Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
16 thoughts on “Language Quiz”
Clearly Romance, and I’m going to guess somewhere in Italy near to France.
The first four seconds through me to Africa but then I heard the Romance. Kind of similar sounding to Italian although the unstressed vowels remind me of Portuguese.
I would have to agree. Very Romance and I keep hearing “francese”. It does sound Portuguese with its vowels and also maybe a dialect of Italian?
This language is Corsican. It is clearly intelligible to me. The speaker says the word corsu-phonetically closer to / gorsu / – Altogether it sounds like ‘Italian pronounced as if it were French’ . Of course it’s spoken on the island of Corsica .
I add that the pronunciation of the Corsican is similar in some phonemes to French in the north because in the south it is mixed with-or resembles the Gallura and Sardinian sassarés. There are several dialects of the Corsican language. Hank is partly right to say that it can be an Italian dialect, as some linguists consider Corsican as part of the Tuscan.
Simon: Can you identify this language? Do you know what it’s a snippet of?
David: Of course I can. Of Corsican.
(sorry, couldn’t resist)
Jonathan, that’s hilarious.
That’s not a snippet. That’s “sni-PAY!” (Not Bucket. It’s “Bou-QUAY!”) Sorry. Also just couldn’t resist!
Looks likes kinda Italic
@David, how much of the sample you understand as a Spanish speaker? All of it or just a part?
Do you speak Catalan as well or only Castellano?
I am from Alicante and I speak Castilian, Valencian and Catalan -for linguists it is the same but they differ , and here there are strong discussions on this topic-, I understand part of what is said in the clip and I can deduce what this person is saying
is that his parents speak French and Corsu and in postwar times more french than Corsu etc…because I also speak some Italian. I speak French at medium level for not practicing it. I speak and understand a little Euskera Común-not Euskara Batua-and I also speak and understand quite a bit Brazilian Portuguese and to a lesser extent that of Portugal..Ah! I also speak and understand a little Hebrew … do you want to know something else?
Call me pedantic if you want … but I will add that if you know Valencian / Catalan and Balearic-more archaic- you can understand a very high percentage of Italian:
-Harina (Cast) -> farina (Old Cast, Ital. Port / Galician,
Aragonese, Catal / Val. And more …)
-Ventana (Cast) -> finestra (Old Cast, Ital, Val / Cat) …
And you won’t deny me that something similar happens between Germanic languages … and other families and groups. For example, the Turkic languages are so similar that they actually form a dialect continuum, except in some case.
Well, I don’t want to bore you anymore.
I see no reason for your worrying about being called pedantic. One of the nicest aspects of Omniglot for me as a very amateur linguist is learning from other like-minded folks. This site has been an absolute treasure for me ever since I found it. There are no pedants here. Just friends.
The answer is Corsican (corsu), a Romance language spoken mainly in Corsica.
The recording comes from YouTube:
Thank you David, no of course you are not pedantic. It is all very interesting.
I’m just passionate about languages. I am not a professional, but when I have spoken on this subject I have always been so extensive that I think I should be a little pedantic … but it seems that I am not. Thankyou for your comments.
Clearly Romance, and I’m going to guess somewhere in Italy near to France.
The first four seconds through me to Africa but then I heard the Romance. Kind of similar sounding to Italian although the unstressed vowels remind me of Portuguese.
I would have to agree. Very Romance and I keep hearing “francese”. It does sound Portuguese with its vowels and also maybe a dialect of Italian?
This language is Corsican. It is clearly intelligible to me. The speaker says the word corsu-phonetically closer to / gorsu / – Altogether it sounds like ‘Italian pronounced as if it were French’ . Of course it’s spoken on the island of Corsica .
I add that the pronunciation of the Corsican is similar in some phonemes to French in the north because in the south it is mixed with-or resembles the Gallura and Sardinian sassarés. There are several dialects of the Corsican language. Hank is partly right to say that it can be an Italian dialect, as some linguists consider Corsican as part of the Tuscan.
Simon: Can you identify this language? Do you know what it’s a snippet of?
David: Of course I can. Of Corsican.
(sorry, couldn’t resist)
Jonathan, that’s hilarious.
That’s not a snippet. That’s “sni-PAY!” (Not Bucket. It’s “Bou-QUAY!”) Sorry. Also just couldn’t resist!
Looks likes kinda Italic
@David, how much of the sample you understand as a Spanish speaker? All of it or just a part?
Do you speak Catalan as well or only Castellano?
I am from Alicante and I speak Castilian, Valencian and Catalan -for linguists it is the same but they differ , and here there are strong discussions on this topic-, I understand part of what is said in the clip and I can deduce what this person is saying
is that his parents speak French and Corsu and in postwar times more french than Corsu etc…because I also speak some Italian. I speak French at medium level for not practicing it. I speak and understand a little Euskera Común-not Euskara Batua-and I also speak and understand quite a bit Brazilian Portuguese and to a lesser extent that of Portugal..Ah! I also speak and understand a little Hebrew … do you want to know something else?
Call me pedantic if you want … but I will add that if you know Valencian / Catalan and Balearic-more archaic- you can understand a very high percentage of Italian:
-Harina (Cast) -> farina (Old Cast, Ital. Port / Galician,
Aragonese, Catal / Val. And more …)
-Ventana (Cast) -> finestra (Old Cast, Ital, Val / Cat) …
And you won’t deny me that something similar happens between Germanic languages … and other families and groups. For example, the Turkic languages are so similar that they actually form a dialect continuum, except in some case.
Well, I don’t want to bore you anymore.
I see no reason for your worrying about being called pedantic. One of the nicest aspects of Omniglot for me as a very amateur linguist is learning from other like-minded folks. This site has been an absolute treasure for me ever since I found it. There are no pedants here. Just friends.
The answer is Corsican (corsu), a Romance language spoken mainly in Corsica.
The recording comes from YouTube:
Thank you David, no of course you are not pedantic. It is all very interesting.
I’m just passionate about languages. I am not a professional, but when I have spoken on this subject I have always been so extensive that I think I should be a little pedantic … but it seems that I am not. Thankyou for your comments.