How to play
- Press Start. You have 1 minute 30 seconds for all 14.
- Type an answer, in any order. It counts as soon as it matches, with no need to press Enter, and fills in its row.
- Pause whenever you like; the list is hidden while the clock is stopped. If you leave mid-game, it waits, paused, until you come back.
- When the time is up, the ones you missed fill in, marked as missed.
About official languages
Most countries name one or more official languages, used in their laws, courts and schools. A handful of languages are official across many countries, mostly a legacy of empires; the language with the most native speakers is official in only three.
More about the languages (names some answers)
English is official in 57 countries, from India to Ireland. French is official in 27, most of them in Africa. Spanish is official in 20, and in Africa only in Equatorial Guinea. Mandarin Chinese has the most native speakers in the world but is official in only three countries. Swahili is the only language from Africa on the list. Singapore has four official languages and Switzerland four national ones.
What counts
A language counts in a country if it is a national official language there, in law or, where the country has none in law, in practice. Regional and minority languages don’t count, and nor do dialects listed under another name. The counts follow Wikipedia’s list of official languages by country, and only the 197 countries on this site are counted. The list is every language official in three or more of them.
The countries counted for each language appear here when your quiz ends.
| Language | Details |
|---|---|
| English | Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Eswatini, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| French | Belgium, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Monaco, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Switzerland, Togo, Vanuatu |
| Arabic | Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen |
| Spanish | Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela |
| Portuguese | Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste |
| German | Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland |
| Russian | Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia |
| Italian | Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican City |
| Swahili | Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda |
| Chinese | China, Singapore, Taiwan |
| Malay | Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore |
| Dutch | Belgium, Netherlands, Suriname |
| Albanian | Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia |
| Serbian | Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia |
Capitals, accents, spaces and punctuation don’t matter, but the spelling does.
Questions
Why isn’t Hindi or Persian here?
Each is a national official language in fewer than three countries. Persian is official in Iran and Afghanistan; the Persian of Tajikistan is called Tajik there.
More to play
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- Best Picture Winners: Name every film that has won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
- All quizzes
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