit/Witout - with or without fried onions, used in reference to ordering a cheesesteak. This is a classic discussion (some might call it an argument), and you can try it both ways at multiple places around the city. Personally, I believe that onions are absolutely necessary in order to create the perfect cheesesteak. I'm sure others would disagree. But they would be wrong.
Note the Philly attitude used above. This is necessary if you want to truly fit in.

Hoagie - a sandwich on a long roll which typically includes meats, lettuce, tomato, onions, and oil and vinegar; known in some other regions of the country as a "sub." Never, and I mean never, let a Philadelphian catch you saying the word "sub" unless it comes before "way" and you're referring to the Broad Street subway line.

Montco - Montgomery County, PA.

Delco - Delaware County, PA.

Youse - the plural of "you." Here are some examples:

"Did youse see the Birds crush the Pats last night?"

"Did youse guys get my hoagie?"

Pronunciation Guide

Schuylkill is pronounced "SKOO-kil". It could refer to the river that runs next to campus or a local expressway known for its traffic.

Water is pronounced "wooder". If someone says "Do you want ice in your wooder?" they're asking if you want ice in your H2O.

Bala Cynwyd is pronounced "BA-la KIN-wid". It's a town in Montco.

Eagles may be pronounced "ig-gles" depending on the speaker's origin within the Philadelphia area.

Erin is pronounced "UR-in" and Aaron is pronounced "AAH-run". In many other places, they're pronounced in the same way; this is not the case in Philly.

Merry is pronounced "MEH-rry" and does not rhyme with "Mary".

Bury is pronounced "BURR-Y", not to be confused with "berry," which does not rhyme with "Mary" but rather with "Merry" (see above).

This may sound confusing but, I promise, it's not. It's awesome. Philadelphians have a great accent and slang, and you'll pick up on them quickly.

(One final note - the only Philadelphia-ism you're not allowed to use is the regional pronunciation of my name: Cheryl often turns into "Shurl". Please stick with the two syllable version - "Share-ul". But spelled with a C, of course.)

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10 Philadelphia Jargon Terms Everyone Should Know

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Learn how to understand and speak like a Philadelphian.

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Help! My Kids Are Developing Philadelphia Accents (Long but good!)

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Help! My Kids Are Developing Philadelphia Accents (Long but good!)

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I lived most of my adult life away from Philly. Now that I'm back, my kids - born and raised in D.C. - are learning to speak Philadelphian. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Last summer, my two small children, my late husband's mother and I took a road trip across Utah in a 25-foot rented RV. On the morning of my firstborn's eighth birthday, we were in Moab. He and I woke up at sunrise and stared out at the giant pink sky glowing behind massive tiered orange rocks. Small lizards and a baby rabbit scurried across the dusty gravel beneath us. Even in the early morning, I could tell it was hot and would only get hotter.

We were about as far away from Philadelphia as one could get at that moment, until suddenly, Philadelphia was all around us. "Mom," said my kid, curled against me, still tired and sweet and not fully awake. "Do you think we'll see any coyotes on this trip?"

Instead of saying "ki-OH-tee," the way I pronounce it, he said "cay-YEW-dee," the way my aunts in the Northeast might say it.

It wasn't the only time I'd heard the glimmering of a Philly accent from my kid. Earlier that year, Joe Biden had been Joe Bite-in. Later that fall, he'd ask if for his birthday, he could get a phoen. But each time, it stopped me in my tracks. Once or twice, I suggested he say the word again with a more nondescript, newscaster-like affect. But that didn't feel right, either. After all, why shouldn't my newly Philadelphian son have a Philadelphia accent?

I spent most of my adult life living away from Philadelphia, so I really only fully appreciated the accent once I was gone. Even then, I couldn't articulate it to those who asked what it sounds like. I knew wooder, of course, and was able to identify that my mom, who worked hard to smooth down her accent after fleeing Frankford for the suburbs, drops the hard consonant sounds in the middle of "vodka" (voka) and "vintage" (vinnage). Even though I couldn't describe it, let alone perform it, I could hear that accent - at a crowded party or bar, my ears would prick after picking up some indescribable sound, and I'd gravitate to the speaker. I even felt kindly toward Ben Affleck for his little-acknowledged accent work in State of Play, where he was a Delco Congressman with a terrible secret and a half-decent patois. Hearing those sounds reminded me of home.

"We were in Philly, but it didn't feel like I was really experiencing Philly. So why did my kid sound like Chris Matthews doing a Lee's Hoagies commercial?"

Yet I never expected to hear them coming from my son. I wasn't sure what to make of it. Part of the reason I found this new lyrical tic so startling was that both my kids were born and raised in Washington, D.C., where everyone has the flat accent of people who grew up somewhere else and then learned to smooth things out into generalities. When my mother came to visit, my son delighted in giving her a hard time if her accent slipped out. "It's not wooder, Grammy!" he'd howl with laughter. "You're saying it wrong! Say wah-ter!"

My husband grew up in the panhandle of Florida, where they put an emphasis on the first syllable of words like in-surance and um-brella. I found his way of speaking delightful and charming and wondered if my sons would pick up both his skill at playing guitar and the way he pronounced it, on occasion, git-tar.

