Omniglot - the blog

Language quiz

Simon on 02 Feb 2008

Language and Words and phrases and Quiz questions | Comments (9)

9 Responses to “Language quiz”

1. Dreaminjosh on 02 Feb 2008 at 5:00 pm #

   I’m going to say it’s Lithuanian simply because that’s the only language I can remember seeing that has dotted E. As for what it says, I haven’t a clue.

2. Dreaminjosh on 02 Feb 2008 at 5:03 pm #

   Wait a sec, is this a menu?

3. Simon on 02 Feb 2008 at 5:28 pm #

   They are all items you might find on a menu.

4. Αλέξανδρος on 02 Feb 2008 at 5:34 pm #

   Yes, I also though Lithuanian when I saw this, because of the ogoneks and macrons - I hadn’t noticed the dotted E from seeing written Lithuanian in the past, but it seems indeed to be a more reliable indicator.

   Googling for the words, it’s easy to find pictures, meanings and even recipes, although “sīpolsitenis kupāti” seems to be Latvian, and not Lithuanian, for “onion sausage” (but I can’t be sure since my knowledge of both languages is zero).

   Is “šaltibarščiai” the odd one out?

5. pittmirg on 02 Feb 2008 at 5:37 pm #

   It looks like Lithuanian. “Sīpolsitenis kupāti” is odd because Lithuanian alphabet doesn’t have and (i with macron, a with macron). The words are apparently names of Lithuanian dishes: vėdarai ‘potato sausages’, koldūnai ‘dumplings’, šaltibarščiai ‘cold beet soup’ etc.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_cuisine

6. prase on 02 Feb 2008 at 9:24 pm #

   So “Sīpolsitenis kupāti” may be Latvian. Others are surely Lithuanian, included the last two, which have no “non-Latvian” diacritics, but the plural ending -ai is not common in Latvian contrary to Lithuanian.

7. prase on 02 Feb 2008 at 9:27 pm #

   I meant “last three” instead of “last two” in my comment, of course.

8. Simon on 03 Feb 2008 at 5:57 pm #

   The answer is: they are all Lithuanian, with the exception of the third one, which is Latvian and therefore the odd one out.

   These are apparently typical Lithuanian dishes:

   1. Fried port pork guts stuffed with mashed potato
   2. Potato pancakes stuffed with minced meat
   3. Sausages with onions
   4. Lithuanian ravioli
   5. Mashed potato dumplings filled with minced pork
   6. Cold beetroot soup

9. Alix on 20 Mar 2008 at 12:24 am #

   Delicious! :) But surely one can’t fry port (the wine)? Though that might be interesting if one could. Sorry for the minor quibble–I’ve just discovered this website and am totally enjoying the quizzes. Which I’m doing very badly at, but hey! they’re so fun…