Can you identify the languages and work out which is the odd one out?
20 thoughts on “Language quiz”
This became far too easy when I heard the fourth sample and realized I could cheat and just look them all up. But I won’t spoil anything. Here’s my initial reactions:
1. Sounds Romance
2. Sounds Baltic
3. Sounds Celtic
4. Danish!
5. ??? I guess this is the odd one
6. ??? Greek?
So, #5 is Uralic (Ugric), not Indo-European.
1. Romance. I heard the word lingua.
2 and 3. Uncertain.
4. Scandinavian. I heard the word sprog.
5. Hungarian. Their word for language I think beings with an n, and I thought I heard that.
6. Greek. I heard the word Glosa.
Wow, I had to listen to this three times before I realised that number 4 was Danish, and that’s my mother tongue…
1. Catalan
2. Lithuanian and also today’s current title translation.
3. Welsh
4. Danish
5. ??? Sounds like a cosmonaut?!
6. Greek
Oh, listened again with the sound on full. 5 is Hungarian so being non-Indo European I guess makes it the odd one out – azt hiszem, igen?
Before I look at anyone elese
1. Catalan
2. Lithuanian
3. Welsh (wild guess based on sounding weird and having interdentals)
4. Danish
5. Hungarian (odd one out, not Ind-European)
6. Greek
I’ll note I only got number 2. because of your current header…….
One language is never enough, yes. But what makes Hungarian sound like a cosmonaut?…
LAttilaD – It was the recording (not Hungarian) which sounded a bit like the old Russian space-race recordings of cosmonauts, just my joke!
Back to the quiz – Greek could also be the odd one out because it’s the sole member of it’s subgroup (Hellenic) in the Indo-European family like Armenian and Albanian?
Greek could also be the odd language out as it’s the only one not normally written with a Latin-based script.
Does Welsh have any official recognition? If not it would be the odd language out. Im pretty sure its’ the only one without an internet domain since Catalan (technically Catalonia) now has .cat (although the greek and hungarian domains .gr and .hu are based on outsider rather than local names).
Sure, Yenlit, no problem. I’m sorry to not know those old Russian movies, they must be nice.
If Michael’s list is correct, Hungarian may be the odd one since all the others are Indo-European languages, but Hungarian isn’t, as Yenlit pointed it out above. But of course, we may take other points of view, like official status or internet domain. Why not?
If you thought about any of these languages long enough I’m sure there’d be a myriad of examples which make any one language in the list unique? I’m trying to think of anything which is unique to Welsh – Welsh doesn’t have an indefinite article? Does Lithuanian have articles? Or Danish is the only one which suffixes it’s article to the noun. Greek doesn’t have any sister, descendant languages? I suppose it could be anything?
1. Catalan?
2. ?
3. ?
4. Scandanavian?
5. definitely Hungarian–egy nyelv sosem elég 🙂
6. definitely Greek
Hungarian is usually the go to for odd ones out just because it’s not IE, but that third one sounds so weird to me I couldn’t say for sure…
At the risk of heaping ridicule on myself, I’m going to say Albanian for number 3.
The languages are: (1) Catalan, (2) Lithuanian, (3) Welsh, (4) Danish, (5) Hungarian, (6) Greek. The odd one out is Hungarian, which is the only non-Indo-European language. Alternatively you could say that Welsh is the odd one out as it’s the only one not spoken in Continental Europe, and you could make a case for any of the others being the odd one out, as some of you already have.
Welsh is also the only one of the languages listed with fewer than a million native speakers.
1. No n’hi ha prou amb una llengua-Catalan
2. Kalbų niekad nemokėsi per daug-Lithuanian
3. Dyw un iaith byth yn ddigon-Welsh
4. Ét sprog er aldrig nok-Danish
5. Egy nyelv sosem elég-Hungarian
6. Μία γλώσσα δεν είναι ποτέ αρκετή (Mía glóssa then íne poté arketí)-Greek
This became far too easy when I heard the fourth sample and realized I could cheat and just look them all up. But I won’t spoil anything. Here’s my initial reactions:
1. Sounds Romance
2. Sounds Baltic
3. Sounds Celtic
4. Danish!
5. ??? I guess this is the odd one
6. ??? Greek?
