In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a property exhibited by a set of languages when speakers of any one of them can readily understand all the others without intentional study or extraordinary effort. Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them It is sometimes used as one criterion for distinguishing languages from dialects, though sociolinguistic factors are also important. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of Society, including cultural norms expectations and context on the way Language is used

Intelligibility between languages can be asymmetric, with speakers of one understanding more of the other than speakers of the other understand of the first. It is when it is relatively symmetric that it is characterized as 'mutual'. It exists in differing degrees among many related or geographically proximate languages of the world, often in the context of a dialect continuum. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing

Contents 1 Intelligibility 2 Mutually intelligible languages or variants of one language? 3 List of mutually intelligible languages 3.1 Written and spoken forms 3.1.1 Indo-European 3.1.2 Semitic 3.1.3 Austronesian 3.1.4 Sino-Tibetan 3.1.5 Tai-Kadai 3.1.6 Turkic 3.1.7 Finno-Ugric 3.1.8 Niger-Congo 3.1.9 Afro-Asiatic 3.1.10 English Creole 3.1.11 Constructed languages 3.1.12 Across language families 3.2 Spoken form only 3.2.1 Indo-European 3.2.2 Dravidian 3.2.3 Turkic 3.2.4 Semitic 3.3 Written form only 3.3.1 Semitic 3.3.2 Sino-Tibetan 3.3.3 Across language families 3.3.4 Indo-European 3.4 Sign languages 4 List of selected related languages not mutually intelligible 4.1 Indo-European 4.2 Other language groups 5 List of selected mutually intelligible languages now extinct 6 See also 7 References

Intelligibility

For individuals to achieve moderate proficiency or understanding in a language (called L2) other than their mother tongue or first language (L1) typically requires considerable time and effort through study and/or practical application. A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth However, for those many groups of languages displaying mutual intelligibility, namely, those, usually genetically related languages, similar to each other in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, or other features, speakers of one language usually find it relatively easy to achieve some degree of understanding in the related language(s). Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. The vocabulary of a person is defined either as the set of all Words that are understood by that person or the set of all words likely to be used by that person when constructing Languages mutually intelligible but not genetically related may be creoles and parent languages, or geographically adjacent variants of two unrelated languages. A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable Language that originates seemingly as a nativized Pidgin.

Intelligibility among languages can vary between individuals or groups within a language population, according to their knowledge of various registers and vocabulary in their own language, their interest in or familiarity with other cultures, psycho-cognitive traits, and other factors. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Cognition is a concept used in different ways by different disciplines but is generally accepted to mean the process of awareness or thought

Mutually intelligible languages or variants of one language?

According to some definitions, two or more languages that demonstrate a sufficiently high degree of mutual intelligibility should properly not be considered two distinct languages but, in fact, multiple variants of the same language. Conversely, it is sometimes the case that different varieties of what is considered the same language—according to popular belief, governmental stance, or historical convention—are not, in fact, mutually intelligible in practice. (For more on this, see Dialect, and Dialect continuum—as well as Diasystem and Diglossia for two closely related but distinct language forms. A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος dialektos) is a variety of a Language that is characteristic of a particular group of A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing In Linguistics, in the field of structural Dialectology, a diasystem is a single genetic Language which has two or more standard forms In Linguistics, diglossia is a situation where in a given society there are two (often closely-related languages one of high prestige, which is generally used ) As a simple example, Scots Wikipedia is not intelligible to all speakers of English.

List of mutually intelligible languages

Written and spoken forms

Indo-European

• Germanic: Most Germanic languages share at least a common basic vocabulary, but are generally not mutually intelligible. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family.
  • Afrikaans, Dutch (including Flemish and Limburgish), Low German, and the most western forms of Low Saxon. Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Limburgish, or Limburgian or Limburgic ( Dutch: Limburgs, German: Limburgisch, French: Limbourgeois Low German or Low Saxon (in Germany: Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch; in Netherlands: Nedersaksisch or Nederduuts
  • To a limited extent, Dutch speakers can understand spoken sentences in German and in Frisian whereas speakers of German find it easier to read Dutch than to understand it when spoken.
  • There is also intelligibility between nearby dialects of German, Low Saxon, Limburgish, Luxembourgish all rooted largely in vocabulary cognate with German vocabulary (see West Germanic Dialect continuum). The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Limburgish, or Limburgian or Limburgic ( Dutch: Limburgs, German: Limburgisch, French: Limbourgeois Luxembourgish (lb Lëtzebuergesch Luxembourgeois Luxemburgisch Luxemburgs Lussimbordjwès also called Luxembourgian, also spelled Luxemburgish, is one of The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing
  • Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Danish ( d̥ænsɡ̊ is one of the North Germanic languages (also called Scandinavian languages a sub-group of the Germanic branch of the Norwegian ( norsk) is a North Germanic Language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language Swedish ( is a North Germanic language spoken by more than nine million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the The three are considered to compose the Mainland Scandinavian group. Written Danish and the Bokmål form of Norwegian are particularly close (Norway was in political union with Denmark from 1536-1814), though the phonology and prosody of all three languages differ somewhat. Bokmål (lit "book language" or Dano-Norwegian is the most commonly used of the two official Norwegian written Standard languages the other Proficient speakers of any of the three languages can understand the others, though studies have shown that speakers of Norwegian generally understand both Danish and Swedish far better than Swedes or Danes understand any of the other languages. (see Scandinavian languages and differences between Norwegian Bokmål and Standard Danish. The North Germanic languages or Scandinavian languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages, a sub-family of the Indo-European languages Danish and Norwegian Bokmål (the most common standard form of Norwegian) are very similar Languages but differences between them do exist )
  • Icelandic and Faroese may seem almost identical written down, but even to the untrained ear, vast differences in pronunciation can be heard. Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf For this reason, linguists do not consider the two languages mutually intelligible.

