Tongue Twisters & Wordplay
What English word is created by combining two words: "smoke" and "fog"?
Smog
Which Middle Eastern language did English borrow its numerals from?
Arabic
What is the official name of the @ symbol used in email addresses?
The "At sign" (or "At symbol")
What is the difference in spelling between American and British English for the place where you go to watch movies or plays.
"Theater" vs. "Theatre"
Which European country has three official national languages: German, French, and Italian (plus Romansh as a regional one)?
Switzerland
What constructed language was created by L. L. Zamenhof to serve as a universal second language?
Esperanto
(Roughly) how many living languages are spoken in the world today?
7,000 - 7,500
Which German word translates to "glove" in English, but literally means "hand shoe"?
Handschuh
This language is known for the phrase 'Hakuna Matata' from the Lion King movie.
Swahili.
Swahili, known as Kiswahili in the native tongue, is a Bantu language spoken by some 150 million Africans.
Which alphabet is used to write Russian or Bulgarian?
Cyrillic alphabet.
Which English-speaking country uses words like "G'day", "Barbie" (for barbecue), and "Mate"?
Australia
What is the most widely spoken native language in the European Union by number of native speakers?
German
From which language does the word "Robot" originate?
Czech (from robota - forced labor).
What are the top 3 most spoken languages in the world by number of NATIVE speakers?
1. Mandarin Chinese
2. Spanish
3. English
Complete the famous English tongue twister: "She sells sea shells by the..."
Seashore
This is the second most common language in Africa (found primarily in Northern and Western Africa)
French
How many letters are in the standard English (Latin) alphabet?
26
In British English, you ride in a "lift" and walk on the "pavement". What are these called in American English?
Elevator and Sidewalk
Which city is considered the most multilingual in Europe, with over 300 languages spoken in its schools?
London
In the hit animated movie Frozen, Elsa sings the iconic song "Let It Go". What is the title of the Polish version of this song?
"Mam tę moc"
Which language has the largest total vocabulary in the world?
(estimated at over 600,000 to over 1,000,000 official words)
English
What do you call a word, phrase, or sentence that reads the same backward as forward (e.g., "Madam" or "Racecar")?
A palindrome
This is an official language of Pakistan
Urdu
What writing system uses raised dots so visually impaired people can read by touch?
Braille
What is the term for English mixed with Spanish, commonly spoken in regions like Southern California or Texas?
Spanglish
Which European country still uses Latin as an official language for its administrative documents and banking transactions?
Vatican City (or The Vatican)
In The Matrix, what is the famous nickname for the green, falling computer code on the screens that represents the simulated reality?
Digital Rain (lub Matrix code / Zielony deszcz)
Which of the 50 U.S. states is the only one whose name consists of just ONE syllable?
Maine
A portmanteau is a word created by blending two existing words into one. Give at least 2 examples in English.
podcast: iPod and broadcast
brunch: breakfast and lunch
emoticon: emotional and icon
motel: motor and hotel
Merhaba or Selam is how you say hello in ________
(country name is the same of an animal)
Turkish
What do you call a punctuation mark used to join two words together, like in "well-known" or "ice-cream"?
A hyphen
What is the term for a local variety of a language that is spoken in a specific geographical area, featuring unique vocabulary and pronunciation (such as Cockney or Geordie in the UK)? (use one word)
Dialect / Accent / Regionalism
Which European island country has no mosquitoes and uses a language almost unchanged since medieval Viking times?
Iceland (Icelandic)
What high-elvish language was created by J.R.R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings universe?
Quenya (or Sindarin / Elvish)
Which language has the longest alphabet in the world, featuring a massive total of 74 letters?
Khmer / Cambodian
What is unique about the English sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"?
It is a pangram (it contains every single letter of the English alphabet at least once).
Which US state has a French creole as its second language? (not an official language)
Louisiana - the U.S. state associated with French-based linguistic heritage, which features both Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole (historically called Kouri-Vini).
Basque is spoken in northern Spain and southern France, but it belongs to no known language family. What is the linguistic term for this?
A language isolate
What is the official name of the accent traditionally considered the standard form of British English?
Received Pronunciation (RP) / "The Queen's English" / "BBC English".
Which island nation is the only country in the European Union whose official national language is Semitic (derived from historical Arabic, but written in the Latin alphabet)?
Malta (Maltese language)
In the video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the Elves speak an ancient language called Elder Speech (Starsza Mowa). Which real European language served as the base for Andrzej Sapkowski to create this fictional language?
Welsh /Scottish Gaelic / Irish / Celtic languages
Where in Europe is a whistled language used by locals to communicate with each other over long distances across deep valleys?
Canary Islands / Spain / La Gomera