Every 26th of September since 2001, Europe has celebrated its rich linguistic diversity.

At Taalhuis Amsterdam, the House of Dutch and Mediterranean Languages, we embrace the power of languages to connect and celebrate every day those people who come to our school to learn 9 of the more than 200 languages that are spoken across Europe, though 24 are the ones recognized by the European Union.

If you are a regular at our school, you probably know how diverse our community is. Walking through our building, you will hear many languages spoken, and also many conversations that are able to switch from one language to another in a very fluent way.

Although we raise awareness and keep building a more plurilingual world every day through our pedagogical mission, today we wanted to share short facts about the languages we teach that you probably didn’t know.

Did you know…

– In FRENCH, there are 16 ways to write the sound “o”: au, aux, aud, auds, aut, auts, eau, eaux, o, ô, ods, op, ops, os, ot, ots.

– The SPANISH word for sugar (azúcar) comes from the Arabic word “as-sukkar” (السكر).

– In the GREEK alphabet, the letters omicron and omega are “connected”: the first literally means “little o” (o mikron) and the latter refers to “great o” (o mega).

– Many languages have their fair share of untranslatable words, like the DUTCH ‘niksen’ (doing nothing at all) or the HEBREW ‘firgun’ (a genuine, heartfelt feeling of happiness or pride for someone else’s success).

– The TURKISH word for coffee (kahve) and the ITALIAN word (caffè) are connected; both come through the Ottoman/Turkish kahve from Arabic qahwa.

– The English word “paradise” ultimately traces back to Old Iranian/Persian pairidaeza, meaning something like “walled enclosure” or “garden.” Over time, the idea of a beautiful enclosed garden became associated with an ideal heavenly place.