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25 Difficult Questions about World Languages

Welcome to my quiz on language trivia. Sit back, relax, and see how much you know of world languages.

A multiple-choice quiz by marcgarellek. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
marcgarellek

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
70,388

Updated
Jun 30 23

# Qns
25

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
12 / 25

Plays
2931

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

Last 3 plays: callie_ross (1/25), Guest 185 (0/25), Guest 86 (0/25).

Question 1 of 25

1. Which of the following languages does not go under the SEMITIC category? Hint

Amharic

Hebrew

Ancient Egyptian

Arabic

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Question 2 of 25

2. Which language puts the definite article ('the') at the end of the noun? Hint

French

Swedish

Chinese

Latin

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Question 3 of 25

3. Which of the following languages spoken in Europe is NOT part of the Indo-European language family? Hint

Asturian

Finnish

Galician

Albanian

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Question 4 of 25

4. To which of the following language groups does English belong? Hint

Romance

None of the above

Celtic

Germanic

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Question 5 of 25

5. Which language is NOT commonly spoken in South Africa? Hint

Afrikaans

Swahili

Xhosa

Zulu

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Question 6 of 25

6. What is the name for the popular form of Ancient Greek which Modern Greek is said to have come from? Hint

Doric

Polemos

Lexos

Koin�

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Question 7 of 25

7. What does 'hysteria' mean in Greek? Hint

the face

the womb

the liver

the tooth

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Question 8 of 25

8. Which is not an official language of Switzerland? Hint

Romansch

German

French

English

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Question 9 of 25

9. What is the Korean alphabet called? Hint

Korean

Hangul

Ran-go

Kimchi

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Question 10 of 25

10. Which Latin case is said to be "instrumentative"? Hint

Ablative

Accusative

Locative

Dative

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Question 11 of 25

11. In what language do people of Russian Orthodox faith pray? Hint

Russian

Old Church Slavonic

Greek

Aramaic

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Question 12 of 25

12. From what language is the word 'oasis' said to have originated? Hint

Ancient Egyptian

Turkish

Arabic

Berber

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Question 13 of 25

13. Which of the following is not a Slavic language? Hint

Czech

Russian

Polish

Lithuanian

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Question 14 of 25

14. Which language is believed by some to be the most similar to English? Hint

German

Frisian

Gaelic

Dutch

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Question 15 of 25

15. From what language does the word 'taboo' come? Hint

Chinese

Zulu

Tongan

Hindi

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Question 16 of 25

16. Which of the following Indian languages doesn't belong to the Indo-European family? Hint

Gujarati

Tamil

Hindi

Urdu

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Question 17 of 25

17. Which of the following is NOT a Romance language? Hint

Basque

Galician

Asturian

Corsican

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Question 18 of 25

18. What is the name for the Japanese logographic script based on Chinese characters? Hint

Hiragana

Ganji

Katakana

Kanji

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Question 19 of 25

19. How do you say China in Mandarin? Hint

Nippon

Sina

Zhong Guo

Sino

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Question 20 of 25

20. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, from what language does the word 'ketchup' come? Hint

German

Samoan

Italian

Chinese

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Question 21 of 25

21. What is the name for the accent used in Czech and other Slavic languages that looks like an upside down circumflex accent (Like a small v)? Hint

Smelt

Was

Grusz

Hacek

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Question 22 of 25

22. In what mood is the phrase 'If I were you'? Hint

Subjunctive

Indicative

Passive Periphrastic

Conditional

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Question 23 of 25

23. Which of the following languages is not written in Latin (Roman) script? Hint

English

Bahasa-Indonesia

French

Russian

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Question 24 of 25

24. Which name is not of Hebrew origin? Hint

Peter

Maria

Matthew

Joel

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Question 25 of 25

25. From what language does the word 'bagel' come? Hint

German

Yiddish

French

Danish

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Most Recent Scores

Nov 10 2024 : callie_ross: 1/25
Oct 19 2024 : Guest 185: 0/25
Oct 04 2024 : Guest 86: 0/25
Sep 27 2024 : MoonStone89: 15/25

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which of the following languages does not go under the SEMITIC category?

Answer: Ancient Egyptian

Ancient Egyptian belongs to the 'Hamito-Semitic' (often called Afro-Asian) group of languages.

