The Universal Language Trivia Quiz

Answer: Julio Iglesias

Iglesias had his first hit in Spain in 1968 ("La Vida Sigue Igual") and his first hit outside his homeland in 1971 with "Un Canto A Galicia" which reached number one in Netherlands, but it was "Begin The Beguine" which brought him true global recognition. From there he has gone on to record with stars such as Willie Nelson, Sting, The Beach Boys and Diana Ross, and, almost 40 years after his first hit, was still hitting the top 20 in Spain.

Interestingly, the word "beguine" was originally used to describe a Christian woman, who was a member of a religious community but without formal vows in 13th century Netherlands, before being known as a Caribbean dance, resembling the rumba.

Answer: Gangnam Style

Modern South Korean music, usually referred to as K-Pop, achieved global interest with the success of "Gangnam Style" by Psy, leading to the band f(x) performing at SXSW festival in USA and BTS becoming the first Korean group to win a Billboard Award while Park Jung-min became the first ever Korean singer to hold a solo concert in Moscow and SHINee was met by fans at Heathrow Airport in London, creating scenes reminiscent of Beatlemania of the 60s. Oh, and don't try to tell me you haven't attempted the dance at some point!

Answer: Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus

"Je T'aime" was performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, after originally being written for Brigitte Bardot to perform with Gainsbourg. The suggestive lyric delivery, along with groans and sighs of pleasure culminating with Birkin's orgasmic sounding ending was too much for many countries and it was banned in several, with even the liberated French restricting radio airplay to after 11 p.m.. "Moi...Lolita" was released in 2000 by 16 year old Alizée and the other two possible answers were famous songs by Edith Piaf.

Answer: Baeggu

Baeggu is spoken by inhabitants of North Malaita Island in the Solomon Islands and has less than 6000 fluent speakers left. Deep Forest were created after musician Michel Sanchez mixed Baka speakers of Cameroon with electronic music and he has since gone on, along with fellow member of Deep Forest Eric Mouquet, to work with Youssou N'Dour, Peter Gabriel and Jon Anderson, combing modern music with chants or vocals from Roma, Hungarian, Romanian and Indonesian languages, to name a few.

Answer: Sailor (Your Home Is The Sea)

"Sailor (Your Home Is The Sea)", or "Seemann (deine Heimat ist das Meer)", in its original German was released in USA in 1960, four months after it had hit number two in Germany. It reached number five, giving the artist Lolita (real name Edith "Ditta" Einzinger) her only gold record. English singer Petula Clark recorded a version of this song in English in 1961 and had a UK number one with it, and she also recorded a version in French entitled "Marin" which reached number two on the French charts.

Answer: Punjabi

Ingeniously, Panjabi MC mixed the theme tune from TV's "Knight Rider" with bhangra beats to produce the hit "Mundian To Bach Ke", which was also a big hit in Germany. He also achieved success in USA (number 33 on the charts) and Canada (top ten) with this record in 2003, when the remixed version featured rap legend Jay-Z.

Answer: Sadeness (Part 1)

This track also went top ten in Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand proving that English certainly isn't necessary for a hit record. French with a bit of Gregorian chanting will do quite nicely thank you. The title of the track was changed to "Sadness (Part 1") on the UK and Japanese releases but kept as "Sadeness" on the albums in those countries, and according to songwriter Michael Cretu, the song probes the sexual desires of Marquis de Sade. "Orinoco Flow" was by Enya, "Dhéanainn Súgradh" by Clanaad and "Rhythm Of My Heart" was a track by Runrig.

Answer: O-Zone

Most people in the UK know this song as "The Numa Numa Song" due to the fact that part of the chorus is, "nu mă, nu mă iei", which translates as "not me, not me take", or "you just won't take me". What does it say about us a race when we can push a record to number three based on our ability to memorize two foreign words? I prefer to think that rather than reflecting badly on us Brits, it shows the incredible talent this band has by tapping into our desire to learn Romanian. O-Zone released three albums between 1999 and 2004 before calling it a day in 2005.

Answer: Plastic Bertrand

Bertrand, real name Roger Jouret, is a graduate from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, who found fame as a one hit wonder, but what a hit it was, reaching number two in Australia, number four in Ireland, top ten in UK and New Zealand as well as charting in USA and Canada. Singing in French may have been a masterstroke, as when translated the lyrics start, "Yam! Bam! My cat Splash lays on my bed, Having swallowed her tongue, From drinking all my whisky" and get more bizarre from there.

Answer: La Bamba

"La Bamba" is a folk song from the Mexican state of Veracruz, which was given a rock beat in 1958 by Ritchie Valens who died in the 1959 plane crash which also claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. Valens' version of the song was a bigger hit in USA than UK, but when Los Lobos covered the track in 1987, it reached number one in UK, USA, Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand, finally giving Valens the prestige of writing a number one record.