The history tells us
spoken language appeared 10,000 years ago.
How we judge the age of a language?
by the earliest proof of its written form. However, this still remains guesswork, as it’s always possible that archaeologists might discover something new tomorrow.
What is the oldest dead language on Earth?
Or better said – the oldest extinct language as an extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers. A dead language, on the other hand, is “one that is no longer the native language of any community”, even if it is still in use, like Latin.
Did you heared that before?
Learning Greek and Latin Will Be Key to Renewing the West, The headlines were generated by a new study published by MIT researchers, and based on analysis of a grammar quiz they gave to 670,000 people
The researchers found that people “remain very skilled at learning the grammar of a new language… up to the age of 17 or 18.” But they also found that “it is nearly impossible for people to achieve proficiency similar to that of a native speaker unless they start learning a language by the age of 10.” the findings are probably not that surprising to most of us. It’s been drilled into our heads that “kids’ brains are like sponges,” and thus, that learning a new language should be reserved to them. Many of us monolingual adults often daydream about learning another language. But when the desire periodically arises, it is usually quashed by a mantra that’s been programmed into us: it’s too difficult to learn a language as an adult.
However, the study didn’t actually confirm this mantra. It found that “after the age of 18 people will still learn quickly but may not achieve the same proficiency of native speakers.” (my emphasis) In addition, there is evidence that the mental effort of learning a language slows cognitive decline and can delay the onset of dementia.
How to recover the classical mind ?
the idea of rediscovering those great works of the past which were produced by the classical culture that formed the West. the language is inseparable from culture and thought, and to truly recover the classical mind will most likely require the hard work of recovering the languages that formed that mind. We have the past one hundred years as evidence that trying to get people to read the “Great Books” in stodgy translations doesn’t really work.
As even atheists admit, there is no such thing as Western Civilization without Christianity. And so, a renewal of the West will necessarily involve a renewal of a fragmented Christianity—something that is implicitly an ecumenical project. Pope Benedict XVI especially reminds us of the perennial role of Greek in the Christian faith: “There is deep meaning in the fact that only the Greek language became the privileged language of Christianity, that it still is and will always remain so, because it is the language of the New Testament. In a sense, the Hellenic element, the ways of Hellenic thought, were sanctioned by this. One cannot renounce Hellenism without at the same time touching the Holy Scriptures.”
We must create more students of Latin and Greek learning
A renewal of Greek and Latin education—and thus, a renewal of the West—must eventually make its presence felt in the school curriculum, so that Greek and Latin are taught beginning at those ages when the students’ minds are “like sponges”. But as the Latin saying goes, Nemo dat quod non habet—“No one gives what he doesn’t have.” We must first create teachers of Latin and Greek before we are able to create more students of Latin and Greek. And doing that will require that adults first take upon themselves the challenge and discipline of learning these ancient languages.
Now List without details about oldest languages ( you can see the details in link below)
1 - Tamil – the oldest language in the world
2 - Sanskrit (cc. 3500 years old)
3 - Greek (cc. 3400 years old)
4 - Coptic Egyptian (cc. 2200 years old)
5 - Hebrew (cc. 3000 years old)
6 - Chinese (cc. 3200 years old)
7- Aramaic (cc. 3100 years old)
8- Arabic (cc. 2800 years old)
9 - Farsi (cc. 2500 years old)
10- Irish Gaelic (1500 years old)
https://intellectualtakeout.org/2018/05/learning-greek-and-latin-will-be-key-to-renewing-the-west/
https://www.mondly.com/blog/2020/05/13/oldest-languages-world/