Languages Study Guide

General

153 answers | 956 clues

Must-Know (27)

French 55x 4.0% stumper $672 avg J:23 DJ:27 FJ:5

J $100 1989 Guinness lists this language as spoken in Guadeloupe, Monaco & the USA (Louisiana)

J $600 2019 In Benin

J $1,000 2017 The 1830s work "Democracy in America"

German 45x 4.7% stumper $635 avg J:18 DJ:25 FJ:2

J $100 2000 Bavarian-Austrian is the form of this language spoken in such cities as Munich & Vienna

J $600 2007 Prosit

J $1,000 2009 In Liechtenstein:This

Spanish 37x 8.1% stumper $530 avg J:15 DJ:22

J $100 1999 Argentina

DJ $600 1997 The Latin American form of this language is based on the Andalusian dialect

DJ $1,000 DD 1989 More high school & college students in the U.S. study this foreign language than any other

Arabic 31x 16.7% stumper $670 avg J:13 DJ:17 FJ:1

J $100 1988 The official language of Iraq

J $500 1993 It's the official language of Tunisia

DJ $1,000 1993 Maltese, the everyday language of Malta, traces its origins to a dialect of this language

English 28x 19.2% stumper $592 avg J:8 DJ:18 FJ:2

J $100 2000 The official languages of Wales are Welsh & this

J $500 1996 Malta has 2 official languages: Maltese & this

J $1,000 2008 In Rwanda:Kinyarwanda, French & this

Greek 27x 18.5% stumper $659 avg J:8 DJ:19

J $200 1996 Ionic was a historic division of this European language

J $500 1998 Messenian & Cretan are considered to be Doric dialects of this language

J $1,000 2014 Bira, parakalo

Latin 27x 4.0% stumper $368 avg J:10 DJ:15 FJ:2

J $100 1998 The Roman Catholic church translates all of its principal documents into this dead language

J $600 2020 Ovid's "Metamorphoses"

DJ $1,000 1986 Language that originally gave us the word "language"

Italian 25x 4.2% stumper $675 avg J:4 DJ:20 FJ:1

J $100 1998 The Neapolitan dialect of this language is noted for its singsong quality

J $500 DD 1987 Language in which thefollowing, the 1st foreign language song to top Cash Box charts, is sung: “[Instrumental opening plays]Eh cumpari, ci vo sunari?”

DJ $1,000 1997 The famous 15th century poem "Orlando Innamorato" was written in this language

Portuguese 23x 19.0% stumper $824 avg J:7 DJ:14 FJ:2

J $100 1993 You'll hear the Brasileiro dialect of this language if you visit Brazil

J $500 1999 Angola

DJ $1,000 1995 Gallego, a dialect of this language, is also known as Galician

Dutch 22x $577 avg J:10 DJ:12

J $100 1998 The standard form of this language developed from that spoken in Amsterdam & nearby cities

J $600 2020 The Afrikaans language is also known as "Cape" this European language

J $1,000 2012 In Aruba:Papiamento (a local Creole language) & this

Chinese 21x 14.3% stumper $462 avg J:7 DJ:14

J $100 1996 Most people in Taiwan speak a Min dialect of this language

J $800 2014 Pijiu, qing

J $1,000 2024 Ofthe "Analects", a collection of sayings dating back to around the fifth century B.C.

Russian 19x 10.5% stumper $921 avg J:5 DJ:14

J $200 2020 "The Death of Ivan Ilyich"

DJ $600 1988 The newspaper with the world's largest daily circulation is printed in this language & that's the truth

J $1,000 2002 In Kyrgyzstan:Kyrgyz & this

Sanskrit 17x $853 avg J:4 DJ:13

J $400 2013 Latvian, one of the oldest European languages, is related to this, the classical language of Hinduism

J $500 1994 This old language is used as the lingua franca among Brahman scholars from different areas of India

J $1,000 2006 We took the word nirvana from this classical language

Hebrew 17x 17.6% stumper $676 avg J:5 DJ:12

J $200 2011 Shalom

DJ $600 1991 The main systems of pronunuation in this language are the Ashkenazic & the Sephardic

DJ $1,000 1989 Revised as a spoken language in modern times, it's the only colloquial speech based on a written language

Swedish 16x 12.5% stumper $638 avg J:10 DJ:6

J $100 1995 This language was formed mainly from the Svea dialects spoken in & around Stockholm

