February 21 is recognised by the United Nations as International Mother Language Day to promote and celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity. It honours protesting students who were shot and killed by police in then East Pakistan on February 21, 1952. They were opposing the Pakistani state’s imposition of Urdu as the sole official language on the overwhelmingly Bengali-speaking East Pakistan. The language movement finally led to the breakup of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
This is my second quiz on the theme of linguistic divisions and turmoil (and occasionally harmony).
Questions:
1) A was an official language in this country along with B until 2018 when a new law made B the sole ‘state’s language’ while A was demoted to ‘special status’. Name the country and languages A and B. (A is the native language of 20 per cent of the country’s citizens)
2) Reading that Jannik Sinner, winner of the men’s Australian Open in tennis is from Italy piqued my curiosity. He is from a predominantly German-speaking province of Italy. The German language was repressed by Mussolini. Subsequently there was separatist violence in the 1960s. The province was given autonomous status within Italy in 1972. Name the province.
3) After elections threw up a hung parliament in July 2023, the acting Prime Minister’s efforts to cobble together support from regional and separatist parties included allowing the use of three minority languages in parliament for the first time in September 2023, a move denounced by the conservative opposition. Which country?
4) This province made French its sole official language in 1974. In 1977 it mandated that French should be the only language used in outdoor commercial advertising (From 1993 other languages have been allowed, as long as French signage remains). Name the province and country.
5) The parents of Fañch Bernard had to wage a legal battle to keep the ñ with the tilde in the child’s first name. They succeeded in retaining the Breton first name in 2019. Which country?
6) This island’s had one official language since 1945. In 2019 multiple other languages were designated as national languages. The government is also implementing a ‘Bilingual 2030’ policy in an effort to dramatically boost English proficiency. Where?
7) This predominantly English-speaking country recognised an indigenous language as its first official language in 1987. While English is the de facto official language, the country’s current right-wing government has promised to introduce legislation formally making English an official language. Which country?
8) Which country has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh?
9) This ex-Soviet state changed the way its official language is referred to in the constitution and official documents in 2023, overcoming opposition from pro-Russia legislators. The language is effectively the same as the language spoken in the country’s western neighbour, a NATO member (the two countries were merged between the two world wars). Name the language and the two countries.
10) This country was under Spanish colonisation for centuries until 1898. While Spanish was abolished as an official language in 1987, a large number of people in this country have Spanish surnames, a legacy of colonial mandates forcing people to adopt those surnames. Which country?
11) Voters in which country overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to make Russian a second official language in a referendum in 2012?
12) This language is spoken by a minority ethnic group of the same name who live in Laos, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Myanmar. But it does not have official status in any country. Many were forced to emigrate to the U.S. after the community backed the failed American military effort in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s and efforts are being made in the U.S. to preserve the language. Name the language/community.
13) This Pacific country’s constitution in 1997 included a version of Hindi among three official languages, the others being English and the main indigenous language. The country hosted the World Hindi Conference in 2023. Which country?
14) This state in the northernmost tip of Germany was known for a complex territorial dispute in the middle of the 19th century. Then British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston remarked, “Only three people have ever really understood the — - business: the Prince Consort, who is dead; a German professor, who has gone mad; and I, who have forgotten all about it.” Its seizure in 1864 was part of Bismarck’s integration of German-speaking regions into a nation-state. In 2021 SSW, a party representing the main minority community in the state, made it to the Bundestag for the first time in nearly 70 years. Earlier in 2012, SSW was part of the governing coalition in the state, making it the first German state government to include an ethnic-minority party. In an unusual exemption from German party law, the SSW is legally funded by a neighbouring country. Name the German state and the neighbouring country.
15) This Asian country had two major ethnic/linguistic groups as it became independent from Britain in 1948. The majority ethnic group’s language was made the sole official language in 1956. The minority group faced discrimination and separatism gained steam. In 1987 the minority group’s language was reinstated as an official language as part of a failed peace accord that year (the conflict continued until 2009). Name the country and the two languages.
If you find this quiz interesting, inviting you to subscribe to Geopolitico (it’s free). Have a crack at the answers and I look forward to engaging with you on this as well as future quizzes. Alternatively, if the questions make you curious and tempt you to search online instead, go ahead and read up further on the topics!
You can read the answers to my quiz on the same theme from three years ago below.
A bunch of faux pas..Henceforth I shouldn't mix quiz solving & household chores.😅 #TIL Bolzano is the capital of South Tyrol province.
1. Israel, A - Arabic, B - Hebrew
2. the region around Trento/Trentino?
3. Spain
4. Quebec, Canada
5. France? (Brittany province)
8. Switzerland
9. Romanian and Romania, Moldova?
10. Haiti?
11. Lithuania?
13. Fiji
14. Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark
15. Sri Lanka, Sinhalese and Tamil
Great quiz, Joseph, as always.