Languages

Every regional variety, and what changes with it

The 98 varieties people actually name for their own speech, each mapped to its parent language, with the script it is written in, the direction it runs, and what a translator needs to know before starting. 6 of them are written in a script their parent language does not use.

Parent languageScriptDirectionSortDifferent script from parent only (6)

98 of 98 varieties

Regional language varieties, their parent language, script, writing direction, the countries they are spoken in, and notes for a translator.
Variety	Parent language	Script	Direction	Spoken in	What a translator needs to know
Acadian French	French	Latin	Left to right	Canada	Atlantic Canada.
Afghan Persian	Persian	Arabic	Right to left	Afghanistan	Dari.
Algerian Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Algeria	Darja; Maghrebi, heavy French influence.
Algerian Darija	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Algeria	Algerian Arabic; Maghrebi.
Alsatian	German	Latin	Left to right	France (Alsace)	Alsace; Alemannic.
Andalusian	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Spain (Andalusia)	Southern Spain.
Angolan Portuguese	Portuguese	Latin	Left to right	Angola	—
Argentine Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Argentina	Rioplatense; voseo.
Austrian German	German	Latin	Left to right	Austria	—
Awadhi	Hindi	Devanagari	Left to right	India	—
Badini	Kurdish	Arabic	Right to left	Iraq	Behdini; a Kurmanji variety in Iraq, Arabic script.
Bavarian	German	Latin	Left to right	Germany, Austria	Austria and southern Germany.
Belgian French	French	Latin	Left to right	Belgium	—
Bhojpuri	Hindi	Devanagari	Left to right	India, Nepal	Bihar and eastern UP; Devanagari.
Brazilian	Portuguese	Latin	Left to right	Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique	Brazil.
Brazilian Portuguese	Portuguese	Latin	Left to right	Brazil	—
Canarian	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Spain (Canary Islands)	Canary Islands.
Cantonese	Chinese	Han	Left to right	China (Hong Kong, Guangdong), Macau	Yue. Traditional characters in Hong Kong and Macau; written Cantonese uses characters Mandarin does not.
Chadian Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Chad	—
Chhattisgarhi	Hindi	Devanagari	Left to right	India	—
Chittagonian	Bengali	Bengali	Left to right	Bangladesh (Chattogram)	Chattogram; not readily intelligible to a Dhaka speaker.
Colombian Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Colombia	—
Cuban Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Cuba	—
Cypriot Greek	Greek	Greek	Left to right	Cyprus	—
Dari Persian	Persian	Arabic	Right to left	Afghanistan	Afghan Persian.
Darija	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Morocco, Algeria	Moroccan or Algerian Arabic; say which.
Deccani	Urdu	Arabic	Right to left	India (Hyderabad, Deccan)	Hyderabad and the Deccan; Arabic script.
Dominican Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Dominican Republic	—
Eastern Armenian	Armenian	Armenian	Left to right	Armenia	Republic of Armenia.
Egyptian Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Egypt	Masri. The most widely understood dialect across the region because of film and television.
European Portuguese	Portuguese	Latin	Left to right	Portugal	—
Feyli	Kurdish	Arabic	Right to left	Iraq, Iran	Southern Kurdish; Arabic script.
Flemish	Dutch	Latin	Left to right	Belgium	Belgium. The written standard is Dutch.
Griko	Greek	Greek	Left to right	Italy (Puglia, Calabria)	Southern Italy; written in Latin and Greek both.
Guatemalan Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Guatemala	—
Gulf Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia	Khaleeji: Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, eastern Saudi Arabia.
Hakka	Chinese	Han	Left to right	China, Taiwan	—
Haryanvi	Hindi	Devanagari	Left to right	India	—
Hassaniya	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Mauritania, Western Sahara	Mauritania and Western Sahara.
Hazaragi	Persian	Arabic	Right to left	Afghanistan	Hazara; Afghanistan.
Hindustani	Urdu	Arabic	Right to left	India, Pakistan	Hindi and Urdu taken together. Ask which script the pages use — it decides everything here.
Hokkien	Chinese	Han	Left to right	China (Fujian), Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia	Min Nan; Fujian, Taiwan, and much of Southeast Asia.
Honduran Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Honduras	—
Iranian Persian	Persian	Arabic	Right to left	Iran	—
Iraqi Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Iraq	Mesopotamian; Baghdadi differs from southern.
Jordanian Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Jordan	Levantine.
Kurmanji	Kurdish	Latindiffers from Kurdish	Left to right	Turkey, Syria, Iraq	Northern Kurdish; usually LATIN script in Turkey and Syria, so the page runs left to right.
Lebanese Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Lebanon	Levantine; heavy French borrowing.
Levantine Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine	Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine.