J $500 1995 In 1786 King Gustav III founded an academy to promote literature & writings in this language

J $1,000 2020 "Pippi Longstocking"

Mandarin 15x $767 avg J:4 DJ:11

DJ $200 1988 Only this language is spoken by more people than English

J $600 2011 This dialect forms the basis of modern standard Chinese, usually called Putonghua, "common language"

DJ $1,200 2020 Pinyin is a system for writing this language using the Roman alphabet

Yiddish 14x 14.3% stumper $657 avg J:8 DJ:6

J $300 1990 Isaac Bashevis Singer was the first Nobel Prize-winning author to write in this Jewish language

J $500 1997 All the words in our Webster's Collegiate Dict. that begin with "sht" are borrowed from this language

J $1,000 2013 Judeo-German

Esperanto 14x 15.4% stumper $1,000 avg J:2 DJ:11 FJ:1

DJ $200 1993 The name of this international language is actually the pen name under which Dr. Zamenhof wrote about it

DJ $600 1996 UEA is the Universal Association of speakers of this artificial language

DJ $1,000 1996 It's the most widely spoken of the artificial languages

India 13x $477 avg J:4 DJ:9

DJ $200 1999 In 1960 its Bombay state was divided into 2 states, Gujarat & Maharashtra, to reflect their languages

J $600 2002 Languages from this country include Assamese, Gujurati & Punjabi

DJ $1,000 1995 Tamil is spoken by over 40,000,000 people in this country's state of Tamil Nadu

Swahili 12x 8.3% stumper $783 avg J:2 DJ:10

J $300 1995 The standard form of this Bantu language is based on the Kiunguja dialect of Tanzania

J $500 1993 Kiunguja, one of the major dialects of this Bantu language, is spoken on the island of Zanzibar

DJ $1,000 DD 2017 Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta's first name means "freedom" in this language of Africa

Japanese 12x 33.3% stumper $483 avg J:7 DJ:5

J $100 1994 Dialects of this language include those of Niigata, Shizuoka & Toyama

J $500 1990 The angular katakana characters of this written language are used for foreign words

J $1,000 2007 Kampai

the Philippines 12x $575 avg J:5 DJ:7

J $300 1995 Pangasinan is an Austronesian language spoken on the island of Luzon in this country

DJ $600 1993 Pampangan is spoken by some of the people on the island of Luzon in this country

DJ $1,000 1996 Over 13 million people speak Cebuano, a native language of this country; about 39 million speak Tagalog

Africa 10x 10.0% stumper $400 avg J:5 DJ:5

J $100 1996 The click languages are non-Bantu languages mostly spoken in this continent's southern part

DJ $800 1985 Gullah, spoken on some South Carolina & Georgia islands, has over 6,000 words from this continent

J $1,000 DD 1992 The Nilotic languages originated on this continent

Gaelic 10x $600 avg J:1 DJ:9

DJ $400 2003 Brogue

J $600 2017 Welsh & the Scottish variety of this language are recognized regional languages in the United Kingdom

DJ $1,200 2017 Erse, aka Gaeilge

Icelandic 9x $889 avg J:4 DJ:5

J $100 1995 In dictionaries, this language is abbreviated Icel.

J $500 2000 This language spoken in Reykjavik is also called Islenska

DJ $4,000 DD 2017 Islenska

Cantonese 8x $1,300 avg J:4 DJ:4

J $300 2000 The Chinese in Hong Kong & Macao speak this dialect that's the one most commonly spoken overseas

J $500 1990 This Chinese dialect, not Mandarin, is the one commonly used in Hong Kong

J $1,000 2008 The Chinese in Hong Kong & Macao mainly speak this Chinese dialect

Cyrillic 8x $975 avg DJ:8

DJ $400 2021 Serbian & Ukrainian are written in versions of this alphabet

DJ $600 1996 A Slavic language, Bulgarian is written in this alphabet

DJ $1,000 1996 Belarussian, which resembles Ukrainian, is a Slavic language written in this alphabet

Should-Know (38)

Switzerland 7x $529 avg J:5 DJ:2

J $100 1992 About 70% of the people of this nation speak a form of German called Schweizerdeutsch

DJ $2,000 DD 2023 German, French, Italian &Romansh

J $100 1987 German speakers find it hard to understand Schwyzerdutsch, the variant of German spoken in this country

Quechua 7x 28.6% stumper $1,600 avg J:1 DJ:6

J $1,000 2004 Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala is a well-known writer in this language of the Incas

DJ $1,000 1996 Today, dialects of this language of the Incas are spoken in Ecuador & Peru

DJ $1,200 2019 The high-flying condor gets its name from the word for that bird in this Inca language

Navajo 7x 42.9% stumper $1,529 avg DJ:7

DJ $1,000 1990 This American Indian language has the most speakers in the U.S.

