Lecture: The Loss of the World's Languages: Listening Answers & Explanations
IELTS Listening practice test · 10 questionsPart 4hard
Haven't taken this test yet?
Looking at the answers first spoils the practice — you only get one honest first attempt at a recording. Take the test with the audio + 10 minutes to check, get an instant score and estimated band, then come back here to study every answer.
About this recording
The recording opens: “Good afternoon. Today we're going to talk about a quiet crisis, one that rarely makes the headlines but which is unfolding all around us — the disappearance of human languages.”
- Transcript length: about 506 words
- Questions: 10
- Question types: Note Completion, Table Completion, Sentence Completion, Short Answer
“Lecture: The Loss of the World's Languages” is an original IELTS-style practice recording written by IELTS-Bank. It is not taken from an official IELTS or Cambridge test, so these answers only apply to our version.
Answer key at a glance
Lecture: The Loss of the World's Languages answers with explanations
Questions 1–3: Note Completion
The scale of the crisis
Complete the notes below. Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.
- 1
There are roughly ______ thousand languages spoken today.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: seven (also accepted: 7)
Why: The answer is found at the beginning of the passage, where it states that approximately seven thousand languages are currently spoken worldwide.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 1 “There are roughly seven thousand languages spoken in the world today, but linguists estimate that around half of them will fall silent by the end of this century.”
- 2
About ______ of these may disappear by the end of the century.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: half
Why: The answer "half" is found in the passage where it states that linguists estimate around 50% of the approximately seven thousand languages spoken today will no longer exist by the century's end.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 1 “There are roughly seven thousand languages spoken in the world today, but linguists estimate that around half of them will fall silent by the end of this century.”
- 3
More than half of all languages have fewer than ______ thousand speakers.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: ten (also accepted: 10)
Why: The answer is found in the section where the speaker explains that over half of all languages are spoken by communities with less than ten thousand individuals each, highlighting the vulnerability of these languages.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 2 “In fact, more than half of all languages have fewer than ten thousand speakers each.”
Questions 4–6: Table Completion
Two ways a language can die
Complete the table below. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
- 4
Sudden death: the language disappears abruptly because its ______ die.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: speakers
Why: The answer is found in the section discussing how languages die, where it mentions that sudden death occurs when a language disappears abruptly because its speakers themselves die due to disease, natural disaster, or violence.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 3 “The first is sudden death, where a language disappears abruptly because its speakers themselves die — through disease, natural disaster or, tragically, violence.”
- 5
Gradual death: this type is more ______ than sudden death.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: common
Why: The answer is found in the passage where it states that gradual death is "far more common" than sudden death, indicating that gradual death occurs more frequently.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 3 “The second, and far more common, is gradual death.”
- 6
Gradual death: it happens as ______ stop passing the language to their children.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: parents
Why: The answer is found in the passage where it explains that gradual death occurs when parents cease to transmit the language to their children, who then grow up speaking a more dominant language.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 3 “Here the language fades over time as, generation by generation, parents stop passing it on to their children, who grow up speaking a more dominant language instead.”
Questions 7–9: Sentence Completion
Why languages are given up and why they matter
Complete the sentences below. Write ONE WORD ONLY for each answer.
- 7
The main reason parents drop a language is ______.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: economic
Why: The answer is found in the section where the passage explains that parents often choose not to pass on a language because speaking the dominant national language is seen as the path to better economic opportunities.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 4 “The main driver is economic.”
- 8
Minority languages are often wrongly seen as lacking ______ compared with dominant ones.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: prestige (also accepted: status)
Why: The answer is found where the passage explains that minority languages are often viewed as inferior or less advanced, while dominant languages are associated with higher status and respect.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 4 “A second factor is prestige — minority languages are too often looked down on as backward, while the dominant language carries status.”
- 9
Losing a language can weaken a community's sense of ______.(max 1 word)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: identity
Why: The answer is found in the section where the speaker explains that losing a language can disconnect people from their history and ancestors, which weakens their sense of identity.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 5 “A language is central to who a community is, and losing it can leave people feeling cut off from their own history and their ancestors.”
Question 10: Short Answer
Answer the question below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS .
- 10
Which language is given as the classic success story of revival?(max 2 words)
Show answerHide answer
Answer: maori (also accepted: the maori language)
Why: The answer is found near the end of the passage, where it mentions that New Zealand's efforts to revive Maori are highlighted as the classic example of successful language revitalization.
What you hear · Transcript, paragraph 6 “New Zealand's efforts to revive Maori are the classic success story here.”
Estimated band score for this test
Your raw score out of 10 scaled to the 40-question IELTS Listening conversion table. This is the same estimate the practice page shows after you submit. A single recording is a small sample, so treat it as a guide.
| Correct answers | Estimated band |
|---|---|
| 10 / 10 | 9.0 |
| 9 / 10 | 8.0 |
| 8 / 10 | 7.5 |
| 7 / 10 | 6.5 |
| 6 / 10 | 6.0 |
| 5 / 10 | 5.5 |
| 4 / 10 | 5.0 |
| 3 / 10 | 4.0 |
| 2 / 10 | 3.5 |
| 1 / 10 | 2.5 |
| 0 / 10 | 0.0 |
Full-test score? Use the IELTS band calculator.
Tips for the question types in this test
Listening Part 4
- Spend the whole preparation time on the notes: the headings tell you the lecture’s sections, and each gap’s surrounding words tell you the grammar and meaning of its answer.
- Predict the word class for every gap — noun, adjective, number — and any obvious semantic field (a material, an animal, a place).
Common trap: Losing your position mid-lecture and missing a run of answers — the single biggest cause of Part 4 disasters.
Full Listening Part 4 strategyPractise “Lecture: The Loss of the World's Languages” under exam conditions
Free, auto-marked, with the audio + 10 minutes to check and an instant band estimate.
Take this test first (with audio)More IELTS Listening tests with answers
Research Proposal: A Primary-School Reading Scheme
medium
Riverside Sports Centre Membership Enquiry
easy
Seminar Prep: Sources on the Industrial Revolution
hard
Seminar: A Business Case Study on Brightleaf Tea
hard
The Renovation of the Old Gaumont Theatre
medium
Tour of the New Leisure Centre
medium