The Post Quiz: Language Lore
Created | Updated Nov 27, 2016
How unusual is your native language?
The Post Quiz: Language Lore
Answer these questions about world languages.
- There are at least 7,000 languages spoken in the world. Which continent has the fewest languages?
- Asia
- Africa
- The Americas
- Europe
- Which language has the most native speakers?
- Arabic
- Spanish
- Japanese
- German
- Which country has the highest language diversity – the greatest likelihood that any two people picked at random have a different native language?
- The UK
- Papua New Guinea
- Cameroon
- India
- Which of these languages is spoken in the most different countries?
- Spanish
- Arabic
- English
- French
- The 1200 people who live in the Russian town of Archib on the Caspian Sea speak a rare language called Archi. What is this language most noted for?
- The fact that sneezing indicates a question
- Its close relation to English
- Its 1.5 million verb conjugations
- Its total lack of tenses
- Why can't you learn Sentinelese at the Berlitz School?
- It's considered too holy to speak unless you're a shaman.
- It's classified by the NSA.
- Many of its sounds can't be heard by the human ear.
- Its native speakers have a nasty habit of shooting at visitors.
- The European language of Silbo is unusual because it is. . .
- frequently used by footballers.
- featured in Eurovision productions.
- entirely whistled.
- related to Tuvan.
- The Pirahã language of Brazil has only 10-12 phonemes. How do Pirahã speakers indicate quantity?
- They use their fingers and toes.
- They count, 'One, two, many.'
- They never indicate quantity.
- They specify only 'a few' and 'a lot'.
- What will cause a Rotokas speaker to make mock of you?
- Using formal pronouns
- Using a nasal sound
- Starting a sentence with a consonant
- Talking at all
- Which Earth language has the most phonemes?
- English
- Finnish
- Gothic
- !Xóõ
Does this quiz have you tongue-tied? Click the picture for answers.
