Language quiz

Here’s a recording of someone speaking a mystery language. Can you guess or do you know which language it is and where it’s spoken?

Comments (17)

AnonymousJanuary 6th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

I’m not sure what this language is beyond a Caribbean pidgin, but the man in this audio clip is most certainly drunk and rambling about America.

JrfJanuary 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

It sounds like a French creole language, but I also recognize some phrases/words which are also used in Suriname (base language Dutch).
Wild biased guess: Haitian Creole ?
(biased as I’ve just been editing a Haitian Creole translation someone made for the Remember me project – should be up on the site somewhere this week)

BenJanuary 6th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

Definitely not Haitian Creole – listen to the “r” in “America” (I just got back from Haiti and I speak a bit of it).

Maybe Papamiento? I honestly haven’t a clue.

praseJanuary 7th, 2008 at 12:49 am

What about pashto? I think I’ve heard the word allah near the end of the record, so I expect this would be some religious fanatic making his propaganda.

renato figueiredoJanuary 7th, 2008 at 1:58 am

Simon Congratulations. This year Omniglot will be 10 years on the web. I wish you a great celebration.
About this specific quiz I won’t guess in any language.

HtJanuary 7th, 2008 at 2:47 am

The phonology appears Southeast Asian. Khmer, perhaps?

d.m.falkJanuary 7th, 2008 at 9:29 am

It’s a Malay language, but NOT Malaysian, Indonesian or Tagalog.

Out of left field, I’m going to make a stab at this and say…. Malagasy, the language of Madagascar?

d.m.f.

SimonJanuary 7th, 2008 at 9:47 am

It is a Malayo-Polynesian language, but not Malagasy, Malay, Indonesian or Tagalog.

renato figueiredoJanuary 7th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

Now it is easy Tagalog

ARJanuary 7th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Cebuano?

hreJanuary 7th, 2008 at 10:44 pm

waray waray?

Jonathan KatzJanuary 7th, 2008 at 11:29 pm

Perhaps it’s Ilocano, which is spoken in the northern Philippines?

SimonJanuary 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Another clue: it’s spoken in Indonesia.

SimonJanuary 8th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

It doesn’t look like anyone going to guess it, so here’s the answer: Balinese.

JrfJanuary 8th, 2008 at 11:43 pm

Ah ! I see. When I heard it, I thought I recognized some phrases as things my grandmother used to say. She grew up in Suriname, which made me think of a Caribean creole language.
However, in a later phase of her life she lived in Indonesia, mainly on Java, but spend quite some time in Bali too. She must have picked those specific phrases up there I presume.

Funny how your quiz got me on a memory lane ;-)

di NataJanuary 9th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

I think it’s Bugis (Makassar), as the man spoke with a stress in ‘s’

wuku jelowangi sasse’ (no idea……)
ke limeu? (the fifth?)
de’ banjar club (in Banjar Club)
gang Markisa tak SMA (in Passion fruit (markisa) lane, not High
School)
neme anak bekideh ( …… ……. boy)
ke Amerika ( to USA)
ah, seng mungkin! (Ah, Impossible!)

I’m just guessing, but I think the man said that he was not convinced that a boy who was not even graduate from High School could go to USA….

just guessing….

di NataJanuary 9th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

balinese?
really?
hahahahah………