"Buffy" Languages Trivia Quiz

Answer: English

Only the first line of the soul restoration spell ("Quod perditum est, invenietur" -- "What was lost, shall be found") is in Latin, but it's spoken by someone other than the primary spellcaster. In "Becoming, Part One," it was Giles. Willow says the rest in English.

She doesn't finish because of a vampire attack. Before that, in a flashback, we see a Gypsy finish the spell in Rumanian, but we aren't shown the start of the spell.

Answer: English and Rumanian

This time, Oz says the first line in Latin. Willow starts in English and finishes in Rumanian. Willow performs the spell once again almost five years later, in 'Angel's' episode "Orpheus." There, Fred says the first line in Latin, and Willow says the rest in Rumanian (no English at all).

Answer: Sumerian

Apparently, to perform a paralyzing spell, one needs to (1) speak Sumerian, (2) be an experienced witch and (3) "be within striking distance of the subject." It's unclear if the Uber-Buffy ever performs a paralyzing spell (we don't see Adam paralyzed), but she does chant in Sumerian.

Answer: French

During Xander's dream in "Restless," Giles suddenly starts talking to him in French, and Anya joins. Giles tells Xander that he should go to the house where they are sleeping, and that he'll be safe there, but Xander doesn't understand a word. Tony Head and Emma Caulfield were dubbed in this scene -- the only instance I'm aware of.

Answer: Arabic

The spell was fake, but understanding Arabic wouldn't help you to know that. It begins, "Demon, your soul no longer belongs to you."

Answer: Mandarin

It's what the Chinese Slayer tells Spike before dying, in "Fool for Love." Spike replies, "Sorry, love. I don't speak Chinese."

Answer: Italian

In a BBC interview, Drew Greenberg, who wrote the episode, mentioned that Alyson Hannigan wasn't too happy about having to speak Italian.

Answer: Greek

It was the beginning of Sappho's hymn to Aphrodite.

Answer: German

It happens in the episode "Gingerbread." This is an example of why I had to say that the quiz refers to the English version. If you listen to the Spanish audio track on the DVD, you'll see that Giles' spell is dubbed along with everything else... in Spanish.

Answer: Swahili

Buffy meets the Shadow Men in "Get It Done." They speak in Swahili, and she speaks in English, but they magically understand each other. The book in the "emergency kit," on the other hand, was in Sumerian.

Answer: Czech

The monks in "No Place Like Home" spoke Czech. When Glory is questioning a monk, he tells her in Czech to kill him. Glory responds, also in Czech, "We're in the new world now, so for god's sake..." and in English, "speak American!" Glory's High Priest also speaks Czech in "The Weight of the World" when he anoints Dawn.

Answer: Italian

The episode "I Robot... You Jane" starts with a flashback to Cortona, Italy, year 1418, when the demon Moloch was bound in a book.

Answer: Russian

This happens at the beginning of "Spiral." Willow says, "Air, become fist" in Russian.

Answer: Spanish

Jonathan and Andrew heard it in Spanish in their dreams while they were in Mexico, as seen in a flashback in "Storyteller." (Must have been a local broadcast!) When they return to Sunnydale in "Conversations with Dead People," Jonathan repeats it in Spanish, and Andrew translates it as "It eats you starting with your bottom." The German potential in Buffy's dream in "Beneath You" says it in English, and the Turkish potential in "Lessons" doesn't say it at all.

Answer: Swahili

Giles was transferring guardianship to the spirit guide. It's the same language that the Shadow Men speak in "Get It Done." Apparently, things that have to do with the Slayer heritage tend to be either in Sumerian or in Swahili. Swahili is the lingua franca for East Africa, and Sumerian is the earliest known written language.

Answer: Japanese

Ths is from "All the Way." Willow says, "Adorn with happiness" in Japanese. Later in the same episode, she also says, "Quiet" in Arabic.

Answer: Gaelic

Gwendolyn Post, a rogue watcher from the episode "Revelations," was after the Glove of Myhnegon. After putting the glove on, she used its power to channel lightning.

Answer: Aramaic

In "Faith, Hope and Trick," Giles told Buffy he was working on a binding spell, and needed to know how Buffy defeated Acathla and Angel. As later revealed, it was a ruse to get Buffy to spill.

Answer: Babylonian

It was, in fact, in Sumerian. At least, Sumerian is the language in which Anya later chanted.

Answer: Ancient Arabic

In "Shadow," Glory uses relics of the Sobekites -- an ancient Egyptian cult -- to transmogrify a cobra into a giant key-sniffing snake. Dreg chants in ancient Arabic, and Glory helps him in English.