Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World by Nicholas Ostler

[nwhyte]

Second paragraph of third chapter, with bonus Akkadian fable:The names of civilisations that arose in the ancient Near East now ring with the note of remote antiquity. Three dozen and more are known that flourished in the three millennia from the start of records c.3300 BC until the invasion of Alexander in 330 BC, among them such powers as Babylon

Comments

[minnesattva]

*adds to wishlist*! Thanks for letting me know about this.

[londonkds]

Do you think that Chinese might also be hampered by its tonal nature, which makes it hard to learn for non-tonal first language speakers?

[catsittingstill]

Which Chinese? Doesn't china have about 10 languages (or mutually unintelligible "dialects" if you prefer that term)?

[inulro]

Oh! I definitely need to read this.