Wheel of Languages: Spin One of 126 Languages

Spin one of 126 living languages, one family at a time, and the card gives its own name for itself, its branch, where it is spoken and its script.

Wheel of Languages: Spin One of 126 Languages

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Spin 1 · number 41

Odia

Its own name is ଓଡ଼ିଆ. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Odisha, India. Odia script.

Every spin uses the whole wheel.

126 languages on the wheel.

Numbers on the wheel

  1. English
  2. German
  3. Dutch
  4. Swedish
  5. Danish
  6. Norwegian
  7. Icelandic
  8. Afrikaans
  9. Yiddish
  10. Luxembourgish
  11. Spanish
  12. French
  13. Portuguese
  14. Italian
  15. Romanian
  16. Catalan
  17. Galician
  18. Russian
  19. Polish
  20. Ukrainian
  21. Czech
  22. Slovak
  23. Bulgarian
  24. Serbian
  25. Croatian
  26. Bosnian
  27. Slovenian
  28. Belarusian
  29. Macedonian
  30. Lithuanian
  31. Latvian
  32. Hindi
  33. Bengali
  34. Urdu
  35. Marathi
  36. Punjabi
  37. Gujarati
  38. Bhojpuri
  39. Nepali
  40. Sinhala
  41. Odia
  42. Assamese
  43. Maithili
  44. Sindhi
  45. Persian
  46. Pashto
  47. Kurdish
  48. Greek
  49. Albanian
  50. Armenian
  51. Irish
  52. Welsh
  53. Scottish Gaelic
  54. Arabic
  55. Hausa
  56. Amharic
  57. Hebrew
  58. Somali
  59. Oromo
  60. Tigrinya
  61. Maltese
  62. Mandarin
  63. Cantonese
  64. Wu Chinese
  65. Hokkien
  66. Hakka
  67. Burmese
  68. Tibetan
  69. Indonesian
  70. Malay
  71. Tagalog
  72. Javanese
  73. Sundanese
  74. Cebuano
  75. Malagasy
  76. Māori
  77. Hawaiian
  78. Samoan
  79. Fijian
  80. Tongan
  81. Telugu
  82. Tamil
  83. Kannada
  84. Malayalam
  85. Tulu
  86. Gondi
  87. Turkish
  88. Azerbaijani
  89. Uzbek
  90. Kazakh
  91. Uyghur
  92. Turkmen
  93. Kyrgyz
  94. Tatar
  95. Swahili
  96. Yoruba
  97. Igbo
  98. Zulu
  99. Xhosa
  100. Shona
  101. Fula
  102. Wolof
  103. Kinyarwanda
  104. Lingala
  105. Akan
  106. Sesotho
  107. Japanese
  108. Korean
  109. Vietnamese
  110. Khmer
  111. Thai
  112. Lao
  113. Hungarian
  114. Finnish
  115. Estonian
  116. Georgian
  117. Mongolian
  118. Basque
  119. Quechua
  120. Guarani
  121. Navajo
  122. Nahuatl
  123. Greenlandic
  124. Cherokee
  125. Haitian Creole
  126. Nigerian Pidgin

Results

  1. 1. Odia

Tip: the space bar and the Enter key spin the wheel, and so does a tap on the wheel itself. Press again to skip to the result.

Next step Spin an animal, then find its name in this languageSpin a letter, then find a word

Wheel of Languages: Spin One of 126 Languages: how it works

This wheel of languages holds 126 living languages in 12 groups by family: 10 Germanic, 7 Romance, 14 Slavic and Baltic, 13 Indo-Aryan, 12 Austronesian, 12 Niger-Congo and six more. The full wheel is numbered. Tap a family and the slices carry the names. Each card starts with the language's own name for itself, then gives the family and branch, where it is spoken and its script.

Pick a family: the map will mislead you

Family means ancestry, not geography. Maltese is Semitic, filed with Arabic and Hebrew. Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian are Uralic, unlike the Germanic and Slavic languages around them. Basque is an isolate with no known relatives. Malagasy, from Madagascar, is Austronesian like Hawaiian. Hindi and Persian share a family with English.

