What Causes a Language to Spread Across Continents?

Language spread is like a game of tag, when people move, they bring their language with them. If a lot of people from one place go to another, the new place might start speaking that old language too. And if it’s a fun or useful language, even more people want to learn it.

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Examples

A group of sailors from Spain teaches a coastal village in Africa to speak Spanish because they trade every year.
Children in a small town learn to read and write English because their teacher only speaks it.
An ancient king conquers a nearby city, and the new people start speaking his language over time.

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Categories: Culture · language spread,cultural influence,history of languages