Real Talk! Language. Power. World.

Language Worlds

What Do We Tell Each Other?

What shapes language, how has it developed, and what do we tell one another? Language can be spoken, signed, written or experienced through touch – from sounds, gestures and facial expressions to writing and physical contact. It enables us to ask questions, pass on knowledge, build relationships and understand the world.

The origins of human language are largely unknown. Today there are around 7,000 languages worldwide (as of May 2026), belonging to different language families. They have developed over a long period of time and continue to change.

How are stories, knowledge and memories passed down through the generations? For thousands of years, people have been recounting myths, legends and stories orally. Rhymes and rhythms help to preserve narratives in the memory and pass them on.

Creation Myths

How did the world come into being, and where does our language come from? Creation myths and religious traditions from various cultures explore these questions. The objects on display here illustrate different conceptions of the origin of language, its significance and its diversity.

Oral tradition through music

Stories and heroic tales are often conveyed through music. Melodies and rhythms help people to memorise long texts more easily and pass them down through the generations. One example is the gusle, a traditional, usually single-stringed stringed instrument from South-Eastern Europe. For centuries, it has been used to accompany narratives of historical events.

Even today, stories are passed down orally. At the same time, the culture of storytelling has expanded to include written records and digital formats. On social media, we express ourselves through Reels, memes and comment sections. The need to understand the world and pass on our knowledge remains. Yet the ways in which stories, knowledge and memories are passed down are changing.

Diversity

How does the world speak?

In most countries, several languages are spoken. Multilingualism preserves knowledge, stories and cultural practices that are closely linked to the respective languages. Where several languages come together, different experiences, concepts and perspectives meet. Linguistic diversity broadens perspectives and shapes a vibrant society.

At the same time, language is an inexhaustible source of creativity. With a limited number of symbols, countless poems, songs and even new languages are created. People play with language, transform it and develop new forms of expression. Language can thus convey new ideas, build communities and continually give rise to new worlds.

How diverse is the world’s language landscape?

More than half of the world’s population speaks two or more languages. An increasing number of children are growing up multilingual. Multilingualism is by no means a modern phenomenon: evidence from antiquity and the Middle Ages shows that different languages have always co-existed.

In the Early Modern Period (from 1500 onwards), textbooks for foreign languages spread throughout Europe. Through trade, travel and wars, oral proficiency in foreign languages became increasingly important for the nobility, craftsmen and merchants, as well as soldiers, students and other travellers. One example of this is the Gazophylacium Decem linguarum Europaearum (Newly Opened Treasure Chest of the Ten Most Distinguished Languages in [Europe …]) by Christophoro Warmern (1691).

Germany, too, is more linguistically diverse than it appears at first glance. Alongside Standard German, numerous dialects and minority languages are spoken. German Sign Language is also part of this linguistic diversity. Multilingualism continues to grow as a result of mobility and migration. However, not all languages and language forms are valued equally.

Multilingualism has a long history!

More than 4,000 years ago, texts were already being written in Sumerian and Akkadian in Babylonia. Whilst Akkadian was used in everyday life and administration, Sumerian remained the language of scholars and religion. In China during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), multilingual dictionaries were compiled to facilitate communication with neighbouring empires. These included, amongst others, Mongolian, Persian and Thai terms. Even today, multilingualism is evident in many countries. The following three objects illustrate how, over the course of millennia, people have used different languages to live together, trade and communicate.

Countries with the most living languages

There is enormous linguistic diversity in the world. However, many of these languages are endangered and have only a few speakers left. Alongside the languages actively spoken today, there are numerous languages, which are often spoken by only a few people, as well as languages that have already become extinct. When a language disappears, knowledge of the history, culture and way of life of its speakers is often lost with it.

How creatively does the world express itself?

Language can be used creatively in many different ways. In poetry, linguistic imagery and metaphors are created through which people express their feelings. Whether in ancient poetry or contemporary pop songs, emotions such as longing, admiration, desire and heartbreak are constantly being put into words in new ways. Love, in particular, has inspired people for centuries to play with language and find new forms of expression.

Love songs show just how differently people put their feelings into words – and how universal the themes of love, longing and heartbreak are at the same time.

