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How do you say X in Y?

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- Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:38:40 EST 2SLM4fvR No.12006
File: 1424194720392.jpg -(129569B / 126.53KB, 450x470) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. How do you say X in Y?
General thread for wanting to know how to say something in a particular language.

How do you say "Nothing to see here", in Russian, written in Cyrillic?
20 posts and 4 images omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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Archie Lightfuck - Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:02:08 EST PA1j1GkT No.12177 Reply
>>12173
Thanks.
Now, "vinograd" is the Slovak word for "vineyard". Can the Russian word винoгрaд mean this too?
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Martin Cloblinglidge - Thu, 11 Jun 2015 16:39:42 EST 13A6+YoB No.12179 Reply
>>12176
To be honest, no one cares what you have in Russia because Russia is shit
>>
Molly Follynot - Fri, 12 Jun 2015 02:39:59 EST k3/RB6wa No.12180 Reply
>>12177
>Can the Russian word винoгрaд mean this too?
No, wineyard is винoгрaдник.

Lost in Translation

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- Fri, 23 Jan 2015 23:21:25 EST 7eexnvjt No.11974
File: 1422073285247.jpg -(261403B / 255.28KB, 1280x872) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Lost in Translation
Let's lament in this thread many great things lost that are difficult to translate from language to language.

I was watching The Jungle Book with my niece, and that song "bare necessities" came on. The joke of the song is that Baloo is a bear, so the phrase "bare necessities" could also be heard as "bear necessities." I loved the word play, but quickly began thinking about how such a song couldn't work in another language, unless there happens to be another language in which the word for "minimal" happens to be a homophone with the word for "bear."

I often think of all the jokes and witticisms that we are missing out on because of language barriers, and in turn, I think about how many jokes other language speakers are missing out on as well.

So, if you can think of any examples of something interesting or funny that loses its charm via translation, please post them! Jokes, proverbs, poems, etc. And if possible, provide a brief explanation of why it can't be translated well.

Pic somewhat related: a brief Latin couplet. While there might be translations that capture the meaning of the poem, no language could possibly reproduce the intensity of these eight verbs spread across these two brief lines.
24 posts and 8 images omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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William Bapperfuck - Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:15:03 EST sdcwOx0d No.12166 Reply
The English translation of the Asterix the Gaul comics are famous for either carrying over the sly use of puns of the original, or replacing them with equally good original jokes...
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Cornelius Chorrywater - Fri, 05 Jun 2015 16:48:48 EST hvs1x3K0 No.12172 Reply
1433537328921.jpg -(114649B / 111.96KB, 512x512) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size.
The Egyptians went to town with the dubbing of Toy Story. They added their own jokes to them and messed with the lines. I remember there is a scene when Mr.Potato head re-arranges his face to look like one of Picasso's Cubist painting and approaches Piggy and shouts "I am Picasso!" which Pig replies "I don't drink that stuff" thinking it was a type of an alcoholic drink. Mr.Potato head even calls him and idiot and an imbecile but in the Arabic tongue its more of a dismissal than an insult.
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Jenny Duzzlestock - Mon, 08 Jun 2015 02:13:29 EST hnNOTh7j No.12175 Reply
>>12153
The poster you responded to was giving a translation that also rhymes, not asking what the original means.

Asian Scripts in English

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- Tue, 09 Jul 2013 17:25:39 EST 1/E/HzJe No.9679
File: 1373405139978.jpg -(777721B / 759.49KB, 1280x960) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Asian Scripts in English
Considering the how little corellation there is between Chinese spoken language and their written script, can you learn to read the scripts in another language without knowing how speak Chinese/Japanese/etc? Or am I underestimating the connection between them?
3 posts omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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Phoebe Bavingforth - Tue, 23 Jul 2013 01:54:49 EST NqJL1ymG No.9745 Reply
>>9724
That's the alternate; he sort of means not leaning the Mandarin at all, only the written language. Very rote, unsystematic, prone to error. You shouldn't try learning the writing system without at least one spoken language that uses it for something of that scale.

Analogically: the method he's talking about is like learning that 中 in English is written "middle" without ever learning that it's pronounced "mih-dull" and not zhōng.


My suggestion would be to maybe reverse the meaning and the pinyin in your method, though (so for example learn 中 as zhōng before learning it as "middle"). This will force your mind into making more connections and predictions about characters, as well as more or less forcing you to think in Chinese.

