Language quiz

Here’s a recording in a mystery language.

Can you identify the language and where it’s spoken?

March 6th, 2011 in Language, Quiz questions

Comments (8)

bennieMarch 6th, 2011 at 1:05 pm

It sounds like a language spoken somewhere on the Indian sub-continent, but I can’t really tell if it’s Dravidian or Indo-European.

Another wild guess –> Konkani

jimutavahanaMarch 6th, 2011 at 1:16 pm

sounds a lot like telegu

VivaekMarch 6th, 2011 at 4:07 pm

not dravidian

lots of “o” sounds so probably Bengali or Oriya

Syntax of SeaweedMarch 6th, 2011 at 4:12 pm

A Simon, a chara,

Chuala mé seo ar iTunes agus cé go bhfuil sé sean go leor cheap mé gur seans maith ann go mbeadh an-suim agat air.

http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-docononelanguage-pid0-2554776.mp3

Bain sult as!

Petréa MitchellMarch 6th, 2011 at 4:27 pm

Well, I heard a word that sounded a lot like “telugu”.

michael farrisMarch 6th, 2011 at 6:47 pm

Doesn’t sound like Telugu to me, I’m gonna second the eastern Indic opinion and guess Oriya (just cause I’ve been thinking of Oriya lately).

Trond EngenMarch 6th, 2011 at 9:59 pm

My thought was something Indian too, but then my wife went by and said “That sounds African”. Looking up retroflexes, I see that last weeks Bench and its neighbour Sheko, both have them, uniquely for Africa. This doesn’t sound like Bench at all, but since WP tells they’re not closely related, and since I’ve no better idea anyway, I’ll say Sheko.

SimonMarch 7th, 2011 at 4:23 pm

The answer is Oriya (ଓଡ଼ିଆ), which is spoken mainly in Orissa in India.

The recording comes from the The South Asian Literary Recordings Project, and is an extract from a story called “Sana prema”, read by the author, Kishori Charan Das.

Go raibh maith agat, a Choilm – tá an clár an-suimiúil ar fad.