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World Languages A-Z

Based on the clues, name these world languages starting with each letter.
"Most-spoken" refers to the number of people who speak it natively.
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Quiz by Aaron197
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Last updated: March 29, 2022
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First submittedMarch 20, 2019
Times taken60,193
Average score65.4%
Rating4.89
4:00
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Clue
Language
A
Language of the Quran
Arabic
B
Language of northern Spain not closely related to any others
Basque
C
Variety of Chinese spoken in the Hong Kong region
Cantonese
D
Afrikaans is derived from this language
Dutch
E
Created in 1887, it was intended to be a universal language
Esperanto
F
What Paavo Nurmi spoke. Known in its own language as Suomi.
Finnish
G
"Eins, zwei, drei" is how you'd count to three
German
H
Official language of Israel
Hebrew
I
The only Celtic language to be an official language of a country
Irish
J
Can be written in Kana, Hiragana, and Kanji scripts
Japanese
K
Official language of Cambodia
Khmer
L
Language of ancient Rome
Latin
M
Official language of Madagascar
Malagasy
N
Has the most speakers of any Native American language in the United States
Navajo
O
Most commonly-spoken language in Ethiopia
Oromo
P
This language of India and Pakistan is the most spoken that is not the
official language of any country
Punjabi
Q
The main language of the Incan Empire, still spoken today
Quechua
R
Romance language spoken in a certain country in Eastern Europe
Romanian
S
Lingua franca of Tanzania and Kenya
Swahili
T
Dominant language of Anatolia
Turkish
U
Spoken in the city of Lviv
Ukrainian
V
Most spoken language in Indochina
Vietnamese
W
Variety of Chinese spoken in the Shanghai region
Wu
X
Nelson Mandela's mother tongue
Xhosa
Y
Jewish language that developed in Eastern Europe
Yiddish
Z
Most spoken language in South Africa
Zulu
+27
Level 79
Jun 28, 2019
Irish isn't anywhere close to being the most widely spoken Celtic language. There are almost ten times as many Welsh speakers.
+7
Level ∞
Jun 28, 2019
I didn't fact check that one. You may be right. The numbers for native Welsh and Irish speakers seem very inflated. According to Wikipedia, 19% of Wales speaks Welsh natively. I don't think so. In any case, changed the clue so there can be no objections.
+4
Level 51
Aug 26, 2019
Welsh is an official language of Wales.
+23
Level 65
Jan 22, 2020
Wales is not a "country" as per jetpunk definition
+17
Level 59
Apr 2, 2020
I’m really puzzled why you don’t think that is a likely statistic- it actually sounds quite low to me and there are definitely far more Welsh speakers than that but I guess not all of them speak it as their first language. I certainly know a lot of people who didn’t learn English until they started school and it remains very much a second language to Welsh even as adults. Wales may not be very big but a significant part of the population does use Welsh.
+4
Level 44
Sep 21, 2020
That number certainly seems low to me, there are many places in western Wales that English isn't spoken at all.
+1
Level 60
Sep 9, 2023
There is nowhere in Wales where English isn't spoken. It is predominantly spoken in the West, but all Welsh speakers are bilingual. The figure of 18-20% fluent speakers in the total population of Wales is accurate and in line with census data. Incidentally, I came from a village that was 80% first language Welsh.
+15
Level 79
Jun 29, 2019
You might not think so but there's little doubt. The figures for Welsh are very closely monitored and have been for years so they're as accurate as any of these things can be. If anything Irish is one of the least widely spoken Celtic languages. There are about three times more speakers of Breton. Other than Scottish Gaelic the only Celtic languages with fewer speakers than Irish are the resurrected ones of Manx and Cornish.
+1
Level ∞
Jun 29, 2019
19% of people in Wales speak Welsh at home? I'm skeptical but willing to believe. I did hear a couple old guys speaking in Welsh when I visited Llandeilo.
+18
Level 79
Jun 29, 2019
Yes QM - especially in mid, West and North Wales. In some areas up to 70% speak it as their first language. You're not the first to sneer at Welsh language and culture and you won't be the last, but Ry'n ni yma o hyd, er gwaetha pawb a phopeth. And you're going to have to change the question again. The Welsh Language Acts of 1967 and 1993 establish Welsh as an official de jure language in Wales. There's an equivalent Act for Scottish Gaelic.
+20
Level ∞
Jun 30, 2019
Hey I'm not sneering at Welsh culture. Good for you guys! I think it's cool. But the question will remain unless Wales (or Scotland) becomes an independent country.
+1
Level 79
Sep 7, 2023
This is still wrong though. Welsh and Scottish Gaelic are official UK languages, just not across the entire country. The UK government recognises them as official within the parts of the country where they're spoken, and conducts official business using them. Irish is the only Celtic language used officially across the *entirety* of an independent country, but the others are still officially languages recognised by the government of such a country, so the question as phrased remains wrong.
+1
Level 56
Sep 7, 2023