But after my husband died, we moved to Philly - neither of which had been part of the plan. Nor was coming here in the middle of a lockdown, which meant my ability to feel connected to the city, and as if I had really come back home, was indefinitely put on hold. And in an era when it felt hard to plan longer than six months ahead, it was harder to imagine what or where our future would be.

When people asked how we liked living here, the best I could do was offer a polite smile and half-shrug. We liked being close to family. We liked our little house, and the park down the street. We liked all the glimpses we got, like climbing the rocks at Sister Cities Park or getting takeout from Chinatown or being able to drive down the Shore for a day trip. But much of what I'd imagined about living back home when I planned our move in the fall of 2019 was still out of reach. I couldn't have big get-togethers with my high-school friends and their kids. No crowded Saturdays at the museum or sleepovers with our cousins down the Shore. We were in Philly, but it didn't feel like I was really experiencing Philly. Instead, I was, like most people, just hanging out at home - which, for all intents and purposes, could have been anywhere from Philly to D.C. to Mars.

So why, then, did my kid sound like Chris Matthews doing a Lee's Hoagies commercial?

Like all things pandemic-related, it came down to Zoom. The one constant in my kid's life since we'd moved was Zoom school. Day in and day out, he listened to his second-grade teachers over Zoom, and I listened, too. They sounded like my aunts from the Northeast.

I ask Betsy Sneller, an assistant professor of linguistics at Michigan State University who has studied the Philadelphia accent as well as how children pick up on it and other regional accents, if this transmission vector makes sense. She confirms that school is where most accent work happens for young kids, though most of the research has been done on in-person school.

"What we often find is that kids sound like their parents until they go to school," Sneller tells me. "Then all the kids come into kindergarten sounding different, and by the end of the year, they more or less sound the same." Usually, kids pick up sounds from other students, with teachers playing less of a role. But last year wasn't usual. "Zoom school throws a wrench in things," Sneller says.

For most of my son's second-grade year, there was no recess chatter, no whispering in the back of class, no spirited lunchtime discussions with other kids. Instead, outside the occasional breakout session with peers, he heard his teachers, almost exclusively.

It was Sneller's research that resulted in a rash of news stories in 2018 that the Philly accent was dying out, which she denies - instead, her work shows how the accent is changing as it moves from generation to generation. That's in part due to what she describes above; kids talk to one another and morph accents together, which results in a generational evolution. But since he's not talking much to other kids, my kid may be getting a more "pure" form of the Philly accent.

Either way, the O sounds I heard so clearly in that RV in Utah are the new hallmarks of the Philly accent. These are the sounds that were prominent in Mare of Easttown and the Mare of Easttown parodies. And these are also the ones that are easiest to acquire.

Just as my son laughed at my mother for her pronunciation of water, the rest of the U.S. has mocked Philly for that particular affectation. As a result, says Sneller, the water/wooder switch is on the way out, replaced by those O/ew sounds.

"The really salient and stigmatized sounds - wooder, gay-as for 'gas' - are changing rapidly in part because people make fun of people for saying them," she says. "Below the surface, there are a ton of other features connected to the Philly accent that people might not even notice."

But whether I'll ever hear some of those features from my son is hard to say.

At eight, Sneller says, my son is in kind of a linguistic sweet spot - malleable enough to learn some of the ways of speaking in his new home but old enough to remember how it was done where he used to live. (If my kid had been 12 when we moved, she notes, chances are he wouldn't have picked anything up and would maintain the flat affect he acquired in D.C.) This would give him a bit of a bilingual advantage if we had moved to Spain or Japan and make it easier for him to switch between languages, but it puts him at a disadvantage when it comes to fully learning the Philadelphia accent.

Take the "ah" split, Sneller says. Most accents have a version of this - the reason Philadelphians say "gay-as" for gas but pronounce "manage" in an unremarkable way. "There are a set of really complicated rules that determine which words get pronounced like 'ayeah' and which get pronounced like 'ah,' and Philly is the most complicated version of this system," she says. "It's so complicated that if kids aren't getting that input from an early age, they're not going to get it."

In the end, whether my son keeps the accent he has now depends on who his friends are going forward. If they have accents, he'll keep his. If they don't, he might not - particularly if his friends look down on a Philly accent.

"Especially in middle school and high school, kids are super-attuned to what other people implicitly disdain," Sneller explains. "They can't point to it, but if there's a broad negative vibe, that might be enough for them to shy away."

Most kids, she says, lean into their accent in the teen years, emulating those around them, then pull it back a bit in their late teens and early 20s.

That's what happened to my husband's Southern drawl. He didn't even think he had an accent - it was just how everyone he knew talked - until he went to school in Chicago and was quickly informed that he sounded like a rube. So he worked to smooth out the traces of his accent, and by the time I met him, they only came out when he was angry or maybe had two drinks. I adored that accent, though, and felt sad that he saw it as something to hide.

Perhaps I need to take that more generous approach with my son. And perhaps his new way of speaking represents something hopeful.

