Indo-European Languages Trivia Quiz

Answer: None of the above; there is no language that is mutually intelligible with English

Although all of these languages are related to English by virtue of being members of the Germanic language family, none are mutually intelligible. Because of all the influences on English from other languages, there is no language which is mutually intelligible with English (much to the dismay of the English-speaking student of modern languages.) Some linguists do consider that Scots English is a distinct language, rather than a dialect of English; these people would consider Scots and English to be mutually intelligible.

Answer: Frisian

Frisian, spoken in the Frisian Islands (between the UK and the Netherlands), parts of the Netherlands and Germany, is the closest linguistic relative to English. If you want to test whether or not it is mutually intelligible with English, do a web search for Frisian radio... as of this writing it is available on the web and is worth a listen if you are curious about what our closest linguistic relative sounds like. (Those linguists who consider Scots to be a separate language rather than a dialect of English would consider Scots to be the closest linguistic relative of modern English.)

Answer: Welsh

Gothic is of the East Germanic branch of Germanic languages, none of which have survived to modern times. Old Church Slavonic continues in use in some forms of the Eastern Orthodox Liturgy, but has no native speakers. Latin, formerly the international language of European communication, is not the spoken language of any contemporary region. Welsh, like Irish Gaelic, has undergone a renaissance and currently is a vibrant living language in its native land.

Answer: Punjabi

Romany is of the Indic language group and, like Punjabi, is descended from Sanskrit. I am told that it is mutually intelligible with Punjabi and possibly Urdu as well, although scholarship on the subject is scarce. Many Rom people speak Russian, Romanian, or other languages of the lands where they live, but their own language is not closely related to these.

Answer: True

Finnish is one of a handful (about 16) languages that make up the Finno-Ugric language group, which are not Indo-European although the areas where they are spoken are primarily surrounded by Indo-European languages. See the explanation for the next question for further details.

Answer: Estonian

The Finno-Ugric language group consists of about 16 languages, the most well known of which are Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian. The geographical separation of languages in this group is explained by migration of peoples and is in no way indicative of any supernatural influences, contrary to some beliefs.

Answer: Anatolian

Modern Greek is of the Hellenic family, modern Albanian (Tosk and Gheg) are in the Albanian family, many languages including German, English, Danish and Dutch (and Frisian, remember?) are in the Germanic family. Only the Anatolian branch, which historically contained such languages as Hittite, Luvian and Lydian, has no modern descendants.

Answer: Czech

Czech is a Slavic language; the others are Germanic.

Answer: Kurdish

Kurdish is a member of the Iranian language group; the others are Slavic.

Answer: Catalan

Catalan is a member of the Italic language group; the others are Celtic.

Thanks for playing! The Unabridged version of the American Heritage Dictionary has a great chart of Indo-European language families at the back, if you want more info.