The Book of Languages: Talk Your Way Around the World

Webb provides a solid introduction to world languages using charts, sidebars, and maps. Following an opening sections discussing the importance of language, its evolution, language families, and invented languages (such as Tolkien’s Elvish and Star Trek’s Klingon), Webb moves on to examine the history, pronunciations, and characteristics of 21 verbal languages including Arabic, Zulu, Russian, and Hindi-Urdu. The graphic format allows for easy comparison between languages, allowing readers to flip back and forth to study how greetings, numbers, and simple conversations vary between languages. Sign language, semaphore, Morse code, and even animal communication (like the “waggle dance” of honeybees) get brief treatment in pages devoted to nonverbal languages. Would-be polyglots ought to find it “Harika!” (that’s Turkish for great). Ages 8–12. (Apr.)