General knowledge about languages
How many languages are spoken around the world?
7,100
The shortest word in English (name one)?
I - a pronoun
a - an article
Which language is used as the international language of the skies and aviation?
English
Which language is written from right to left?
Arabic
"Actual" (English) vs. "Aktualny" (Polish)
Say "Hi" in Spanish and German
Hola; Hallo; Servus
Cry over spilt milk
To worry about something that has already happened and cannot be changed
Which language has the most native speakers?
Mandarin Chinese; It has the largest number of native speakers—approximately 1.1 billion
Which letter is the most frequently used in English?
E
Which language is considered the “language of love”?
French
Which country has four official national languages?
Switzerland (German, French, Italian, Romansh)
"Chef" (German) vs. "chef" (English)
German is known for creating extremely long nouns. Which of these is a real German word?
a)Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft
b)Kühlschranktüröffner
c)Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
c)Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz
Hit the nail on the head
To describe exactly what is causing a situation or problem
The most linguistically diverse country is Papua New Guinea - referring to the number of languages spoken in one country. How many languages?
Over 850 different languages spoken.
What English word is spelled the same forwards and backwards?
LEVEL
Which language has the most words?
English
Which language is famous for creating long compound words?
German
"Lecture" (English) vs. "Lektura" (Polish)
Which German letter looks like the English “B” but represents a double “s” sound?
ß - scharfes S / sharp S
Burn the midnight oil
To work late into the night
Which language has the largest number of written characters in its standard writing system?
Chinese
What is the only English word that ends in -mt?
Dreamt
Which language has no known living native speakers but is still used as an official language of a country?
Latin (Vatican City)
Name two official languages of the European Union that use a non-Latin alphabet?
Greek (Greek alphabet)
Bulgarian (Cyrillic alphabet)
"exit " (English) vs. "éxito" (Spanish)
Which Spanish dialect is famous for pronouncing the “c” and “z” like the English “th” sound
Castilian Spanish (spoken in central and northern Spain)
Throw someone under the bus
To betray someone, usually to save oneself or gain an advantage
Which European language has the largest number of noun cases?
Finnish - 15
Which English word is its own antonym (can mean its opposite)?
Sanction (to allow / to punish)
Which language has the same word for “yes” and “no” depending on context and tone?
Finnish
Which language has the longest alphabet?
Cambodian (Khmer) has the longest alphabet, with 74 letters.
"Sensible" (English) vs. "Sensible" (Spanish)
In which part of Germany does “dropping” final consonants occur, making words like “haben” sound like “hab’n”?
Southern Germany
Bite the bullet
To do something difficult or unpleasant that you have been avoiding