232 Language Trivia Questions (Ranked From Easiest to Hardest)

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Question: What is the second most popularly spoken language in Michigan, behind English?

Answer: Spanish

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232 Language Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)

English editions of Scrabble have one letter that is worth five points. What is it? Answer: K
What health-related word evolved from a Middle English term describing the venom of a snake which came from a Latin word meaning "slimy liquid or poison?" Answer: Virus
What popular sport was originally known as "The Little Brother of War" in the indigenous language of the people who created it? Answer: Lacrosse
Somnambulating is a fancy term for what nighttime activity? Answer: Sleepwalking
What common Latin phrase literally means "something for something?" Answer: quid pro quo
From the Latin word for "earth," what's a synonym for an outdoor patio? Answer: terrace
Originally named "Mocha" during development, what programming language was first shipped in 1995 and developed by Brendan Eich? Answer: JavaScript
What is the origin of the Python scripting language's name? Answer: Monty Python's Flying Circus
Before the name Java, the coding language was known by what arboreal name that also has poignancy in the Pokemon universe? Answer: Oak
What is the three-letter acronym for the programming language in Microsoft Excel in which users can write macros and other pieces of code that can perform tasks awkward or impossible to perform within the confines of the spreadsheet? Answer: VBA
Of the many native nations currently living in Montana, which group was the first to arrive? This Siouan-language people are named after a bird. Answer: The Crow
Though the term's origins are debated, the most likely source of "serial killer" comes from Ernst Gennat's usage of "serienmorder" -- a term from what language? Answer: German
What are the two most widely spoken languages in South America? Answer: Spanish and Portuguese
What word, a critical part of graphic design, signifies the "art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing"? Answer: Typography
What is the second most popularly spoken language in Michigan, behind English? Answer: Spanish
The nursery rhyme titled Brother John is more often known by what French-language name? Answer: Frère Jacques
English is the most-spoken language in Canada. French is second. What language is third? Answer: Chinese (Mandarin)
Although his books have been translated into dozens of languages, in what language did Franz Kafka typically write? Answer: German
Although he was not able to speak English fluently until his mid-twenties, this Polish-British writer is often considered one of the great masters of the English language. He helped popularize the concept of an anti-hero, frequently featured nautical settings, and wrote both "The Secret Agent," "The Secret Sharer," and "The Heart of Darkness." Who is this author? Answer: Joseph Conrad
As of the 2010 US Census, English was, unsurprisingly, the most common language spoken in homes in the state of Georgia. In second place was Spanish, at ~7% of the state's population. What Asian language was third? Answer: Korean
Morocco has two official languages: Tamazight and ______. What word fills in the blank? Answer: Arabic
Two letters are tied for being the most valuable (10 points each) in a typical game of English-language Scrabble. Name BOTH of them. Answer: Q and Z
One of the most commonly-spoken languages in Canada outside of the nation's two mother tongues (English and French), Filipino is the officially standardized form of what 7-letter Austonesian language? Answer: Tagalog
As of the most recent census, nearly 95% of Montanans speak English at home. What is the second-most-spoken language in the state? Answer: Spanish
What eight-letter "M" island country is located entirely in the Indian Ocean, has Malé as the capital city, contains 26 atolls, and has Dhivehi as the official and most common language? Answer: Maldives
What is the name of the English-based creole language spoken on the Caribbean Sea coast of Costa Rica that is an officially recognized regional language? Answer: Limonese creole
As of the 2011 Census, the most common first language spoken in India is Hindi, with 44% of the population. With one guess, name either the 2nd or 3rd most common "first language" spoken in India, at 8% and 7% respectively. Answer: Bengali and Marathi
Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Carrie Bickmore were the two hosts of an English-language international version of "So You Think You Can Dance" that was filmed and produced in Sydney. What country's version of the show was this? Answer: Australia
For what country is the following true? German is the country's official language. Croatian, Slovene and Hungarian are each an official language in one of the country's states. Answer: Austria
What is the name of the international Language Arts competition for students in grades 3 - 8 which has thrice-annual challenges of twenty analogies? The purpose is to learn a new set of vocabulary words. Answer: WordMasters
