Languages Trivia

91. In one couplet within the lyrics of the song "Farewell, So Long", the words for "goodbye", "auf wiedersehen" and "adieu adieu" are sung. In which country is "auf wiedersehen" a way of saying a formal "goodbye"?

From Quiz A " Goodbye" World

Answer: Germany

"Auf Wiedersehen" is the more formal way of saying goodbye in Germany. In the song from the movie "The Sound of Music", the lyrics in one couplet sung by the children are "So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye, adieu adieu, to you and you and you". "Bis baldi" (bye for now) and "Machs gut" (take care) are the informal expressions of "goodbye" in Germany. Understandably not quite as fitting for the lyrics of this sweetly sung song.

From Quiz Compelling and Creative Yoruba Names

Answer: Oyekanmi

"Oyeyipo" means "Titles surround each other", "Oyesanya" means "The title compensates for my suffering", and Oyebolujo means "The title fits God".

From Quiz False Friends

Answer: An arm

In French, "le bras" means an arm. In seeking a bra, you would want to ask for "un soutien-gorge".

From Quiz Yet More Languages and Countries

Answer: Laos

Thai and Lao are closely-related languages of the Tai-Kadai language family. Both countries are linguistically diverse and the national languages serve as the lingua franca. Thai and Lao belong to the Tai-Kadai family of languages. The national languages of nearby countries are from unrelated language families: China and Myanmar (Sino-Tibetan), Cambodia and Vietnam (Austro-Asiatic), and Malaysia (Austronesian).

From Quiz Languages and Countries

Answer: English

73% of all residents of Hawaii speak English as their primary language. Minority languages include Tagalog, Chinese, Japanese and various Pacific island languages. Less than 1% of the population speaks Hawaiian, although it is the official state language.

From Quiz The Art of Translation (mainly German examples)

Answer: As guides or aids

Translators do in fact need to use dictionaries, sometimes just in order to get a list of alternatives. However, dictionaries vary enormously in quality. A good dictionary should include information about unusual uses of words and so on. To regard a dictionary as an unquestionable authority is at best naive, at worst a recipe for problems. Even the best dictionaries have omissions and contain some errors and oddities.

From Quiz You Talk Too Much!

Answer: That you speak several languages

A polygot is someone who can speak many languages. The term generally connotes that the person can speak four or more languages proficiently. Multilingualism has become increasingly common because of globalization and cultural openness. There are actually more multilingual speakers in the world than there are monolingual.

From Quiz One, Dos, Trois

Answer: Du

"Two Women" was a 1960 Italian film directed by Vittorio DeSica, and starring Sophia Loren and Jean-Paul Belmondo. Carlo Ponti produced the film. Dalawa is Tagalog for two. Dva is Russian. Song is Thai.

From Quiz "Four" (or More) Ways to Say That...

Answer: cuatro

All of the words listed are in Spanish, but only "cuatro" means "four". "Cuarenta" is "forty", "catorce" is "fourteen", and "cuarzo" is "quartz". College students are known in many countries of the world for drinking a lot and for eating a lot and at strange hours. In the U.S., there is an expression for another meal eaten after the traditional "dinner" or "supper", called "fourth meal". Most US college students look forward to it and college towns cater to them with establishments being open late and even delivering food until two, three or four in the morning. If you wanted to say "fourth meal" in Spanish, it would be "la cuarta comida".

From Quiz Romance Languages Revisited

Answer: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Romanian, Italian, Catalan

By the 21st century, there were 800 million speakers of almost 25 living Romance languages. Most Romance language speakers live in Europe and the Americas, though in Africa French, in particular, is used as a lingua franca among non-native French speakers and is an official language of many African countries.

From Quiz International Words and Phrases

Answer: What for what

The phrase is used to refer to something in exchange for something, usually in connection to illicit favors and illegal transactions, much like the idiom "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". It may, however, be used to mean trade agreements and legal contracts as well.

From Quiz International Words and Phrases 2

Answer: Répondez s'il vous plaît

This French phrase literally means "please respond" and asks invitees to confirm their attendance to the invitation. RSVPs help ensure preparations are properly done prior to the event. I made up all the other three answers.

From Quiz Extinct Languages of the World

Answer: U.S. Virgin Islands

Negerhollands was an unusual mix of Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Danish, and African. It can be best described as a Dutch creole language. It was spoken for many years on the island group that is known today as the U.S. Virgin Islands. Once English was introduced to the islands, the use of Negerhollands began to decline. The last native speaker of the language died in 1987.

From Quiz Dog Will Have His Day

Answer: French

Dog snickers when he sees his first French poodle, but he later learns that standard poodles are intelligent working dogs used for retrieving. French is one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world, being an official language in over 30 countries and territories, including Canada, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar.

