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Countries in Their Own Alphabet

What are these countries, which are written in the script of their own official languages? For the final three, the country names are written in each of two of their countries' official alphabets.
Quiz by TenThousand
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Last updated: February 24, 2024
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First submittedJuly 28, 2014
Times taken36,720
Average score45.0%
Rating4.92
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Their Alphabet
English
יִשְׂרָאֵל
Israel
ኢትዮጵያ
Ethiopia
ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា
Cambodia
ایران
Iran
Қазақстан
Kazakhstan
Հայաստան
Armenia
Ελλάδα
Greece
საქართველო
Georgia
България
Bulgaria
ລາວ
Laos
Кыргызстан
Kyrgyzstan
ሃገረ ኤርትራ
Eritrea
Россия
Russia
대한민국
South Korea
नेपाल
Nepal
日本
Japan
འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་
Bhutan
भारत ; భారతదేశం
India
Morocco
ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ; இலங்கை
Sri Lanka
starfast
+13
Level 58
Jul 28, 2014
Fun quiz, but Maldives is only showing up as squares on my computer.
TenThousand
+8
Level 76
Jul 28, 2014
Thanks for the warning: if I get more feedback saying the same thing I may switch that one to another question.
cpgatbyu
+2
Level 85
Jul 29, 2014
Same for me.
TenThousand
+9
Level 76
Jul 29, 2014
Dang! Maldivian was my favourite, because it's the only one I didn't know their language is in a different script. Several others can read that clue OK, but we should make this accessible to everyone, so I've put a different question in its place.
tshalla
+12
Level 75
May 1, 2016
Wow - I just saw this and am sorry that the Thaana script for the Maldives is gone. It reads, in our script, "Dhivehi Raajje," or Dhivehi kingdom. Dhivehi is the language and, mostly archaically, refers to the people of the Maldives as well. It's the most phonetically consistent system I'm familiar with (almost without exception, every letter makes the same sound every time, with accents built in). I've taught the script, mostly just for fun, to lots of students over the years, who generally can begin to read and write in less than an hour.
GeoPhilia
+1
Level 56
Jun 8, 2020
Is this Maldivian Script?

ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ

NV1
+1
Level 51
Jun 8, 2020
Yep
gccwang24
+1
Level 52
Jan 23, 2023
Wow Maldivian script looks like proofreader's shorthand
rawe
+1
Level 66
Apr 2, 2015
Ethiopia, Cambodia and Eritrea are squares. And Morocco and Sri Lanka a half are squares and the rest is fine.
AllenY
+3
Level 69
Apr 5, 2015
first half of Morocco is squares for me, no others
TenThousand
+1
Level 76
Apr 27, 2020
Morocco is fixed - thanks Dan for your help.
Bubblecat
+1
Level 71
Jun 13, 2015
Laos is showing up as squares for me (but the rest are fine) :)
maple
+1
Level 53
Jun 8, 2020
umm there isnt maldives in this quiz
AntiMatter8192
+14
Level 68
Jun 8, 2020
That's because it was removed a long time ago.
camus
+21
Level 78
Jun 8, 2020
People who write "umm" are usually wrong.
PitifulExcuse
+1
Level 55
Feb 23, 2024
umm that's true
ItzIngenious
+1
Level 60
Aug 21, 2021
Did you not read any comments above?
sillie
+1
Level 77
Aug 29, 2014
For me Bhutan shows only boxes but the rest works.
PSTSCCH
+1
Level 47
Oct 19, 2014
Only Arabic script shows up for Morocco.
TenThousand
+3
Level 76
Apr 27, 2020
The Morocco clue in Berber should be fixed now - a shout out to Quizmaster for his help here.
donniedarko
+5
Level 56
Oct 26, 2014
Such a cool quiz. Great job.
ChrisInAfrica
+1
Level 24
Apr 2, 2015
Maldives showed up as boxes (mostly, the last part was script).
englishsystem
+3
Level 68
Apr 2, 2015
Great quiz. Not that hard if you can recognize the origin of the script.
Cezar
+4
Level 53
Apr 2, 2015
All in one go! Perks of being a linguist :D
Snev
+1
Level 40
Jan 5, 2020
haha, same!
Damangio
+1
Level 64
Jun 9, 2020
W00t!
2cashmere
+2
Level 29
May 22, 2015
very interesting quiz. I could only get those for which i could recognize the script even though i can't read it
Quizzer6794
+1
Level 65
Jul 7, 2015
ethiopia eritrea morocco and cambodia shows up as squares
slkrr9
+5
Level 33
Aug 20, 2015
Great quiz! I learned to pronounce Cyrillic, Hebrew, and Arabic ... and a couple of years ago actually created a spreadsheet with countries in their own names for some other project. That greatly helped with the more obscure South Asian scripts (and though I have no clue how to pronounce Amharic, it has a very distinct look).
Carry
+1
Level 63
Feb 8, 2016
I was so sure that #5 had to be Kazakhstan. I always guess it as Kazachstan though and thought that would be right cause it counts in the Countries of the World quiz. I guess I smashed together German Kasachstan with English Kazakhstan.
TenThousand
+2
Level 76
Feb 8, 2016
That spelling also works now.
Sifhraven
+2
Level 67
Mar 1, 2020
The usually accepted kazakstan didnt work either. I know the correct spelling though (a quarter of the time my fingers decide to skip the h, (and z in kyrgyzstan) and since I know it is accepted spelled like that I continue typing.)