In the late 1960s, politicians in Canada attempted to incorporate a new word into the national lexicon as a generic term for greeting, so it could be used like "ciao" or "aloha." The short-lived term originated from the northern Canadian Inuktitut language. What was the term? Answer: Chimo
English is one of two official languages in Malawi. What is the other? Answer: Chewa
According to Gary Chapman in a best-selling 1992 book "words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time, and physical touch" are the five love ______. What word fills the blank? Answer: Language
In American Sign Language (ASL), closing your hand into a fist with your thumb resting across the front of a couple fingers represents what common letter in the alphabet? Answer: S
Many named places throughout the state of Minnesota have “Minne” as part of the name: Minnehaha, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, and more. This word “Minne” derives from a word in the Dakota language meaning what? Answer: Water
The language spoken by the Ewoks is a combination of two real-life languages. With one guess, name either of these languages. Answer: Tibetan and Nepalese
Nicknamed largely because of its sanctum was overlaid with a metallic foil in 1830, what is the two-word English-language nickname for Harmandir Sahib (the preeminent spiritual site of Sikhism)? Answer: Golden Temple
Which of the following is NOT considered a romance language? Italian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin. Answer: English
When speaking in English, the name of this animal shares its name with a country. In French and Russian, the animal has a name meaning "from India" or "bird of India." And in Portuguese the animal is named "peru" deriving from the eponymous country. What is this confusingly named animal? Answer: Turkey
Wolof, Yoruba, Sotho, San, and Xhosa are all languages spoken primarily on what continent? Answer: Africa
As of 2011, which of Canada's provinces or territories had the highest share of its population that reported English as their mother tongue? English was the native language of more than 97% of the entity's population. Answer: Newfoundland and Labrador
______ is the part of the sentence that contains a verb, and it typically consists of both a subject and a predicate. What word six-letter word fills in the blank? Answer: Clause
In April 2006, a parliamentary bill was passed that established a third official language of New Zealand, joining English and Maori. What was this third language? Answer: New Zealand Sign Language
Aurebesh is the writing system used to represent what spoken-word language that is the most commonly referenced language in the “Star Wars” films? Answer: Galactic Basic
From 1961-1963 former Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg worked at the Columbia Law School Project on International Procedure. As a researcher for the project, her views on gender equality were greatly shaped by her time spent in which progressive Nordic country? She ended up learning the language of this country to co-author a book on civil procedure there in 1965. Answer: Sweden
Which Canadian territory has a name meaning "our land" in the language that is spoken by the mother tongue of more than 60% of its residents? Answer: Nunavut
A portable hand-held electric light (often battery-powered) is almost always called a "flashlight" in the U.S., but in British English it's often referred to by a different, more... incendiary name. What is the British term for a flashlight? Answer: Torch
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, an unstressed central vowel is called a "schwa", and is represented by what lowercase letter, upside-down? Answer: e
What is the programming language developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and named after the type of coffee from Indonesia? Answer: Java
What dialect, primarily spoken by Mennonites and Amish, is spoken by over 300,000 people and is named as a combination of where it was developed and the language it is a dialect of? Answer: Pennsylvania German
What is the name of the 1998 toy released by Tiger Electronics that resembles either a hamster or an owl and spoke its own "language" that was gradually replaced by English? Answer: Furby
It's the name of a gemstone associated with the month of July, the title of a song by British band "Kaiser Chiefs," and the name of a programming language for developers. What is it? Answer: Ruby
What Native American language is renowned for being used by code talkers from a namesake tribe during World War II? Answer: Navajo
What 13-letter German loanword means a novel that focuses on the psychological and personal growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood? Answer: Bildungsroman
From the French for "sweep," what eight-letter term means the freehand painting of highlights onto hair to create a natural, graduated look? Answer: Balayage
With more than 500 million native speakers, what is the most commonly spoken language in India? Answer: Hindi
What Stephen Foster tune, whose lyrics have been altered because the originals contained racist language, is the official state song of Kentucky? Answer: My Old Kentucky Home
