From One to Ten Trivia Quiz

Answer: Japanese

I shall make no attempt to render numbers in their native script, for any languages that do not use the same alphabet as English, nor to use diacritical marks.

"Ichi" may be the most familiar Japanese number to English speakers, from "ichiban" meaning "number one" or "the best", and its frequent use in the names of Japanese restaurants.

The other languages in this quiz say "one" in the following ways: wahid (Arabic), bat (Euskara), un(e) (French), eins (German), ena (Greek), unus (Latin), a-deen (Russian), ekum (Sanskrit) and uno/a (Spanish).

Answer: Arabic

The numerical symbol for "itnein" looks more like a backwards seven (7) than a two (2).

"Two" is said in the following manner in the other nine languages in this quiz: bi (Euskara), deux (French), zwei (German), dio (Greek), duo (Latin), dva (Russian), dve (Sanskrit) and dos (Spanish).

Answer: Spanish

Players might be familiar with the sweet treat known as "tres leches cake", which as the name implies, is made with three types of milk product (condensed, evaporated and heavy cream). Yum!

Words for "three" in the other languages are: talatah (Arabic), hiru (Euskara), trois (French), drei (German), tria (Greek), san (Japanese), tres (Latin), tree (Russian), tri (Sanskrit).

Answer: Greek

One source spells the word with a single s and an accent over the e, but as most transliterations from the Greek alphabet use the double S we will too. Another meaning of the word tessera, as used in English, is a single colourful tile utilised in the art of making mosaics.

In case you wonder, saying four in the other languages used here is done this way: Arabic (arba'ah), Euskara (lau), French (quatre). German (vier), Japanese (yon or shi), Latin (quattuor), Russian (chye-tir-ye), Spanish (cuatro) and Sanskrit (catur).

Answer: Sanskrit

Alternate spellings include panchan and panca, with various diacritical marks. Sanskrit is an ancient language, and the ancestor of other languages, like Malay (for one example).

"Five" in the other languages of this quiz looks like this: khamsah (Arabic), bost (Euskara), cinq (French), funf (German), pende (Greek), go (Japanese), quinque (Latin), pyat (Russian) and cinco (Spanish).

Answer: Russian

An English speaker might look at the Cyrillic rendition of the word and want to pronounce it "west", but the initial letter, though it resembles a "w" actually gives the "sh" sound when spoken. "Shesterka" and "shestoy nomer" are other ways of saying "six" in Russian.

Now, the international renditions of "six": Arabic (sittah), Euskara (sei), French (six), German (sechs), Greek (exi), Japanese (roku), Latin (sex), Sanskrit (sas) and Spanish (seis).

Answer: French

As the French number seven, the "p" in "sept" is not pronounced. As an English word meaning a division of a Scottish clan, it is. In English, "Sept." is also the abbreviation for September, the ninth month of the year (though once the seventh, as the name implies).

Counting in the other nine languages, "seven" becomes: sab'ah (Arabic), zazpi (Euskara), sieben (German), epta (Greek), nana (Japanese), septem (Latin), see-yaym (Russian), sapta (Sanskrit) and siete (Spanish).

Answer: German

Acht is also the name of a municipality in Germany to the west of Koblenz, and south of Bonn. "Acht" also means eight in the Dutch language.

Dutch isn't one of the languages in this quiz, however. Let's see how to say eight in the rest of those:
Arabic (tamanyah), Euskara (zortzi), French (huit), Greek (okto), Japanese (hachi), Latin (octo), Russian (vo-sym), Sanskrit (asta) and Spanish (ocho).

Answer: Latin

Novem is familiar to English-speakers as part of the name of the eleventh month, November, which got its name because it was the ninth month of the old Roman calendar, which was ten months long - or so one theory would have it. There are others, but let's not go into them here.

"Nine" has these sounds in our other languages: tis'ah (Arabic), bederatzi (Euskara), neuf (French), neun (German), enea (Greek), kyu (Japanese), dee-yayv-itt (Russian), nava (Sanskrit) and nueve (Spanish).

Answer: Euskara

You might have been wondering about Euskara, whose number words bear so little resemblance to those of our other languages. It is the language of the Basque Country, which straddles the border between France and Spain, and is said to be unrelated to any other language on earth.

To finish our counting in the other nine languages, here we go with "ten": Arabic (asharah), French (dix), German (zehn), Greek (deka), jyu (Japanese), decem (Latin), dee-yay-sit (Russian), dasa (Sanskrit) and diez (Spanish).