# Let’s identify these 63 languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 30, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346 "2020-08-30T02:07:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/1 "2020-08-30T02:07:57Z")
I’m at my mother in law’s house and she receives a monthly insert with instructions to call in 63 different languages. I’m curious how many of them we can identify. Some of them are really cool looking. After the first post, I’ll put the number and the language I think it is. Some are obvious. Some are just crazy. [1 - 15](https://imgur.com/U5A7rGd) [16 - 32](https://imgur.com/a/CEpANeg) [33 - 46](https://imgur.com/a/I6lqFBv) [47 - 63](https://imgur.com/a/oy27Qr7) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/3 "2020-08-30T02:17:45Z")
Your numbering is off by one from #9 - you have missed #9 in the image which appears to be Haitian Creole. Then #10 is French etc. ETA: then after the first page I’m not sure what’s happening. You seem to be going to a different page than the second page in the images in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/4 "2020-08-30T02:18:04Z")
1. uses Arabic letters, but it is not Arabic. For one thing, it’s written in the wrong direction. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/5 "2020-08-30T02:20:51Z")
I think 21 is Urdu. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/6 "2020-08-30T02:25:37Z")
Going back to 8, I can’t make heads or tails of it. My Arabic has rusted almost to the point of non-existence, so it might be a _really_ bad attempt at translation, but it’s really weird. Judging by the position of the colon, the word order is left to right, the opposite of Arabic, but the individual words seem to be written with the letters right to left. The words also seem to mix terminal forms of letters where they should be the medial forms. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/7 "2020-08-30T02:26:48Z")
Summabitch. It’s because I created a list and then had a cut/paste snafu. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/8 "2020-08-30T02:29:36Z")
This should be the second post. I deleted the original that **Riemann** pointed out was all messed up. 1. English 2. Spanish 3. Chinese 4. Vietnamese 5. Korean 6. Tagalog 7. Russian? 8. Arabic? 9. French 10. Polish? 11. Portuguese 12. Italian 13. Japanese 14. German 15. Hmong 16. Hebrew 17. Dutch 18. Greek 19. Norwegian? 20. Catalan? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/9 "2020-08-30T02:38:47Z")
Still off, that seems to be the same as the original second post. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/10 "2020-08-30T02:42:05Z")
I give up. I previewed it but Discourse seems to remove my numbers and add its own. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/11 "2020-08-30T02:46:13Z")
Going back to 8… I _think_ it might be a truly abysmal “translation” to Arabic where…I don’t even know what the world would be for what they did. It’s like they took the word for “you say”, “TaTaHaDaTH”, and they transcribed it letter by letter, using the wrong forms, in the wrong direction. And using the wrong word to begin with - they should have used “TaTaKaLaM”, “you speak”. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/12 "2020-08-30T02:48:43Z")
Okay, it’s Discourse numbering things its own way. Yeah, it does that. Your list of languages in post #8 (I think), as displayed here, at least from #16 on, has no resemblance whatever to the second image. How about, from image #2: 25. Hebrew 26. Samoan? 30. Pennsylvania German/Dutch (it says right there) 32. Greek ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/13 "2020-08-30T02:55:43Z")
39 is easy … it’s Indonesian. I was looking for “perhatian” because I knew it would most likely start with that word, but when you keep reading you can see the word “Indonesia” right in there. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/14 "2020-08-30T02:56:29Z")
I saw that about “Pennsylvania German/Dutch” but the wording confused me. Is it different than “regular” Dutch? Also, I’ve never heard of Pennsylvania German. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/15 "2020-08-30T03:01:49Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Is it different than “regular” Dutch? Also, I’ve never heard of Pennsylvania German. Yes. It is closer to German than Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/16 "2020-08-30T03:01:58Z")
It’s a dialect of German (aka Deutsch aka Deitsch) spoken by German immigrants who mainly settled in Pennsylvania - Amish and Mennonites. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/17 "2020-08-30T03:09:04Z")
Here are some more - if I’m not 100% sure I included a question mark, but the others I am certain of: 1. Chamorro? 2. Pohnpeian 3. Romanian? 4. Chuukese 5. Hawaiian? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/18 "2020-08-30T03:19:02Z")
Dammit! Discourse added its own numbers to my list and overwrote mine. Stupid! Anyway…31 is Chamorro, I think (not sure). 33 is definitely Pohnpeian - I used to live on Pohnpei so I know. Next up is 60, which I think might be Romanian but it is only a guess. Then 61, which is definitely Chuukese (also known from my time in Micronesia) And finally, I believe 62 is Hawaiian but I’m not 100 % sure. If it isn’t Hawaiian it is a closely related Pacific Island language. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/19 "2020-08-30T03:35:51Z")
Compiling what we have so far with a few additions by me: 1: English 2: Spanish 3: Chinese 4: Vietnamese 5: Korean 6: Tagalog 7: Russian 8: Arabesque 🙂 9: Haitian Creole 10: French 11: Polish 12: Portuguese 13: Italian 14: Japanese 15: German 20: Hmong 25: Hebrew 26: Samoan 30: Pennsylvania Dutch 31: Chamorro 32: Greek 33: Pohnpeian 34: Kirundi (Burundi and nearby places) 35: Cebuano (minority Philippines language) 37: Swahili 38: Cherokee, but in the Roman alphabet 39: Indonesian 40: Turkish 42: also Kirundi?! it looks letter-for-letter identical to 34 45: Norwegian 46: Catalan 51: Serbo-Croatian 52: Ukrainian 56: Dutch 60: Romanian 61: Chuukese 62: Hawaiian ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/20 "2020-08-30T04:02:48Z")
22 is definitely Khmer. 28 is Thai. I can even read it. Yes, 62 is Hawaiian. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346/22 "2020-08-30T04:22:03Z")
It’s a bit of a cheat, since each sentence says the name of the language it’s in. So you don’t have to know more than that word. Which is why I know - to take a couple at random - that: 37 is Swahili (“Kiswahili”). 38 is Cherokee (“tsalagi”). 39 is Bahasa (“Bahasa Indonesia”) 40 is Turkish (“Türkçe”). 45 is Norwegian (“norsk”) 46 is Catalan (“Catala”) 49 is Navajo (“Diné”) 50 is Albanian (“shqip”)\* 51 is Serbo-Croatian (“srpsko-hrvatski”)\* 56 is Dutch (“nederlands”) 60 is Romanian (“limba română”) \*Wasn’t positive about Albanian and Serbo-Croatian, but I looked them up after I guessed, and confirmed. There are a couple more that I can’t be positive about, but suspect: 26 is Samoan, 27 is Amharic, 31 is Chamorro, 61 is Chuuk (a Polynesian language), 62 is Hawai’ian, 63 is Tongan, 35 is Cebuano, (a Filipino language). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/let-s-identify-these-63-languages/919346.md?page=2)