What is the name of the programming language maintained by Microsoft that is considered a "strict syntactical superset" of Javascript? The language was designed for developing large applications and it transcompiles into JavaScript. Answer: TypeScript
What is the name of the software framework developed and maintained by Microsoft that was first built in the late 1990s and continues to primarily run on Windows machines with the C# language? Fun fact: this is a key piece of the Water Cooler Trivia stack. Answer: .NET
What is the only country in South America whose official language is Dutch? Answer: Suriname
The Official Languages Act in the Northwest Territories declared that there are 11 officially-recognized languages: Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, ______, ______, ______, North Slavey, South Slavey, and Tlicho. Each of those blanks is a language that begins with the letter "I" (i). With one guess, name any of them. Answer: Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun
The English word "chocolate" comes from a Spanish word which comes from a classic word in what language spoken widely in Central Mexico during the 16th century Spanish Conquest? Answer: Nahuatl
What two-word phrase, which literally translates to "pure life," is a common Costa Rican expression used to reflect the speaker's positive outlook and stress-free demeanor? Answer: Pura Vida
As of 2021, the European Union has many official languages? We'll accept responses within 5 of the correct answer. Answer: 24 (19 - 29 accepted)
What candy, which is produced in Austria and Connecticut, has a name that is an abbreviation for the German word for peppermint? Answer: PEZ
What language, in which "doubleplusungood" means "very bad," does the government of Oceania use to establish thought control in George Orwell's novel "1984?" Answer: Newspeak
What is the five-letter name for the general-purpose programming language first released in 2004 that was designed to be concise and aimed to address criticisms of Java? This language was designed by Martin Odersky and is the language used as the basis for Apache Spark. Answer: Scala
The paper currency in Botswana is named "pula" which translates to what natural phenomenon? This is a reference to the value of this phenomenon as much of the country is within the Kalahari Desert. Answer: Rain
The track "Bella Notte" from "Lady and the Tramp" is somewhat unsurprisingly named for a pair of Italian words that have what meaning in English? Answer: Beautiful Night
Vinod Khosla, a billionaire and founder of an eponymous venture capital firm, is also a cofounder of what company that created the Java programming language? Answer: Sun Microsystems
What is the "C" name of the Dene Indigenous Canadian peoples from the Athabaskan language family? This group comes from what is now Western Canada, were historically allied with the southerly Cree, and had ~25,000 registered members of the First Nation in 2016. Answer: Chipewyan
SQL, which stands for "Structured ___ Language," is frequently used for database management. What word fills in the blank? Answer: query
In hairstyling, what term, from the French for "shadow," means hair with two or more colors that fade gradually into each other from top to bottom? Answer: ombre
A mix of Gaelic, French, Cree, and Ojibwe created what Red River Métis Creole dialect that sounds like it was named by bridge-jumping adrenaline junkies? Answer: Bungee
Unless you count Nokia's distinctive ringtone, "sauna" is the only loan word to English from what Northern European language? Answer: Finnish
"Eumnyeok Seollal" and "Gujeong" are terms used to refer to Lunar New Year in what language? Answer: Korean
Drummer Daisuke Inoue is widely credited as the inventor of what pasttime named for a portmanteau of the Japanese words for "empty" and "orchestra"? Answer: Karaoke
What language, which uses Romance, Slavic, and Germanic languages as its roots, was invented by a Polish opthalmologist in the late 19th century? Answer: Esperanto
Maine is the US state with the most household speakers of what language, the second-most commonly spoken language at home in the state at over 5%? Answer: French
Along with Libération and Le Figaro, Le Monde is considered one of the three "newspapers of record" in which European nation? Answer: France
Plains ______, Woods ______, Moose ______, and Western Swampy ______ are four of the dialects of a certain language that was once widely spoken in Canada. What is the one word that fills all four of those blanks? Answer: Cree
What is the three-letter initialism for the markup language that was first formally spec'd by the World Wide Web Consortium in 1998 and is designed with goals of simplicity, generality, and usability across the internet? Answer: XML
The African countries Angola, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, and Cape Verde all have what official language, which they share with Brazil? Answer: Portuguese
The dead Coptic language is the final stage of the language of what ancient culture? The modern African country that bears this culture’s name is largely covered by the Sahara Desert. Answer: Egyptian
