Concise language is important and is defined by the ability to transfer as much precise information with the least number of words. A concise and precise language will:
- Be less confusing and, therefore, will require less writing to deliver the same thought
- Consume less time writing to deliver the same information
- Be less prone to misunderstandings
- Be more precise with genders
- Be less cumbersome to understand and misunderstand
- Create an accurate picture for the listener or reader
How do we measure the conciseness of a language?
- Number of letters
- Number of letters and words needed to deliver a message
- The complexity of “proper linguistics” will not play a role in this measure but rather the ability to deliver a concise message to the receiver.
Examples:
Biblical Hebrew is made of 22 letters, while Chinese can reach 135,000 characters (5,000 are needed to read a newspaper). So even though
Biblical Hebrew: “הנערות בביתן” (2 words > 11 letters > 5.5 letters per word)
English: “The girls in their house” (5 words > 20 letters > 4 letters per word)
Spanish: “Las chicas en su casa” (5 words > 17 letters > 2.4 letters per word)
French: “Les filles dans leur maison” (5 words > 23 letters)
German: “Die Mädchen in ihrem Haus” (5 words > 19 letters)
Russian: “Девушки в своем доме” (3 words > 17 letters)
Arabic: “الفتيات في منزلهن” (4 words > 15 letters)
Chinese (Simplified): “他们的房子里的女孩” (9 letters in 9 “words”)
The Number of Letters in Each of the World’s Major Languages
1. Afrikaans (9 letters)
2. Albanian (8 letters)
3. Amharic (7 letters)
4. Arabic (6 letters)
5. Armenian (7 letters)
6. Azerbaijani (10 letters)
7. Basque (6 letters)
8. Belarusian (10 letters)
9. Bengali (7 letters)
10. Bosnian (7 letters)
11. Bulgarian (9 letters)
12. Catalan (8 letters)
13. Chinese (7 letters)
14. Croatian (8 letters)
15. Czech (5 letters)
16. Danish (6 letters)
17. Dutch (5 letters)
18. English (7 letters)
19. Esperanto (9 letters)
20. Estonian (8 letters)
21. Finnish (8 letters)
22. French (7 letters)
23. Galician (9 letters)
24. Georgian (8 letters)
25. German (6 letters)
26. Greek (5 letters)
27. Gujarati (8 letters)
28. Haitian Creole (11 letters)
29. Hausa (5 letters)
30. Hebrew (7 letters)
31. Hindi (5 letters)
32. Hungarian (9 letters)
33. Icelandic (9 letters)
34. Igbo (4 letters)
35. Indonesian (10 letters)
36. Irish (5 letters)
37. Italian (7 letters)
38. Japanese (8 letters)
39. Kannada (7 letters)
40. Kazakh (6 letters)
41. Khmer (5 letters)
42. Korean (6 letters)
43. Kurdish (6 letters)
44. Kyrgyz (6 letters)
45. Lao (3 letters)
46. Latin (5 letters)
47. Latvian (7 letters)
48. Lithuanian (10 letters)
49. Luxembourgish (12 letters)
50. Macedonian (11 letters)
51. Malay (5 letters)
52. Malayalam (9 letters)
53. Maltese (7 letters)
54. Maori (5 letters)
55. Marathi (7 letters)
56. Mongolian (10 letters)
57. Nepali (6 letters)
58. Norwegian (9 letters)
59. Pashto (6 letters)
60. Persian (7 letters)
61. Polish (6 letters)
62. Portuguese (10 letters)
63. Punjabi (7 letters)
64. Romanian (8 letters)
65. Russian (7 letters)
66. Samoan (6 letters)
67. Scottish Gaelic (13 letters)
68. Serbian (7 letters)
69. Sesotho (7 letters)
70. Shona (5 letters)
71. Sindhi (6 letters)
72. Sinhala (8 letters)
73. Slovak (7 letters)
74. Slovenian (9 letters)
75. Somali (6 letters)
76. Spanish (7 letters)
77. Swahili (7 letters)
78. Swedish (7 letters)
79. Tajik (5 letters)
80. Tamil (5 letters)
81. Telugu (6 letters)
82. Thai (4 letters)
83. Turkish (7 letters)
84. Turkmen (7 letters)
85. Ukrainian (9 letters)
86. Urdu (4 letters)
87. Uzbek (5 letters)
88. Vietnamese (10 letters)
