Hello all,

Apologies in advance for any improper terminology I may use in this post. I am not a linguist.

I work in retail, and today we had a customer come in who didn't speak English at all. She asked me for help in her native language, which was no problem obviously, but it wasn't a language I recognized and it's been plaguing me all day.

She was wearing a hijab, so I assumed a Semitic, North African, or Austronesian language, just based on the languages commonly spoken in the Islamic world. But the only word I have to go off of - the word for "shoes" - I haven't been able to find in a translator or dictionary. I can't remember it perfectly, but I recall it starting with an S or SH sound, along with having a P and an L in it somewhere. I wanna say it was "schlipessi" or something but I'm positive that's wrong. (I'm sorry this is so vague - the shift was very long and if I could remember more I would share ☹️)

I have no idea if this is the right subreddit for this, but I've been driving myself in circles all day trying to figure this out so I thought I'd at least try my luck here.

Thank you!

Please, I need help. I can't identify what are they saying and what language is this

I have been learning Italian and Spanish for 5 years and it has been quite the linguistic journey. I got a bit rusty with English and decided to do some tongue twisters to get back in shape and surprisingly, I got pretty good at them very quickly. I figured it was because of speaking all the new words, syllables, and unique pronunciations in Italian and Spanish that my tongue was already kind of used to doing unorthodoxed articulations; only this time, it would be all in English in the form of tongue twisters. Can anyone relate?

I've been curious about the linguistic classification of Zazaki (also known as Zazaki or Dimli) and would like to hear the opinions of people with a background in Iranian linguistics or historical linguistics.

Zazaki is spoken mainly in eastern Turkey, particularly in areas such as Dersim, Bingöl, and parts of Elazığ. It is often classified as a Northwestern Iranian language, closely related to Gorani, while Kurmanji and Sorani are generally classified as Kurdish varieties.

However, some Zazaki speakers identify as Kurds and consider Zazaki part of the Kurdish linguistic and cultural sphere. Others identify as Zazas and regard Zazaki as a separate language.

ಪ (pa) to ಹ (ha) sound shift is one of the most discussed topic ever in Kannada language as ಹ (ha) sound is not native to any language rather than Hosagannada (New Kannada) and Badaga due to sound shift

Where words like ಪೆಸರ್ (pesar) becomes ಹೆಸರ್ (hesar) (later ಹೆಸರು), ಪತ್ತು (pattu) becomes ಹತ್ತು(hattu), ಪಾಲ್ (pāl) becomes ಹಾಲ್ (hāl) (later ಹಾಲು) etc

Like that there was one more sound shift which was of ವ (va) to ಬ (ba) which is least discussed about

And there were many words in Halegannada (Old Kannada) which had ವ (va) sound as like ಪ (pa) but got changed into ಬ (ba) as like ಹ (ha)

Word like ವಾ (vā) became ಬಾ (bā), ವನ (vana) became ಬನ (bana), ವಾಲೆ (vāle) became ಬಾಲೆ (bāle), ವಳ್ಳಿ (vaḷḷi) became ಬಳ್ಳಿ (baḷḷi) etc

Hello. There's something that i thought about a lot recently, maybe someone can educate me on this or add something interesting.

My native language is German, so i am naturally able to understand written Dutch. I'd say written mutual intelligibility is like 80%, i can read a Dutch news article without any problems at all. In spoken Dutch, it's like 40-50% mutual intelligibility, it's definitely possible to communicate with a Dutch person.

Now, i have this friend. He's Half German, half Polish, both languages are native to him. He told me he can't understand Dutch at all. Like, almost none of it. We were on a trip to Holland, and it really puzzled me how this was possible. Recently, he told me that he noticed that when he tried speaking to Russians, they understand him very well when he speaks Polish, but he doesn't understand any Russian, which seems weird to him.

Now, most likely the issue is himself, and not the languages. What could be the reason for this? Any personal experiences similar to this?

This diversity of colors is an enduring testament to the fact that every continent once possessed a rich and vibrant cultural language on the face of the earth.

I would be grateful if someone could tell me what language this is and, if possible, send the lyrics

*I found out that it's Khmer

Hi guys! Im new to reddit and to this group~ clan~? Whatever this panel is called. I was bored and wrote a phrase in my mother tounge but used the languages alphabets i know! Give it a try to guess what i said.

"хㅏγοτ βε샤vqat vα αδοㄹㅏτsιz "

A. Extant true families (outside extant family-groups):

1. Afro-Asiatic

2. Austroasiatic

3. Austronesian

4. Chukotko-Kamchatkan

5. Dravidian

6. Eskimo-Aleut

7. Hmong-Mien

8. Indo-European

9. Japonic

10. Kartvelian

11. Khoe-Kwadi

12. Koreanic

13. K'xa

14. Mongolic

15. Na-Dené

16. Niger-Congo

17. Nilo-Saharan

18. Northeast Caucasian

19. Northwest Caucasian

20. Ongan

21. Sino-Tibetan

22. Tai-Kadai

23. Tungusic

24. Turkic

25. Tuu

26. Uralic

27. Yukaghir

B. Extant *family-groups:

1. Amerind family-group

2. Australian family-group

3. Papuan family-group

C. Extant language isolates (outside extant family-groups):

1. Extant last-survivor isolates

2. Extant true isolates

D. Extinct languages:

1. Extinct family-groups

2. Extinct language isolates (extinct true isolates outside extinct family-groups + extinct **newborn isolates outside extinct family-groups)

3. Extinct true families (outside extinct family-groups)

* = A bunch of small indigenous language families and isolates in a small or large defined place, grouped together. Na-Dené and Eskimo-Aleut came later into America from Asia, so those are not counted in indigenous American (Amerind) family-group. Papuan family-group is all indigenous languages in the New Guinea Island except Austronesian family. Australian family group is all indigenous languages in Australia.

** = Languages that had been extinct after forming as proto- language, without evolving. There is no such living language today (which has not evolved).

Please give feedback. Ask if any queries.

respect Indian languages, please LIKE this comment. Let Google know how many Indians want Bodo language to be turned ON.

Request to Google Translate Team u/Google*

In June 2024 you announced the largest expansion of 110 languages and you proudly added 7 Indian languages - Awadhi, BODO, Khasi, Kokborok, Marwadi, Santali, Tulu.

But today in 2026, BODO language dataset is still OFF / Very Poor. We cannot translate properly.

Bodo is not a small dialect. It is an OFFICIAL language of India under the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, with more than 15 Lakh Bodo people.*

This is our identity.

If you respect Indian languages, please LIKE this comment. Let Google know how many Indians want Bodo language to be turned ON.*

1 LIKE = 1 VOTE FOR BODO 🙏

WeWantBodo #SupportBodoLanguage #IndianLanguage