From Quiz A Brand (New) Language

Answer: People's Car

Originally formed in Nazi Germany in 1937, Volkswagen became the name attributed to the company after Adolf Hitler set plans in motion to create a line of automobiles known as 'the peoples' cars'. After the war, the company continued to grow in the town of Wolfsburg and become one of the leading manufacturers in the years following the fall of Nazism. 'Volkswagen' splits into 'Volk' (German for 'People' or 'Nation') and 'Wagen' (German for 'Car'). The name is ideal as Volkswagen, since its inception as an auto manufacturer, has been committed to producing affordable cars for 'the people'.

From Quiz World Languages

Answer: English

Spanish is very widely spoken in Belize, but due to its British colonial history the official language is English. Belize was a former colonial possession of Great Britain, and was called British Honduras from 1862 until 1973.

From Quiz May the Kraft Be With You!

Answer: Help me

In the beginning of "A New Hope", Princess Leia Organa, later discovered to be Luke's sister and the daughter of the evil Darth Vader, sends a message along with droids R2-D2 and C-3PO asking one of the remaining Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to save her from the Sith. The droids find Kenobi on the planet of Tatooine (along with Luke). Luckily for Kenobi, the message was not in French. While 'aidez-moi' means help me or assist me in French, 'trouvez-moi' means find me, 'sauvez-moi' means rescue me and save me.

From Quiz It's Harder in Other Languages

Answer: Finnish

The Finnish language is called suomi in Finnish. It is classified as a Uralic language, meaning originated in the region of the Ural mountains. Finland, of course, is home to the majority of Finnish speakers, but other Scandinavian countries recognize it as a minority language, such as in Sweden where Finnish is an official minority language and in Norway, where Kven, a particular dialect of Finnish, is an official minority language.

From Quiz What Color am I?

Answer: Blue

Azul is Spanish, blauw is Dutch and bleu is French.

From Quiz What I Bought On eBay

Answer: Poison

Clearly this was a devious Teutonic plot to fool the English, as 'gift' is the German word for poison. I decided not to give this gift to my daughter as I'd intended, especially as she, unlike me, can speak German, but maybe my boss would like it (he hasn't given me a pay rise for two years)? If the listing had been a gift or present it would have been listed as 'geschenk'.

From Quiz 'Good Evening, Ruritania!'

Answer: Cambodge

'Camboxa' is Galician, 'Kambogo' is Esperanto, and 'Cambodgia' is Romanian. 'Cambodge', incidentally, comes from 'Kampuchea', the Khmer name for Cambodia.

From Quiz Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers

Answer: Flies and bees

This roughly translates to mean 'when flies fly and bees make love, the flies fly very quickly by the bees who are making love'.

From Quiz Body Parts in Romance Languages

Answer: Lips

Lips are tactile organs that serve many purposes. They are the access point to food intake, help in speech, and are fundamental for kissing. The term 'lip', originates from the Old English word 'lippa'; it is related to the Latin root 'labium', source of all Romance variants.

From Quiz The Answer is Always "NO"

Answer: Lela

Being the most spoken member of the Semitic language family Arabic has 27 sub-languages and is classified as a "macrolanguage". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language

From Quiz Exonyms and Eponyms

Answer: east

Gasshukoku is what the Japanese call the United States. "Gasshukoku, Gasshukoku, God shed his grace on thee..." just doesn't have that same ring to it.

From Quiz Basic Thai Phrases

Answer: Kun cheu arai

"Kun ben arai" means "what are you", "chan cheu arai" means "what is my name", and "Mai najai" means "I'm not sure".

From Quiz Languages and Language Families

Answer: Frisian

Frisian and English are both part of the West Germanic language group. Frisian is a language spoken by the Frisian ethnic minority in the northern Netherlands and scattered regions of coastal Germany and Denmark. A rhyme in both languages shows the striking similarity between the two tongues. The Frisian equivalent of the English verse "Butter, bread, and green cheese is good English and good Fries," translates to "Bûter, brea, en griene tsiis is goed Ingelsk en goed Frysk." Walloon is part of the Romance language group and is closely related to modern French. Estonian is part of the Finno-Ugric language sub-family and is related to Finnish. Breton is part of the Celtic language group and is distantly related to the Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic languages.

From Quiz Thai Phonology and Grammar

Answer: 2

Only 'kho khuat' and 'kho kwai' are not used anymore. However some of the other consonants are rarely used.

From Quiz Languages of the World

Answer: Dutch

It's derived from Dutch, so it's a Germanic language. Xhosa and Zulu are Bantu languages.

From Quiz A Cat by any Other Name...

Answer: Cica

The Hungarian word for kitten is 'cica' (pronounced tsee-tsa), and since Hungarian is spoken in Budapest, I'd naturally ask for a 'cica'. The Hungarian word for 'cat' is 'macska' (pronounced much-ka).

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Last Updated Jan 24 2025 11:04 PM

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