@CyborgBee Except you still can't speak Welsh during official proceedings in the House of Commons. Many countries designate languages as official on a regional level; the UK isn't special in that regard.
+4
Level 82
Jun 30, 2019
The south is quite anglicized, but around Anglesey for example I've heard almost only Welsh spoken in the street.
+2
Level 50
Jul 27, 2019
^ Yeah, my experience of North Wales is that Welsh is widely spoken. I noticed a lot of signs that have Welsh first, followed by English, which furthers this point.
+2
Level 70
Jul 29, 2019
I have been to Caernarfon, where people seemed to be speaking mostly English. But it was at Easter weekend, when there is a lot of tourism there. I have seen statistics showing that especially in Anglesey people often speak Welsh. I wouldn't take the order languages are in on street signs as so much of an indicative factor though, as Welsh is written first on signs in almost all the parts of Wales I have been to (maybe not all - I don't think I have been to Cardiff for example).
+2
Level 56
Jul 3, 2020
If it is 19%, I'm just surprised it's that low. I suppose there are lot more people in south Wales than in the north, where it's most spoken. I would have guessed that the figure would be at least 25%.
+13
Level 77
Jun 30, 2019
A point worth to remember is that Sibelius grew up in a Swedish-speaking home and didn't learn Finnish until in school. Yes, he spoke Finnish, but it wasn't his first language.
+1
Level 73
Jul 27, 2019
Hear hear
+2
Level 69
Jul 27, 2019
kuule kuulla
+1
Level 66
Jul 27, 2019
But it also says it’s called suomi in it’s own language
+3
Level ∞
Mar 29, 2022
I have replaced Jean Sibelius with Paavo Nurmi.
+3
Level 62
Sep 6, 2023
Should also replace Suomi (=the country) with suomi (=the language).
+21
Level 63
Jul 27, 2019
Odessa is mainly Russian speaking. The clue is 'spoken in the city of Odessa' - so technically it is correct, just a strange choice of city. I expect Ukranian is spoken in London too, but it would be weird to use that as the clue! Lviv would probably be a better option.
+1
Level 56
Jul 3, 2020
I had this exact thought.
+2
Level 70
Mar 29, 2022
I think the clue is alright, it doesn't claim that Ukrainian is the most spoken language there and Lviv is a little more obscure/less known. Realistically, if you were to guess, your options would be Ukrainian or Russian and the letter narrows things down.
+5
Level ∞
Mar 29, 2022
Replaced Odessa with Lviv.
+2
Level 73
Jan 12, 2023
I suspect Russian is on a steep decline nowadays in Odessa. Also, I think it's now 'Odesa' with certain translations morphing from Russian to Ukrainian (eg, Kyiv not Kiev).
+5
Level 63
Jul 27, 2019
Nice to see Esperanto getting some love.
+1
Level 62
Jan 14, 2020
I guessed Ebonics
+1
Level 60
Jul 28, 2019
Can't wait for part two
+6
Level 54
Jul 29, 2019
Uhm..I missed only Ukrainian. Because the dominant language in Odessa is Russian. I know i am dumb, since i didn't think of Ukrainian, but still, the first language that comes to my mind when hearing Odessa is Russian.
+9
Level 71
Aug 10, 2019
A little correction: It should say katakana instead of kana. Just kana is the umbrella term for katakana and hiragana.
+4
Level 36
Aug 22, 2019
Or just write kana and kanji.
+1
Level 51
Jun 24, 2020
Couldn't type Omoro
+1
Level 51
Jul 3, 2020
100% Now!
+19
Level 73
Oct 1, 2020
Wow, was thinking Ethiopia's most spoken is Amharic.
+1
Level 60
May 21, 2021
Same!
+1
Level 66
Nov 16, 2021
The Amharic ethnic group dominate business, culture and politics in the country, but the Oromo are the most numerous by a small margin!
+2
Level 45
Oct 17, 2020
Accept Malagasi for Malagasy?
+4
Level 79
Feb 21, 2021
I live in the Wu-speaking region of China!
+1
Level 77
Feb 25, 2022
Xhosa...not Xosha. Dangit. I was racking my brain trying to come up with another south african X language.
+1
Level 67
Mar 29, 2022
Missed Esperanto because I kept thinking it was Esperanzo for some reason, forgot Malagasy and Oromo
+3
Level 50
Mar 29, 2022
Mild error - Sibelius was Finnish but he was part of the minority that speak Swedish. As is, the question is a tad misleading.
+2
Level ∞
Mar 29, 2022
Fixed
+6
Level 82
Mar 29, 2022
"Kana" in Japanese refers to any syllabic script, as opposed to kanji, which are logographic. The three scripts are hiragana (the most common), katakana (used to represent loan words, foreign names, neologisms and onomatopoeia), and kanji (Chinese characters used for names, but also plenty of common words, where they replace hiragana - in children's texts tiny hiragana referred to as furigana are often written above the kanji to help them sound them out). Hiragana and katakana are both forms of kana.
+1
Level 36
Mar 29, 2022
Oromo is more spoken than Amharic?
+3
Level 81
Mar 29, 2022
according to wiki - Oromo 33.8%, Amharic 29.3%
+1
Level 62
Mar 29, 2022
Wonderful and super quiz
+1
Level 61
May 20, 2022
ugh i need to stop taking jetpunk quizzes this close to midnight

what makes me say this? i missed ukrainian

25/26

+1
Level 24
Mar 25, 2023
I got all of them! It's sad that many people have limited knowledge of languages in Africa.
+1
Level 68
Aug 4, 2023
Yiddish developed in Central Europe, not Eastern Europe.

It's also quite similar to Bavarian.

+1
Level 67
Sep 6, 2023
Just missed Oromo, assumed Amharic would be most spoken in Ethiopia since it's their official one