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World Language General Knowledge #1

Can you answer these general knowledge questions about world languages?
Quiz by WolfCam
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Last updated: October 10, 2021
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First submittedDecember 14, 2017
Times taken57,973
Average score65.0%
Rating4.73
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Hint
Answer
What is the term for a language derived from Latin?
Romance Language
What is the English translation of the Spanish word "amigo"?
Friend
What is the French word for "French"?
Français
What archaic English word was a familiar form of the word "you"?
Thee or Thou
Which country has 11 official languages including English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa?
South Africa
Which country has 36 official languages, including Spanish, Quechua,
Aymara, and Chiquitano?
Bolivia
What variety of Chinese is most commonly spoken in Hong Kong?
Cantonese
Among languages that were deliberately invented, which one has the most speakers?
Esperanto
What capital city has a name that means "Fair Winds" in Spanish?
Buenos Aires
What is another name for the Farsi language?
Persian
What alphabet does the Russian language use?
Cyrillic
Which Central American country has English as an official language?
Belize
In what language were the most important Hindu texts written?
Sanskrit
What language does the word "algebra" come from?
Arabic
Which common European language has 32 letters including Ł and Ż?
Polish
What is the official language of Bangladesh?
Bengali
What is the English translation of the German word "Schwein"?
Pig
What is the official language of Angola and East Timor?
Portuguese
What written language was deciphered by using the Rosetta Stone?
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
What is the study of languages called?
Linguistics
+14
Level 85
Dec 21, 2017
Isn't the study of languages called philology?
+5
Level 51
Dec 22, 2017
I thought so too.
+4
Level 49
Dec 24, 2017
I think philology studies just the written texts
+3
Level 58
Apr 28, 2018
Philology splits up into linguistics and literary science.
+6
Level 61
May 17, 2018
Philology is about the history of language, and language found in older sources (whether written or spoken). Linguistics is the study of language more broadly, without the focus of history specifically. Back in the olden days, "philology" was also taken to mean comparative linguistics, but this use of the word has pretty much ended.
+1
Level 66
Jan 16, 2019
never heard about philology, though I am into etymology. Guess there is quite an overlap
+2
Level 46
Dec 22, 2017
Doesn't sign language have more speakers than Esperanto?
+20
Level 69
Dec 23, 2017
Not all sign languages are the same or even mutually intelligible; even British and American are different. But most importantly, even though American Sign Language may rival Esperanto for number of speakers, sign languages are *not* constructed (or "invented", the term WolfCam problematically uses here). They are natural languages, just like any other spoken languages that evolved over time.
+6
Level 34
Dec 23, 2017
If people would like to argue - modern Hebrew AKA Israelit has more speakers than Esperanto.
+3
Level 45
Apr 28, 2018
I also thought of Hebrew or Iwrit as it is also called as the one language that has been invented and is truly used.
+8
Level 68
Apr 28, 2018
Sign languages are natural languages, not constructed languages like Esperanto
+1
Level 51
Dec 22, 2017
Guyana, formerly British Guiana, is also a central American country which has English as an official language. I kept thinking I was spelling it wrong.
+29
Level 37
Dec 22, 2017
Sorry. Guyana is in SOUTH America.
+2
Level 43
Feb 25, 2019
Central America has eight countries- it's basically the mainland countries between the USA and South America. It doesn't include South America.
+4
Level 40
Feb 26, 2021
Between Mexico and south america
+3
Level 43
Dec 9, 2021
Seven. Mexico is not part of Central America.
+7
Level 69
Dec 23, 2017
WolfCam, to be fully accurate from a linguistic point of view, I would suggest you use the linguistics term "constructed languages" rather than "languages that were deliberately invented". And thanks for taking care of the errors so promptly; this is shaping up to be a really outstanding quiz. I hope there's more in the future! Thanks again!