2. Which language puts the definite article ('the') at the end of the noun?

Answer: Swedish

It is a characteristic of the Scandinavian languages (and some others) that the definite article is placed at the end of the noun.

3. Which of the following languages spoken in Europe is NOT part of the Indo-European language family?

Answer: Finnish

Finnish, along with Estonian and Hungarian, belong to a group of languages called 'Finno-Ugrian'.

4. To which of the following language groups does English belong?

Answer: Germanic

Although English has been greatly influenced by Romance and to some extent by Celtic languages, it belongs to the Germanic family.

5. Which language is NOT commonly spoken in South Africa?

Answer: Swahili

Swahili is spoken in Central Africa, in countries such as Tanzania.

6. What is the name for the popular form of Ancient Greek which Modern Greek is said to have come from?

Answer: Koin�

Koin� comes from the Greek word 'koinos', meaning 'common'. It was widely used in the Eastern Mediterranean area in Roman times and is the laguage of the original of the New Testament.

7. What does 'hysteria' mean in Greek?

Answer: the womb

Hysteria was thought to be found only amongst women, hence the origin of the word.

8. Which is not an official language of Switzerland?

Answer: English

Switzerland has an additional language, Italian, spoken in the south.

9. What is the Korean alphabet called?

Answer: Hangul

Hangul is one of the very few alphabets of whom we know the name of the creator.

10. Which Latin case is said to be "instrumentative"?

Answer: Ablative

The ablative case is used to say 'with what' and other variations.

11. In what language do people of Russian Orthodox faith pray?

Answer: Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic is the ancestor of modern Russian.

12. From what language is the word 'oasis' said to have originated?

Answer: Ancient Egyptian

The word is said to have come from Greek, originally of Egyptian origin (OED).

13. Which of the following is not a Slavic language?

Answer: Lithuanian

Lithuanian is the only language of non-Slavic origin; it belongs to the Baltic family.

14. Which language is believed by some to be the most similar to English?

Answer: Frisian

Frisian is spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland and on the Frisian islands, which belong to Germany and the Netherlands.

15. From what language does the word 'taboo' come?

Answer: Tongan

Yes, it is of obscure origin. Tonga is an island group in the Pacific Ocean.

16. Which of the following Indian languages doesn't belong to the Indo-European family?

Answer: Tamil

Tamil belongs to the Dravidian family, and is spoken in southern India.

17. Which of the following is NOT a Romance language?

Answer: Basque

Asturian, Galician and Corsican are all minor Romance languages. Basque, which is spoken in France and Spain, belongs to no known language group.

18. What is the name for the Japanese logographic script based on Chinese characters?

Answer: Kanji

Hiragana and Katakana are both other Japanese syllabic scripts, which are also more simplified than Kanji.

19. How do you say China in Mandarin?

Answer: Zhong Guo

Zhong Guo means 'middle kingdom'.

20. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, from what language does the word 'ketchup' come?

Answer: Chinese

There is some debate about the origin, but the authoritative OED states that it comes from the dialectal term 'koechiap' meaning 'pickled-fish brine'.

21. What is the name for the accent used in Czech and other Slavic languages that looks like an upside down circumflex accent (Like a small v)?

Answer: Hacek

The word Ha�ek means 'little hook' in Czech. It is also called a caron. Its serves as a palatization indicator ( k > ch , e > ye , s > sh) for the letters including C,S,Z,E and R.

Some browsers don't like the "�" symbol, so I have had to omit it in the answer options!

22. In what mood is the phrase 'If I were you'?

Answer: Subjunctive

The increasingly-unpopular subjunctive is a mood describing wishes and desires. 'Long live the king!' and 'If music be the food of love' are both in the subjunctive mood.

23. Which of the following languages is not written in Latin (Roman) script?

Answer: Russian

The Russian alphabet is called Cyrillic.

24. Which name is not of Hebrew origin?

Answer: Peter

Peter comes from the Greek word for 'stone'.

25. From what language does the word 'bagel' come?

Answer: Yiddish

Many words come from this Ashkenazi-Jewish language, such as nosh, chutzpah, and schtick.

Source: Author marcgarellek

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