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Fun Trivia : Languages Encyclopedia FunTrivia

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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information

  • There are a total of 175 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.

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Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information

    Languages

    What was the revised version of Esperanto introduced in 1907 called?Random World Languages

      Ido. Ido is supposed to be a simplified version of Esperanto, but unfortunately all languages are complex. Some learners report that Ido is equally difficult to learn. The name 'Ido' means 'offspring'.

    Which language has the most vowel sounds?Random World Languages

      Sedang. Sedang is a language spoken by a minority group in Vietnam. It has 50 vowel sounds.

    What language is Basque most related to?Random World Languages

      None. Experts have been able to find no linguistic connections between Basque and other modern languages.

    Not including Russia, what language is the mother tongue of the greatest percentage of Europeans?Random World Languages

      German. German is the mother tongue of 22.1 percent of Europeans, English - 17.5 percent, Italian - 16.8 percent and French - 16.5 percent.

    Which language has the longest alphabet?Random World Languages

      Cambodian. The Cambodian alphabet has 76 letters!

    Which number is this: zwei, zwee, and tsvei (German, Luxembourgeois, and Yiddish, respectively)? Hint: when translating from other IE languages, forget the vowels, and try replacing 'z' with 't' or 'd'.Indo-European Languages

      2. If you replace 'z' with 't' you get 'zwei'...'twei'...'two.'

    Which number is this: kat, ceathair, and keturi (Picard, Irish, Lithuanian)? Hint: try replacing 'k' with 'qu'Indo-European Languages

      4. Replacing 'k' with 'qu' you get 'kat'...'quat'...'quad' as in 'quadrangle'...'four.'

    Which number is this: fiif, vijf, and vyf (Frisian, Dutch, Afrikaans)?Indo-European Languages

      5. 'F' and 'v' are interchangeable. E.g. 'vyf'...'fyv'...'five'.

    Which number is this: zene, zing, and das (Central Bavarian, Luxembourgeois, Hindi)?Indo-European Languages

      10. You could have gone from 'zene' to 'tene' to 'ten', or you could have noticed the similarity between 'das' and the Latin root 'dec' as is 'decimal.'

    Which number is this: dez, dos, dos (Portuguese, Parachi, Mayang)?Indo-European Languages

      10. Again, I hope you saw the similarity with the Latin 'dec.' I hope you weren't thrown by the similarity with the Spanish 'dos.'

    Which number is this: pumpe, pempe, pet (Umbrian, Gaulish, Bulgarian)?Indo-European Languages

      5. This was a little harder. Hopefully, you saw the similarity to the Greek 'pente' as in 'pentagon.' There is also another possibility. When in doubt, you can sometimes replace 'p' with 'f' and you can often replace 'm' with 'n'. 'Pumpe'...'fumfe'...'funf', which is German for 'five'.

    Which number is this: pendz, panc, panch (Ormuri, Kashmiri, Nepali)?Indo-European Languages

      5. Again, there is similarity to the Greek 'pente'. Incidentally, we get the word 'punch' from the Hindi word for 'five'.

    Which number is this: naw, neu, novi (Kashmiri, Auvergnat, Sicilian)?Indo-European Languages

      9. For some reason, a lot of languages have similar words for 'nine' and 'new.' For instance, French 'neuf' and 'neuf'. I can't figure it out, but I'd love to hear from any of you that knows the reason.

    Which number is this: acht, otte, okto (German, Danish, Proto-Indo-European)?Indo-European Languages

      8. From the root 'oct' as in 'octagon'.

    Which number is this: oans, aon, un (Central Bavarian, Scots, Welsh)?Indo-European Languages

      1. That's all. I hope, if nothing else, you learned something about how similar the IE languages are.

    Alpha, Beta, Gamma. Of which alphabet are those the first 3 letters?A World of Languages

      Greek.

    Aleph, Beth, Gimel. - Of what language are they the three first letters of the alphabet?A World of Languages

      Hebrew.

    Alif, Ba, Ta. - And what language has those as its first in the alphabet?A World of Languages

      Arabic.

    What language group is usually divided in Goidelic and Brythonic?A World of Languages

      Celtic. East Slavic comprehends Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian. - Within the Indo-Aryan group you can find Hindi and Urdu. - Celtic had a third group which has been long extinct: Continental Celtic or Gaulish.

    What's the name of the Celtic language that was spoken on the Isle of Man?A World of Languages

      Manx. Mancunian is what you call an inhabitant of Manchester.

    In what country do they speak Farsi?A World of Languages

      Iran. Farsi = Persian

    In normal every day written Hebrew ( magazines, books, signs, newspapers - primers for learning the language excepted )there are 22 consonants and _________ vowels?A World of Languages

      0. In Hebrew primers for learning Hebrew,the Bible and Sidurs (prayer books) "pointers" are used to signal the vowels that in normal spelling are not marked. Those "pointers" do not occur in the normal everyday written language of magazines, books, newspapers and signs. Also see: www.ancient-hebrew.org/13_faqs1.html .

    Which language puts the definite article ('the') at the end of the noun?World Languages

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

    Which language is not spoken in South Africa?World Languages

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

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

      Koiné. Koiné 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.

    What does 'hysteria' mean in Greek?World Languages

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

    Which is not an official language of Switzerland?World Languages

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

    What is the Korean alphabet called?World Languages

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

    Which Latin case is said to be "instrumentative"?World Languages

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

    In what language do people of Russian Orthodox faith pray?World Languages

      Old Church Slavonic. Old Church Slavonic is the ancestor of modern Russian.

    From what language is the word 'oasis' said to have originated?World Languages

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

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