• Slavic: Most Slavic languages have some degree of mutual intelligibility. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages Languages spoken in near-by countries tend to have higher propinquity. East Slavic languages are, in general, more comprehensible to both West Slavic and South Slavic speakers than West to South or South to West.
  • Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn all belong to the East Slavic language group and are mutually understandable to a fairly considerable degree, more when written than spoken. The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Rusyn (ry русинськый язык) is an East Slavic language (along with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, with which it shares The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. Russians have a harder time understanding non-Russians, because Russian was taught in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc to all students, unlike the other languages.
  • Belarusian and Ukrainian both have the same roots in the Ruthenian language but they also have many similarities to Polish due to the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth's cultural impact upon them. The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Ruthenian (also Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, officially the Commonwealth of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania also known as the Most Serene Republic Ukrainians and Belarusians understand Polish much better than the other way around. Poles generally understand Ukrainian more than Belarusian because of closer pronunciation
  • Belarusian and Russian have similar pronunciation, which aids mutual intelligebility. The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Typically Russian-speakers can understand spoken Belarusian better than spoken Ukrainian for this reason.
  • Rusyn (more so with Carpatho-Rusyn than with Pannonian Rusyn) and Ukrainian; many Ukrainian linguists consider Rusyn to be a dialect of Ukrainian. Rusyn (ry русинськый язык) is an East Slavic language (along with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, with which it shares Pannonian Rusyn or simply Rusyn ( Ruthenian ' is a Slavic language or Dialect spoken in north-western Serbia and eastern Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages.
  • Bulgarian and Macedonian - the eastern group of the South Slavic branch. Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group Macedonian () is the official Language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. They have very similar grammars (which differ from all other Slavic literary language grammars), similar lexics and slightly different pronunciations. Their major lexical difference consists of loanwords, borrowed mainly from Russian in Bulgaria and from Serbian in Macedonia after 1944. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one Language from another with little or no translation Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, The majority of the Bulgarian linguists assert that the Macedonian literary language, created in 1945, is one of the three norms of the Bulgarian language. This point of view is rejected by the Macedonian linguists and politicians. In accordance with these positions, in diplomatic relations, Bulgarian side prefers not to use interpreters but the Macedonian side insists on their necessity. Bulgarians also understand the spoken form of other Slavic languages to some degree. The Bulgarians (българи balgari) are a South Slavic people generally associated with the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language
  • Serbo-Croatian and Russian are particularly close, but they are not mutually intelligible to those who had no preliminary exposure to them. The Serbo-Croatian language or Croato-Serbian language (cрпскохрватски језик srpskohrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic Diasystem Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
  • Torlakian dialect, spoken in Southern and Eastern Serbia, Northern Republic of Macedonia North-Western Bulgaria and South-Western Romania is mutually intelligible within these four regions and shares similarities with all of the corresponding Slavic languages in these countries. Torlak ( Cyrillic: Торлачки говор Торлашки говор Latinic: Torlački govor) or simply Torlakian, is the name used Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country The Republic of Macedonia (Република The state of Bulgaria (България transliterated bg-Latn ''Balgaria'' The country preserves the traditions (in ethnic name language and alphabet of the First Bulgarian Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Torlakian is not standardized, and its subdialects significantly vary in some features.
  • Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin in the central western group of the South Slavic branch - extremely intelligible (may be considered one language, Serbo-Croatian). Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, Croatian language ( hrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina in neighbouring Bosnian language (Bosnian bosanski jezik) sometimes referred as Bosniak language or Bosniac language is a South Slavic language native Montenegrin language ( Cyrillic script: Црногорски језик, Latin: Crnogorski jezik) is the name given to the Ijekavian- Shtokavian The Serbo-Croatian language or Croato-Serbian language (cрпскохрватски језик srpskohrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic Diasystem
  • Slovene and Kajkavian dialect of Croatian - mutually intelligible. Slovene or Slovenian ( slovenski jezik or slovenščina, not to be confused with Slovenčina) is a South Slavic language Croatian Kajkavian dialect ( Croatian: kajkavski, proper name kajkavica or kajkavština) is one of the three main dialects of the Croatian
  • Czech, Slovak, Kashubian, Polish, and the Sorbian languages are close - all of them of the West Slavic branch. Czech (ˈʧɛk čeština ˈʧɛʃcɪna in Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers it is the majority language in the The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian" Kashubian or Cassubian (Kashubian kaszëbsczi jãzëk, pòmòrsczi jãzëk, kaszëbskò-słowińskô mòwa; język kaszubski is one of Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The Sorbian languages are classified under the Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. The first two in particular show a great degree of mutual intelligibility. However, Czech and Polish speakers find it difficult to understand each other, and Kashubian, despite being a Lechitic language, is not considered a Polish dialect because Poles find it difficult to understand (all Kashubians are proficient in Polish).

• Romance: These languages have a higher degree of mutual intelligibility, especially when written. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all The extremes are French and Romanian. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance
  • Italian and Spanish (and to a lesser degree Portuguese) have a varied exponent of typically medium intelligibility with the pronunciation being tolerably different. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal.
  • Spanish (Castilian), Portuguese (especially Brazilian), and Galician have a high degree of mutual intelligibility. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Galician is much closer to Portuguese than Castilian is. Speakers of Portuguese seem to understand Spanish, Ladino and Galician more easily than vice versa, understandably due to a much simpler phonetic system in the latter.
  • Spanish and Catalan have a high degree of mutual intelligibility. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official
  • Catalan and Occitan. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan
  • Standard Italian and Corsican (sometimes considered part of the Tuscan dialect). Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Corsican ( Corsu or Lingua Corsa) is a Romance language spoken and written on the islands of Corsica ( France) and northern Sardinia The Tuscan Dialect ( dialetto toscano) or the Tuscan Language ( lingua toscana) is an Italian dialect spoken in
  • Romanian, Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian, and Moldovan (the latter is identical to Romanian but has this name in the Republic of Moldova). Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance Aromanian ( limba armãneascã, armãneshce or armãneashti) also known as Macedo-Romanian, Arumanian or Vlach in most Megleno-Romanian (known as Vlăheşte by speakers and Moglenitic, Meglenitic or Megleno-Romanian by linguists is a Romance language History and politics Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova ( Republica Moldova) is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania
  • Romanian and Italian show a limited degree of asymmetrical mutual intelligibility: speakers of Romanian seem to understand Italian more easily than vice versa. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. This may be due, in part, to the fact that Romanian has preserved the noun case system of classical Latin to a limited degree, while Italian did not. In Grammar, the case of a Noun or Pronoun indicates its Grammatical function in a greater Phrase or Clause; such as the Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Also, Romanian has many Slavic words that Italian lacks, but has also kept the Latin words as doublets.
  • Jèrriais, Dgèrnésiais and Sercquiais speakers have no major problems understanding modern French, however Francophones can only read the other language. Jèrriais is the form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, in the Channel Islands, off the coast of France. Guernésiais, also known as Dgèrnésiais, Guernsey French, Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of Norman language spoken in Guernsey roa Sercquiais also known as Sarkese or Sark-French ( roa Lé Sèrtchais) is the Norman dialect of the Channel Island of Sark

