𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦: 2 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘴🕒
The most popular languages in 2025 revealed, Women in Translation Month and the story of how Ancient DNA helped work out language family origins.
That is what’s going on in the language world right now.
We wanted to take a look at the recent ongoings to keep our readers up to date in our latest news feature.
Ancient DNA solves mystery of Hungarian-Finnish language family origins
Recent genetic research has provided compelling insight into the origins of the Uralic language family, which includes Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian.
Analysing more than 1,000 ancient DNA samples - including 180 newly sequenced from Siberia - researchers have traced Uralic ancestors to northeastern Siberia (Yakutia), circa 4,500 years ago, rather than near the Ural Mountains as traditionally believed.
While genetics cannot definitively map the pathways of language spread, the findings align with linguistic theories linking these languages to ancient Siberian populations.
This offers a fresh perspective on the deep prehistory of European language families and highlights how studies can enrich our understanding of linguistic origin stories.
Women in Translation Month 2025
Every August, Women in Translation Month (WITMonth) celebrates women writers, authors and translators whose voices are under‑represented in global publishing.
This year’s events spotlight conversations with women writers and translators about industry challenges, such as motherhood to cultural recognition, and reaffirm the value of skilled human translators, even amid expanding AI tools.
The world’s most spoken languages in 2025
English is ranked at the top in total speakers, around 1.5 billion globally, according to Ethnologue data.
Of these, roughly 390 million are native speakers and more than 1.1 billion speak it as a second language.
Following English, Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish maintain top positions in global language influence.
This snapshot is a useful reminder for language professionals and brands alike: if you’re developing global content or localisation strategies, targeting English speakers remains key.
But rapid growth in languages like Hindi and Arabic also demands attention if you have the potential to expand to those markets.
British adults: fluent in ‘ordering a drink’ only?
A recent UK study found that half of British adults confidently know just one foreign language phrase and that is ordering a drink abroad.
While many travellers rely on gestures (54%) or apps (notably AI powered tools) to navigate abroad, confusion is common.
Almost one in five (21%) reported ordering the wrong item and 11% of respondents even took the wrong train or bus.
These findings suggest a gap in basic language confidence and highlight opportunities for brands to promote accessible multilingual tools, though human translation remains essential for depth and nuance.
Conclusion
These developments illustrate the dynamic space Wolfestone operates within where scientific discovery, social awareness and audience needs intersect with language.
Contact us today to find out more about language solutions and discover they can support your brand.
𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦.
