Ch. 5 Key Issue #3: Where are other language families distributed? Jacob Sikorski Different Language Families In Total Population 50% of people speak a language in the Indo-European Family (includes English, German, etc.) 20% of people speak a language in the Sino-Tibetan Family (most Chinese/Asiatic languages) Different Language Families (Cont.) Each of the following Language Families contain 5% of the world?s population Afro-Asiatic (Middle Eastern Languages) Austronesian (Southeastern Asia) Niger-Congo (Africa) Dravidian (India) 10% speak languages in smaller families Sino-Tibetan Family The languages of China and other, smaller, countries in Southeastern Asia. Sinitic Branch Mandarin ? most important Chinese language (3/4 population)