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I heard (maybe I misheard) someone say それ何語? It seems to be the informal
version of それは何語ですか？ However, I was a bit surprised to see は ommited.

Is それ何語 a very informal version of それは何語ですか? Is the omission of は common in
these cases?
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2018-05-10T16:03:13.447
58541
2018-05-10T16:15:44.230
22787
question
particles parts-of-speech
Is それ何語 the informal version of それは何語ですか?
Short answer: Yes.

There are many ways that general grammar rules are "broken" in informal/casual
Japanese. Oftentimes parts of the sentence or words are omitted because
they're assumed. In this case we get "that" and "what language" with an
inflection that makes it a question. The grammar is not _proper_ but the
listener still understands what the question is. A more common example of this
is the phrase `何それ?`, "What's that?"

One should only dip into using these kinds of contractions when they are very
comfortable with the language and feel that they have a friendly, casual
relationship with the person they're talking to. In the mean time, it's good
to know that for understanding purposes.
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2018-05-10T16:12:06.910
58542
2018-05-10T16:12:06.910
22133
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answer
「何語」, when pronounced 「な **に** ご」, means "what language".

「何語」, when pronounced 「な **ん** ご」, however, means "how many words".

In real life, the former would be used far more often than the latter. Since
you provided no context, however, we have no way of knowing which one it is
for sure.

Moving on to the topic of particle omission, **「は」 (along with 「を」) are among
the most often omitted particles in informal speech**.

Thus, 「それ何語?」 said with a rising intonation at the end would be an informal
version of 「それは何語ですか?」 .
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-10T16:15:44.230
58545
2018-05-10T16:15:44.230
58541
answer