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1. Which of the following countries does NOT have German as its official language (or as one of its official languages)?

Answer: Hungary

In Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, German is the only official language. In Switzerland, German is an official language (along with French, Italian and Romansh). German is also one of the official languages in Luxembourg and Belgium.

Hungary has only one official language: Hungarian.

2. India has 22 "scheduled" languages, which are recognized for some official purposes, as well as one "subsidiary official language". Which of the following does NOT have scheduled or subsidiary official language status in India?

Answer: Arabic

India has more officially recognized languages than any country in the world. As of 2008, India's scheduled languages were Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. In addition, English is a "supplementary official language", and is the only language other than Hindi authorized for central government communications.

Arabic has no status in India.

3. What nation has the most speakers of Portuguese?

Answer: Brazil

While all the countries listed have Portuguese as a national language, Brazil has more speakers than all other Portuguese-speaking nations combined.

Nations where Portuguese is the primary official language: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal (including the autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira), and S�o Tom� and Principe,

Nations and territories where Portuguese has official status (though not as the primary official language): Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, and Macau.

4. Singapore has four official languages. Which of the following is NOT an official language of Singapore?

Answer: Japanese

Singapore's official languages are English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Since 1984, education at the primary and secondary levels has been conducted in English (except for language classes).

5. What nation has the most speakers of Spanish?

Answer: Mexico

Mexico has more than twice as many Spanish speakers than any other country. In 2013, the USA (surprisingly) ranked second, Colombia third, and Spain fourth. It should be noted that the data for the USA includes second language speakers, while the other nations listed consist almost entirely of native speakers. Based only on native speakers, the USA ranks fifth.

6. Some countries have more than one official or national language. Which of the following countries does NOT have more than one official or national language?

Answer: Indonesia

Indonesia has one national language: Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia).

Canada has two official languages (English and French), Belgium has three (French, Flemish (Dutch), and German), and Singapore has four (English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil).

7. What is the (de jure) official language of the United States of America?

Answer: There is no official language

The United States does not have a de jure official language, though English is the de facto language of the nation. Some individual states recognize official languages: 25 states recognize English as their sole official language, Hawaii recognizes English and Hawaiian, New Mexico recognizes English and Spanish, and Louisiana recognizes English and French.

The USA is not alone among nations by not having an official language. Among English-speaking nations, the United Kingdom and Australia also lack official languages.

8. There are 59 countries where English has de jure or de facto official status, which means English has official status in far more countries than any other language. What language has the SECOND most countries with official status? (I am asking for number of countries, NOT number of speakers)

Answer: French

This is a relatively close one. 29 independent nations count French as an official language (often alongside one or more others), while 25 countries have Arabic as an official language, and 21 countries have Spanish as an official language. Portuguese lags behind with 11 countries.

9. It is commonly stated that Mandarin Chinese has the most native speakers of any language, and this is not disputed. However, what language has the most speakers overall, including native speakers and second language speakers? Think of all the schools in all the countries of the world, and what language is likely the most studied and used. (Hint: it is also the most commonly used language on the internet.)

Answer: English

Some estimates say that up to 2 billion people around the world speak English (although the definition of what constitutes a "speaker" is unclear), but a more conservative estimate is around 1.2-1.4 billion. There are English speakers in every country in the world, and far more people learn English as a second language than any other language. Chinese, by contrast, has an estimated 900 million native speakers, and 1.05 billion total speakers.

More people speak English than have ever spoken a single language in human history. It should be noted that this has occurred through historical accident, and in a couple of hundred years, another language could well be the world's lingua franca.

10. There are more speakers of Korean in South Korea than North Korea.

Answer: True

There are approximately twice as many speakers of Korean in South Korea than there are in North Korea.

Source: Author NeroSerigala

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
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