Detective's Codex

Documenting 69 known languages in the database.

Language
Script
Family
Visual ClueExample
AfrikaansLatinGermanic"The 'N' Double"Daughter of Dutch. Look for 'n' (a) and double vowels 'aa', 'ee'. 'Nie' is 'not'.Goeie more, hoe gaan dit?
AlbanianLatinIndo-European"The 'Ë' Everywhere"The letter 'ë' is extremely frequent. also uses 'ç' and 'q'.Përshëndetje, si jeni?
AmharicGe'ezSemitic"The Alien Runes"Looks like stylized stick figures, pitchforks, and bubbles.ሰላም (Selam)
ArabicArabicSemitic"The Stream"Right-to-Left. Cursive, flowing script where letters connect. Dots above/below.مرحبا (Marhaba)
ArmenianArmenianIndo-European"The Arches"Letters look like rows of arches (u, n, h shapes).Բարեւ (Barev)
BelarusianCyrillicSlavic"The 'Ў' Breve"Cyrillic script with the unique short U (ў). Lots of 'a' and 'i'.Дзень добры, як справы?
BengaliBengaliIndo-European"The Jagged Line"Similar to Hindi's top line, but the letters are more angular, spiky, and triangular.নমস্কার, আপনি কেমন আছেন?
BulgarianCyrillicSlavic"The Frequent 'Ъ'"Frequent use of 'ъ' (the hard sign) as a vowel sound.България, път.
BurmeseBurmeseSino-Tibetan"The Bubbles"Script made almost entirely of circles and partial circles.မင်္ဂလာပါ, နေကောင်းလား
ChineseHanziSino-Tibetan"The Dense Wall"Uniformly dense, complex square blocks. No circles or simple curves.你好 (Ni hao)
CroatianLatinSlavic"The Checkerboard"Almost identical to Serbian but uses Latin script exclusively. Look for 'ije' vs 'e' (mlijeko vs mleko).Dobar dan, sve je u redu.
CzechLatinSlavic"The Hooked R"The only language with 'ř' (r with a hook). Also uses č, š, ž.Dobrý den, řeka.
DanishLatinNordic"The Slash"Uses the slashed O (ø) and the ash (æ). No dots on O or A.Brød og æble.
DutchLatinGermanic"The 'IJ' Combo"Look for the digraph 'ij' (often looks like 'y' with dots) and double vowels (aa, ee).Ik schrijf op het ijs.
DzongkhaTibetanSino-Tibetan"The Fortress Voice"Similar to Tibetan script. 'Dzong' means fortress. Vertical stacks of letters.Kuzuzangpo la (Good health)
EnglishLatinGermanic"The 'Th' & 'W'"Look for frequent 'th', 'wh', 'ea', 'ou'. Almost no diacritics (accents) on native words.The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
EstonianLatinFinno-Ugric"The Tilde 'O'"Looks like Finnish but uses the Tilde-O (õ).Jõgeva, õhtu.
FinnishLatinFinno-Ugric"The Double Vowel"Long words with many double vowels (aa, ii, yy, oo). Uses ä and ö.Hyvää huomenta.
FrenchLatinRomance"The Apostrophe Flow"Lots of apostrophes (l', d', c') and the ligature 'œ'. Words flow together.C'est l'œuvre d'art.
GeorgianMkhedruliKartvelian"The Curly Script"Extremely round, bubbly letters. Looks like hooks and hearts.გამარჯობა (Gamarjoba)
GermanLatinGermanic"The Capitalizer"All Nouns are Capitalized. Look for the sharp S (ß) and umlauts (ä, ö, ü).Der Junge isst den Apfel.
GreekGreekHellenic"The Physics Class"Letters look like math symbols: Triangle (Δ), Lambda (Λ), Sigma (Σ).Ελλάδα, Αθήνα.