Games and uses for a language wheel

Own-name quiz: read out the name at the top of the card, Deutsch or Kiswahili or Nihongo, and have the class say which language it is. Family quiz: read the English name and ask for the family or the script. Polyglot challenge: switch to Elimination and learn hello in each language you land on, with no repeats.

Tips

  • Script hunt: spin until you have five different scripts. Ge'ez for Amharic, Hangul for Korean and the Cherokee syllabary all count.
  • Running it all week? Tally counts each language the class lands on.
  • Own names rarely match the English ones: suomi is Finnish, euskara is Basque, shqip is Albanian and Cymraeg is Welsh.

Questions and answers

Which languages are on the wheel?

126 living languages. Every language on Ethnologue's 2026 list of those with 50 million or more speakers is here, as Wikipedia gives it. The rest widen the wheel to 20 families, from Navajo to Tongan, plus Basque, an isolate, and two creoles. Own names come from each language's Wikipedia article, read on 2026-09-19. Latin, Sanskrit, Esperanto and sign languages are left out, and no speaker counts are printed.

Which languages on the wheel are official EU or UN languages?

The six official United Nations languages are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The European Union has 24, and each card gives the year: 1958 for Dutch, French, German and Italian, 2013 for Croatian, the newest. Irish and Maltese are on the list. Luxembourgish, Catalan and Welsh are not.

Which languages on the wheel are written in more than one script?

Thirteen cards name two. Serbian and Bosnian use Cyrillic and Latin. Punjabi is Gurmukhi in India and Shahmukhi in Pakistan. Persian is Cyrillic in Tajikistan and the Persian alphabet in Iran and Afghanistan. Japanese mixes three: kanji, hiragana and katakana. At the other end, 65 of the 126 use the Latin script alone.

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All 126 languages

Dravidian 6

  • Gondi Its speakers call it Koitur, and Gondi is written गोण्डि in Devanagari. South-Central Dravidian language. Spoken in India. Devanagari and Telugu scripts.
  • Kannada Its own name is ಕನ್ನಡ. South Dravidian language. Spoken in Karnataka, India. Kannada script.
  • Malayalam Its own name is മലയാളം (malayāḷaṁ). South Dravidian language. Spoken in Kerala, India. Malayalam script.
  • Tamil Its own name is தமிழ் (Tamiḻ). South Dravidian language. Spoken in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil script.
  • Telugu Its own name is తెలుగు. South-Central Dravidian language. Spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India. Telugu script.
  • Tulu Its own name is ತುಳು ಬಾಸೆ in Kannada script. South Dravidian language. Spoken in Karnataka and Kerala, India. Kannada and Tigalari scripts.

Romance 7

  • Catalan Its own name is català, or valencià in Valencia. Romance language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Spain and Andorra. Latin script.
  • French Its own name is français. Romance language, Indo-European family. Spoken in France, Belgium, Canada and Francophone Africa. Latin script. Official in the EU since 1958 and one of the six UN languages.
  • Galician Its own name is galego. Romance language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Galicia, Spain. Latin script.
  • Italian Its own name is italiano. Romance language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Italy, Switzerland and San Marino. Latin script. Official EU language since 1958.
  • Portuguese Its own name is português. Romance language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Mozambique. Latin script. Official EU language since 1986.
  • Romanian Its own name is limba română. Romance language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Romania and Moldova. Latin script. Official EU language since 2007.
  • Spanish Its own name is español or castellano. Romance language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Spain, Hispanic America and Equatorial Guinea. Latin script. Official in the EU since 1986 and one of the six UN languages.

