Language to country quiz

GeoLingo: how to play

Read four everyday phrases in a mystery language and pick the country that speaks it. Ten rounds, 15 seconds each, faster answers score more.

Play GeoLingo

What is GeoLingo?

GeoLingo shows you a phrase card with the words for Hello, Thank you, Yes and Goodbye in one language. The name of the language is hidden. You work out which language it is and choose the matching country from four options before the 15 second timer runs out.

The game holds 30 languages, from French and German to Swahili, Thai, Hebrew and Icelandic. Each game picks ten at random with no repeats. Languages that do not use the Latin alphabet appear in their own script with a romanised version in brackets.

Players: 1
Rounds: 10 per game
Time per round: 15 seconds
Answer choices: 4 countries, each with its flag
Languages included: 30, one country per language
Maximum score: 10,000 points

How to play

1Read the four lines on the phrase card. The timer starts as soon as the card appears.
2Tap or click one of the four country buttons below the card. Each button shows a flag and a country name.
3Watch the feedback: the correct country turns green, a wrong pick turns red, and the name of the language is revealed.
4Wait about two seconds for the next card to load on its own.
5After round ten, check the results screen for your total score and how many answers you got right.

Scoring

A correct answer is worth 100 points plus a speed bonus of up to 900. The bonus is proportional to the seconds left on the clock, so every second you wait costs 60 points. An instant answer gets the full 1,000. An answer with one second left gets 160.

A wrong answer scores 0, and so does letting the timer reach zero. You get one pick per round, and there are no lives or streak bonuses.

Your total is the sum of the ten rounds, so a perfect game is 10,000 points.

Tips

Several languages share a greeting, so read the Thank you line before you answer. Hallo with Danke is German, Hallo with Dank je is Dutch.
Swedish and Danish both say Hej. Swedish thanks is Tack with a c, Danish is Tak. Norwegian and Icelandic both say Takk, but Icelandic gives itself away with Hæ, Já and Bless.
Do not rely on the Yes line alone. Da is yes in Romanian, Croatian and Russian, and Tak means thank you in Danish but yes in Polish and Ukrainian.
Russian and Ukrainian both use Cyrillic, so check the greeting: Privet is Russian, Pryvit is Ukrainian.
A slow correct answer still beats a fast wrong one. Even with one second left a right answer earns 160 points, while a wrong guess earns nothing.

What you learn

GeoLingo links languages to places. After a few games you start to recognise language families by sight, such as the Nordic languages with Hej, Hei and Takk, or the Romance languages with Merci, Gracias and Grazie. It also trains you to recognise writing systems, including Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Devanagari, Thai and Korean hangul.

Questions and answers

Which country counts for languages spoken in many countries?: Each language is tied to one country. Portuguese is Portugal, Spanish is Spain, Arabic is Saudi Arabia, Hindi is India and Swahili is Kenya.
Can I change my answer?: No. The first country you tap is final, the timer stops and the round is scored straight away.
Is my score saved?: No. The game shows your total after ten rounds but does not keep a best score.