What is the name of a Unix shell and command language written as a free software replacement for the Bourne shell? It also completes the blank of the Mark-Paul Gosselaar lawyer comedy show “Franklin and ______”, and the World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view “______ At The Beach.” Answer: Bash
It's most commonly known today as a "hashtag" or "pound sign," but what is the technical "O" term for this widespread symbol? Answer: Octothorpe
What programming language, which shares its name with a cable channel, is known for using a turtle as a cursor to draw graphics? Answer: Logo
The word mattress is derived from the word matrah which typically means "something thrown down" or "place where something is thrown down." Matrah is a word in what language? Answer: Arabic
Named for an island near St. Petersburg, Russia, what is the name of the programming language which Google announced in 2019 was its preferred language for Android app developers? Answer: Kotlin
According to the classic 1992 self-help book, the five love languages are words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and what tactile action? Answer: touch
With a video so racy MTV wouldn't play it, "Body Language" is a song from the 1982 album "Hot Space" by what British rock band? Answer: Queen
Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Chinese, and what fourth language, which is also one of the official languages of Sri Lanka? Answer: Tamil
What afro-seminole creole language is spoken by about 5,000 African Americans in coastal South Carolina and Georgia, including Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas? Answer: Gullah
As documented in "The Zen of Python," the core philosophy of the open source programming language Python includes pithy aphorisms such as "Beautiful is better than ugly" and "Simple is better than complex." The final of these phrases is "Readability ______." What word fills in the blank? Answer: Counts
ISL is considered to be a "critically endangered language isolate" that is used today in Nunavut. What does ISL stand for? Answer: Inuit Sign Language
With more 852 living languages (passing Indonesia's 722), what Oceanic country is home to more languages than any other? Answer: Papua New Guinea
Spain is located on what mountainous peninsula, which it mostly shares with Portugal? This “i” place gives its name to an extinct language thought to have connected Latin with modern Spanish. Answer: Iberian Peninsula
With a tune well known to speakers of other languages, what French children's song about plucking the feathers of a lark may have come to the U.S. from soldiers who served in Europe during World War I? Answer: Alouette
Generally speaking, grammarians consider there to be eight parts of speech in English. These are nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and what last, excitable, part of speech? Answer: Interjections
Mostly famous for its "Notebook" product, what is the name of the open source community and project taking its name as a combination (in some order) of three core programming languages: R, Julia, and Python? Answer: Jupyter
What Indo-Aryan language is the official national language of Pakistan? “U” may or may not get the answer. Answer: Urdu
In the language of gardening and horticulture, the word "tilth" refers to the health and nutritional quality of what? Answer: Soil
While its official language is English, the languages Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo are the next most popular in what country? Answer: Nigeria
Featuring a logo shaped like a bird, what is the name of the programming language released by Apple in 2014 for use in developing apps for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and more? Answer: Swift
"Fjord" is a loan word from the native language of what country with over 1,200 fjords along its coastline? Answer: Norway
What “K” word is a nature reserve in Australia’s Northern territory, containing aboriginal sites such as Nourlangie and Ubirr? Its name is a tribute the Aboriginal language Gagudju. Answer: Kakadu
What family of programming languages, an acronym whose combined name comes from its general purpose, was co-designed at Dartmouth College in 1964 by Thomas Kurtz? Its name can be used to to describe a person who is not sophisticated. Answer: BASIC
Sometimes called “Dr. Java”, the Canadian computer scientist who was the founder of the Java computer language is James ______. Fill in the last name, also the last name of a Canadian actor nominated for Oscars for “Half Nelson” and “La La Land.” Answer: James Gosling
What is an integrated development environment used in computer programming, written in Java with a base workspace and an extensible plug-in system? Initially released in 2001, it gets its name from an obscuring of light caused by a celestial body. Answer: Eclipse
The World War II submarine U-96 is the titular vessel in what 1981 German-language film that was nominated for six Oscars? Answer: Das Boot
The first film written and acted in the Inuktitut language, "Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner" premiered at what Euro film festival where it was awarded the Camera d'Or? Answer: Cannes Film Festival
What beach, located in its namesake “O” Maine town, means “beautiful place by the sea” the Abenaki language, and is a major tourist attraction? Answer: Ogunquit Beach