Sino-Tibetan 7

  • Burmese Its own name is မြန်မာဘာသာစကား. Lolo-Burmese language, Sino-Tibetan family. Spoken in Myanmar. Burmese alphabet.
  • Cantonese Its own name is 廣東話 (Gwóngdūngwá). Sinitic language, Sino-Tibetan family. Spoken in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong, China. Chinese characters.
  • Hakka Its own name is 客家话 (Hak-kâ-va). Sinitic language, Sino-Tibetan family. Spoken in southeast China and Taiwan. Chinese characters.
  • Hokkien In Chinese characters it is 福建話 (Hok-kiàn-ōe). Sinitic language, Sino-Tibetan family. Spoken in Fujian, China, and in Taiwan.
  • Mandarin Mandarin Chinese. In Chinese it is 官話 (Guānhuà), which means officials' speech. Sinitic language, Sino-Tibetan family. Spoken in China, Taiwan and Singapore. Chinese characters. One of the six official UN languages, as Chinese.
  • Tibetan Its own name is བོད་སྐད་. Tibetic language, Sino-Tibetan family. The Lhasa standard, spoken in Tibet. Tibetan script.
  • Wu Chinese Its own name is 吳語, or 吴语 in simplified characters. Sinitic language, Sino-Tibetan family. Spoken in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, China. Often called Shanghainese. Chinese characters.

Afro-Asiatic 8

  • Amharic Its own name is አማርኛ (Amarəñña). Semitic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken in Ethiopia. Ge'ez script.
  • Arabic Its own name is اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ (al-ʿarabiyyatu). Semitic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken across the Arab world. Arabic alphabet. One of the six official UN languages.
  • Hausa Its own name is Harshen Hausa. Chadic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken in Nigeria and Niger. Latin script.
  • Hebrew Its own name is עִבְרִית (Ivrit). Semitic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken in Israel. Hebrew alphabet.
  • Maltese Its own name is Malti. Semitic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken in Malta. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Oromo Its own name is Afaan Oromoo. Cushitic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken in Ethiopia and Kenya. Latin script.
  • Somali Its own name is Af Soomaali. Cushitic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Latin script.
  • Tigrinya Its own name is ትግርኛ (Təgrəñña). Semitic language, Afro-Asiatic family. Spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Ge'ez script.

Turkic 8

  • Azerbaijani Its own name is Azərbaycan dili, or آذربایجان دیلی in Perso-Arabic. Oghuz language, Turkic family. Spoken in Azerbaijan and Iran. Latin script in Azerbaijan, Perso-Arabic in Iran.
  • Kazakh Its own name is қазақша. Kipchak language, Turkic family. Spoken in Kazakhstan. Cyrillic script.
  • Kyrgyz Its own name is Кыргыз тили. Kipchak language, Turkic family. Spoken in Kyrgyzstan. Cyrillic script.
  • Tatar Its own name is татар теле. Kipchak language, Turkic family. Spoken in Tatarstan, Russia. Cyrillic script.
  • Turkish Its own name is Türkçe. Oghuz language, Turkic family. Spoken in Turkey and Cyprus. Latin script.
  • Turkmen Its own name is türkmençe. Oghuz language, Turkic family. Spoken in Turkmenistan. Latin script.
  • Uyghur Its own name is ئۇيغۇرچە (Uyghurche). Karluk language, Turkic family. Spoken in Xinjiang, China. Perso-Arabic script.
  • Uzbek Its own name is Oʻzbekcha in Latin letters and Ўзбекча in Cyrillic. Karluk language, Turkic family. Spoken in Uzbekistan. Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

Other Indo-European 9

  • Albanian Its own name is shqip. Indo-European family, a branch of its own. Spoken in Albania and Kosovo. Latin script.
  • Armenian Its own name is հայերեն. Indo-European family, a branch of its own. Spoken in Armenia. Armenian alphabet.
  • Greek Its own name is ελληνικά (elliniká). Hellenic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Greece and Cyprus. Greek alphabet. Official EU language since 1981.
  • Irish Its own name is Gaeilge. Celtic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Ireland. Latin script. Official EU language since 2007.
  • Kurdish Its own name is Kurdî in Latin letters and کوردی in Perso-Arabic. Iranian language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Latin and Perso-Arabic scripts.
  • Pashto Its own name is پښتو (Pax̌tó). Iranian language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pashto alphabet.
  • Persian Its own name is فارسی (Fārsī). Iranian language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Iran, in Afghanistan as Dari and in Tajikistan as Tajik. Persian alphabet in Iran and Afghanistan, Cyrillic in Tajikistan.
  • Scottish Gaelic Its own name is Gàidhlig. Celtic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Scotland. Latin script.
  • Welsh Its own name is Cymraeg. Celtic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Wales. Latin script.

