A French study has shown that Spanish (after Japanese) is the fastest spoken language, though it is also the one that transmits the least information per second.
According to a language study published by the University of Lyon in France, people who are Spanish speakers talk faster than those who speak English, French or Italian, but transmit less information per second.
Spanish is spoken at an average of 7.82 syllables per second, while the average English speaker will speak at 6.1 syllables per second.
The study also demonstrated that even though Spanish is spoken faster, its syllable per second count is not a representation of how much information will be packed in those (almost) eight syllables.
Take for instance the two-syllable word FELIZ (happy), a very average Spanish word, which is made of two syllables that independently, don’t deliver any information. While the two-syllable English synonym BLISSFUL, is composed of two syllables that independently carry lots of information—bliss means enormous joy and full, loaded with, filled.
Read more about this interesting French study on this article published by Time Magazine.