DJ $1,000 1984 American Indian language never cracked when used by the U.S. as a WWII code

DJ $1,200 2016 Computer fonts are now available to writers of this most widely spoken Native American language in the United States

Mexico 7x $500 avg J:3 DJ:3 FJ:1

J $200 2013 Mixtec is one of many indigenous languages of this country

J $800 2017 Nahuatl

DJ $1,200 2012 Zapotec

Italy 7x $671 avg J:1 DJ:6

J $300 2000 1989:"Cinema Paradiso"

DJ $800 2005 1949:"The Bicycle Thief"

DJ $1,600 2012 Lombard& Piedmontese

Hungarian 7x 14.3% stumper $1,143 avg J:1 DJ:6

DJ $400 1985 Related to Finnish and Estonian, this Eastern European language is also called Magyar

DJ $800 2012 Magyar, at the crossroads of Europe

J $1,000 2003 Gaspar Karolyi's translation of the Bible in 1590 was influential in the development of this as a national language

Finnish 7x 14.3% stumper $357 avg J:2 DJ:5

J $100 1992 Estonian is closely related to this language heard in Helsinki

DJ $600 1991 Most courses at the University of Helsinki are taught in Swedish or this language

DJ $200 1994 Karelian is closely related to this language heard in Helsinki

Danish 7x $671 avg J:2 DJ:5

J $100 1993 Dan isn't just a man's name, it's a popular dictionary abbreviation for this language

DJ $800 2017 Dansk

DJ $2,000 DD 1996 It's the language of instruction at Arhus University, Alborg University & the University of Odense

Urdu 6x 33.3% stumper $1,300 avg DJ:6

DJ $800 1992 Most Indian Muslims speak this language

DJ $1,000 1996 Spoken mainly by Muslims, it's an official language of Pakistan

DJ $1,200 2025 Hindi, spoken by more than 500 million, is closely related to this 4-letter language spoken by some 200 million

Thai 6x $550 avg J:3 DJ:3

J $100 1996 This language also known as Siamese is predominantly monosyllabic

DJ $600 1995 This official language is the dialect of Bangkok & its environs

DJ $1,600 2007 "Bai nai" or "Where are you going?" is a greeting in this Asian language whose name also ends in -ai

shoulder 6x $317 avg J:6

J $100 1998 In days past, a young punk often put "a chip on" this, & dared others to knock it off

J $1,000 2003 When it comes before "the burden" or "the blame", it's a synonym for "assume"

J $200 2022 As a noun, it can be the edge of a road; as a verb, take the burden or the blame

Madagascar 6x 33.3% stumper $933 avg J:2 DJ:4

J $400 2017 Malagasy

J $600 2014 Malagasy

DJ $1,200 2017 The world's Austronesian languages include Tagalog, Javanese & Malagasy, spoken mainly on this island nation

Korean 6x 33.3% stumper $833 avg J:2 DJ:4

DJ $400 2021 "Parasite"(2019)

J $800 2019 Here's one way to write "thank you" in this Asian language

J $1,000 2013 Geonbae! U.S. home speakers of this language quadrupled between 1980 & 2010, to around 1.1 million

Farsi 6x $933 avg DJ:6

DJ $400 1995 Many people in Afghanistan speak Dari, a form of this language associated with Iran

DJ $1,000 1996 In Iran, where it's the dominant language, Persian is more commonly called this

DJ $400 1990 It can be traced back to the Pahlavi language & before that the Avestan of the Zoroastrian rich

Catalan 6x 33.3% stumper $1,600 avg J:1 DJ:5

J $800 2004 The official language of Andorra, it's the second-most spoken language in Spain

DJ $2,000 2025 "Good morning" is buenos días in Spanish but bon dia in this language of Northeast Spain & the Balearic islands

DJ $800 1996 This language of northeastern Spain is also spoken in the French department of Pyrenees-Orientales

Basque 6x 16.7% stumper $1,150 avg J:1 DJ:5

DJ $400 2019 You might think this tongue of the Pyrenees would be related to French or Spanish, but not really

