Geography · General Awareness
World Languages and Geography
2,195 Questions
World languages and geography explore the distribution of major language families, official languages, and native speakers across different continents. The questions cover linguistic demographics in Africa, Europe, and the Americas. This topic is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, and State PSC general studies papers.
Official languagesLanguage familiesWidely spoken languagesRegional languagesLinguistic geography
World Languages and Geography Questions
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Arabic
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English
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Spanish
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French
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Mandarin
E
Correct answer
Explanation
Mandarin is largely spoken by the people in the world.
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English
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Chinese
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French
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Hindi
D
Correct answer
Explanation
The UN has 6 official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Hindi is not an official language of the United Nations, despite being spoken by millions worldwide. The other options (English, Chinese, French) are all official UN languages.
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Chinese & Japanese
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Chinese & Hindi
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Japanese & Arabic
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Chinese & Arabic
D
Correct answer
Explanation
The UN has 6 official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Among the Asian languages, only Chinese and Arabic are official UN languages. Hindi and Japanese, despite being widely spoken, are not official UN languages used in official communications and documents.
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Arabic
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Russian
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Chinese
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German
D
Correct answer
Explanation
The UN has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. German is not an official language of the United Nations, though Germany is a major contributor to the UN and German is widely spoken internationally.
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English
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German
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French
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Hebrew
D
Correct answer
Explanation
Jewish scriptures, including the Torah (first five books of the Hebrew Bible), are written in Biblical Hebrew. Hebrew has been the primary language of Jewish religious texts for over 3,000 years. The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and other sacred writings form the foundation of Jewish religious tradition and literature.
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Arabic
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Spanish
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Hindi
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German
B
Correct answer
Explanation
Spanish is the third language most spoken by people around the world after Chinese and English
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Italian
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English
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Russian
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Spanish
A
Correct answer
Explanation
The UN has 6 official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Italian is not an official UN language. English, Russian, and Spanish are all official languages, making Italian the correct answer as the one that is NOT official.
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German
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English
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Italian
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Hebrew
C
Correct answer
Explanation
The Divine Comedy was written by Dante Alighieri in the Italian language during the 14th century. It is considered one of the greatest works of world literature and helped establish Italian as a literary language.
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African languages
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Arabics, Portuguese
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English, French
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All of the above
D
Correct answer
Explanation
The African Union has official languages including Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, and other African languages. The question groups multiple languages under 'All of the above' which is the correct choice.
D
Correct answer
Explanation
The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists the recognized national languages of India. Originally it had 14 languages, but has since been amended to include 22 languages.
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French
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English
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Sanskrit
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Hindi
C
Correct answer
Explanation
Sanskrit is considered one of the oldest surviving languages with a continuous documented history spanning over 3,500 years. While other ancient languages like Sumerian and Egyptian are older, they are no longer in use.
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French
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Spanish
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Mandarin
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English
C
Correct answer
Explanation
Mandarin Chinese has the largest number of native speakers in the world, exceeding 900 million. While English has more total speakers (including non-native), Mandarin remains the largest by native population.
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English
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French
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Chinese
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Hindi
D
Correct answer
Explanation
The six official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Hindi is not an official language.
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Slang
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Vernacular
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Argot
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Sociolect
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Pidgin
B
Correct answer
Explanation
Vernacular and vernacular language are terms used to refer to the native language or native dialect of a specific population, especially in the context of a second or foreign language that is more widely spoken (such as a national or standard language, or a lingua franca).
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Mandarin (China)
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English
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Hindi
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Japanese
A
Correct answer
Explanation
Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world by the number of native speakers.