While I'm still trying to figure out what to make of all this - our new town, our new life, our lockdown existence - my son has no such hesitation. Yes, he misses our house in D.C., but he knows this is where we live now. He misses his old friends but thrills at making new ones in the neighborhood. He's adapting - accepting the new and adopting it as his own. He's not waiting for things to open up; he's not wondering if this move was the right one or if it will stick.

He's in Philly, and he's going to talk like a Philadelphian. Maybe it's time I followed suit.

Published as "Wooder you Talking About" in the February 2022 issue of Philadelphia magazine.

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Help! My Kids Are Developing Philadelphia Accents

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I lived most of my adult life away from Philly. Now that I'm back, my kids - born and raised in D.C. - are learning to speak Philadelphian. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

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Moving down the East Coast, our next stop in our American accents tour is Philadelphia.

Fans of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air will remember "In West Philadelphia born and raised..." If that were true, what would you sound like? Did the Fresh Prince have a Philadelphia accent? In this article, we'll learn all about the Philadelphia accent.

Origins of the Philadelphia accent

The Philadelphia accent or "Philly accent" developed from the evolution of society in Pennsylvania's capital city. Philadelphia is an important city in United States history. It's where the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Like its New York neighbor, English-speaking colonists from parts of England, Scotland and Ireland brought their accents to Philadelphia in the 17th century.

The Philly accent developed quite uniquely from its New England counterparts over the centuries. New York and New England accents are generally r-less or "non-rhotic" in words like park /pak/ or water /woa duh/. The Philly accent pronounces the r's or is "rhotic."

What does a Philadelphia accent sound like?

The Philly accent continues to change and develop today. Many people believe the Philadelphia accent is disappearing, but research has found that it's just changing in different ways. Let's go over some other unique pronunciation and grammar for this region.

R-pronouncing

The Philadelphia accent today is "rhotic" or r-pronouncing. There are some instances of non-rhoticity possibly found in South Philadelphia. But generally, all r's are pronounced.

Vowels

The Philadelphia accent will round many "o" sounds not unlike the rounding in the New York accent. The vowel sound in "on" becomes similar to the vowel in "dawn."

On /oawn/

Don /dawn/

When it doesn't happen, the /ah/ sound is also possible: /ahn/ or /dahn/

The Canadian rising can be heard as well. Here, a simple vowel is elongated and turned into a diphthong. In the Philly accent, this occurs in words like "fight" and "like."

The Philly accent uniquely pronounces the word "water" using more of a schwa sound. The schwa /Ə/ sound is found in words like "support" /sƏ port/and "banana" /bƏ na nƏ/. Philadelphians will say "water" /wƏ der/.

The long-e (eagle) and long-a (bagel) sounds are shortened before a "g." The Eagles football team and bagels will have this unique pronunciation.

Eagles /igls/ rhymes with giggle

Bagels /begls/

Words with /ih/ sounds like attitude or beautiful will get an /ee/ sound like "bee".

Attitude /ah dee tood/

Beautiful /byoo dee ful/

Dropping consonants and letters

Sometimes the Philadelphia accent will completely drop a letter. Some people mistake this for mumbling, but it's a consistent trait of the Philly accent.

Mustard /mus sard/

Soft /sawf/

Philadelphia /fil del fia/

How to speak Philadelphian

The Philadelphia accent is not commonly heard in movies or TV. By far, the Boston and New York accents overshadow the Philly accent in popular media. Here's Kevin Bacon - a Philadelphia native - talking about his Philly accent and its place in movies.

The most famous fictional character from Philadelphia, Rocky Balboa, has an infamously inaccurate Philadelphia accent. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air doesn't exhibit a particularly Philadelphia accent. It's best to listen to locals from Philadelphia.

Here's some slang that will help you understand and maybe speak like a Philadelphian.

Yo! I love the Philadelphia accent

The Philadelphia accent stands out from other accents or dialects on the East Coast of the United States. It pronounces the r's, has unique vowel sounds and shortens a lot of words. The Philly accent continues to evolve, changing pronunciation and slang with each passing generation. If you're ever in Philly and someone asks you "jeet?", ask for a hoagie and you'll fit right in.
Alison Maciejewski Cortez is Chilean-American, born and raised in California. She studied abroad in Spain, has lived in multiple countries, and now calls Mexico home. She believes that learning how to order a beer in a new language reveals a lot about local culture. Alison speaks English, Spanish, and Thai fluently and studies Czech and Turkish. Her tech copywriting business takes her around the world and she is excited to share language tips as part of the Lingoda team. Follow her culinary and cultural experiences on Twitter.

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This jawn: All you need to know about the Philadelphia accent - Lingoda

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he Philadelphia accent pronounces the r's, has some unique vowels, and shortens a lot of words. Learn how to sound like you are from Philly.

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Take this image quiz at Encyclopaedia Britannica to test your knowledge of languages.

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Free & interactive language world map. Discover with how many people you can communicate - and share your coloured map and results!

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Evolution of Language | Curious Questions with Answers | Educational Videos by Mocomi Kids