Linguistic creativity is also evident in constructed or artificial languages. These are deliberately developed and follow their own rules. Some were created to facilitate international communication, such as Esperanto. Others were devised for literature, film or television series and have given rise to their own communities, such as Klingon. Constructed languages turn language into an experiment and demonstrate how people can use language to create new forms of expression and even new worlds.

Identities

How do we speak?

The way we speak is closely linked to our identity. Language reveals where we come from, the groups to which we feel we belong, and how we would like to be perceived by others. Our personal linguistic world encompasses languages, dialects, ways of speaking and different linguistic styles. We switch between them depending on the situation – we speak differently at home than we do at work or at a government office. For many people, mixing several languages is also part of everyday life. In this way, we are all multilingual in our own different ways.

Language biographies

Language biographies highlight just how closely language, life journeys and identity are intertwined. They tell the stories of the languages that shape us, of shifts in language use, and of how our linguistic repertoire changes over the course of our lives.

In the following videos, people talk about the role different languages play in their lives. Their stories deal with belonging, multilingualism, migration and political upheavals. (Project funded by the Friede Springer Foundation, 2026.)

Youth Language

Language is not static. It changes over the course of a lifetime and adapts to new life situations, social changes and cultural influences. This is particularly evident in youth language and, in the digital sphere, in the meme culture on social media: young people invent new words, alter meanings and develop their own ways of expressing themselves. Pop culture, digital media, gaming and multilingual environments all influence these forms of language.

Contact

How do we learn a new language?

For thousands of years, people have been trying to overcome language barriers. By learning new languages, translating and interpreting, people connect with one another and foster mutual understanding. Even in ancient times, interpreting and translating were practised professionally. Language skills were particularly important for trade and diplomacy. At the same time, discussions were already taking place back then about how freely a translation could be rendered and how closely it should adhere to the original. Historical textbooks also show that, as far back as 500 years ago, learners were already afraid of making mistakes whilst learning a foreign language.

Today, technological advances seem to be making language barriers almost disappear. Apps, translation programmes and chatbots can translate texts and conversations in a matter of seconds. But how are these technologies changing the way we communicate? And is it still worth learning languages?

We understand one another through learning a foreign languages!

Language skills create access. They help us when travelling, at work, or in discovering our own identities and those of others. With every new language, our world expands a little further. After all, learning a language is about more than just vocabulary and grammar: every language also contains cultural knowledge that opens up new perspectives on people and their worlds.

Teaching and learning methods have changed over time. Textbooks and technical aids are designed to make learning foreign languages easier. Yet one thing remains true today as it was in the past: learning a new language takes courage and time. Emotions such as joy, uncertainty, pride and shame are all part of the learning process. The following objects show how foreign languages have been learnt over the years.

How do we understand one another through interpreting and translation?

The translation and interpretation of language involves more than simply transferring words from one language to another. Those who translate or interpret also analyse. Historically, the position of interpreters has often oscillated between power and mistrust. Their language skills have enabled them to play an important role in political, diplomatic and social contexts.

Today, mechanical translation and artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing the fields of translation and interpreting. Digital systems can translate texts and conversations quickly and into numerous languages. However, just like humans, mechanical systems do not operate entirely neutrally. They interpret language on the basis of their data and technical processes, and in doing so may convey certain meanings or perspectives.

What do the following words mean?

Choose a word and then the matching explanation. Correct pairs stay together; if your choice is incorrect, simply try again. (Keyboard: Tab to move to the next field, Shift + Tab to go back, Enter or Space to select.)

Power

How powerful is language (online)?

The way we use language is crucial. Through language, we express our opinions, hopes and disappointments and share them with the world. The right words can influence our mood and spur us into action.

Language enables us to participate in social life and connect with one another.

The way we name things shapes our perception of the world. History shows that language and words can have consequences. Language is used to justify oppression, spread propaganda, and influence and manipulate people. At the same time, language can bring about social change. We can raise our voices in solidarity, criticise political decisions, highlight injustices and encourage others.

AlgoSpeak

‘Unalive’ instead of ‘dead’, ‘Panini’ instead of ‘pandemic’ or ‘Le$bi@n’ instead of ‘lesbian’: to circumvent algorithmic filters and potential restrictions on social media platforms, users deliberately alter their language. This way of expressing oneself, known as ‘AlgoSpeak’, makes use of substitute words, symbols and creative spellings. What originally served to circumvent automated content moderation is increasingly developing into a digital linguistic culture in its own right.