Germanic 10

  • Afrikaans An estimated 90 to 95 percent of its vocabulary is of Dutch origin. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in South Africa and Namibia. Latin script.
  • Danish Its own name is dansk. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Denmark. Latin script. Official EU language since 1973.
  • Dutch Its own name is Nederlands. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname. Latin script. Official EU language since 1958.
  • English Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Britain after Roman rule ended. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and beyond. Latin script. Official in the EU since 1973 and one of the six UN languages.
  • German Its own name is Deutsch. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Latin script. Official EU language since 1958.
  • Icelandic Its own name is íslenska. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Iceland. Latin script.
  • Luxembourgish Its own name is Lëtzebuergesch. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Luxembourg. Latin script.
  • Norwegian Its own name is norsk. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Norway. Latin script.
  • Swedish Its own name is svenska. Germanic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Sweden and Finland. Latin script. Official EU language since 1995.
  • Yiddish Its own name is ייִדיש (yidish). Germanic language, Indo-European family. Historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. Hebrew alphabet.

Austronesian 12

  • Cebuano Its own name is Sinugboanon, or informally Bisayâ. Malayo-Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in the Philippines. Latin script.
  • Fijian Its own name is Vosa Vaka-Viti. Oceanic language, Austronesian family. Spoken in Fiji. Latin script.
  • Hawaiian Its own name is ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi. Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in Hawaii. Latin script.
  • Indonesian Its own name is bahasa Indonesia. Malayo-Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in Indonesia. Latin script.
  • Javanese Its own name is Basa Jawa, or ꦧꦱꦗꦮ in Javanese script. Malayo-Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken on Java, Indonesia. Latin and Javanese scripts.
  • Malagasy Its own name is malagasy. Malayo-Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in Madagascar. Latin script.
  • Malay Its own name is Bahasa Melayu, or بهاس ملايو in Jawi. Malayo-Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. Latin and Jawi scripts.
  • Māori Its own name is te reo Māori. Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in New Zealand. Latin script.
  • Samoan Its own name is Gagana faʻa Sāmoa. Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in Samoa and American Samoa. Latin script.
  • Sundanese Its own name is Basa Sunda. Malayo-Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in the west of Java, Indonesia. Latin and Sundanese scripts.
  • Tagalog Its own name is Wikang Tagalog. Malayo-Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in the Philippines, where its standard form is called Filipino. Latin script.
  • Tongan Its own name is lea faka-Tonga. Polynesian language, Austronesian family. Spoken in Tonga. Latin script.

Niger-Congo 12

  • Akan Its speakers call it Twi or Fante. Kwa language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Ghana. Latin script.
  • Fula Its own name is Fulfulde or Pulaar. Senegambian language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken across West Africa. Latin script.
  • Igbo Its own name is Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò. Volta-Niger language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Nigeria. Latin script.
  • Kinyarwanda Its own name is Ikinyarwanda. Bantu language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Rwanda. Latin script.
  • Lingala Its own name is Lingála. Bantu language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. Latin script.
  • Sesotho Its own name is Sesotho. Bantu language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Lesotho and South Africa. Latin script.
  • Shona Its own name is chiShona. Bantu language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Zimbabwe. Latin script.
  • Swahili Its own name is Kiswahili. Bantu language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Latin script.
  • Wolof Its own name is Wolof làkk. Senegambian language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Senegal and the Gambia. Latin script.
  • Xhosa Its own name is isiXhosa. Bantu language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in South Africa. Latin script.
  • Yoruba Its own name is Èdè Yorùbá. Volta-Niger language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in Nigeria and Benin. Latin script.
  • Zulu Its own name is isiZulu. Bantu language, Niger-Congo family. Spoken in South Africa. Latin script.

