Name the language

Here’s a recording of part of a news bulletin from the BBC World Service. Can you identify the language?

Comments (16)

DeclanJanuary 7th, 2007 at 3:27 pm

Something Asian, but I dont know what.

Jonathan C.January 7th, 2007 at 3:56 pm

Macedonian, perhaps?

Minstrel AyreonJanuary 7th, 2007 at 4:08 pm

Not entirely sure, but I would guess this to be part of the Slavic language family.

Carlos EliseoJanuary 7th, 2007 at 4:36 pm

I hear what seems to be a Russian plural instrumental case ending in “ami”. So it’s probably a Slavic language.

JulietteJanuary 7th, 2007 at 5:37 pm

I haven’t got a clue. I seem to hear something being said about the French and Chiraq and straight after something about the Americans in Iraq.

HalabundJanuary 7th, 2007 at 7:03 pm

It sounds Slavic. Ukrainian perhaps?

StephenJanuary 7th, 2007 at 8:06 pm

It’s obviously Slavic, and I’m detecting some Balkan Sprachbund characteristics, which would make it either Macedonian, Bulgarian, or some Serbian dialect. Bulgarian is too obvious (and BBC doesn’t broadcast in it), and Serbian Torlak is too obscure and there is no BBC service in Serbian Torlak, but there is for Macedonian, so I’m guessing Macedonian.

PodolskyJanuary 7th, 2007 at 8:41 pm

No doubt Ukrainian.

TravisJanuary 7th, 2007 at 9:48 pm

For some reason this doesn’t sound Slavic enough to me, so much as some exotic form of a Latin based language. I’ve never heard Romanian before, but that’s my guess.

dmhJanuary 7th, 2007 at 11:18 pm

well, considering the clip mentions yanukovich, the ukrainian prime minister, I’d say ukrainian…

JoshJanuary 8th, 2007 at 5:21 am

I’m thinking it’s romanian… only because I understood very small bits of it and I have absolutely NO background in anything slavic. I heard “primeri” which I’m guessing means “first”, and I heard other small words like this that seemed vaguely familiar to me.

Evans KnightJanuary 8th, 2007 at 5:41 am

I don’t want to sound stupid by guessing something unobscure, but Russian?

HalabundJanuary 8th, 2007 at 9:34 am

It’s not Romanian. Romanian doesn’t sound Slavic.

WrenJanuary 8th, 2007 at 9:42 am

It’s definitely something Slavic. I thought it might be Bulgarian, but if the BBC apparently don’t broadcast in it, maybe it’s Macedonian? (odd that they broadcast in Macedonian but don’t broadcast in Bulgarian – I was under the impression that Bulgarian had many more speakers)

SimonJanuary 8th, 2007 at 9:43 am

The answer is … Ukrainian. Well done dmh and Halabund for guessing correctly.

NickJanuary 13th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Just guessing… but I definitely think it sounds like a romance language with a kinda slavic intonation. Therefore, it has to be romanian