• Indic
  • Punjabi, Seraiki, Hindko and Pahari-Pothohari/Mirpuri. The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family Punjabi (pa ਪੰਜਾਬੀ in Gurmukhi script pa-PK {{Nastaliq پنجابی}} in Shahmukhi script Pañjābī in Transliteration) is an Sarāikī ( Perso-Arabic: سراییکی Gurmukhi: ਸਰਾਇਕੀ Devanagari: सराइकी commonly spelled Seraiki also Siraiki is Hindko (هندکو /Hindkoŭ/ also Hindku, Hinko, or Lahnda, لَیہندا is an ancient Indo-Aryan language spoken in North Western The Potwari or Pahari-Potwari language (also known as Pothohari or Pothwari; Potwari پوتوری پوٹھوہاری) is an Indo-European language Pothohari speakers seem to understand Punjabi easier than vice versa.
  • Hindustani with Hindi if Devanāgarī is used. Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is
  • Hindustani with Urdu if Arabic script is used. Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa such as Arabic, Persian, and Urdu.
  • Nepali and Hindi use the same script, Devanāgarī, and a common vocabulary of Sanskrit-derived words. Nepali is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Myanmar (Burma Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Exposure to Indian media is enough for most of the Nepalese people to learn Hindi

• Iranian
  • Persian, Dari and Tajik, besides being orally mutual intelligible, the writings are mutually intelligible only if Perso-Arabic script is used, as Tajik is the only one that also uses Cyrillic. The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. The Tajik language, or Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, (sometimes written Tadjik or Tadzhik; тоҷикӣ, tg-Latn ''tojikí'') is a modern The Perso-Arabic script is a Writing system that is based on the Arabic alphabet. The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by

• Celtic: Contrary to popular belief, all of the Celtic languages are too detached from each other to be classified as mutually intelligible anymore. The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family.
  • Irish and Scottish Gaelic used to form a dialect continuum, but as some dialects have died out and the two modern standard languages have developed in distinct ways they are not mutually intelligible for the average speaker. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. The orthographies of the written languages also differ to a significant degree.
  • Breton and Welsh are, against popular opinion, not mutually intelligible. The Breton language ( Brezhoneg) formerly often called Armoric or Armorican, is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic Cornish strongly resembles Breton in orthography but is not comprehensible with it. For the Cornish-English dialect see West Country dialects and List of Cornish dialect words.

Semitic

• Most varieties of Arabic are not mutually intelligible. See Arabic languages for the historical family of dialects The Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties However, there are four areas where the dialects are more similar, but the degree of intelligibility varies within each area: the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, and Libya) the Levant (Syria-Palestine-Israel-Lebanon-Jordan, and to a lesser extent Iraq), the Nile Valley (Egypt and Sudan) and the Arabian Peninsula. The Maghreb (المغرب العربي al-Maġrib al-ʿArabī) also rendered Maghrib (or rarely Moghreb) meaning "place of Sunset Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa Algeria ( ar [[Arabic]] الجزائر, Al Jaza'ir ælʤæˈzæːʔir Amazigh: ⴷⵥⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer) officially the People's Tunisia (تونس Tūnis officially the Tunisian Republic ( is a country located in North Africa. Mauritania (موريتانيا Mūrītāniyā officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab See also Names of the Levant The Levant (lə'vænt is a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia, roughly bounded on the north by the Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية Palestine is a name which has been widely used since Roman times to refer to the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Lebanon (ˈlɛbənɒn Arabic: ar لبنان Lubnān) officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic (ar الجمهورية اللبنانية Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الأردنّ al-Urdunn) is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) The dialects of the Nile Valley and the Levant (excluding Iraq) are closer to one another than any other Vernacular Arabic subgroups, and can be seen as a dialect continuum with the geographical extremes being nearly unintelligible (e. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing g. Upper Egyptian and Eastern Syrian) while more central dialects (e. Upper Egypt (صعيد مصر Sa'id Misr) is a narrow strip of land that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan to the area between g. Beirut and Cairo) are essentially mutually intelligible, especially for purposes of daily conversation.