Indo-Aryan 13

  • Assamese Its own name is অসমীয়া. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Assam, India. Assamese alphabet.
  • Bengali Its own name is বাংলা (Bāṅlā). Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Bangladesh and India. Bengali alphabet.
  • Bhojpuri Its own name is भोजपुरी. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in India and Nepal. Devanagari script.
  • Gujarati Its own name is ગુજરાતી (Gujarātī). Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Gujarat, India. Gujarati script.
  • Hindi Its own name is हिन्दी (Hindī). Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in India. Devanagari script.
  • Maithili Its own name is मैथिली in Devanagari. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in India and Nepal. Devanagari script.
  • Marathi Its own name is मराठी (Marāṭhī). Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Maharashtra, India. Devanagari script.
  • Nepali Its own name is नेपाली. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Nepal. Devanagari script.
  • Odia Its own name is ଓଡ଼ିଆ. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Odisha, India. Odia script.
  • Punjabi Its own name is ਪੰਜਾਬੀ in Gurmukhi and پنجابی in Shahmukhi. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Pakistan and India. Gurmukhi script in India, Shahmukhi in Pakistan.
  • Sindhi Its own name is سِنڌِي. Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Pakistan and India. Perso-Arabic script.
  • Sinhala Its own name is සිංහල භාෂාව (Siṁhala Bhāṣāva). Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Sri Lanka. Sinhala script.
  • Urdu Its own name is اُردُو (Urdū). Indo-Aryan language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Pakistan and India. Urdu alphabet, a Perso-Arabic script.

Slavic and Baltic 14

  • Belarusian Its own name is беларуская мова. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Belarus. Cyrillic script.
  • Bosnian Its own name is bosanski, or босански in Cyrillic. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Latin and Cyrillic scripts.
  • Bulgarian Its own name is български език. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Bulgaria. Cyrillic script. Official EU language since 2007.
  • Croatian Its own name is hrvatski. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Croatia. Latin script. Official EU language since 2013.
  • Czech Its own name is čeština. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in the Czech Republic. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Latvian Its own name is latviešu valoda. Baltic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Latvia. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Lithuanian Its own name is lietuvių kalba. Baltic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Lithuania. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Macedonian Its own name is македонски (makedonski). Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in North Macedonia. Cyrillic script.
  • Polish Its own name is polski. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Poland. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Russian Its own name is русский (russkiy). Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Cyrillic script. One of the six official UN languages.
  • Serbian Its own name is српски in Cyrillic and srpski in Latin letters. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Serbia. Cyrillic and Latin scripts.
  • Slovak Its own name is slovenčina. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Slovakia. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Slovenian Its own name is slovenščina. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Slovenia. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Ukrainian Its own name is українська мова. Slavic language, Indo-European family. Spoken in Ukraine. Cyrillic script.

Other families 20

  • Basque Its own name is euskara. A language isolate, with no known relatives. Spoken in the Basque Country of Spain and France. Latin script.
  • Cherokee Its own name is ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ (Tsalagi Gawonihisdi). Iroquoian family. Spoken in Oklahoma and North Carolina, United States. Cherokee syllabary.
  • Estonian Its own name is eesti keel. Finnic language, Uralic family. Spoken in Estonia. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Finnish Its own name is suomi. Finnic language, Uralic family. Spoken in Finland. Latin script. Official EU language since 1995.
  • Georgian Its own name is ქართული ენა (kartuli ena). Kartvelian family. Spoken in Georgia. Georgian script.
  • Greenlandic Its own name is kalaallisut. Inuit language, Eskaleut family. Spoken in Greenland. Latin script.
  • Guarani Its own name is avañeʼẽ. Tupi-Guarani language, Tupian family. Spoken in Paraguay. Latin script.
  • Haitian Creole Its own name is kreyòl ayisyen. A French-based creole language. Spoken in Haiti. Latin script.
  • Hungarian Its own name is magyar nyelv. Ugric language, Uralic family. Spoken in Hungary. Latin script. Official EU language since 2004.
  • Japanese Its own name is 日本語 (Nihongo). Japonic family. Spoken in Japan. Kanji, hiragana and katakana.
  • Khmer Its own name is ភាសាខ្មែរ (Phéasa Khmêr). Austroasiatic family. Spoken in Cambodia. Khmer script.
  • Korean Its own name is 한국어 (Hangugeo) in South Korea and 조선어 (Chosŏnŏ) in North Korea. Koreanic family. Spoken in South Korea and North Korea. Hangul.
  • Lao Its own name is ພາສາລາວ (phasa Lao). Tai language, Kra-Dai family. Spoken in Laos. Lao script.
  • Mongolian Its own name is Монгол хэл in Cyrillic. Mongolic family. Spoken in Mongolia. Cyrillic and Mongolian scripts.
  • Nahuatl Its own name is Nawatlahtolli. Nahuan language, Uto-Aztecan family. Spoken in Mexico. Latin script.
  • Navajo Its own name is Diné bizaad. Athabaskan language, Na-Dene family. Spoken in the Navajo Nation, United States. Latin script.
  • Nigerian Pidgin Also known simply as Pidgin, and as Naijá in scholarship. An English-based creole language. Spoken in Nigeria. Latin script.
  • Quechua Its own name is Runa simi in Southern Quechua. Quechuan, a family of related languages from the Andes. Spoken in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.
  • Thai Its own name is ภาษาไทย (Phasa Thai). Tai language, Kra-Dai family. Spoken in Thailand. Thai script.
  • Vietnamese Its own name is tiếng Việt. Vietic language, Austroasiatic family. Spoken in Vietnam. Latin script.

