We present to your attention modern alphabets. The most popular is the Latin alphabet, since it is not only English, but also other, mostly European languages. In this material, greek alphabet in order is the sixth, but in terms of the beauty of writing, only 12 in the world.
1. Latin writing (“Latin”)
Currently, the most common writing system on the globe is Latin (according to the number of its languages, countries and peoples used) – the alphabets of most European countries are based on it, which in turn are also the most common on the globe.
The Germanic languages cover central and northern Europe (countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Great Britain, Ireland). Romance languages are common in central, southern and western Europe (countries: France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Moldova and others). In Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Slavic languages common (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), which also use the Latin alphabet, as do the countries of the Finno-Ugric language group (Hungary, Finland, Estonia).
Almost all of Latin America speaks and writes Spanish, some countries and peoples outside Europe use French and Portuguese, English is spoken and written in the USA, Canada, Australia and other countries. In addition, English is now the most widely spoken language in the world. From Asian countries, at one time, Turkey switched from Arabic writing to Latin. The Latin alphabet is also used by some former republics of the USSR – now independent states (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, etc.). Previously, attempts were repeatedly made to use the Latin script in the alphabets of the peoples of Russia.
2. Cyrillic writing (“Cyrillic”)
The alphabet of the Russian language is based on Cyrillic, which is the main one for Russians and many other peoples inhabiting Russia, it is also still used by the peoples of the former Soviet republics that were previously part of the USSR. In addition, at present, both the majority of the alphabets of the peoples of Russia and the alphabets of the former Soviet republics of the USSR – now independent states (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan), as well as some other alphabets, such as Macedonian, Serbian and Bulgarian, are based on Cyrillic.
3. Arabic script
It is constantly used by residents of the Arab countries of Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, such as: Iran, Iraq, Syria, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and some others. In addition, attempts were made to use the Arabic script in the alphabets of the peoples of the former USSR and Russia.
4. Chinese writing and its derivatives
The Chinese script is used by the peoples living in the countries of East Asia: China, Japan, Korea (DPRK and South Korea). In terms of population, they make up the majority of people living on the planet, but in terms of the number of languages, peoples and countries they are inferior to the above types of scripts. Chinese writing uses Standard Chinese and its dialects, Japanese syllabary (Hiragana and Katakana). Korean script (Hangul) – externally designed in the style of Chinese script (which is also used in South Korea), but content is a completely independent alphabetic script. Previously, the Chinese script was also used in Vietnamese, Miao and some other extinct languages.
5. Indian writing systems and derivatives
Indian writing systems are used in India (Devanagari, Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Orya, Kannada, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam), China (Tibet), and in some countries of the Indochina peninsula: Khmer, Thai, Lao, Burmese scripts are used respectively in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (formerly Burma). The Devanagari script is used in the largest languages of India: Kashmir, Marathi, Nepali, Maithili, Hindi, Sindhi (along with the Arabic alphabet), Sanskrit and others.
6. Other types of writing
In addition to these largest types, there are currently other types of writing that are common in individual countries or localities:
- Greek script – in Greece and other countries
- Armenian script – in Armenia
- Hebrew script – Israel and other countries
- Amharic script – in Ethiopia
- Tifinagh (Tuareg script) – on the territory of some African states
- Tana script (Maldive script) – Maldives
- Bugi script – Indonesia
- Cherokee script – in the USA
- Canadian syllabary – in northern Canada