Austronesian

• Malay and Indonesian (linguistically two slightly different variants of the same language, distinguished for political-cultural reasons). The Malay language ( ISO 639-1 code MS is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people and people of other ethnic groups who reside in the Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia, based on the Riau version of Malay language, was declared the official language with the declaration of See also Differences between Malay and Indonesian
• There is a degree of mutual intelligibility among some of the Polynesian languages. The differences between Malay ( Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia) and Indonesian ( Bahasa Indonesia) are slightly greater For example, when James Cook visited New Zealand in the late 18th century, he was able to communicate with Māori people through a Tahitian chief named Tupaea who was travelling with him. Captain James Cook FRS RN ( – 14 February 1779) was an English Explorer, Navigator and This article discusses the Māori people of New Zealand For their language see Māori language, and for other meanings see Māori (disambiguation. Generally, Tupaea and the Māori were able to understand each other fairly well, but on some occasions even Tupaea was baffled.
• Tagalog, Ilokano, Cebuano, Waray, Hiligaynon, Kapampangan and Pangasinense, etc. Tagalog is one of the major languages used in the Philippines. To view the Ilokano edition of this Wikipedia article select from the in other languages section to the side of this page "Cebuano" redirects here For the inhabitants of Cebu see Cebuano people Cebuano (Cebuano Sinugbuanon, "language Wáray-Wáray or Waráy (commonly spelled as Waray; also referred to as Winaray or L(ineyte-Samarnon) is a language spoken in the provinces Hiligaynon (or " Ilonggo " is an Austronesian language spoken in Western Visayas in the Philippines. Kapampangan is one of the major Languages of the Philippines. The Pangasinan language (Pangasinan salitan Pangasinan; Spanish: idioma pangasinense, sometimes called Panggalatok belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian Even though these are all dialects of the Philippines, when spoken between members of different groups, mutual intelligibility ranges from a small to a high degree depending on the language group. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP (Tagalog is an exception because it is the second tongue of majority of Filipinos, though many elders and illiterates from that region cannot understand it). For example, should an Ilokano converse with a Cebuano, there is a high chance that they will not understand each other because they belong to different subgroups.
• Filipino dialects and Malay. In this case, the situation varies, as Ilokano, Kapampangan and other surrounding dialects are much closer to Malay than Tagalog in some respects; for example, Ilokano and Malay words are related in terms of spelling and pronunciation, but Kapampangan is closer in sentence structure. However, Malay is not mutually intelligible with Tagalog at all.

Sino-Tibetan

• Hokkien, Taiwanese, and Teochew, although all three may be considered dialects of Min Nan, a Chinese language. The Southern Min language or Min Nan ( POJ: Bân-lâm-gú or "Southern Fujian" language refers to a family of Chinese languages Dialects Although Hainanese is considered another dialect of Min Nan, it is mutually unintelligible with the other three dialects of Min Nan. The Southern Min language or Min Nan ( POJ: Bân-lâm-gú or "Southern Fujian" language refers to a family of Chinese languages Dialects The Southern Min language or Min Nan ( POJ: Bân-lâm-gú or "Southern Fujian" language refers to a family of Chinese languages Dialects [1]

Tai-Kadai

• Thai, Shan and Laotian
  • Laotian and the Isan Thai language. Thai (th ภาษาไทย, transcription: phasa thai, transliteration:; pʰāːsǎːtʰāj is the national and The Shan (ရှမ်းလူမျိုး ʃán lùmjóʊ) are a Tai Ethnic group of Lao or Laotian (BGN/PCGN phasa lao IPA: pʰaːsaː laːw is a Tonal Language of the Tai-Kadai language family Lao or Laotian (BGN/PCGN phasa lao IPA: pʰaːsaː laːw is a Tonal Language of the Tai-Kadai language family Isan (Isan ภาษาอีสาน RTGS: phasa isan IPA: pʰaːsaː iːsaːn is the principal language of the Isan (northeastern region of The two are extremely similar and may in fact be variants of one language.
• Zhuang and Bouyei

Turkic

Most Turkic language speakers belong to one of two groups, Oghuz and Kypchak. The Zhuang language ( autonym: Cuengh or Cueŋь) is used by the Zhuang people in the People's Republic of China. The Buyei (also spelled Puyi, Bouyei and Buyi; self called Buxqyaix, puʔjai or "Puzhong" "Burao" "Puman" The Oghuz languages, a major branch of the Turkic language family, are spoken by more than 110 million people in an area spanning from the Balkans to China The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak Qypchaq or Northwestern Turkic languages are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million Languages belonging to the same group are mutually intelligible. Other languages, like Tatar and Bashkir, Uzbek and Uygur on the other side are mutually intelligible while sharing common features with both groups. The Tatar language (,, Татар теле, Татарча) is a Turkic Language spoken by the Tatars. The Bashkir language is a Turkic language. Speakers The 2002 population census showed under 1000000 native speakers of the Bashkir language living in Uzbek ( O‘zbek tili or O'zbekcha in Latin script, Ўзбек тили in Cyrillic script; أۇزبېك ﺗﻴﻠی in Arabic Uyghur (/ ug-Latn Uyƣurqə/ug-Cyrl Уйғурчә, or / ug-Latn Uyƣur tili/ug-Cyrl Уйғур

• Oghuz
  • Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Crimean Tatar, Gagauz, and Salar
    • Qashqai: closely related to Azerbaijani

• Kypchak
  • Kazakh, Nogay , Karakalpak, Kyrgyz. The Oghuz languages, a major branch of the Turkic language family, are spoken by more than 110 million people in an area spanning from the Balkans to China Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Turkmen ( Latin script: türkmen Cyrillic: түркмен ISO 639 -1 tk ISO 639-2 tuk is the name of the national language of Turkmenistan The Crimean Tatar language (Qırımtatar tili Qırımtatarca also known as Crimean (Qırım tili Qırımca and Crimean Turkish (Qırım Türkçesi is the language The Gagauz language ( Gagauz dili) is a Turkic language, spoken by the Gagauz people, and the official language of Gagauzia, Republic Salar is a Turkic language spoken by the Salar people who mainly live in the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu in China; some also Qashqai (also spelled Ghashghai, Ghashghayi, Qashqa'i, and Qashqayi) is a Turkic language spoken by the Qashqai, an The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak Qypchaq or Northwestern Turkic languages are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million Kazakh (also Qazaq and variants natively kk Qazaq tili, kk Қазақ тілі; pronounced tˈlə is a Turkic language closely related to Nogai (also Nogay or Nogai Tatar) is a Turkic language spoken in southwestern Russia. Karakalpak is a Turkic language mainly spoken by Karakalpaks in Karakalpakstan ( Uzbekistan) as well as by Bashkirs and Nogay Kyrgyz or Kirghiz (Кыргыз тили Kyrgyz tili, قىرعىز ٴتىلى is a Turkic language, and together with Russian, an official Kyrgyz language holds special place in the group of Kypchak languages. The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak Qypchaq or Northwestern Turkic languages are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million It belongs to the Siberian Turkic languages and keeps grammar similarities with Altay language. Altay is a language of the Turkic group of languages It is an official language of Altai Republic, Russia. It was strongly influenced by the Kypchak languages thus making the mutual understanding possible between Kyrgyz and Kypchak language speakers. The Kypchak languages (also known as the Kipchak Qypchaq or Northwestern Turkic languages are a major branch of the Turkic language family spoken by more than 12 million