"The Language Instinct," "How the Mind Works," and "The Blank Slate" are among the books by what Harvard professor of psychology? Answer: Steven Pinker
The official languages of the United Nations are comprised of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and what sixth language? Answer: Russian
Frequently used in graph databases, what query language designed by Marko A. Rodriguez shares its name with a mythical monster who wives are called “Fifinellas” by British author Roald Dahl? Answer: Gremlin
Called "Tag der Deutschen Einheit" in the native language, what country commemorates October 3, the anniversary of the day its eastern and western parts reunited, with a national Unity Day holiday? Answer: Germany
Cree, Ojibway, and Innu/Montagnais are just some of the languages belonging to WHAT Indigenous language family that is Canada's largest? Answer: Algonquian
Meant to make programming easy for beginners, what Microsoft legacy product is a third-generation event-driven programming language that was first released in 1991? Answer: Visual Basic
The training method fartlek is defined as periods of fast running intermixed with periods of slower running. The word fartlek means “speed play” in which Scandinavian language? Answer: Swedish
Prior to 2016, what capital city in the Americas was technically referred to as a “District Federal” in its native language? Answer: Mexico City
In which language is summer called “verão?” Speakers of this language are known as lusophones. Answer: Portuguese
“Bandalore” is an old-fashioned name for which toy, whose modern, English name is thought to mean “come come” in Tagalog? French names for this toy have included “l’émigrette” and “jou-jou.” Answer: Yo-yo
In the 2018 Wes Anderson animated film "Isle of Dogs," the dogs speak English, whereas the humans, for the most part, speak what language? Answer: Japanese
Nadsat is the fictional language spoken by teenagers in what 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess? Answer: A Clockwork Orange
The NATO Phonetic Alphabet associates each letter of the English alphabet with a distinct word, starting with Alfa, Bravo, and Charlie. Of the 26 words present, only two are a single syllable. One is “golf.” What is the other? Answer: Mike
A bronx bomber, an absentminded scribble, and a man who places importance on physical appearance and refined language come together to form what song and American standard? Answer: Yankee Doodle Dandy
Along with Spanish, Guaraní is the official language of which landlocked South American country? Answer: Paraguay
Time spent socializing and enjoying beverages after a long day on the slopes is frequently referred to by what hyphenated French term? Answer: Apres-ski
Which country, the third smallest in South America, has English as an official language? Bordering countries have Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch as official languages. Answer: Guyana
Frequently caused by a stroke or head trauma, the inability to comprehend or formulate language goes by what A-word from the Greek for "speechless"? Answer: Aphasia
Comprising 24 basic letters, Hangul is the official language of countries in which region of East Asia? Answer: Korea
The phenomenon of cryptophasia is a language developed between which type of relatives that can be described as monozygotic or dizygotic? Answer: Twins
The word “companion” derives from the Old French “compaignon” which refers to the sharing of what food? Answer: Bread
Poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor served as the first president of which country in West Africa where French is the official language? Answer: Senegal
Which Romance language that is spoken predominantly spoken in eastern Spain is the official language of Andorra? Answer: Catalan
The per capita leaders in the use of solar hot water systems are Israel and what Mediterranean island nation with Greek and Turkish as its official languages? Answer: Cyprus
Which language has the longest alphabet? Answer: Khmer
Volapük is artificial language created in the late 19th century by Johann Martin Schleyer, who believed that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. What was the profession of Johann Martin Schleyer. Answer: Priest
The word "Dàxué," literally translating as "big school," means "university" in what widely spoken language? Answer: Mandarin
Along with Ancient Egyptian, the Rosetta Stone, carved during the Hellenistic period and key to the deciphering of hieroglyphics, features which other language? Answer: Ancient Greek
What programming language developed by Larry Wall is associated with a camel, the image that appeared on the language's first printed programming manual back in 1991? Answer: Perl
What is the only African nation with an official language of Spanish? Answer: Equatorial Guinea
Although much of the Old Testament is written in Hebrew, some portions, including about 200 verses of the Book of Daniel, were written in what other Semitic language? Answer: Aramaic
Which diacritical mark, usually placed over a vowel, has a name derived from the German for “change of sound?” Answer: Umlaut
Irish-born playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett wrote in English, but also in what other language that reflects the country where he spent much of his adult life? Answer: French
