Languages of the World Quiz

1. Norwegian and Swedish speakers can often understand portions of each other’s speech. What best explains this?

2. A student already knows Spanish and wants to study another language descended from Latin. Which choice fits?

3. Turkish is a member of which language family?

4. A printed Hindi sentence is most commonly written in which script?

5. During one conversation, a bilingual speaker shifts from English to Spanish when addressing a relative, then returns to English. What is this practice called?

6. Which language was successfully expanded and revived as an everyday spoken language in the modern era after long serving mainly religious and literary functions?

7. Mandarin Chinese belongs to which major language family?

8. Two words in Mandarin use the same consonants and vowels but different pitch patterns, producing different meanings. What feature is responsible?

9. In a community, older adults speak the local language fluently, but few children are learning it at home. What does this most strongly indicate?

10. Which European language is generally classified as a language isolate, with no demonstrated close relative?

11. Someone opening a traditional Arabic book should generally expect the main text to run in which direction?

12. Malagasy is spoken on Madagascar but has deep historical linguistic connections to languages of Southeast Asia. To which family does it belong?

13. A linguist classifies Swahili alongside Zulu and Xhosa. Which branch connects these languages?

14. At an international port, traders with different first languages adopt one shared language for routine communication. What is that shared language functioning as?

15. While traveling, you see the words “obrigado” and “por favor” on a café sign. Which language are you most likely reading?

16. A researcher documenting an Indigenous language in the Andes is most likely to encounter which language?