Finno-Ugric

• Finnish and Karelian. Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside Karelian is a language closely related to Finnish, with which it is not necessarily Mutually intelligible. Meänkieli and Kven are mutually intelligible, Far Northern Finnish dialects that the respective states (Sweden and Norway) classify as distinct languages for political reasons. Meänkieli (lit "our language" is a Finno-Ugric language spoken in the most northern parts of Sweden around the valley of the Torne River. The Kven language also known as Kvennish, ( suomi, kveenin kieli or recently proposed kainun kieli) is a Finno-Ugric language
• Estonian, Livonian and Votic. Estonian (; ˈeːsti ˈkeːl is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1 Livonian (Līvõ kēļ belongs to the Baltic Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. Votic or Votian is the language spoken by the Votes of Ingria.

Niger-Congo

• Bantu
  • Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, and Northern Ndebele (Nguni languages)
  • Bukusu and Masaaba
  • Tswana, Pedi and Sotho
  • Nyoro and Tooro
  • Beti, Bulu, Ewondo and Fang (Beti languages)
  • Kwanyama, Ndonga, and Kwambi (Oshiwambo group)
• Mande
  • Bamanankan or Bambara, Jula or Dyula, Mandinka or Mandingo, Maninka or Malinké, and others (Manding languages)

Afro-Asiatic

• Many Berber variants, especially Northern Berber variants (sometimes known collectively as Tamazight)

English Creole

• Manglish and Singlish. The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa 's largest in terms of geographical area number of speakers and number The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family Zulu (called isiZulu in Zulu is a Language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers the vast majority (over 95% of whom live in South Xhosa (ˈkǁʰoːsa ( isiXhosa) is one of the Official languages of South Africa. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and The Northern Ndebele language, or isiNdebele, or Sindebele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken Nguni languages are mostly spoken by Nguni people, which are group of clans and nations living in south-east Africa Bukusu (native name Lubukusu) is a Bantu language spoken by the Bukusu people of western Kenya. The Bamasaaba are a Bantu people inhabiting the Eastern Ugandan districts of Sironko Manafwa Manjiya and Mbale. Tswana ( Setswana) is a Bantu language written in the Latin Alphabet. Northern Sotho ( Sesotho sa Leboa in the language itself is one of the official languages of South Africa, and is spoken by nearly five million—4208980 people History Should include probable history of the language what form of Bantu it is most closely derived from (the coolest forms! dates of movement of major groups Nyoro language (autonym Runyoro) is a local language of Nyoro in Uganda. Beti is the language spoken by the Beti-Pahuin group of people who inhabit the Rain forest regions of Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Bulu is the language of the Bulu people of Cameroon. The language had 174000 native speakers in 1982 with some 800000 second language speakers in 1991 Ewondo is the language of the Ewondo people of Cameroon. The language had 577700 native speakers in 1982 Fang (pronounced /fɒŋ/ is an African language spoken by the Fang people. Kwanyama or Oshikwanyama is a National language of Angola and Namibia. Ndonga (also called Oshiwambo, Otjiwambo, or Owambo) is a Bantu language spoken in Namibia and some parts of Oshiwambo or Oshivambo is a cluster of several very closely related languages in Angola and northern Namibia, notably Kwanyama (or Oshikwanyama Ndonga The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara Bambara, also known as Bamanankan in the language itself is a Language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people (including second language users Dioula ( Dyula) is a Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. The Mandinka language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Maninka is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo languages The Manding languages are a fairly mutually intelligible group of dialects or languages in West Africa, belonging to the Mande languages. Nomenclature The term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century and is still used today The Northern Berber languages are a language continuum across the Maghreb that form a sub-family within the Berber languages. Nomenclature The term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century and is still used today Manglish (or sometimes Malglish or Mangled English) is the colloquial version of the English language as spoken in Malaysia and it is a Singlish is a creole Interlanguage native to Malaysia and Singapore.

Constructed languages

Esperanto and Ido are to a degree mutually intelligible. is by far the most widely spoken constructed International auxiliary language in the world Ido (ˈiːdoʊ is a Constructed language created with the goal of becoming a universal second language for speakers of different linguistic backgrounds as a language easier

• Main article: Esperanto and Ido compared

Across language families

• Interlingua (auxiliary language), Catalan, Occitan, standard Italian, Spanish, Ladino, Portuguese, Corsican and Galician (Romance languages) are mutually intelligible to some degree, as are Interlingua, English, and Danish (Germanic languages). This article attempts to highlight the main differences between Esperanto and Ido, two Constructed languages that have a related past but have since parted Interlingua is an International auxiliary language (IAL developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA ^[1]

