Language quiz

Here’s a recording in a mystery language. Do you know or can you guess which language it is, and where it’s spoken?

Comments (0)

GregJuly 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

I would guess that it’s Kurdish, mostly spoken in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Could be another Iranic language however; such as Dari, Tajik, Pashto or even something more obscure like Luri.

ARJuly 19th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

Ossetian?

PollyJuly 19th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

Kurdish?

BenJuly 19th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

I’m gonna go one further and say it’s Sorani Kurdish.

PodolskyJuly 20th, 2008 at 8:32 am

Circassian.

AdamJuly 20th, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Dwi’n credu Manaweg mae rhyw flas Gwyddelig arno fe rhyw sut, A’i iaith Goidel yw e neu beth?

Manx?

SimonJuly 20th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

Adam – nid iaith Celtaidd ydy hi.

AR got it -the language is indeed Ossetianian (ирон æвзаг / дигорон æвзаг), an Iranian langauge spoken mainly in Ossetia, a region that is partly in Russia and partly in Georgia.

The recording is of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and was made by Taymuraz Zaseev.

Here’s the Ossetian text:
Адӕймӕгтӕ се ‘ппӕт дӕр райгуырынц сӕрибарӕй ӕмӕ ӕмхуызонӕй сӕ барты. Уыдон ӕххӕст сты зонд ӕмӕ намысӕй, ӕмӕ кӕрӕдзийӕн хъуамӕ уой ӕфсымӕрты хуызӕн.

pavelJuly 20th, 2008 at 11:49 pm

Taymuraz Zaseev was in the “artist name” tag…

garanceJuly 21st, 2008 at 2:23 pm

Well done guys! I was off by a thousand miles! I remember reading that persian was the most beautiful language on earth, I think that it was in the memoirs of the pirate Trelawney, who was a friend of Shelley.