Have you ever wondered whether and/or why some languages are more efficient than others?

I have. Found this interesting and well-written article at https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/06/complex-languages/489389/

Turns out Chinese is efficient...

Also I was wondering about Afrikaans. I have been told that it is one of the most modern languages, if not the most modern one. Precisely for that reason, that it is so simple. Simple (LOL) example: there is no is and are, for singular and plural subjects in a sentence, just is. That sounds funny.

Fun little factoid:

The sentence "My hand is in warm water" has exactly the same meaning and spelling in Afrikaans and in English.

Check out this interesting (old) New York Times article about Afrikaans: 

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/16/science/blacks-shaped-language-of-apartheid-linguists-say.html?pagewanted=all