Spoken form only

Indo-European

• Indo-Iranian
  • Hindi and Urdu (see also Hindustani language), and also Punjabi to a certain degree. Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised Hindustani (हिन्दुस्तानी ہندوستانی Hindustānī, hɪn̪d̪ʊst̪aːniː also known as " Hindi-Urdu," is a term covering However literary Urdu is far closer to Persian and may be unintelligible to a Hindi speaker, in the same manner, Hindi has an increasing number of Sanskrit words, which make it difficult for Urdu speakers to comprehend. This is especially true in Pakistan, where the Persianised Urdu is preferred, and the local population are not as exposed to Sansikritized Hindi as in India. Still in every day speech most Pakistanis are able to converse with most Indians in Urdu easily enough.
  • Bengali, Oriya and Assamese in the standard spoken forms. Oriya (ଓଡ଼ିଆ oṛiā) is one of the Indian Languages mainly spoken in the Indian state of Orissa. Assamese (অসমীয়া) (ɔxɔmija is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language, spoken mainly in the state of Assam in North-East Not all dialects may be mutually intelligible.
• Slavic languages - most neighboring languages are mutually intelligible
  • Belarusian and Ukrainian with Russian and, to a more limited degree, with Polish
  • Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Bosnian or Serbian (which are sometimes all considered the same language) show a limited degree of asymmetrical mutual intelligibility with Polish: speakers of these languages seem to understand Polish more easily than the other way round. The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The Serbo-Croatian language or Croato-Serbian language (cрпскохрватски језик srpskohrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic Diasystem Croatian language ( hrvatski jezik) is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina in neighbouring Bosnian language (Bosnian bosanski jezik) sometimes referred as Bosniak language or Bosniac language is a South Slavic language native Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland.
  • It is said that Slovak is the most easily understood by other Slavs of all Slavic languages, due to its central location and grammar. The Slovak language ( slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with Slovenščina) sometimes referred to as "Slovakian" [2]
• Germanic
  • German and Yiddish. Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High
• Romance
  • Speakers of Portuguese can usually understand Spanish better than Spanish speakers can understand Portuguese. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal.
  • Rioplatense Spanish speakers can reportedly understand Italian better than other Spanish speakers. Rioplatense Spanish ( Spanish: Español rioplatense, although locally known as castellano rioplatense Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy.
  • Speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, especially those of the South and South-East can reportedly understand spoken Standard Italian quite well. Brazilian Portuguese ( Language code pt-BR Portuguese: português brasileiro or português do Brasil) is a group of Portuguese Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy.

Dravidian

• Tamil and Malayalam are mutually intelligible. Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. Not to be confused with the Malay language. Malayalam (മലയാളം malayāḷaṁ) is a Dravidian language used Any Malayali in Tamil Nadu, and any Tamilian in Kerala or Lakshadweep understands the local language easily. This is due to the common origin of these languages.

Turkic

• Uzbek and Uyghur of the Chagatay group
• Speakers of Azeri and Turkish can easily understand each other. Uzbek ( O‘zbek tili or O'zbekcha in Latin script, Ўзбек тили in Cyrillic script; أۇزبېك ﺗﻴﻠی in Arabic Uyghur (/ ug-Latn Uyƣurqə/ug-Cyrl Уйғурчә, or / ug-Latn Uyƣur tili/ug-Cyrl Уйғур

Semitic

• Modern Hebrew and Aramaic speakers can usually learn the other's language with minimum difficulty, and those who speak it can understand each other with moderate difficulty. Aramaic is a Semitic language with

Written form only

Semitic

• Maltese and Maghrebi Arabic especially Tunisian Arabic if written in the same script. Maltese (Maltese Malti is the National language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English, Maghrebi Arabic is a cover term for the varieties of Arabic spoken in the Maghreb, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Tunisian Arabic is a Maghrebi Dialect of the Arabic language, spoken by some 11 million people
• Modern Hebrew speakers can generally read Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew with little difficulty. Biblical Hebrew, also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language in which the Hebrew Bible and various Israelite inscriptions The term Mishnaic Hebrew refers to the Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud, excepting quotations from the Hebrew Bible

Sino-Tibetan

• All Chinese languages share the same written standard. Spoken Chinese ( comprises many regional variants the largest of which are Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. Written Chinese comprises the written symbols used to represent Spoken Chinese and the rules about how they are arranged and punctuated However, this is not the case if vernacularisms or direct representations of the spoken forms are used.
• Speakers of any modern Chinese dialects have little difficulty in reading post-Warring States classical Chinese literature usually upon completion of secondary education. The Warring States Period ( also known as the Era of Warring States covers the period from some time in the 5th century BC to the unification of China by the Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of Written Chinese based on the Grammar and Vocabulary of ancient Chinese Australia See also Education

Across language families

• Written Chinese can be read to some degree by Koreans familiar with hanja, the style of Korean writing using Chinese characters. Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated
• Written Chinese can usually be read to a limited degree by those proficient in Japanese; the reverse can be true to a lesser extent although the wide use of phonetic characters (kana) in written Japanese hinder this. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts Kanji, characters of Chinese origin, Hiragana
• Native speakers of Arabic can read a large number of words in Persian (Farsi) due to the large number of loan words that originated from Arabic and the use of the same alphabet, although not enough to follow the meaning of the whole text. The reverse is also true if the text is written in standard Arabic, but Iranians probably can't read anything written in one of the national dialects, and certainly not if the text is written in the Latin alphabet (an increasingly common practice among Arabs these days in internet chat rooms, email and txt messaging)