just a heads up :) I simply figured the exact spelled was needed and was fine with that. (Especially since this is not just about the countries but about the words)

Zefyrinus
+1
Level 71
Mar 9, 2016
Ethiopia (I still managed to guess that one), Armenia (even though I'm supposed to have an Armenian font installed), Eritrea and the Berber (?) script of Morocco don't show up for me. :(
Cartella
+2
Level 25
Apr 30, 2016
Very nice quiz!

For learning puposes: would it be possible to give the english transliteration for the words after the right country has been guessed?

For example: Hellas for Greece.

Countries like Armenia and Georgia can be guessed based on the script, but I have actually no idea what that word should read, how an Armenian calls its own country.

TenThousand
+2
Level 76
Apr 30, 2016
Sure; they now appear in the answer list in the stats section after you finish the quiz. An interesting anomaly: Қазақстан has the same letter in the first and 5th places, so why do they appear as different transliterations (first K, then KH) in Latin-alphabet renderings of that country?
Djilas
+3
Level 82
Apr 23, 2020
Because the English name comes from Russian, not Kazakh.
TenThousand
+1
Level 76
Apr 28, 2020
In that case, why would the Russians render that Kazakh name using two different letters (Russian K in Казахстан = K and Russian X = "kh", by the way).
ing
+1
Level 72
Apr 30, 2020
Actual pronunciation, I believe.
AntiMatter8192
+4
Level 68
Jun 8, 2020
Could be because of how 2 letters have to be pronounced together (eg: ph sounds like f in English).
dunkinggandalf2
+1
Level 68
Nov 16, 2020
(The English transcription for Greece would be Ellada, by the way. Hellas is ancient greek.)
DanielSvk
+1
Level 50
Jul 7, 2016
Hayastan (Armenia in Armenian), Sakartvelo (Georgia in Georgian). And, I agree with your suggestion for the quiz.
Findlay
+5
Level 82
Sep 15, 2016
Armenian looks like a mighty confusing language to read. Trying to distinguish the individual characters gives me a headache. Though that could be because I'm not wearing my glasses.
Magarara
+5
Level 54
Oct 8, 2016
It's all Greek to me.
mariposita
+1
Level 68
Oct 10, 2016
Very surprised to get 100% on this! Great quiz!
MrSchickadance
+1
Level 64
Feb 17, 2017
I got everyone except Sri Lanka and this quiz isn't eligible for points! No way!!!
jajaco2017
+1
Level 57
Mar 13, 2017
once you get the idea of the russian alphabet its easier
PjotrL
+3
Level 74
Aug 5, 2017
Hi Jerry. Just came back from Uzbekistan and they have switched to Latin scipt many years ago. The Cyrillic is almost gone from any signage (except where it's aimed at Russian tourists :) )
TenThousand
+1
Level 76
Feb 24, 2024
Thanks, Uzbekistan has been removed for another answer.
PacoGee
+1
Level 44
Mar 11, 2018
lol I kept mispelling Kazakhstan.. like in English.. ;) I figured the other istan tho. Im ok with Cyrillic, just ran out of time haha
SWATkun
+1
Level 60
Jul 12, 2018
Great Quiz, Great Idea. It's awesome. But please remove Bharat in the other language other than Hindi, I think it's Tamil or Telegu which is not our official or national language. It's our recognised language along with the other 21 languages. So please keep India in hindi or add all the 22 recognised languages. Thank you ; )
TenThousand
+2
Level 76
Jul 12, 2018
Thanks for the compliment! The languages used here are Hindi and Telugu, and they are simply a couple of examples. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of alphabets used in India.
AntiMatter8192
+1
Level 68
Jun 8, 2020
The Telugu one was the only one I could read. Also, isn't it pronounced as Bharatadeshyam in Telugu? It's not showing it in the answer stats.
Chronikhiles
+5
Level 49
Jun 10, 2020
It's bad enough that the government insists on being strictly Hindi, don't need quizzes on this site to reflect that.
Arvind1024
+1
Level 61
May 7, 2021
I'm sorry, neither is Hindi an official or national language of India. Both Hindi and Telugu are of equal status as major recognised languages in the Constitution
TenThousand
+3
Level 76
May 7, 2021
And your point is?
TheNatureThread
+3
Level 65
Mar 14, 2022
That Telugu should be kept.
dirtyorange
+1
Level 77
Nov 21, 2018
Well played. I've been put in my place for the day.
Nathaniel
+4
Level 74
Apr 30, 2019
No flex, but I can read the ones in cyrillic, hebrew and greek. XD
jayhiatt
+1
Level 70
Oct 16, 2019
For Greece, I think, "Well, that looks like the Greek alphabet." Proceeds to try all the countries near Greece, but somehow didn't actually guess Greece.
Sifhraven
+2
Level 67
Mar 1, 2020
Bhutan and the first half of morocco are boxes to me.