With foreign languages in general, it's best to try and establish your words by context and understand them passively, instead of translating it in your head.
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Lydia Blatherson - Wed, 20 May 2015 21:06:49 EST 08IqRJGc No.12137 Reply
>>9679
I'm fluent in Japanese, and I can sort of make sense of written traditional Chinese (what they write in ROC/Taiwan) even though I have absolutely no clue of how any of it is pronounced and don't kmow any spoken Chinese beyond a couple of words like 'thank you,' 'China' and 'hello,' which I probably mispronounce.

The most complex text I've read this way was the manual for a very simple piece of software.
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Ghengis Dong - Tue, 02 Jun 2015 23:51:13 EST w8lQyzMl No.12162 Reply
>>9724
The alternative method is to learn by using the language to produce meaning. You can learn to read best by writing, to listen by speaking, and most in the field of SLA would argue that combining speaking and writing is the only legitimate way to achieve mastery in either. Without combining methods of output you never develop the nuanced features necessary to understand or communicate fluently.

No Homaranismo

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- Sun, 24 May 2015 13:07:18 EST NOxvHYwd No.12143
File: 1432487238125.jpg -(747609B / 730.09KB, 2600x1819) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. No Homaranismo
Sup, /lang/oliers. Got one for you, does anyone know where to find the full text of L.L. Zamenhof's* "The Declaration of Homaranismo"?

*You know, the Esperanto guy.
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Frederick Pemmlefore - Mon, 25 May 2015 00:17:28 EST J2RC/AFI No.12144 Reply
No, but you shouldn't have any trouble finding something the Dogmoj de Homaranismo.
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Hamilton Numblemat - Thu, 28 May 2015 13:04:17 EST bh9jqNpB No.12151 Reply
>>12144
But I wanted to get some quotes and using a translation program from Esperanto makes it sound like fucking lolcats.

jolly african-americans

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- Tue, 12 May 2015 21:26:57 EST +HsGtlOm No.12122
File: 1431480417962.gif -(981410B / 958.41KB, 245x400) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. jolly african-americans
What is the name for the phenomena in Germanic languages where a noun can be used as an adjective? I know there's a name for it, but I forgot it.

examples:

dog door
jolly african-american music
semen demon
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Phyllis Hanningworth - Thu, 14 May 2015 05:25:29 EST f8rps/lV No.12127 Reply
"0-derivation" aka "zero-derivation"

Allah Hu Akbar

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- Mon, 05 May 2014 16:23:52 EST 9b769wbO No.11344
File: 1399321432701.jpg -(40569B / 39.62KB, 500x313) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Allah Hu Akbar
The Muslims I've seen on TV seem very fond of sshouting "Allah Hu Akbar." Why is this not considered blaspheming? If a Christian shouted "Jesus Christ" all the time most Christians would frown on it.

Not trying to hate on Muslims, just wondering about this. Also I'm only basing this on what I see in the media, so if I'm wrong and they don't shout that all the time let me know.
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John Shittingway - Mon, 05 May 2014 22:35:47 EST NqJL1ymG No.11345 Reply
One thing is Muslims really aren't anymore adherent to their religion's rules than Christians. So ask yourself the question. What you probably think of when you think of Muslims are Islam's answer to conservative Mennonites, Quakers, etc - the vast, vast majority of Muslims don't live in Afghanistan, Iran, or Saudi Arabia. Hell, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (and to a lesser degree Kazakhstan) are known internationally for their wine.


The phrase itself is "Al'lahu akbar" (the u is an "is" that just does that trust me). It means "God is Great", equivalent to Soli Deo Gloria. It's considered a very important phrase in Islam, and it is good of you to shout it and make it known, because it's affirming your believe and commitment to God while praising him. It isn't an order to the most high like god damn, it isn't taking the name in vain - which has always been making false promises in the name of God. Those that teach that calling on God or using his name when angry is forbidden even in Christianity is unfortunately teaching mistaken understanding of puritanical revisionism of a book already anachronistic in its language by their time. Sorta like how the 10 commandments do not ban lying, they ban committing perjury in court (because back before forensics everyone had to rely on each other's word).

By the way, it's interesting to point out that tabernacle is roughly equal to fuck in Quebec. Different groups have different opinions on what's harsh language or blasphemy.
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Jenny Baffingbire - Wed, 13 May 2015 09:09:47 EST F07X4JBE No.12123 Reply
>>11344

No it's not the same thing as shouting Jesus Christ not at all, it's shouting "God is great". The equivalent to shouting "Jesus Christ!" would be "Prophet Mohammad!" or something.

Old thread bump.

