Language Trainers Blog

Here are some phrases in a few different languages, with their English translations. Each of these sentences has a particular linguistic feature - can you tell what it is?

Latin: in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (”We enter the circle at night and are consumed by fire”)

Greek: Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin [νιψον ανομηματα μη μοναν οψιν] (”Wash off my sins, not only my face”)

English: A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!

Finnish: Saippuakivikauppias (”soap-stone vendor”)

Brazilian Portuguese: Socorram-me, subi no onibus em Marrocos (”Help me, I took a bus in Morocco”)

Lithuanian: Sėdėk užu kėdės (”Sit behind the chair”)

Spanish: “Dábale arroz a la zorra el abad” (”the abbott gave rice to the fox”)

Hover here to find the answer: these sentences are all palindromes - words, phrases or numbers that read the same forwards and backwards.