Geography ยท 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

Multiple choice

Which West Indian language is derived from an Amerindian language?

  1. Arawak

  2. Carib

  3. Taino

  4. Quechua
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
Correct answer
Explanation

West Indian languages are derived from European languages, not Amerindian languages.

Multiple choice

Which language is the third most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. Urdu

  2. Bengali

  3. Portuguese

  4. French
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Urdu is the third most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 200 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which language is the fourth most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. Bengali

  2. Portuguese

  3. French

  4. Spanish
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Bengali is the fourth most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 200 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which language is the fifth most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. Portuguese

  2. French

  3. Spanish

  4. Arabic
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Portuguese is the fifth most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 200 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which language is the sixth most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. French

  2. Spanish

  3. Arabic

  4. Chinese
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

French is the sixth most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 100 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which language is the seventh most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. Spanish

  2. Arabic

  3. Chinese

  4. Russian
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Spanish is the seventh most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 100 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which language is the eighth most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. Arabic

  2. Chinese

  3. Russian

  4. Japanese
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Arabic is the eighth most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 100 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which language is the ninth most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. Chinese

  2. Russian

  3. Japanese

  4. German
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Chinese is the ninth most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 100 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which language is the tenth most widely spoken in the Commonwealth of Nations?

  1. Russian

  2. Japanese

  3. German

  4. Korean
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Russian is the tenth most widely spoken language in the Commonwealth of Nations, with over 100 million speakers.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is an example of a synthetic language?

  1. English

  2. Chinese

  3. Sanskrit

  4. Japanese
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Sanskrit is a highly synthetic language, with many bound morphemes.

Multiple choice

Which of the following is an example of a head-marking language?

  1. English

  2. Turkish

  3. Japanese

  4. Inuktitut
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Turkish is a head-marking language, meaning that grammatical information is marked on the head of a phrase, rather than on its dependents.

Multiple choice

Which language is commonly used for writing scientific papers and reports in the field of astronomy?

  1. Hindi

  2. English

  3. German

  4. French
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

English is the dominant language used for writing scientific papers and reports in the field of astronomy due to its widespread use in the international scientific community and its status as a global lingua franca.

Multiple choice

Which language is commonly used for writing astronomy and space science textbooks and reference books?

  1. Hindi

  2. English

  3. German

  4. French
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

English is the dominant language used for writing astronomy and space science textbooks and reference books due to its widespread use in the international scientific community and its status as a global lingua franca.

Multiple choice

Which language is spoken in the country that hosted the first Commonwealth Games?

  1. English

  2. French

  3. Hindi

  4. Urdu
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The first Commonwealth Games were held in Hamilton, Canada, where English is the official language.

Multiple choice

Which language is spoken in the country that has hosted the most Commonwealth Games?

  1. English

  2. French

  3. Hindi

  4. Urdu
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

Canada has hosted the most Commonwealth Games, and English is the official language of Canada.