>>11345

Also a word on that lying bit, in Islam lying is forbidden but the Shi'a have a clause stating it is permitted to lie your face off if it defends you or the faith from persecution. The Sunni don't believe this is halal.

Learning language series

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- Wed, 11 Dec 2013 01:02:50 EST ta18Gqv1 No.10897
File: 1386741770667.jpg -(288630B / 281.87KB, 2800x1900) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Learning language series
Hi. There's a series of books written by a man (I believe) covering, independent of one another, several languages. Each comes with audio CDs (or something) to help the reader. I think they're all fairly renown, are lengthy, and are quite old; from like, the eighties... maybe nineties. The man recommends reading one chapter per day in a certain period of time with breaks. Anyone know what I'm looking for? Thanks.
2 posts omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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Cyril Besslepane - Thu, 16 Apr 2015 12:52:16 EST iybBgaRw No.12077 Reply
>>12026
>duolingo.com
Cool, thanks! Just started with it and it looks like a good place to start learning a language.
>>
Hamilton Nickleville - Sun, 10 May 2015 13:43:49 EST dyEUAL1Q No.12117 Reply
http://lang-8.com/

Write stuff in the language you're studying, native speakers correct what you write. In turn, you are asked to correct writings of people trying to learn English or whatever else language is native to you.

Convince me to learn Latin.

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- Sun, 30 Mar 2014 23:30:37 EST Wd9qcZzl No.11202
File: 1396236637184.jpg -(861766B / 841.57KB, 1920x1080) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Convince me to learn Latin.
I sort of like the idea but at the same time it's so fucking stupid. Convince me as an American non-Christian in the 21st century to learn Latin. I speak English, Spanish, and Gaelic. Why should I Latin?
6 posts omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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Hedda Nepperwun - Sat, 02 May 2015 08:38:08 EST sYxw5S0i No.12106 Reply
>>11227
Laid you say..... Are there like, Latin groupies or some shit I'm not aware of and are they hot?
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Lydia Dugglebatch - Sun, 03 May 2015 11:37:10 EST QKTFWep4 No.12107 Reply
If you know Latin you can dig through old-as-fuck books and use them as sources for your research papers in college.
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John Honeyhall - Sun, 10 May 2015 07:25:04 EST 94fZjBh2 No.12115 Reply
Took Latin for 5 years. It can be a fun language if you have the right teacher. Its usefulness varies since its a dead language, however it can give you great insight into many modern European languages if that is what you are into.

A pointless discussion of Lingustics in Namess

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!BzcOsK03.w - Thu, 09 Apr 2015 20:03:12 EST rLB0konE No.12060
File: 1428624192730.jpg -(349732B / 341.54KB, 674x867) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. A pointless discussion of Lingustics in Namess
In reply to >>>/wooo/4455954 and >>>/wooo/4455846

Imagine your father is a Mexican man by the name of José, and let us also imagine he is illiterate and cannot spell his own name. Your father, when moving to the US, is asked what his name is. "José ", he says. Let's pretend the border official has little or no knowledge of Spanish. So the official writers down "Hosay". The offical has used "H" instead of "J" because "J" in English is different to "J" in Spanish.

Now, because your father's name has been written down for him by a government official, on all government records, his name appears as "Hosay", and that's what he uses for the rest of his life. Hosay Hosay Hosay is what's "offical".

But what's the correct spelling? ...It's José. José is the correct spelling that reflects the pronunciation it's language of origin.

At some point, the Mac Mahons left Ireland and arrived in America, and said "We're the Mac Mahons!"...and official wrote down "McMahon". Like our friend Hosay, there's the spelling the government may use, and the correct one.
12 posts and 1 images omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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John Demmlekodge - Wed, 22 Apr 2015 23:04:08 EST HTwuDqQ4 No.12091 Reply
1429758248839.jpg -(50993B / 49.80KB, 236x393) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size.
it seems extremely naive to only use anglican examples. how about the concept of soushi kaimei, 1939 in korea where the japanese empire forced all native koreans to choose a new japanese name? 金 is pronounced gim in korean, and kane in japanese. major general 金錫源 - gim sook weon was, during occupation periods, called kaneyama shakugen (added the character for mountain to the surname to adhere to japanese naming standards).

also, i wouldn't say this is about linguistics on the whole, but specifically sociolinguistics. does spelling it "mcmahon" impact the cultural identity of the mac mahons and their posterity?
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Phoebe Bunson - Sun, 03 May 2015 15:38:25 EST sYxw5S0i No.12108 Reply
>>12075
So is this name thing in some way related to the Zionist conspiracy to corrupt and weaken the white master race?
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Lydia Dugglebatch - Sun, 03 May 2015 17:39:29 EST QKTFWep4 No.12109 Reply
>>12076

Distinction between s-sounds and th-sounds is not lisping.

