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|  | 1. English |
| "Betty bought a bit of butter,
But the butter was so bitter,
So she bought some better butter,
To make the bitter butter better."
Fun fact: Did you know the longest word in the English language is "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis", a form of lung disease? Good luck trying to pronounce that! |
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|  | 2. Spanish |
| "Una cacatrepa trepa tiene tres cacatrepitos.
Cuando la cacatrepa trepa trepan los tres cacatrepitos."
(A climbing caterpillar has three baby caterpillars. When the climbing caterpillar climbs the three baby caterpillars climb.)
Fun fact: Between 2000 and 2015, the use of the Spanish language on the internet grew by a whopping 1312.4%, making it the 3rd most-spoken language online! |
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|  | 3. German |
| "Fischers Fritze fischt frische Fische;
Frische Fische fischt Fischers Fritze."
(Fritz, the fisherman’s son, fishes for fresh fish; For fresh fish fishes Fritz, the fisherman’s son.)
Fun fact: German is not only the official language in Germany (powerhouse of Europe), but also in Austria and Liechtenstein. What's more, it is one of the official languages in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, making it the most spoken native language in the European Union. |
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|  | 4. Irish |
| "Seacht sicín ina seasamh sa sneachta lá seaca."
(Seven chickens standing in the snow on a frosty day.)
Fun fact: There's no "yes" or "no" in Irish! You communicate with the verb form of the question instead. For example, if the question is "Did you eat lunch?", the answer would be "I did". |
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|  | 5. French |
| "Je suis ce que je suis,
et si je suis ce que je suis,
qu’est-ce que je suis ?"
(I am what I am, and if I am what I am, what am I ?)
Fun fact: According to the world tourism ranking by the UN World Tourism Organization, France ranks #1 as the most-visited country in the world! Is France your next tourist destination? |
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|  | 6. Chinese |
| "sì shì sì.
shí shì shí,
shí sì shì shí sì,
sì shí shì sì shí,
sì shí sì shì sì shí sì." (Four is four. Ten is ten, fourteen is fourteen, forty is forty, forty-four is forty-four.)
Fun fact: Chinese is the most spoken language in the world with over 1.2 billion speakers! |
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|  | 7. Arabic |
| "al mishmish dah mish min mishmishkum wa kaman al mishmish dah mish min mishmishnah."
(The apricot is not your apricot and the apricot is also not our apricot.)
Fun fact: 18th December is observed annually as the UN Arabic Language Day. It marks the anniversary of the General Assembly approving Arabic as an official language of the UN in 1973. |
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|  | 8. Swedish |
| "Plocka pepparkorn i en kopparpanna"
(To pick peppercorns in a copper pan)
Fun fact: The first piece of Swedish literature is the Roek Runestone, that dates back to 800 AD, the age of the Vikings! |
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|  | 9. Japanese |
| "Uraniwa ni wa niwa, niwa ni wa niwa niwatori ga iru."
(There are two chickens in the back yard, and two in the front yard.)
Fun fact: The Japanese word for "Japan" is  , which is pronounced Nihon or Nippon and literally means "the origin of the sun". The character nichi ( ) means "sun" or "day"; hon ( ) means "base" or "origin". |
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