Language Quiz: Spoken.

May 4, 2026 by 9 Comments

I offer you a 25-second clip of a man telling a story. (I used TinyURL because the original URL would provide too much of a hint.) This is from an old LH post, so if you’ve been here longer than two decades you might have encountered it before! But probably not.

Addendum. I’m told that when you open the link you can see the URL. Rats. Don’t look!

Comments

  1. languagehat says
    May 4, 2026 at 9:38 pm

    It occurred to me that some people don’t like quizzes and others might try until they got discouraged and wanted to know the answer, so here’s a TinyURL link to the old LH post, where you will find the solution.

  2. AntC says
    May 4, 2026 at 11:55 pm

    [spoiler alert, and no I haven’t been here two decades and/or I don’t remember it]

    I guessed Gaelic-ish (but couldn’t tell whether Scottish or N. Ireland). And the guy seems to have loose dentures(?)

  3. cuchuflete says
    May 5, 2026 at 3:43 am

    I would never have guessed Klingon, or the correct answer either. But one phrase toward the end sounded like “four legged ______”.

  4. anhweol says
    May 5, 2026 at 7:36 am

    Got it! (Have spent some time in the relevant part of the world, not that that is much help these days…

  5. languagehat says
    May 5, 2026 at 8:52 am

    Got it!

    I’m deeply impressed!

  6. V says
    May 5, 2026 at 10:14 am

    Sounds vaguely Indo-European, but not specifically which branch.

  7. languagehat says
    May 5, 2026 at 11:15 am

    Good guess!

  8. Jen in Edinburgh says
    May 5, 2026 at 11:34 am

    I suppose I should have known, but I didn’t – the accent and rhythm of it did sound oddly homelike (it reminded me a bit of the guy at the start of this, for no very obvious reason), but I thought that was just an illusion!

  9. Y says
    May 5, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    Did not guess even the family. The WP entry for the language has a video of a young speaker (L2, quite fluent) which sounds different to me.

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