So, #5 is Uralic (Ugric), not Indo-European.
1. Romance. I heard the word lingua.
2 and 3. Uncertain.
4. Scandinavian. I heard the word sprog.
5. Hungarian. Their word for language I think beings with an n, and I thought I heard that.
6. Greek. I heard the word Glosa.
1. Catalan
2. –
3. Welsh
4. Guernsey French?
5-
6-
Wow, I had to listen to this three times before I realised that number 4 was Danish, and that’s my mother tongue…
1. Catalan
2. Lithuanian and also today’s current title translation.
3. Welsh
4. Danish
5. ??? Sounds like a cosmonaut?!
6. Greek
Oh, listened again with the sound on full. 5 is Hungarian so being non-Indo European I guess makes it the odd one out – azt hiszem, igen?
Before I look at anyone elese
1. Catalan
2. Lithuanian
3. Welsh (wild guess based on sounding weird and having interdentals)
4. Danish
5. Hungarian (odd one out, not Ind-European)
6. Greek
I’ll note I only got number 2. because of your current header…….
One language is never enough, yes. But what makes Hungarian sound like a cosmonaut?…
LAttilaD – It was the recording (not Hungarian) which sounded a bit like the old Russian space-race recordings of cosmonauts, just my joke!
Back to the quiz – Greek could also be the odd one out because it’s the sole member of it’s subgroup (Hellenic) in the Indo-European family like Armenian and Albanian?
Greek could also be the odd language out as it’s the only one not normally written with a Latin-based script.
Does Welsh have any official recognition? If not it would be the odd language out. Im pretty sure its’ the only one without an internet domain since Catalan (technically Catalonia) now has .cat (although the greek and hungarian domains .gr and .hu are based on outsider rather than local names).
Sure, Yenlit, no problem. I’m sorry to not know those old Russian movies, they must be nice.
If Michael’s list is correct, Hungarian may be the odd one since all the others are Indo-European languages, but Hungarian isn’t, as Yenlit pointed it out above. But of course, we may take other points of view, like official status or internet domain. Why not?
If you thought about any of these languages long enough I’m sure there’d be a myriad of examples which make any one language in the list unique? I’m trying to think of anything which is unique to Welsh – Welsh doesn’t have an indefinite article? Does Lithuanian have articles? Or Danish is the only one which suffixes it’s article to the noun. Greek doesn’t have any sister, descendant languages? I suppose it could be anything?
1. Catalan?
2. ?
3. ?
4. Scandanavian?
5. definitely Hungarian–egy nyelv sosem elég 🙂
6. definitely Greek
Hungarian is usually the go to for odd ones out just because it’s not IE, but that third one sounds so weird to me I couldn’t say for sure…
At the risk of heaping ridicule on myself, I’m going to say Albanian for number 3.
1. Catalan
2. Lithuanian
3. Welsh
4. Danish
5. Hungarian
6. Greek
The languages are: (1) Catalan, (2) Lithuanian, (3) Welsh, (4) Danish, (5) Hungarian, (6) Greek. The odd one out is Hungarian, which is the only non-Indo-European language. Alternatively you could say that Welsh is the odd one out as it’s the only one not spoken in Continental Europe, and you could make a case for any of the others being the odd one out, as some of you already have.
The recordings are all translations of the phrase “one language is never enough“.
My hearing must be seriously impaired.
Welsh is also the only one of the languages listed with fewer than a million native speakers.
1. No n’hi ha prou amb una llengua-Catalan
2. Kalbų niekad nemokėsi per daug-Lithuanian
3. Dyw un iaith byth yn ddigon-Welsh
4. Ét sprog er aldrig nok-Danish
5. Egy nyelv sosem elég-Hungarian
6. Μία γλώσσα δεν είναι ποτέ αρκετή (Mía glóssa then íne poté arketí)-Greek