J $500 1985 These people of northern Spain speak a language not clearly related to any other

DJ $2,000 2011 Jai alai

Aramaic 6x 16.7% stumper $917 avg J:1 DJ:5

DJ $400 2009 Jim Caviezel learned to speak this Semitic language for his role in "The Passion of the Christ"

J $500 2000 The Christian form of this Semitic language is called Syriac

DJ $1,000 1997 This language of Jesus is still spoken in some Syrian villages

your nose 6x $233 avg J:6

J $100 2001 If you're hard at work, you're keeping this body part "to the grindstone"

J $300 1998 When you act out of pique & harm yourself in the process, you "cut off" this "to spite your face"

J $200 2018 "Cut off your ____ to spite your face"

Tagalog 5x $1,560 avg J:1 DJ:4

DJ $600 1988 The language now called Pilipino is based on this native language

J $1,000 2016 The name of this language of the Philippines comes from words meaning "of the river"

DJ $2,000 2020 Filipino is based on this language that shares its name with the people who originally spoke it

Spain 5x $580 avg J:2 DJ:3

J $300 1993 Most native speakers of Catalan live in the northeast part of this country

DJ $800 2023 Castilian

DJ $1,000 1989 There are over 6 million speakers of Catalan in this country, more than in any other

Polish 5x 60.0% stumper $720 avg J:1 DJ:4

DJ $400 2008 W szczebrzeszynie, chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie, "...a beetle buzzes in the reeds", is a tongue twister in this language

DJ $800 2005 The oldest known text in this Slavic language is the religious hymn "Bogurodzica", which dates back to 1408

DJ $1,200 2007 Pomeranian & Silesian are major dialects of this West Slavic language

Ethiopia 5x 20.0% stumper $900 avg J:2 DJ:3

J $500 1994 About 1/3 of this country's people speak Amharic, especially in the region around Addis Ababa

DJ $1,000 1988 Amharic, a Semitic language, is the official language of this African country

J $600 2017 Amharic

Afrikaans 5x 20.0% stumper $1,160 avg DJ:5

DJ $600 1996 This language evolved mainly from the Zuid-Holland dialect of Dutch settlers in South Africa

DJ $1,200 DD 2003 Trek

DJ $800 2016 (I'm Lara Logan of CBS News.) As a reporter I find it helpful to know many languages, so I speak English, French, Portuguese & this Germanic language of my homeland, South Africa

South Africa 5x 20.0% stumper $720 avg J:2 DJ:3

J $200 1993 Xhosa, a Bantu language, is spoken near the Cape of Good Hope in this country

DJ $800 2021 This country's 11 official languages include Setswana & isi Xhosa

DJ $1,000 DD 1999 Zulu, Sesotho & Xhosa are among this country's 11 official languages

Serbo-Croatian 4x 25.0% stumper $1,075 avg J:1 DJ:3

J $500 1987 Croats use the Roman alphabet while Serbs writing this same language use the Cyrillic

DJ $1,000 1995 Yugoslavia once had 3 official languages— Macedonian, Slovenian & this hyphenated one

DJ $800 1989 You can call it Croatian, or you can call it by this longer name

neck 4x $500 avg J:2 DJ:2

J $200 2002 Smooch or make out

DJ $1,200 2009 Hug & kiss, maybe in a car

J $200 1988 You shouldn't stick yours out; chickens do it on the chopping block, & look where it gets them

Latvian 4x 25.0% stumper $750 avg J:2 DJ:2

J $600 2013 Lettish

DJ $1,000 1990 This Baltic language is also called Lettish

J $600 2009 In Latvia:This

Indo-European 4x $600 avg DJ:4

DJ $400 2019 Indo-Iranian & Germanic are branches of this hyphenated family that spans 2 continents

DJ $1,200 2013 Spanish, Dutch & Belarusian are all part of this family of languages; Estonian isn't

DJ $400 2018 Language groups as disparate as Celtic, Slavic & Indo-Iranian are part of the family called Indo-this

Hindi 4x $650 avg J:2 DJ:2

J $400 2004 "Namaste" is a greeting in this official language of India used by over a quarter of a billion speakers

DJ $600 1991 This official language of India is quite similar to Urdu, the official language of Pakistan

J $800 2002 Important literary works in the Eastern variety of this language of India are written in Awadhi