What ancient language, whose mysterious origins have stumped linguists for centuries, was banned by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975? Answer: Basque
What “R” language group derived from Vulgar Latin between the 3rd and the 8th Centuries? Examples include Spanish, Catalan, and French. Answer: Romance Languages
The official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and what? Answer: English
The three main languages spoken on the island of Hispaniola are French, Haitian Creole, and what? Answer: Spanish
French, German, Italian and Romansh are the official languages of what chocolatey Alpine nation? Answer: Switzerland
In what language does "gefüllter Gänsehals" literally translate as "stuffed goose neck," which is a traditional simmered dish? Answer: German
Which West Slavic language that uses a Latin script is the sixth most spoken language in the European Union? Answer: Polish
I wrote this question right after I woke up: What is the only word in the English language that ends in “mt?” Answer: Dreamt
Spoken in Iran, by what endonym is the language Persian commonly known? Answer: Farsi
La Opinion, the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States, is produced in what largest city in California? Answer: Los Angeles
In phonetics, what “s” is used for a fricative consonant sound, in which the tip of the tongue is brought near the roof of the mouth and air is pushed past the tongue to make a hissing sound? Answer: Sibilant
What ten-letter word means "library" in at least three Romance languages, including Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish? Answer: Biblioteca
Maltese is derived from a Sicilian variety of which language that is an official language of the United Nations? Answer: Arabic
Ranked 25th in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings and 1st in Artificial Intelligence, Programming Language, and Information and Technology Management graduate programs, Pittsburgh’s most prestigious university is named what after two capitalist families who endowed the institution in the early 1900s? Answer: Carnegie Mellon
When Bulgaria became a member of the European Union in 2007, which alphabet became the third official script of the European Union? The other two official scripts are the Latin and Greek alphabets. Answer: Cyrillic
Claudia uses a time machine to go to 2020, visit a public library, and research her father's death in one of the many time-travel scenarios of what German-language series that became wildly popular on Netflix in 2020? Answer: Dark
All the letters of the English alphabet appear in the phrase “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” What is a sentence that has every letter of a language in it called? Answer: Pangram
Only two words in English that we use today end in “-gry.” One is “angry.” What’s the other one? (Hint: If you combine them, you’ll get a portmanteau that describes your mood when you’ve gone too long without a snack!). Answer: Hungry
Far and away the most popular keyboard layout in the English language has what six-letter name after the letters in the top row read from left to right? Answer: QWERTY
What language with over 300 million speakers, do the English words ‘alcohol’, ‘candy’ and ‘coffee’ all come from? Answer: Arabic
Around the world, each language has its own version of which gesture-based non-spoken way of communicating? Answer: Sign Language
Three languages are common in New Zealand. English is widely spoken but not official. The two official languages of the country are New Zealand sign language, and _____. Answer: Maori
The first Indian winner of the International Booker Prize, Geetanjali Shree's "Tomb of Sand" was written in what language that loaned "bandana" and "guru" to English? Answer: Hindi
In May 2022, the government of what European nation banned its employees from using American gaming terms such as "e-sports," instead using their domestic language counterparts like "jeu video de competition?" Answer: France
With just 11 letters, the Rotokas language of Papua New Guinea is believed to have the smallest ______ of any modern language. Answer: Alphabet
If you want to make sense of ciphertext, you’ll need a key to decrypt it. What’s the name for the readable, plain language text it turns into? Answer: Plaintext
"Der Lehrer" (for a man) and "die Lehrerin" (for a woman) mean "the teacher" in what European language? Answer: German
“Pajamas,” “scissors,” and “jeans” are English words that only exist in which grammatical form? (Hint: You might only have one, but you wouldn’t say you have “a scissor.”) Answer: Plural
"Skate your caboose over here, yankee skipper. Let's split the check on a halibut and herring meal." Those sentences are full of loan words from what windmill-friendly European language? Answer: Dutch
What is the name of the part of the brain in the frontal lobe (usually the left hemisphere) that is heavily involved in speech and was named for the French researcher who discovered that patients with damage in this brain region had problems processing language? Answer: Broca's area
