Languages are a very exciting topic of discussion, as we discovered while creating this issue. The Tinkle office was buzzing with discussions about various mother tongues, and rightly so. India has so many! Did you know that our country is home to more than 1,000 languages Several of them are from two or three ancient language families and it is the reason why some words in your mother tongue might also be the same in another language. For example, the word ‘kheer’ is the same across Marathi, Hindi, Nepali and Urdu, and has been derived from the Sanskrit word ‘kshir’ which means thickened milk. In Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali however, it is known as ‘payasam’, ‘payasa’ and ‘payesh’, and is derived from the word ‘peeyusham’ or ‘peeyush’, which in Sanskrit means nectar. This is as far as India is concerned. But what about languages around the world Do we share words with them too As a matter of fact, words for common expressions such as ‘mom’—mother, ma, mather—are similar in many languages around the world. Another example is the word ‘que’ pronounced ‘ke’ which means ‘what’ in Spanish and Nepali, and is very similar to the word ‘ki’ in Bengali. Despite similarites, we may have never understood each other if we only spoke in our mother tongues! In such a situation, a common language like English is very helpful, and is the reason you and I are able to understand each other. For those of us working in publishing, language is a tool which we use daily and also the material with which we work. It is what we chisel into shape, so we can get the best possible result. It is also a way to express ourselves through stories and ideas, which are then received by readers like you! People who study languages are called linguists. And although none of us here at Tinkle Digest are one, we decided to spark a discussion with you about languages. Why not ask your friends what their mother tongue is Maybe you already know some words in their language. If not, then maybe you could learn a few! :