Improving my Spanish

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- Sun, 26 Apr 2015 23:05:20 EST zsEffVCD No.12098
File: 1430103920558.jpg -(20874B / 20.38KB, 599x317) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Improving my Spanish
I want to brush up on my Spanish because I enjoy lucha libre but only understand like a fifth of what's said.

A few questions for anyone who's willing to answer:

  1. How can I improve my comprehension?
  2. I'm no longer in any Spanish classes. What's the best way to work on vocabulary? How do I know what's the most beneficial for me to learn next?
  3. Where can I brush up on grammar?
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Martha Clayfuck - Mon, 27 Apr 2015 07:18:07 EST jiZKa1jk No.12102 Reply
>but only understand like a fifth of what's said.

I have the same problem whenever i(try to) watch something in Spanish,it's almost as frustrating as not being able to understand a word.

Getting that perfect accent [English]

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- Mon, 23 Mar 2015 11:00:12 EST 8Fc39kCN No.12042
File: 1427122812446.jpg -(70815B / 69.16KB, 493x640) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Getting that perfect accent [English]
Do you guys think it's possible for a foreigner to sound American to the point people couldn't tell that he's not? I've been lead to believe my accent is not bad as it is. But there's still a little left-over of French accent thrown in the mix. Enough to give it away.

I'd like to truly blend in, especially since my dream is to become a voice actor (probably a pipe dream but oh well, we'll see).

Thanks in advance!
9 posts and 1 images omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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Doris Climmershaw - Sun, 26 Apr 2015 23:24:47 EST ypoJwwcS No.12099 Reply
1430105087044.gif -(56610B / 55.28KB, 321x241) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size.
Alan Tudyk is one of the few American actors who can pull off a decent British accent.
I first saw him in A Knight's Tale and thought he was actually English.
I saw him later in Firefly and thought that he was putting on the American accent.
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Nigel Muckleford - Mon, 27 Apr 2015 06:58:25 EST 0ueFbUtC No.12100 Reply
Now the real question is why would you want an American accent in the first place. There are far, far more attractive accents in the Anglophone world that are just as easy to learn.

Serbian learning

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- Wed, 13 Aug 2014 04:48:34 EST MtHV5DDA No.11608
File: 1407919714305.jpg -(34364B / 33.56KB, 750x960) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Serbian learning
Hey /lang/ I'm wondering if there's any good way to learn Serbian. I know it's incredibly similar to Croatian and Bosnian when it comes to spelling in the latin alphabet but it's still dissimilar to English. I was thinking if I learn the Latin alphabet and the language to a good standard, I can then learn Cyrillic script.
Are there any good learning resources out there?
TL;DR How do I learn Serbian well and quickly?
13 posts and 3 images omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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John Hennerstock - Sun, 19 Apr 2015 21:37:37 EST Ok4x1Gp3 No.12083 Reply
if anyone is interested, here you can ask for some good books/movies
yuchan.org/int
>>
Marta Huffington - Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:26:33 EST iybBgaRw No.12085 Reply
>>12079
Learning phrases without understanding the system behind it will only get you so far. The way we'd done it in the course is we looked at one noun case at a time. Then you can pretty much use prepositions and phrases with any noun once you know the noun case it requires. That and learning phrases by heart (just kind of getting a feeling of "this noun needs an ending -a here", for example) is what will make you use noun cases naturally. However, I think here it's probably rather important to have someone that can give feedback, not that you use noun cases the wrong way for too long. That wouldn't be beneficial at all.
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John Demmlekodge - Wed, 22 Apr 2015 22:40:27 EST HTwuDqQ4 No.12087 Reply
1429756827839.jpg -(83383B / 81.43KB, 431x300) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size.
>>11608
like that other guy said, serbian is really not a distinct language, it's known as serbo-croation

i've linked this resource here before but here u go again
https://gloss.dliflc.edu/ there are serbian dialect and croatian dialect exmaples searchable there, enjoy ;)

Has anyone created a language?

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- Wed, 24 Dec 2014 01:18:27 EST dyEUAL1Q No.11925
File: 1419401907740.jpg -(518976B / 506.81KB, 1280x963) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Has anyone created a language?
I'm curious if anyone has tried to or successfully made their own language.