An international ______ language is one that is meant to help people all over the world communicate with each other even though they don’t speak a common language. (Hint: Esperanto is a well-known modern example) Answer: Auxiliary
Which field within cognitive psychology looks at how language is related to psychology (for example, how we acquire, use, and understand language)? Answer: Psycholinguistics
“CREATE,” “DROP,” and “TRUNCATE” are examples of DDL commands you might use in SQL. What is DDL an acronym for? Answer: Data Definition Language
"The language I have learn'd these forty years / My native English, now I must forego" is a line spoken by Thomas Mowbray in "Richard II," a work by what legendary playwright? Answer: William Shakespeare
The Braidwoodian system (also called the combined system) was created by Thomas Briadwood, a teacher of the deaf in London in the 1760s. It was the precursor to British ______ Language. Answer: Sign
Which term applies to a query that’s written as text in the language of your database? Answer: Native
What term that translates to English as “Frankish tongue” is used for a language that is adopted as common between speakers whose native languages are not the same? Answer: Lingua franca
Pashto and Dari are the two official languages of what country that’s nicknamed both "The Heart of Asia" and "The Graveyard of Empires"? Answer: Afghanistan
What “c” is a hook or tail included under letters as a diacritical mark to alter their pronunciation? Answer: Cedilla
Linguists Geoffrey K. Pullum and Glen Whitman wanted a word to describe "multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable phrases or sentences that can be used in an entirely open array of different jokey variants by lazy journalists and writers." "X is the new Y," or "One Does Not Simply Walk Into X." In homage to an often repeated fact about the Inuit language, what word did they coin to name these phrasal templates? Answer: Snowclones
According to the 2011 census, which Dravidian language is the fourth most common in India with 81 million speakers, mostly in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where it’s the official language? Answer: Telugu
Which AWS with a feminine K-name uses machine learning to help you cull through data by using natural language questions and keywords? Answer: Kendra
Which landlocked South American country has the most official languages of any country, with Spanish and all its 36 indigenous languages (including Quechua, Aymara, and Guarani) recognized as such? Answer: Bolivia
A region in the frontal lobe of the brain named for Pierre Paul Broca, a physician studying aphasia in the 19th century, is linked with what important human capability? Answer: Speech
If you want to make interactive or animated content for your site, ______ HyperText Markup Language (DHTML) is a combo of XHTML, JAVA, and CSS you could use. Answer: Dynamic
What word, when pronounced differently, might refer to a language of 45 million native speakers--or something you might pick up in the beauty aisle at CVS? Answer: Polish
Which language that starts with P is one of the main languages in India and Pakistan and has more than 113 million speakers? (Hint: The name originates from the Persian phrase for the “Five Waters” of the Indus River tributaries) Answer: Punjabi
Which classical Indo-Aryan language is one of India’s official languages and is mostly spoken in Odisha? Answer: Odia
The African nations of Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, and Angola are all "Lusophone" countries, meaning they--like a much larger country in South America--primarily speak what language? Answer: Portuguese
French and Portuguese are two of Equatorial Guinea's three official languages. Its third official language is also a European one but unlike French and Portuguese is not an official language of any other country in Africa - what is this third language? Answer: Spanish
Portland's Tilikum Crossing Bridge, which opened in 2015, gets its name from the word "people" in what indigenous language? This language's namesake people also give their name to a species of salmon. Answer: Chinook
"Ordinateur" is the word for "computer," and "logiciel" is the word for "software," in what Romance language? Answer: French
Mandarin and Yue might have more native speakers, but which Chinese language was once called “Shanghainese” even though the regional dialects are quite different? Answer: Wu
What popular Bible translation by Eugene H. Peterson, often abbreviated "MSG," is known for its idiomatic language and use of modern day slang? Answer: The Message
A 7 (in Squamish), a question mark (in Crow), a k (in Malay), and an apostrophe-like shape called an 'okina (in Samoan or Hawaiian) are all ways of writing what consonant sound common to many world languages? Answer: Glottal stop
What European language, known by its own speakers as "Eesti keel," is the most widely spoken Finno-Ugric language after Hungarian and Finnish? Answer: Estonian
What famous gorilla, who reportedly knew over 1,000 sign language signs, was born at the San Francisco Zoo? Answer: Koko
It sounds like a worldwide phenomenon, but ______ Developmental Delay actually is a temporary diagnosis given to a young child with delays in several areas, including cognition, language, and socialization. Answer: Global
