Around 1853, Pedro Carolino wanted to write a Portuguese-English phrasebook. While Carolino didn't know a word of the English language, he didn't let that stop him. Using a Portuguese-French phrasebook written by José da Fonseca and a French-English dictionary, he translated da Fonseca's phrasebook from French to English. The result was The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English (later published as English as She is Spoke). This very curious book lists "wolf", "snail", and "hedge hog" as species of fish, its list of "degrees of kindred" include "the gossip", "the gossip mistress", "an widow", and "the nurse", "eatings" include "some wigs", "some marchpanes" and "an amelet", and gives a familiar dialogue with a laundress as "Who lhat be too washed, too many soaped, and the shirts put through the buck. You may be sure; never I do else". Its "Idiotisms and Proverbs" section includes "He turns as a weath turcocl," "Burn the politeness," and "To craunch the marmoset". Carolino had given da Fonseca co-author credit without his permission; da Fonseca was mortified and made certain his name was deleted from future editions. The book became quite popular, although not for the reason Carolino expected. (source)

There are only two living speakers of the Ayapaneco language, spoken in the state of Tabasco in Mexico. The two speakers refuse to speak to one another. (source)

The fruit which for eating it Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden is simply referred to in the Bible as the fruit of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." It is never referred to as an apple. The confusion arose when the Bible was translated into Latin because the Latin word malum means both "apple" and "evil".

Afrikaans is believed to be the youngest natural language in the world. Afrikaans developed from Dutch, when Dutch settlers arrived in what is now South Africa in 1652. It was considered to be a dialect of Dutch until the late 19th century, when it began to be regarded as a language in its own right. (source)

The largest alphabet in the world is used to write the Khmer language, spoken in Cambodia, and has 74 letters. The smallest alphabet is used to write the Rotokas language, a language spoken by around 4,300 people in Papua New Guinea, and has just 12 letters. (source)