+3
Level 82
Dec 23, 2017
Cool quiz. Aced it easily, bit of a language nerd. Maybe for the sequel some question about Finnish/Hungarian/Estonian
+3
Level 66
Dec 23, 2017
Please accept Egyptian for hieroglyphics, and 20 for veinte (if we can recognize the words and do the math, that should be good enough).
+1
Level ∞
Dec 24, 2017
Okay
+5
Level 74
Apr 29, 2018
Actually, I can only count to 15 in Spanish, so I'm glad 20 is accepted.
+1
Level 74
Oct 26, 2023
Don't worry people--I learned how to count in Spanish by taking a Spanish class the year after I posted this.
+5
Level 64
Jan 2, 2018
I really think "Philology" should be accepted as its definition matches the hint.
+1
Level 76
Jan 27, 2018
Took all three quizzes and the only one I got wrong was the one on the Russian alphabet. It's one of those things that I just can't remember no matter how many times I see the word. I ALWAYS try spelling it Cry-
+5
Level 62
Oct 9, 2021
If it helps, it’s named after St. Cyril, so just put Cyril-lic, and then it should work!
+1
Level 59
Apr 19, 2018
Great quiz!
+8
Level 67
Apr 28, 2018
Please accept "romanic languages" as an alternative to "romance languages". It's commonly accepted, as described in Wikipedia and other fonts: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages
+2
Level 45
Apr 28, 2018
same here, I knew it but also wrote romanic, romance sounds truly strange to me!
+1
Level 72
Apr 28, 2018
My first try was "neo-latin", and it should be totally acceptable.
+1
Level 66
Jan 16, 2019
agreed, I tried romanic first to see if it would be accepted ( had a suspicion it might not be) before trying romance
+1
Level 63
Apr 28, 2018
So, it an Italic the language group from which Latin came from rather than from Latin like Romance.
+8
Level 66
Jan 16, 2019
huh?
+3
Level 77
Apr 28, 2018
I think more people speak Klingon than Esperanto.
+7
Level 70
Apr 29, 2018
Not even close.
+3
Level 53
Apr 29, 2018
If we're being picky (which we are), linguistics is more like the study of language, not languageS
+1
Level 43
Nov 7, 2020
Isn't Tetem also an official language in East Timor?
+6
Level 59
Apr 5, 2021
Yes, but not in Angola...
+4
Level 84
Oct 9, 2021
"officila" = official. (South Africa hint)
+3
Level 60
Oct 9, 2021
If 'thou', then also 'ye' should be accepted.
+1
Level 67
Sep 6, 2023
I may be wrong, but I don't think that "ye" is familiar, which the question specifies.
+1
Level 53
Oct 9, 2021
o7 for everyone who put Linguology
+1
Level 43
Oct 9, 2021
Thou was the familiar form and you (French: vous; German: Sie) is the formal form; it's just that in English it is now used like the familiar form, but it was thou that was familiar.
+2
Level 49
Oct 9, 2021
I appreciate that þou is allowed
+1
Level 72
Nov 9, 2021
really enjoyed this excellent language quiz, thank you
+1
Level 47
Jun 19, 2022
HELP I THOUGHT "ONCE" WAS THE ENGLISH WORD (like once upon a time) EVEN THOUGH I SPEAK SPANISH WELL
+1
Level 67
Oct 28, 2022
Please accept "glossology" as an equivalent of "linguistics".
+1
Level 69
Aug 30, 2023
South Africa has just adopted South African sign language as its twelfth official language, so your one question is out-of-date. Very nice quiz.
+2
Level 72
Aug 30, 2023
Another!?
+1
Level 67
Aug 30, 2023
Missed Cyrillic and Esperanto, I was thinking maybe American Sign Language
+1
Level 38
Aug 30, 2023
Bro Buenos Aires means "nice winds" not "fair winds"threw me off because of that.
+2
Level 73
Aug 31, 2023
It can also mean nice or good winds, but the most common translation is fair winds. The clue is fine.
+1
Level 23
Dec 10, 2023
Can you accept romantic for the first one
+1
Level 22
Mar 1, 2024
Full marks, yay!