* Counting by "macro-languages": This approach focuses on languages with a significant number of speakers and distinct vocabulary and grammar. By this definition, there are around 7,100 languages in the world.
* Counting by "micro-languages": This includes dialects and languages with very few speakers. This approach estimates the number of languages to be closer to 14,000.
Challenges in counting languages:
* Dialect vs. Language: It's often hard to distinguish between a dialect (variation of a language) and a separate language.
* Extinct languages: Many languages have gone extinct, and their number is unknown.
* Emerging languages: New languages are always evolving, making it difficult to keep track of the total number.
So, the answer is somewhere between 7,100 and 14,000, depending on your definition of "language."