Indo-European

• Germanic
  • Those proficient in Icelandic can read Old Norse with little difficulty, about as easily as Shakespeare for modern English speakers. Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age William Shakespeare ( baptised [3]
  • Icelandic and Faroese. Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf Icelanders can read Faroese without much difficulty.
  • Those proficient in Swedish, Norwegian or Danish can understand at least simpler things in written Dutch
• Celtic
  • Scottish Gaelic and Irish, sister variants of the Goidelic Celtic branch, see the Differences between Scottish Gaelic and Irish
  • Cornish and some southern Welsh dialects, sister languages of the Brythonic Celtic branch
• Romance
  • Though their degrees of mutual intelligibility vary in spoken form, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Catalan and Interlingua are highly mutually intelligible in written form. Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. The Goidelic languages, (also sometimes called particularly in colloquial situations the Gaelic languages or collectively Gaelic) historically formed a Dialect Scottish Gaelic is closely related to Irish, although most Dialects are not mutually comprehensible. For the Cornish-English dialect see West Country dialects and List of Cornish dialect words. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic The Brythonic languages (or Brittonic languages or British languages) form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family the other being Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Interlingua is an International auxiliary language (IAL developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA Romanian is more difficult for other Romance speakers but still readable to some extent, especially if Franco-Italian words are used rather than Slavic words. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance
  • Native Portuguese speakers usually read Spanish seamlessly, with the help of a dictionary for less common words or words derived from archaic (for Portuguese) root forms. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. A dictionary is a book of alphabetically listed Words in a specific language with definitions etymologies pronunciations and other information or a book of alphabetically
  • Most written Romance languages are moderately intelligible to English speakers (mostly words, not sentences), because of the presence of thousands of Romance words in the English language. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States See Norman Conquest.
• Slavic languages written in Cyrillic alphabet are intelligible to a medium degree. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages The Cyrillic alphabet (səˈrɪlɪk also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters is actually a family of Alphabets, subsets of which are used by It affects relation between East Slavic languages (Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Rusyn) and South Slavic languages (Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian and Bulgarian). The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of Slavic languages, currently spoken in Eastern Europe. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. Rusyn (ry русинськый язык) is an East Slavic language (along with Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, with which it shares South Slavic languages comprise one of the three geographical groups of Slavic languages (besides West and East Slavic) Serbian (sr-Cyrl српски језик sr-Latn ''srpski jezik'' is a South Slavic language, Bosnian language (Bosnian bosanski jezik) sometimes referred as Bosniak language or Bosniac language is a South Slavic language native Macedonian () is the official Language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Bulgarian (български език IPA: ɛzˈik is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group
• Educated speakers of Modern Greek can read Classical Greek with little difficulty, though even natural speakers of Greek will have much more difficulties reading Classical Greek if they didn't attend a Greek school or were otherwise educated in the language. Modern Greek (el Νέα Ελληνικά or el Νεοελληνική lit The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c (For instance, children of Greek parents living in a foreign country) This is mainly due to the great changes in vocabulary: Someone who was raised in Greece will easily understand the Classical Greek word "oikos", meaning "house", unlike a Greek native speaker who was raised in another country, because the Modern Greek word for "house" is "spiti".

Sign languages

• British Sign Language, Auslan and New Zealand Sign Language are mutually intelligible to some degree. British Sign Language ( BSL) is the Sign language used in the United Kingdom (UK and is the first or preferred language of Deaf people in the Auslan is the Sign language of the Australian Deaf community. New Zealand Sign Language or NZSL is the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand.
• Catalan Sign Language, Valencian Sign Language and Spanish Sign Language are mutually intelligible to a very basic degree. Llengua de Signes Catalana in Catalan, Lengua de señas o signos catalana in Spanish, Catalan Sign Language, Catalonian Sign language Valencian Sign Language ( LSCV or LSPV) is a Sign language used by people with hearing impairments in the Valencian Community, Spain Spanish Sign language ( Lengua de signos o señas española) is a language used mainly by Deaf people in Spain and the people who live with them

List of selected related languages not mutually intelligible

Indo-European

• Many Germanic languages, though related, are generally not mutually intelligible. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family.
  • The Frisian languages are the closest living indisputably separate languages to English (though Scots and English, descendants of Old English, are of course even closer to each other), both being descended from the Anglo-Frisian group. The Frisian languages are a closely related group of Germanic languages, spoken by about 500000 members of Frisian Ethnic groups who live on the southern English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Scots ( The Scots leid) refers to Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland and Northern English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The Anglo-Frisian languages (sometimes Insular Germanic) are a group of Ingvaeonic West Germanic languages consisting of Old English The two languages are not mutually intelligible, but there is some evidence that Northumbrian and Frisian sailors could partly understand each other until recent times. West Frisian is mutually intelligible with Dutch to a certain extent. West Frisian ( Frysk) is a Language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland ( Fryslân) in the north of the Netherlands. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname
  • Due to geographical isolation and extensive French and Latin vocabulary, English is not mutually intelligible with any other Germanic language (unless Scots is considered a language rather than a dialect of English). Scots ( The Scots leid) refers to Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland and Northern
  • Swedish-, Norwegian-, and Danish-speakers have difficulty understanding Icelandic and Faroese, especially in speech. Icelandic ( is a North Germanic language, the language of Iceland. Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf
  • Faroese-speakers too have difficulties understanding Icelandic and vice versa, despite the similarities in grammar and vocabulary. (However, the phonetic differences are fairly extreme. )
  • Old English is mostly unintelligible to speakers of Modern English, due in part to the loss of inflection in Middle English and to the highly variable spelling which is often quite different from Modern English, not to mention three extra letters in the alphabet not present in Modern English. In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice However, George Saintsbury, assistant translator of Oxen in the Sun, is known for his belief that "any intelligent person ought to be able to read and understand Old English without recourse to dictionaries or other handbooks. " ^[4]. Middle English is intelligible to Modern English speakers in its written form, but not its spoken form.
• Romance languages:
  • French is not mutually intelligible with other Romance languages, due to its uniquely divergent characteristics in phonology. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people
  • Romanian is typically not mutually intelligible with Spanish, Portuguese or French, though Romanian speakers seem to understand these spoken languages to a certain degree. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance
• Latvian and Lithuanian, the two biggest surviving Baltic languages, are not mutually intelligible, despite having similar grammar. Latvian language (latviešu valoda is the official state language of Latvia. Lithuanian ( lietuvių kalba) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Lithuanian can be intelligible to a Latvian speaker to some degree but not vice versa.
• Standard Greek is generally not mutually intelligible with dialects that developed in isolated communities, such as Griko and Pontic Greek. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The linguistic varieties of Modern Greek can be classified along two principal dimensions Griko, sometimes spelled Grico, is a Modern Greek dialect which is spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region in southern Italy, and it Pontic Greek is a form of the Greek language originally spoken in the Pontus area on the southern shores of the Black Sea, and today mainly in Greece
• Slavic languages are related and to various degrees mutually intelligible. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages Asymmetrical mutual intelligibility exists between Bulgarian and Macedonian on one hand and the other Slavic languages on the other. This is because they have different grammars.
  • Slovene is not mutually intelligible with most of the other Slavic languages due to heavy influence from romance languages such as Italian and Venetian. Slovene or Slovenian ( slovenski jezik or slovenščina, not to be confused with Slovenčina) is a South Slavic language An exception is the Kajkavian dialect of Croatian. Croatian Kajkavian dialect ( Croatian: kajkavski, proper name kajkavica or kajkavština) is one of the three main dialects of the Croatian
  • Russian and Polish are largely not mutually intelligible. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Although their grammar and basic words (pronouns, common nouns, etc. ) are very close if not identical, more complex words are often quite different. Ukrainian is mutually intelligible to some degree to both, being believed by many to be an intermediary form in the dialect continuum. Ukrainian (in Ukrainian украї́нська мо́ва ukrayins'ka mova,) is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing

