Genesis 11:5-7 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” According to SIL International's Ethnologue: Languages of the World (12th Edition, 1992), there are over 6,900 spoken languages. Where did all the languages come from?
If you don't want to accept the Bible's account and you would like the alternative explanations, then read Wikipedia for a study of expert views. These experts are calling it "the hardest problem in science" so don't expect to find a satisfactory alternative explanation however!
Think about it from the evolutionary perspective for a moment. Does it make logical sense that so many different languages have evolved? When we have children we teach them the language that we know. We do not invent a new language and teach them that instead. Also, the number of languages in the world has hindered mankind's progress, if anything we would see a considerable reduction in the number of languages spoken if evolution were true.
All languages have comprehensive and complex structure and sound. The Chinese language has a completely different structure and sound to the Greek language for example. It is impossible for me to imagine that that these 2 languages evolved over time because they are so comprehensive and unique that human development would be impossible without substantial understanding in the first place. It makes far more sense to me that the vast portion of any language must have been introduced very rapidly and then varied to a much lesser degree over time. I am influenced to think this way because I have witnessed people being able to instantly speak in a language that they haven't learned, otherwise known as "Speaking in Tongues". This is not a full explanation but it is a clue. With "Speaking in Tongues", even the individual may not understand what they are saying but the fluency leaves me with no doubt that it is real.
Language is also uniquely human, why wouldn't apes have developed sophisticated language systems like us? if we accept that somewhere back in time a genetic mutation occurred that triggered the development of language then we would expect some apes to have done this. The reality is that language is socially transmitted rather than genetic. If a child is born in Portugal to Portuguese parents but then due to circumstances raised in England, the child will most likely learn English as soon as they go to school. If they remain in England when they grow up, English will be the language they will teach their children. Within a generation, Portuguese will be foreign to the child's descendants.
There is also no recent whole languages that have emerged in human history. Language has varied over time but is still unique to each race of people. Old English has become modern English but still belongs to the English for example.
After thinking through the possibilities you may agree with the experts that language is the "hardest problem in science". I think
sometimes it is better to accept a statement of fact if it cannot be proved otherwise. Reading the alternative explanations to the Genesis account, this is certainly the case for me.
For further reading on another time God gave languages to mankind read Acts 2. It is a fascinating topic that I can only mention here.
There is a lot more that could be examined such as the influence of language on a persons thinking and temperament or the motivations for learning another language but I don't want to get drawn off on a tangent!