good to expose people to all the beautiful scripts

halpie
+1
Level 77
Apr 27, 2020
first half of morocco did not work in Chrome but worked in Safari.
EytanMelech
+2
Level 67
Mar 2, 2020
The Berber for Morocco is just showing up in unicode white blocks.
Azazello
+1
Level 34
Mar 18, 2020
Love these quizzes!!
Djilas
+2
Level 82
Apr 23, 2020
I see all scripts fine. To make it accessible to everyone, couldn't you post the names as images?
raymun
+1
Level 66
Apr 27, 2020
Love the quiz!
cpgatbyu
+1
Level 85
Apr 27, 2020
The cyrillic ones aren't too hard to decipher if you are familiar with the Greek alphabet. Other than that, I was lost.
Stewart
+1
Level 68
Apr 27, 2020
Morocco doesn't render for me on Chrome, just shows squares at the start.
TenThousand
+1
Level 76
Apr 27, 2020
Now fixed.
Stewart
+1
Level 68
Apr 29, 2020
Yes it works now
ECon211
+1
Level 88
Apr 27, 2020
Ethiopia, Cambodia, Laos and Eritrea aren't rendering for me. It's probably just on my end because I have an outdated version of Chrome. Cool quiz nonetheless.
Akula
+1
Level 78
Apr 28, 2020
Great quiz idea from Jerry the legend.
Algernon
+1
Level 72
May 10, 2020
Bleep me that’s a tough quiz.

There are a handful that you can narrow it down a bit, other than that it’s pure pot luck. Unless you happen to have knowledge of said country/have been there or study these things.

ander217
+1
Level 75
Jun 8, 2020
I was thinking the same thing, but it is a very interesting quiz. Thanks, Jerry.
Viagiatur
+1
Level 19
Oct 24, 2022
I got a few by copying and pasting likely countries (e.g. Cambodia) against every possible name (like, about half of them!).
emoney9
+1
Level 75
May 20, 2020
South Korea doesn't show up for me.
ornei
+1
Level 62
Jun 12, 2021
Just boxes for me too.
AratiPandu
+1
Level 40
May 23, 2020
I beg to disagree with the Indian clue. Thanks for adding 2 of our languages (I speak both) but I'm given to understand that the second (Telugu) is not the second-most commonly spoken language in India. It's not even close, in fact, and the second-most commonly spoken vernacular language is Bengali.

Could you fix this?

TenThousand
+1
Level 76
May 7, 2021
See our reply to SWATkun above.
NV1
+1
Level 51
Jun 8, 2020
In the answer stats, it shows Japan as "Nippon" instead of "Nihon".
gurkenpeter
+1
Level 43
Jun 8, 2020
There are some really pretty writing systems out there. Georgian is beautiful.
teccosman1
+1
Level 27
Jun 8, 2020
Insanely hard but very interesting
Damangio
+1
Level 64
Jun 9, 2020
The native name of Eritrea contains another word besides "Eretra."
TenThousand
+2
Level 76
Jun 9, 2020
And what would that word be?
NAIM
+1
Level 15
Jun 29, 2020
It was very easy
NV1
+1
Level 51
Jul 11, 2020
Also try Random Countries in their Own Language
kogatora
+1
Level 93
Jul 29, 2020
great quiz!
JonOfKent
+2
Level 56
Nov 23, 2020
Would be interesting to try adding a vertical one like Mongol... if it's even possible? Perhaps not.
Kobith
+2
Level 65
Dec 7, 2020
speaking Minecraft enchantment table
thailand
+1
Level 40
Feb 18, 2021
xenofobic
thailand
+1
Level 40
Feb 18, 2021
Can you add Thailand?
Afghabwe
+1
Level 39
May 30, 2021
100%!
Viagiatur
+1
Level 19
Oct 24, 2022
75% got South Korea?! Well, I guess the results show as much about quizzers' native languages (and where they live) as about their knowledge of foreign scripts and languages!
brandybuck96
+1
Level 83
Dec 15, 2022
Korean has a distinctive alphabet, likely to be more well-known than some of the others. Especially since it often appears on technology
Neodymium
+1
Level 59
Mar 8, 2023
Nice to see Telugu here!
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