Which were the very first languages, and which is the oldest language that is spoken today?
As the other answerers have stated, it’s impossible to know what the first languages ever spoken were. The Indo-European languages have been traced as far back as 2,000 BC, which is relatively recent on the historical time scale, considering that the first written languages began to appear in Sumeria and Egypt around 3,100 BC and 2,700 BC respectively. The oldest language still spoken today is much easier to pinpoint, though. Most linguists consider Tamil to be amongst the very oldest. Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken in Southern India and Sri Lanka, thought to be at least 6,000 years old. The Tamil language is also thought to have its roots in the ancient languages of the Elamites and possibly even the Sumerians. If you were to ever meet a Tamil, you’d find that they are very proud of this part of their heritage, and rightly so. Another notable language still spoken today that dates back at least 5,000 years is Coptic. Coptic technically became extinct in the 17th century, but is