Hawaiian 4x $250 avg J:2 DJ:2

J $200 2012 When traveling to a certain part of the U.S., you might be called a "malihini", meaning tourist in this language

J $200 2002 "Hauoli makahiki hou" means "happy new year" in this language of the Pacific

DJ $200 1997 "Pehea oe?" means "How are you?" in this language spoken in the 50th state

France 4x 25.0% stumper $275 avg J:3 DJ:1

J $200 2017 Breton

J $500 DD 2000 1992:"Indochine"

DJ $200 1993 Provencal is most widely spoken in the southern part of this country

Flemish 4x 25.0% stumper $575 avg J:2 DJ:2

J $500 1993 When spoken in Belgium, the Dutch language is popularly called this

J $600 2019 Spoken in the country next door, it's basically Dutch with softer sounds

DJ $600 1999 In Belgium dialects of this language include Oost-Vlaams & West-Vlaams

Burundi 4x 75.0% stumper $1,300 avg J:1 DJ:3

J $400 2014 Rundi

DJ $800 1996 French & Kirundi, a Bantu language, are official languages of this country

DJ $2,000 2023 Kirundi, English &French

Bangladesh 4x 50.0% stumper $950 avg J:1 DJ:3

DJ $200 1990 It's the only country whose official language is Bengali

DJ $800 1994 Chakma is also spoken in this country but the official language is Bengali

DJ $2,400 DD 1992 Of the approx. 113 million people who live in this country, most speak Bengali

Asia 4x $375 avg J:3 DJ:1

J $300 2000 More than 40 million people speak Urdu as their native language, & most of them live on this continent

DJ $600 1988 Pidgin English is used primarily between westerners & natives of this continent

J $300 1990 The Mon-Khmer family of languages is native to this continent

the Romance languages 4x $1,025 avg DJ:4

DJ $200 1985 French, Spanish & Italian are in this branch of languages

DJ $600 1995 Like Spanish, Catalan is a member of this group of languages derived from Latin

DJ $1,900 DD 1988 This word described a form of Latin once spoken in France; now it means any Latin-based tongue

New Guinea 4x $575 avg J:1 DJ:3

DJ $400 1994 Most of this island, the world's 2nd largest is occupied by speakers of the Papuan languages

J $500 1995 Motu is a language spoken along a coastal strip around Port Moresby, capital of this island nation

DJ $1,000 1997 The Papuan languages, spoken in the area centered on this island, number about 700

Celtic 4x $1,275 avg DJ:4

DJ $800 1988 Irish & Scottish Gaelic & Welsh are all members of this language group

DJ $1,200 2013 This branch of the Indo-European languages includes Scottish Gaelic & Manx

DJ $600 1991 Like Gaelic, Breton, Spoken in Brittany, France, belongs to this branch of Indo-European languages

Worth Knowing (88)

Yugoslavia 3 Welsh 3 Ukrainian 3 Turkish 3 the Netherlands 3 the Cyrillic alphabet 3 Swaziland 3 Suriname 3 Sri Lanka 3 Slavic 3 Norwegian 3 Nigeria 3 Lithuanian 3 Kurdish 3 Indonesia 3 Hungary 3 French & English 3 Estonian 3 elbow 3 Egypt 3 Dalmatian 3 Czech 3 Creole 3 Cockney 3 China 3 Belize 3 Afghanistan 3 the Nile 3 lip 3 hip 3 feet 3 White Russian 2 Vietnamese 2 Vatican City 2 toe 2 the Aztecs 2 Tamil 2 Taiwan 2 Sweden 2 Sinhalese 2 Singapore 2 sign language 2 Sicilian 2 Sequoyah 2 Russia 2 Romanian 2 Romania 2 pidgin 2 Pakistan 2 omega 2 Norway 2 Malay 2 Luxembourg 2 lip service 2 lingua Franca 2 Japan 2 Iran 2 Hindi & Urdu 2 Hieroglyphics 2 Haiti 2 Guam 2 Frisian 2 foot 2 dead languages 2 Czechoslovakia 2 Cyprus 2 Chinook 2 cheek 2 Cambodia 2 Bulgarian 2 Botswana 2 bones 2 blue blood 2 Bengali 2 Belgium 2 arm 2 Argentina 2 Albanian 2 Albania 2 a rainbow 2 your tongue 2 you're pulling my leg 2 the United Nations 2 to stomach 2 The teeth 2 the Latin alphabet 2 the Inuit 2 Irish 2

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