GreenlandicLatinEskimo-Aleut"The Mega Word"Polysynthetic. One word can be an entire sentence. Lots of 'q's and double vowels.Qujanaq (Thank you)
HebrewHebrewSemitic"The Fire Blocks"Right-to-Left. Boxy, separated letters with 'flames' or serifs on top.שלום (Shalom)
HindiDevanagariIndo-European"The Clothesline"Letters hang from a continuous horizontal line running across the top. Distinctive curves.नमस्ते, आप कैसे हैं?
HungarianLatinFinno-Ugric"The Long Umlaut"Uses the 'double acute' accent (long lines leaning right) on vowels: ő, ű.Gyönyörű szőlő.
IcelandicLatinNordic"The Thorn"Looks like Old English/Viking script. Unmistakable use of eth (ð) and thorn (þ).Hvað segir þú gott?
IndonesianLatinAustronesian"The Clean Latin"Latin script with almost NO diacritics. Lots of 'aa', 'uu', 'ng'.Selamat pagi, apa kabar?
Irish (Gaeilge)LatinCeltic"The Acute Accent"Vowels often have an acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú). Words start with 'bh', 'ch'.Dia duit, conas atá tú?
ItalianLatinRomance"The Vowel Ending"Words end in vowels. Double consonants (tt, zz, pp).Tutti pizza formaggio.
JapaneseMixJaponic"The Mix Rule"A visual mix of dense complex blocks (Kanji) and simple flowing curves (Hiragana).こんにちは (Konnichiwa)
KazakhCyrillicTurkic"The Wide Cyrillic"Cyrillic with many extra letters like 'Ә', 'Ғ', 'Қ', 'Ң', 'Ө', 'Ұ', 'Ү', 'Һ', 'І'.Сәлеметсіз бе, қалайсыз?
KhmerKhmerAustroasiatic"The Haircuts"Letters often have 'haircuts' (curlicues on top) and feet (subscripts) below.សួស្តី, សុខសប្បាយទេ?
KoreanHangulKoreanic"The Circle Rule"Distinctive use of circles (ㅇ) and ovals mixed with straight lines.안녕하세요 (Annyeong)
KyrgyzCyrillicTurkic"The Vertical Bar"Cyrillic text. Look for the vertical bar through 'O' (Ө) and 'Y' (Ү).Саламатсызбы, кандайсыз?
LatvianLatinBaltic"The Flat Line"Vowels often have a flat line (macron) over them: ā, ē, ī, ū.Labrīt, kā jums klājas?
LithuanianLatinBaltic"The Hook & Dot"Look for hooks (ogonek) under vowels (ą, ę) and the unique dotted e (ė).Ačiū, viskas gerai.
MalayLatinAustronesian"The Pure Latin"Almost identical to Indonesian but often uses 'dan' (and) and 'di' (at) frequently.Selamat pagi, apa khabar?
MandarinHanziSino-Tibetan"The Simplified Blocks"Standard Chinese. Simplified characters in Singapore/China. Fewer strokes.你好, 你怎么样?
MarathiDevanagariIndo-European"The Clothesline (Modern)"Uses Devanagari (like Hindi). Look for 'ळ' (Lla) which Hindi doesn't use.नमस्कार, तुम्ही कसे आहात?
MongolianCyrillicMongolic"The Extra Cyrillic"Cyrillic script with two unique letters: Ө (o with a bar) and Ү (straight U).Сайн байна уу?
NepaliDevanagariIndo-European"The Mount Everest"Uses Devanagari (like Hindi). Look for 'छ' (chha) and 'ण' (na).नमस्ते, तपाईंलाई कस्तो छ?
NorwegianLatinNordic"The Slash"Uses the slashed O (ø) and the ash (æ). Similar to Danish.Brød og æble.
PashtoPerso-ArabicIndo-European"The Ringed Loop"Perso-Arabic script with unique letters like 'ښ' and 'ږ' (dots above/below loops).سلام، څنګه يې؟
Persian (Farsi)Perso-ArabicIndo-European"The Four Extras"Looks like Arabic, but uses 4 extra letters: P, Ch, Zh, G (look for 3 dots).سلام، حال شما چطور است؟
PolishLatinSlavic"The Z-Storm"Heavy consonant clusters (sz, cz, rz, szcz) and the unique slashed L (ł).Szczęście, łódź.