Other language groups

• Many spoken languages and dialects of Chinese are not mutually intelligible, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Min, Wu, Xiang and Gan.
• Old Chinese and Middle Chinese are not mutually intelligible with modern Mandarin due to the changes in pronunciation of many words, and the change in grammar and usage. Old Chinese ( or Archaic Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese spoken from the Shang Dynasty ( Chinese Middle Chinese ( or Ancient Chinese as used by linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern
• In addition, various groups of Min dialects (or languages), for example Min Nan and Min Dong, are not mutually intelligible. The Southern Min language or Min Nan ( POJ: Bân-lâm-gú or "Southern Fujian" language refers to a family of Chinese languages Dialects The Eastern Min language or Min Dong ( Foochow Romanized: Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ is the language mainly spoken in the eastern part of Fujian Province
• Malay and Indonesian are not mutually intelligible with Tagalog or Cebuano. The Malay language ( ISO 639-1 code MS is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people and people of other ethnic groups who reside in the Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia, based on the Riau version of Malay language, was declared the official language with the declaration of Tagalog is one of the major languages used in the Philippines. "Cebuano" redirects here For the inhabitants of Cebu see Cebuano people Cebuano (Cebuano Sinugbuanon, "language
• Most languages of the Philippines such as Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Bikolano and Ilokano are not mutually intelligible with each other, despite the fact they are more closely related compared to other Austronesian Languages, such as Malay and Indonesian. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Tagalog is one of the major languages used in the Philippines. "Cebuano" redirects here For the inhabitants of Cebu see Cebuano people Cebuano (Cebuano Sinugbuanon, "language Hiligaynon (or " Ilonggo " is an Austronesian language spoken in Western Visayas in the Philippines. For the macrolanguage Bikol see Bikol languages. Bikol refers to Central Bicolano (also known as Bikol Central To view the Ilokano edition of this Wikipedia article select from the in other languages section to the side of this page The Malay language ( ISO 639-1 code MS is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people and people of other ethnic groups who reside in the Indonesian or Bahasa Indonesia, based on the Riau version of Malay language, was declared the official language with the declaration of
• Hungarian and Finnish or Estonian are not mutually intelligible to any extent. Hungarian ( magyar nyelv) is a Uralic language (more specifically a Ugric language) unrelated to most other languages in Europe. Finnish ( or suomen kieli) is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland (92% As of 2006) and by ethnic Finns outside Estonian (; ˈeːsti ˈkeːl is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1 They are also not mutually intelligible with the Uralic languages spoken in Russia. The Uralic languages (jʊˈrælɨk constitute a language family of 39 Languages spoken by approximately 20 million people The two exceptions are Finnish-Karelian and Estonian-Votic mutual intelligibilities. With effort, Estonian speakers can learn to understand Finnish (and vice versa) rather quickly, but this is not to be confused with true mutual intelligibility, the ability to understand without special effort. In terms of time since the split of the common proto-language, the distance between the languages is approximately similar to the distance between German and English for Finnish with Estonian, and English-Hindi for the distance between Finnish and Hungarian.
• Modern Hebrew and Arabic are historically related and share many grammatical roots, forms and items of vocabulary, but are not mutually intelligible. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The similarity is sufficient, however, to make learning Hebrew easier for Arabic speakers and vice-versa.
• Many Nahuan dialects are neither intelligible with one another nor their ancestor language, Classical Nahuatl, even though all such dialects (including Classical Nahuatl) are commonly treated as a single Nahuatl language. The Uto Aztecan Nahuatl language can be grouped into two rough dialect continua, labelled the central and the peripheral dialects Classical Nahuatl (also known as Aztec, and simply Nahuatl) is a term used to describe the variants of the Nahuatl language that were spoken in the Nahuatl ( is a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan or Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family

List of selected mutually intelligible languages now extinct

• Biblical Hebrew, Moabite, Edomite, Ammonite and Phoenician. Biblical Hebrew, also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language in which the Hebrew Bible and various Israelite inscriptions The Moabite language is an extinct Canaanite language spoken in Moab (modern-day northwestern Jordan) in the early first millennium BC The Edomite language was a Canaanite language spoken by the Edomites in southwestern Jordan in the first millennium BC The Ammonite language is the extinct Hebrew Canaanite language of the Ammonite people mentioned in the Bible, who used to live in modern-day Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called Pūt in Ancient Egyptian Canaan in Phoenician, Hebrew, and The first four of these formed the closely-related South Canaanite language language group and are sometimes termed "Hebrew languages".
• Various Germanic languages in antiquity and the early Middle Ages, including Old Norse, Old English, Old Saxon, and the Gothic languages (Gothic, Burgundian, and Vandalic). The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean The Early Middle Ages is a period in the History of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German ( ISO 639 -3 code osx) is the earliest recorded form of Low German, documented from the 9th century The East Germanic languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages in the Germanic family. Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. Vandalic was a Germanic language probably closely related to the Gothic language.
• Faroese (not extinct) and Norn
• Latin (nearly extinct) and Faliscan
• Dalmatian and eastern Italian variants may have had some intelligibility
• Vedic Sanskrit and Avestan

See also

• Lexical similarity
• Non-convergent discourse
• Multilingualism
• Identification of the varieties of Chinese
• Differences between Norwegian Bokmål and Standard Danish
• Differences between Scottish Gaelic and Irish
• Differences between Spanish and Portuguese
• Differences in standard Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian
• Differences between Malay and Indonesian
• Dialect continuum
• Dialect levelling

References

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