89. Welsh (6 letters)
90. Xhosa (6 letters)
91. Yoruba (6 letters)
92. Yiddish (7 letters)
93. Zulu (4 letters)
Ranking The Number of Letters in Each of the World’s Major Languages
1. Rotokas (11 letters)
2. Taa (11 letters)
3. Korean (12 letters)
4. Pirahã (13 letters)
5. Xhosa (14 letters)
6. English (15 letters)
7. Spanish (16 letters)
8. Vietnamese (18 letters)
9. Japanese (20 letters)
10. Arabic (21 letters)
11. Filipino (24 letters)
12. French (27 letters)
13. Russian (30 letters)
14. German (32 letters)
15. Chinese (33 letters)
16. Tamil (35 letters)
17. Lithuanian (35 letters)
18. Hindi (36 letters)
19. Latin (37 letters)
20. Greek (38 letters)
21. Urdu (43 letters)
22. Icelandic (46 letters)
23. Georgian (48 letters)
24. Armenian (49 letters)
25. Turkish (51 letters)
26. Croatian (52 letters)
27. Swedish (53 letters)
28. Basque (55 letters)
29. Danish (56 letters)
30. Dutch (57 letters)
31. Hebrew (58 letters)
32. Hungarian (59 letters)
33. Welsh (60 letters)
34. Czech (61 letters)
35. Slovak (62 letters)
36. Finnish (63 letters)
37. Bulgarian (65 letters)
38. Polish (68 letters)
39. Portuguese (72 letters)
40. Estonian (73 letters)
41. Ukrainian (75 letters)
42. Catalan (76 letters)
43. Irish (77 letters)
44. Slovenian (78 letters)
45. Belarusian (81 letters)
46. Macedonian (83 letters)
47. Serbian (84 letters)
48. Kazakh (85 letters)
49. Norwegian (87 letters)
50. Albanian (91 letters)
51. Romani (95 letters)
52. Uyghur (96 letters)
53. Gujarati (97 letters)
54. Latvian (98 letters)
55. Thai (99 letters)
56. Uzbek (100 letters)
57. Mongolian (101 letters)
58. Kurdish (102 letters)
59. Marathi (103 letters)
60. Azerbaijani (104 letters)
61. Sanskrit (105 letters)
62. Kannada (106 letters)
63. Bhojpuri (107 letters)
64. Tatar (108 letters)
65. Punjabi (109 letters)
66. Bambara (110 letters)
67. Bosnian (114 letters)
68. Hausa (115 letters)
69. Uzbek (116 letters)
70. Tajik (117 letters)
71. Quechua (118 letters)
72. Lao (121 letters)
73. Nepali (123 letters)
74. Dhivehi (124 letters)
75. Telugu (125 letters)
76. Konkani (127 letters)
77. Yiddish (128 letters)
78. Burmese (129 letters)
79. Malayalam (130 letters)
80. Assamese (131 letters)
81. Javanese (132 letters)
82. Sinhala (133 letters)
83. Oriya (134 letters)
84. Amharic (135 letters)
85. Azerbaijani (136 letters)
86. Gujarati (138 letters)
87. Igbo (139 letters)
88. Bengali (140 letters)
89. Sesotho (141 letters)
90. Shona (143 letters)
91. Khmer (145 letters)
92. Chichewa (146 letters)
93. Kinyarwanda (147 letters)
94. Sanskrit (148 letters)
95. Korean (149 letters)
96. Sindhi (150 letters)
97. Swahili (151 letters)
98.Turkish (152 letters)
99. Urdu (153 letters)
100. Tibetan (154 letters)
101. Hindi (155 letters)
102. Hmong (156 letters)
103. Yoruba (159 letters)
104. Tamil (160 letters)
105. Chechen (162 letters)
106. Marathi (163 letters)
107. Kannada (164 letters)
108. Malay (165 letters)
109. Tibetan (166 letters)
110. Slovak (167 letters)
111. Bhojpuri (168 letters)
112. Lithuanian (171 letters)
113. Maori (172 letters)
114. Inuktitut (173 letters)
115. Kekchi (174 letters)
116. Mongolian (175 letters)
117. Ukrainian (179 letters)
118. Belarusian (180 letters)
119. Galician (183 letters)
120. Kalmyk (184 letters)
121. Tswana (185 letters)
122. Sanskrit (190 letters)
123. Akan (191 letters)
124. Ossetic (192 letters)
125. Irish (194 letters)
126. Kurdish (196 letters)
127. Slovenian (198 letters)
128. Geez (200 letters)
129. Setswana (203 letters)
130. Uzbek (204 letters)
131. Gujarati (208 letters)
132. Hungarian (210 letters)
133. Georgian (213 letters)
134. Basque (214 letters)
