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西部非洲是世界语言种类最丰富的地区之一。牛津大学的人类学家认为,该地区语言的多样性主要和降雨有关。 西部非洲的面积比美国的国土面积还要小,但是如果你从该地区西北部的塞内加尔出发向东南方向旅行至喀麦隆,就会发现在这一不大的地区内竟然有700多种语言。其中有些语言的差异非常大,就像汉语和英语一样截然不同。喀麦隆只有1200万人口,却使用着
West Africa is one of the most abundant languages in the world. Anthropologists at Oxford University believe that the diversity of languages in the region is mainly related to rainfall. West Africa has a smaller area than the United States, but if you travel south-east to Seychelles from the northwestern part of the region to Cameroon, you will find that there are more than 700 languages in this small area. Some of these languages vary widely, just as Chinese is totally different from English. Only 12 million people in Cameroon are using it