PortugueseLatinRomance"The Nasal Tilde"Tilde on vowels (ã, õ) and cedilla (ç). Look for 'nh' and 'lh'.Não, coração, lições.
RomanianLatinRomance"The Latin Spike"Latin script with 'spikes' (commas) under S and T (ș, ț) and the 'bowl hat' on A (ă).Mulțumesc, oară.
RussianCyrillicSlavic"The 'Ы' Feature"Uses the 'double stick' (ы) and 'э'. Does NOT use 'i' or 'j'.Привет, мызыка.
SerbianCyrillicSlavic"The 'J' Intruder"The only Cyrillic script that includes the Latin letter 'j'.Све је у реду.
SinhalaSinhalaIndo-European"The Apple Script"Round, curly letters that often look like apples or hearts.ආයුබෝවන්, කොහොමද?
SlovakLatinSlavic"The 'Ô' Mark"Very similar to Czech but distinct. Look for the 'tent' over 'o' (ô) and 'ä'.Dobrý deň, ako sa máte?
SlovenianLatinSlavic"The Dual Number"One of the rare languages with a 'dual' grammatical number (for two things). Uses č, š, ž.Dober dan, kako ste?
SpanishLatinRomance"The Inverted Question"The only language using inverted punctuation (¿, ¡) and the letter ñ.¡Hola! ¿Cómo estás?
SwahiliLatinNiger-Congo"The M & N Start"Many words start with 'm' or 'n' followed by a consonant (mtoto, nchi).Hujambo, habari gani?
SwedishLatinNordic"The Circle 'A'"Uses the ringed A (å) and dotted vowels (ä, ö). No slashed O.Jag åker tåg.
TagalogLatinAustronesian"The 'Ng' Everywhere"Latin script text full of 'ng', 'mga', and 'ang'. Prefixes like 'mag-' and 'pag-'.Magandang umaga, kamusta ka?
TamilTamilDravidian"The Angular Loops" distinct script with many loops and sharp angles. '௧' look. Very old classical language.வணக்கம், எப்படி இருக்கிறீர்கள்?
TeluguTeluguDravidian"The Checkmarks"Rounded script with many 'checkmark' (tick) shapes on top of letters.నమస్కారం, ఎలా ఉన్నారు?
ThaiThaiTai-Kadai"The Eyeballs"Flowing script where almost every letter has a small loop (eye) at the end.สวัสดี (Sawatdee)
TifinaghTifinaghAfroasiatic"The Shapes"Geometric circles, crosses, and dots. Looks like ancient symbols.ⴰⵣⵓⵍ (Azul)
TurkishLatinTurkic"The Ghost 'i'"Uses a dotless i (ı) alongside the dotted i. Look for 'ş' and 'ğ'.Teşekkürler, balık.
UkrainianCyrillicSlavic"The 'i' Rule"Cyrillic that uses Latin-like 'i' and 'ï' (two dots). Does NOT use 'ы'.Україна, привіт.
UrduPerso-ArabicIndo-European"The Diagonal Flow"Similar to Persian/Arabic but with retroflex letters (ٹ, ڈ, ڑ). Deep, diagonall calligraphy.السلام علیکم، آپ کیسے ہیں؟
UzbekLatinTurkic"The Apostrophe Vowel"Uses 'oʻ' and 'gʻ' - letters followed by a turned comma (apostrophe).Salom, qalaysiz?
VietnameseLatinAustroasiatic"The Accent Tower"Stacked diacritics (a hat + a dot on the same letter) and hooks on vowels.Việt Nam, phở.
XhosaLatinNiger-Congo"The X Factor"Similar to Zulu but with even more distinct click consonants (x, c, q).Molo, unjani?
YorubaLatinNiger-Congo"The Underdot"Dots under vowels (ẹ, ọ, ṣ) and heavy use of accents.Ẹ ku aarọ.
ZuluLatinNiger-Congo"The Clicks"Latin script text. Frequent use of 'h', 'l', and 'z'. Clicks represented by c, q, x.Sawubona, unjani?