"Bonjour!"
and Beyond
and Beyond
In France, you might say this greeting, as le boulanger hands you your baguette.
What is "bonjour?"
This is the most spoken language in the world by total number of speakers (when you count non-natives, that is).
What is English?
English borrowed the word "Kindergarten" from this language; it literally means "children’s garden."
What is German?
This is the most spoken language in South America, primarily because of Brazil.
What is Portuguese?
These "picture" symbols used by ancient Egyptians were carved into stone and papyrus.
What are Hieroglyphics?
In Spanish, you say "Hola" to say hello, but you use this phrase to say "Good morning."
What is "Buenos días?"
While English has 26 letters, the language Rotokas has the world’s shortest alphabet with not quite half as many letters.
What is twelve?
Words like "Pizza," "Spaghetti," and "Solo" all come from this country.
What is Italy?
Though it's a "dead" language, this is the only official language of Vatican City.
What is Latin?
This system of raised dots allows people who are blind or visually impaired to read by touch.
What is braille?
This Italian word is famous for meaning both "Hello" and "Goodbye."
What is "Ciao?"
This mostly Middle Eastern language is the official language of 26 countries and is written from right to left.
What is Arabic?
If you are singing along to a machine at a party, you are doing this Japanese word, which means "empty orchestra."
What is Karaoke?
Mandarin, Wu, and Cantonese are all major dialects spoken in this country.
What is China?
This 19th-century invention uses dots and dashes to send messages over telegraph wires.
What is Morse code?
Guten Tag, Mein Herr! Is a proper greeting in this language.
What is German?
A "polyglot" is a fancy name for a person who can do this.
What is speak more than one language?
English borrowed the word "Cookie" from this language's word "Koekie," as Anne Frank could have told you.
What is Dutch?
This centrally located mountainous European country has four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. That's a lot of ways to ask for chocolate or a clock!
What is Switzerland?
The famed Rosetta Stone helped archaeologists unlock this ancient pictorial language.
What is Egyptian?
This Swahili phrase, made famous by The Lion King, literally means "no worries."
What is Hakuna Matata?
The south Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea holds this language claim-to-fame.
What is the most spoken languages (multilingual)?
West African languages like Kongo and Mbundu gave us this word, meaning a brain-eating, undead corpse!
What is a zombie?
Outside of the U.K. and the U.S., this south Asian country has one of the largest populations of English speakers in the world.
What is India?
In Chinese and Japanese, a single character that represents a whole word or idea is called this.
What is a logogram (ideogram)?