The AlgoSpeak Dictionary demonstrates just how diverse this new language is. The online dictionary invites users to discover these creative neologisms and their meanings.

Languages and the World Wide Web

The Internet provides access to all kinds of information. News and important events are often shared online within seconds. Yet the Internet is not always accessible to everyone. What happens if you speak a language that is under-represented on the World Wide Web? And in which languages is information most likely to be published in the first place?

Language as an instrument of colonial power

The elevation of one language above others is also a political decision. Colonial administrations were aware of this effect. Through missionary work, education and judicial practice, they imposed their own languages in the colonies and suppressed local languages. Language thus became an instrument of colonial power and domination.

Resistance takes many forms. Activists continue to speak local languages, use the languages of the colonial powers for political criticism, or reject linguistic hierarchies on principle. The colonial legacy lives on to this day in the widespread use of colonial languages. At the same time, there are numerous efforts to reclaim, preserve and revive lost or suppressed languages.

Suppression of linguistic diversity – colonialism and national movements in Europe

For thousands of years, people have been exploring the world. Advances in navigation and shipbuilding made it possible to travel ever further across the oceans. As early as the 17th century, the outlines of the continents and oceans could be depicted on globes with a high degree of accuracy.

The voyages of discovery of the 18th century expanded geographical knowledge from a European perspective and fostered global trade and exchange between the continents. At the same time, they paved the way for colonial conquests, which were accompanied by the subjugation and destruction of cultures and habitats, as well as the suppression of local languages. The globe from 1808 shows the routes taken by geographical explorers, predominantly during the 18th century.

Language as an instrument of political power

Political language can reinforce hierarchies and shape social perceptions. Nationalist movements in the 19th century turned language into a means of demarcation. Linguistic diversity was combated and a notion of linguistic purity was propagated. Under National Socialism, terms were deliberately altered, books were burnt and a rhetoric of violence was created.

Even today, worldviews are conveyed through language. Those in power use catchphrases, slogans and political rhetoric to communicate their positions and push through political objectives. Yet political language does not go unchallenged. Resistance movements and civil society groups make deliberate use of language to voice criticism and highlight social injustices.

How does language affect social participation?

Access to information is guaranteed by law in Germany. In practice, however, information is not always equally accessible to everyone. Clear and understandable language is crucial to ensuring that people with different abilities and levels of German can understand information and participate in social life.

Technical aids can also facilitate communication and understanding. The concept of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) helps people who are unable to communicate via spoken language, or can do so only to a limited extent, to use alternative forms of communication. The problem here is not the ability to communicate, but often the form of communication expected by society. Breaking down linguistic and communicative barriers strengthens social participation.

Barriers caused by bureaucratic language

In 2023, the Federal Statistical Office conducted a survey on citizens’ satisfaction with public services. The survey found that the clarity of forms and official correspondence was rated below average and identified as a clear weakness. Administrative language is used in government departments and public authorities to communicate regulations and legally binding decisions. It is intended to be precise and unambiguous. In reality, however, the texts are often difficult to understand.

Affirmations

Language has an impact not only on the outside world, but also on our inner selves. Through affirmations – short, positively worded statements – people seek to consciously influence their thoughts, self-image and attitude. They demonstrate how we use language to encourage ourselves, build confidence and face challenges.

Future

How does language change?

Language change is a natural development. New words, shortened forms and shifting meanings often give rise to concern. Yet linguistic change is not a sign of decline, but rather an adaptation to new needs, ways of life and media. Language changes because society and the way we communicate with one another are also changing.

But what about the future of linguistic diversity? Worldwide, numerous languages are under threat and are now spoken by only a few people. Initiatives are working to document, preserve and pass them on to future generations.

New technologies are also shaping the future of our languages. Artificial intelligence can overcome language barriers, facilitate access to knowledge and open up new opportunities for preserving and learning languages. At the same time, the question arises as to whether digital technologies promote linguistic diversity or, in the long term, contribute to standardisation.

How will we speak in the future?

Whether it’s new words, revived languages or communication with artificial intelligence: the future of our languages is shaped not only by technological developments, but also by the people who speak, change and pass them on.

Language is alive. It changes along with our society, our needs and the ways in which we communicate with one another. And we all play a part in shaping its future.