Languages of the Balkans Trivia Quiz

Answer: Macedonian

Because the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a relative newcomer to the list of Balkan countries, and because sovereignty over its territory and inhabitants has been claimed by both Bulgaria and Serbia, it's very hard to tell if Macedonian is a dialect or a language. However, it is not the only language with this problem in the Balkans.
Macedonian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, as do the Russian, Bulgarian, and Serbian languages, among others.

Answer: Stokavian

Cakavian (with a hacek on the C) is spoken primarily in the Adriatic islands and along the coast.
Kajkavian is spoken in north-western Croatia, being a transitional dialect to Slovenian.
Sumadijan is not a dialect.
Stokavian (with a hacek on the S) is spoken by most Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Montenegrins, and was established in 1850 as a common standard for the literary language.
Because of the different paths undertaken by the countries where it is spoken, Serbo-Croatian can be identified within the Balkan peninsula as Serbian, Croatian or Bosnian. It should be noted, however, that there are very few differences in syntax, the main differences being in the vocabulary. Another controversial language!

Answer: Slovenian

It is also the only spoken Indo-European language which has preserved the dual. It is also the only Slavonic language in which they say 'yes' as in German - 'ja'. This probably dates from the very long period during which Slovenes interacted with Germanic tribes.

Answer: Albanian

Albania is called 'Shqiperia', which means 'land of eagles'.
Albanian is the only spoken Illyrian language.

Answer: Aromanian

Aromanian (also called Vlach or Macedo-Romanian), along with Istro-Romanian and Megleno-Romanian, is classified by some either as a language or as a dialect. Aromanian resembles Romanian in many ways, but has very many Albanian, Serbian and Greek influences, at the same time having quite a different vocabulary from Romanian.

Answer: Tosk

The two dialects of the Albanian language have been developing distinctly for 1000 years. This fact led to a lot of problems in establishing a literary language. Gheg was used as the literary language until World War II.

Answer: Thracian

Thracians inhabited much of the territory that we call today the Balkans. Although the Balkan Peninsula is the cradle of the Hellenistic civilisation, the Greeks did not occupy as much land as the Thracians. The latter were divided into two groups - the South Thracians and the North Thracians (also called the Dacians).

Answer: Romanian

This language is considered a miracle of history. Indeed, Dacia, the Roman province which encompassed most of Romania, was Romanised for less than 200 years, but it seems that the colonised population, the Dacians, learned Latin so well that a Daco-Romanic dialect was formed.

It took the Slavonic influence to give the final touch to the Romanian people and language, but for any speaker of a Romance language, Romanian sounds very familiar. Myself being a Romanian native speaker I have many advantages when learning languages, because both Romance and Slavic languages are not very difficult to understand.

Answer: Istro-Romanian

Istro-Romanian is a fascinating tongue. It is a pity that it is dying, because it is a very interesting mixture of Romanian, Italian, Slavonic and German vocabulary. Istro-Romanian is currently spoken in the Peninsula of Istria, by less than a thousand speakers.

Answer: Bulgarian

The Bulgars were a Turkic tribe who fought fiercely against the Byzantines. They first settled near the Volga, and then invaded the Balkan Peninsula in the 7th century. Later, they were absorbed by the Slavonic population in present-day Bulgaria.