Delawarean John Backus is responsible for inventing what classic computer programming language, whose name is a portmanteau of the phrase "Formula Translating System?" Answer: FORTRAN
Which AWS product has a name that combines health and a body of water, and provides tools for analyzing medical data using natural language processing? Answer: Health Lake
Which variation of French is spoken throughout Canada, northern Maine, and the Magdalen Islands? Answer: Acadian
Instead of speech, the "Silbo Gomero" language, native to the Spanish Canary Island La Gomera, uses what other sound produced by the mouth in order to communicate across long distances? Answer: Whistling
Headquartered in the city of Kanpur, Dainik Jagran has the highest daily circulation of any newspaper written in what Asian language? Answer: Hindi
What M-word refers to the language that’s used to shape the format and structure of a page’s content? Answer: Markup
Which language is the official and national language of Bhutan, and is written in Tibetian script? (Hint: Its name means “language of the fortress). Answer: Dzongkha
Which Massachusetts-based startup created an app and e-learning platform that uses a marketplace model to connect 50,000 language tutors with over 100,000 learners? Answer: Preply
The Germanic language Hunsrik, or Hunsrukisch, is spoken by roughly 1.5 million residents of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in what country? Answer: Brazil
In the Pixar movie Brave, a character named "Young MacGuffin" speaks only the Doric dialect (to humorous effect, as no one can understand him) of what modern language? Answer: Scots
Visual Basic for ______ (VBA) is Microsoft’s built-in programming language that lets you automate tasks in Excel. Answer: Applications
The Bantu languages include Swahili, Tsonga, and Jarawa and are spoken by the Bantu people on which continent? Answer: Africa
Martin Van Buren holds the odd distinction of being the only president to speak English as a second language. Like many in his hometown of Kinderhook, New York, what was Van Buren's first language? Answer: Dutch
Although it actually means "Place of Many Waters" in the Nez Perce language, tourists are jokily told that which Washington city's name comes from it being "so nice they named it twice?" Answer: Walla Walla
There are only about five remaining speakers of what isolate language, spoken by its namesake indigenous people on the island of Hokkaido in Japan? Answer: Ainu
Name either of the two linguists who give their name to the famous "hypothesis" that holds that a language's structure affects the worldview of those who speak it, rather than the other way around. Answer: Edward Sapir, Benjamin Lee Whorf
There are very few words in English that come from Tupi, an indigenous language of Brazil - one such word however is that of what type of fish, whose name is also used in Tupi to mean "scissors?" Answer: Piranha
Which Semitic language is the working language in Ethiopia, and is the second-largest Semitic language after Arabic? (Hint: The other main language in Ethiopia is Oromo, which is Cushitic) Answer: Amharic
The Museu de la Xocolata--a word that means "chocolate" in the Catalan language--can be found in what European city? Answer: Barcelona
As of 2013, which non-official language is the third most widely spoken in New Zealand? (Hint: It’s a Polynesian language and about half of all people who speak it live on two islands in the South Pacific) Answer: Samoan
Which Indo-Aryan language is the official language of Bangladesh and has over 300 million native speakers? Answer: Bengali
HOLME is an acronym for the key elements of sign language. It stands for Handshape, Orientation (of the palm), Location, Movement, and ______ Expression (non-manual markers). Answer: Facial
Due to having parents from the Balkan Peninsula, pop stars Dua Lipa, Bebe Rexha, Ava Max, and Rita Ora all speak what A-word Eastern European language? Answer: Albanian
Billboard's 2022 album of the year was a Spanish-language hit by what rapper who anagrams to AND NUBBY? Answer: Bad Bunny
The vodka brand Grey Goose has an English name despite coming from what non-English speaking country (where its name would become "oie grise" in the national language)? Answer: France
Which Dravidian language is one of the longest surviving classical languages in the world and was the first to be classified as a classical language of India? Answer: Tamil
Which group of languages are spoken throughout West Africa, including the Maninka, Soninke, Bambara, and Susu peoples? Answer: Mande
Greek is the primary language included in which branch of the Indo-European family? Answer: Hellenic
Which education theory developed by Howard Gardner states that “we are all able to know the world through language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, the use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves?” Answer: Multiple Intelligences

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232 Language Trivia Questions (Ranked From Easiest to Hardest)

232 Language Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)

Language Trivia Quizzes (FAQs)

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