How this list was compiled: An original selection of 126 living languages made for this site on 2026-09-18, in 12 groups by language family: 10 Germanic, 7 Romance, 14 Slavic and Baltic, 13 Indo-Aryan, 9 Other Indo-European, 8 Afro-Asiatic, 7 Sino-Tibetan, 12 Austronesian, 6 Dravidian, 8 Turkic, 12 Niger-Congo, 20 Other families. The Indo-European family is split into its Germanic, Romance, Slavic and Baltic, and Indo-Aryan branches so that no group is too big to read on a wheel. The family, branch, writing system and places on each card were checked by script against the opening section (infobox and first paragraphs) of that language's own article on English Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org, fetched through the Wikipedia API and checked 2026-09-18; a claim the script could not find there was corrected or left out. The selection includes all 24 official languages of the European Union, with the year each became official, from european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/languages_en (checked 2026-09-18), and the six official languages of the United Nations from un.org/en/our-work/official-languages (checked 2026-09-18); the UN lists Chinese, which appears here as Mandarin. It also covers every language that Ethnologue's 2026 list credits with 50 million or more speakers, as given at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers (checked 2026-09-18): that list has 38 entries, and because it counts Modern Standard, Egyptian, Levantine and Sudanese Arabic separately they become 35 languages here. No speaker counts are printed, because they change with every edition and the sources disagree. Left out on purpose: extinct and classical languages such as Latin and Sanskrit, constructed languages such as Esperanto, and sign languages, which deserve a list of their own. The Persian card gives the Persian alphabet for Iran and Afghanistan and Cyrillic, the Tajik alphabet, for Tajikistan, as the infobox at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language lists them (re-read 2026-09-18). Basque is a language isolate and Haitian Creole and Nigerian Pidgin are creoles, so the page counts 20 families, one isolate and two creoles. Own names were added on 2026-09-19: 124 of the 126 cards now begin with the name the language has for itself, in its own script where there is one, with the romanization the article gives. The Akan card gives the two names its speakers use, Twi and Fante, and the Gondi card gives Koitur. Each was read from the infobox, or where the infobox gives none from the opening paragraph, of the same Wikipedia article, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by the article title, fetched through the Wikipedia API and checked 2026-09-19; a script then confirmed that every name printed appears letter for letter in the fetched article. English and Afrikaans carry no such line because the English name is already the language's own; the English card says where the name comes from and the Afrikaans card how much of its vocabulary is Dutch, both from the opening paragraphs of the same articles (checked 2026-09-19). Where an article gives the name in a script few phones can draw, the card uses the Latin or Cyrillic form the same article gives (Javanese in both, Sundanese, Tagalog, Fula, Mongolian). The Nigerian Pidgin card says only what that article's first sentence says, that Naijá is the name used in scholarship. Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence; only facts were taken, and every card is written in our own words. Licence: own work