Libyan Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Libya	Maghrebi.
Lombard	Italian	Latin	Left to right	Italy (Lombardy)	—
Low German	German	Latin	Left to right	Germany	Plattdeutsch; closer to Dutch than to Standard German.
Maay	Somali	Latin	Left to right	Somalia	Maay Maay; not readily intelligible with Standard Somali.
Magahi	Hindi	Devanagari	Left to right	India	—
Majhi	Punjabi	Gurmukhi	Left to right	Pakistan, India	The standard Punjabi dialect.
Marwari	Hindi	Devanagari	Left to right	India	Rajasthani.
Mexican Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Mexico	—
Mirpuri	Punjabi	Arabicdiffers from Punjabi	Right to left	Pakistan (Mirpur), United Kingdom	Pahari-Pothwari, Mirpur. Very common in the British Pakistani diaspora. Arabic script.
Modern Standard Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left		Written register.
Montenegrin	Serbian	Cyrillic	Left to right	Montenegro	Latin and Cyrillic both in use.
Moroccan Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Morocco	Darija. Far from Modern Standard Arabic — a translator who reads Levantine may not read this.
Moroccan Darija	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Morocco	Moroccan Arabic. Far from Modern Standard Arabic — a translator who reads Levantine may not read this.
Mozambican Portuguese	Portuguese	Latin	Left to right	Mozambique	—
Msa	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left		Modern Standard Arabic: written, not spoken at home. If the pages are chat, they are probably dialect.
Neapolitan	Italian	Latin	Left to right	Italy (Naples)	—
North Azerbaijani	Azerbaijani	Latin	Left to right	Azerbaijan	Latin script.
Pahari	Punjabi	Arabicdiffers from Punjabi	Right to left	Pakistan, India (Kashmir)	Pahari-Pothwari; Arabic script in Pakistan.
Palestinian Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Palestine, Israel	Levantine.
Piedmontese	Italian	Latin	Left to right	Italy (Piedmont)	—
Pontic Greek	Greek	Greek	Left to right	Greece, Turkey	—
Pothwari	Punjabi	Arabicdiffers from Punjabi	Right to left	Pakistan (Rawalpindi, Mirpur), United Kingdom	Pahari-Pothwari; Rawalpindi and Mirpur, and much of the British Pakistani diaspora. Arabic script.
Puerto Rican Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Puerto Rico	—
Pukhto	Pashto	Arabic	Right to left	Pakistan, Afghanistan	Northern Pashto.
Quebec French	French	Latin	Left to right	Canada (Quebec)	Quebec.
Rajasthani	Hindi	Devanagari	Left to right	India	Marwari and others; Devanagari.
Salvadoran Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	El Salvador	—
Saudi Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Saudi Arabia	Najdi and Hijazi differ from each other.
Shanghainese	Chinese	Han	Left to right	China (Shanghai)	Wu.
Sicilian	Italian	Latin	Left to right	Italy (Sicily)	Not readily intelligible to a northern Italian.
Simplified Chinese	Chinese	Han	Left to right	China, Singapore	Mainland characters.
Sorani	Kurdish	Arabic	Right to left	Iraq, Iran	Central Kurdish; Arabic script, right-to-left.
South Azerbaijani	Azerbaijani	Arabicdiffers from Azerbaijani	Right to left	Iran	Iranian Azerbaijani, written in ARABIC script and right-to-left, unlike the Republic's Latin.
Sudanese Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Sudan	—
Swabian	German	Latin	Left to right	Germany	—
Swiss French	French	Latin	Left to right	Switzerland	—
Swiss German	German	Latin	Left to right	Switzerland	Alemannic; far from written Standard German.
Sylheti	Bengali	Bengali	Left to right	Bangladesh (Sylhet), United Kingdom	Sylhet, and most of the British Bangladeshi diaspora. Distinct enough that a Dhaka speaker may struggle; usually written in Bengali script now.
Syrian Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Syria	Levantine.
Taiwanese	Chinese	Han	Left to right	Taiwan	Usually Hokkien; Traditional characters.
Teochew	Chinese	Han	Left to right	China (Guangdong), Singapore, Thailand	Min Nan.
Traditional Chinese	Chinese	Han	Left to right	Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau	Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau.
Tunisian Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Tunisia	Derja; Maghrebi, heavy French and Berber influence.
Valencian	Catalan	Latin	Left to right	Spain (Valencia)	Valencia; the written standard is Catalan.
Venetian	Italian	Latin	Left to right	Italy (Veneto)	—
Venezuelan Spanish	Spanish	Latin	Left to right	Venezuela	—
Western Armenian	Armenian	Armenian	Left to right	Lebanon, Syria, Turkey	Diaspora; differs from Eastern in spelling and pronunciation.
Yemeni Arabic	Arabic	Arabic	Right to left	Yemen	Conservative; retains features others lost.
Zazaki	Kurdish	Latindiffers from Kurdish	Left to right	Turkey	Zaza; distinct from Kurmanji, Latin script.

Generated from the router itself, so it cannot list a variety the system does not handle. The full language list, with the countries each is spoken in, is on the languages page; why the six script changes matter on a signed exhibit is set out in this guide.