As a kid I loved imagining and creating new planets. I had notebooks of alien world maps, the types of inhabitants, cultures, cities, and languages of course. I tried a few times to make languages based on my fictional creations. My best attempt was having all of the syllables/sounds memorized as well as having a writing system memorized. I'd practice writing notes with the symbols. The notes were all in English but I used the fictional alphabet to practice writing it. I never got further than making basic grammatical structures and having a short vocabulary. This was all before I was familiar with Tolkien's work.

Have any fictional languages you'd like to share?
11 posts and 4 images omitted. Click View Thread to read.
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Priscilla Nicklebanks - Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:30:52 EST Z1v+SCTB No.12008 Reply
I got mad at some of the claims in the "historical linguistics" literature I was reading. I'm not a linguist myself but I set up a toy language so I could model sound changes, vocab replacement, etc.

So I took a swadesh list and a number of random pages on wikipedia, and tried "to break things down" semantically a word at a time. I made a box of the categories I made, made something on the order of 30 "variables" and just assigned according to usage frequency phonemes according to a hierarchy of their existence; languages generally have b before p, for example. Ended up arbitrarily with an Indo-Aryan-esque phonology; simply as a matter of chosing something arbitrarily.


From there I ended up plotting a little path for it from Southern Africa to Central Asia; again, arbitrarily. I applied sound changes according to what would be parsimonious changes along its route; just by using sound changes that have been documented to have happened, it's randomly assigned core vocab ended up doing things like making it's non-sonorant /b/ first person marker move to /m/ in the pronoun system, and another development caused it's 2nd person n to fortify to t, arbitrarily making it an m/t language. Lots of stuff like that happened, including a lot of weird vocabulary parallels like the word for "land" j.m.j.h > jomijah >(j)emiaa > e~ia > ia/


Ended up noticing that for the core 1000 words or so, it took pretty much 3 characters at any one time to represent its roots depending on phonotactic restraints, which led it to act like an afroasiatic language rather perfectly... I also noticed that core vocabulary built up true homophones not infrequently, which meant that I usually took the word from the stratum affecting its phonology, unless I knew (or found) an example of the word being replaced with something semantically close. But I also changed word meanings regularly, keeping notes of "sememes" in the language and having a very... there's a Gaelic dictionary that I love that gives very large glosses to every word to give its every connotation, and I tried to do that with the dictionary as it changed and changed and changed, moving words and meanings as homophones were created and destroyed, leaving semantic residues behind etc. I also tried to base wordplay to create a few idioms based around alliteration, rhymes, or homophones.


But basically I ended up with a language sounding like a more Turkish, less Greek Romani. With of all things (Old) Chinese loanwords all over the place because its fake history had it evicted by the Tokharians before they themselves were evicted by the Uyghurs. I have no idea if any of the core vocabulary remained.


Of course I really didn't document myself, and this stuff's been tried before; toy languages are apparently normal. So I don't really have that much to show, although the whole thing's made me really "conservative" as far as "this sounds like this, therefore related" claims... I think I came away thinking both Afro-Asiatic and Altaic aren't valid in the traditional sense (there is an area with both vertical and horizontal transfer of features I think however) because I couldn't set up situations replicating their more complicated outcomes. Not that any of this is *remotely* conclusive.


But the whole experience also made me hate myself because I felt like the worst kind of nerd
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Alice Niggerville - Fri, 13 Mar 2015 02:42:31 EST NgBw3eX7 No.12032 Reply
>>12008
One of my favorite things I've ever read right here.
>>
Marta Huffington - Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:17:31 EST iybBgaRw No.12084 Reply
>>12008
You should write a blog and have posts that go deeper into one "historical phase" or one special feature, or special cases of vocabulary. This sounds absolutely awesome and I'd love to hear more!

Cantonese

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- Fri, 17 Apr 2015 22:24:00 EST bk34ntxt No.12080
File: 1429323840916.jpg -(5485B / 5.36KB, 259x194) Thumbnail displayed, click image for full size. Cantonese
In Mandarin, each character has one reading (plus variations sometimes, as with 不 or 一, but these can always be put down to tone sandhi).

In Japanese, a character may have many readings but a particular word will always be read in a particular way (except that かざぐるま and フーシャ are both written as 風車.)

And if you look up a chinese character in Unihan, for Cantonese you might get more than one reading. See this example

http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=807F&useutf8=true

The readings for 聿 are jyut6, leot6 and wat6. Why is this?

Is this situation more like the Mandarin aor more like the Japanese?
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