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Post by Basse on Oct 27, 2008 9:28:34 GMT
I know five words or so of German, so drop me off that list
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Jatayu
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Jatayu
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Post by Jatayu on Oct 27, 2008 10:39:33 GMT
damp, I know more German than that ( studied it for 2 months ) Why the hell is 'd a m n' getting censored to damp?
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Oct 27, 2008 12:15:12 GMT
Not sure, I think it's Basse's doing.
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Post by Scuddles! on Oct 27, 2008 12:27:02 GMT
I can sing the first two lines of the first stanza of (what was) the German National Anthem (it's now only the third stanza). Plus, enough broken German to get me the role of extra, playing a Gemarn soldier in a Hollywood movie set in WWII.
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Oct 27, 2008 13:53:48 GMT
I can only speak English fluently. I could probably get by in French and German, but only for low level everyday things.
I'm also trying to learn the words for useful phrases such as "Mercy!", "Help!" and so on in as many languages as possible.
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Post by Morgoth on Oct 27, 2008 19:40:14 GMT
I can speak estonian and english fluently, I can speak basic german, I can communicate with finns (their language IS a drunk version of estonian, after all) and yell profanity in russian.
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Jatayu
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Post by Jatayu on Oct 28, 2008 3:42:51 GMT
I'm also trying to learn the words for useful phrases such as "Mercy!", "Help!" and so on in as many languages as possible. why? Do you expect to drown in some foreign country?
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Oct 28, 2008 9:42:00 GMT
I expect that the more foreign countries I go to, the higher the chance of something dreadful happening to me while I'm there.
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Jatayu
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Post by Jatayu on Oct 28, 2008 10:39:32 GMT
I know a bit of Sanskrit ( I intend to learn Sanskrit well enough to speak it in my lifetime ). Since most Indian languages use Sanskrit words for high level concepts, I can follow them even if I don't understand them exactly. Eg. the following is in Nepali, a language I don't know at all. Sabai vyaktiharū janmajāt svatantra hun tī sabaikō samān adhikār ra mahatva cha. Nijaharūmā vicāraśakti ra sadvicār bhaēkōlē nijaharūlē āpastmā bhrātr̥tvakō bhāvanābāṭ vyavahār garanu parcha. I can decipher it as: vyaktiharū - personal janmajāt - birthright svatantra - independant sabaikō samān adhikār - equality mahatva - same importance vicāraśakti - thinking power sadvicār - good thoughts āpastmā - spirit bhāvanābāṭ - brotherhood vyavahār - behaviour. I get a rough idea of what it means even if I don't understand it exactly. Is it the same with European languages: if you know Spanish, you can also follow French and Italian or is it totally different? BTW the translation of the above turns out to be: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Oct 28, 2008 15:42:52 GMT
Yes, you can. Although trying to follow a language spoken is always a lot harder than following it written down.
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Post by Morgoth on Oct 28, 2008 16:05:44 GMT
In the few spanish lessons I've had, I've constantly said words I thought were in Spanish, but actually were Italian. They're really similar, those two.
English is a mutant language, from latin, german, french and viking languages.
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Jatayu
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Post by Jatayu on Oct 29, 2008 13:29:53 GMT
Yes, you can. Although trying to follow a language spoken is always a lot harder than following it written down. I dunno about that. When it is spoken you also have guestures and so on which might actually make it easier. I can follow this guy's interview on TV here. He speaks in Gujarati - a language I have no clue of. But I can understand what he is talking about, because of use of Hindi, Sanskrit and English words. On the other hand when the same guy addresses a gathering here I have no idea what he's saying. The difference is probably because no 'high level' conversation is going on so no loan-words.
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Andan
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Post by Andan on Nov 22, 2008 10:14:25 GMT
Just a quick question. Anybody care to explain what these phrase mean? per se ad infinitum coup de grace It's just a matter of personal curiosity, by the way. I stumbled upon those words in various literatures.
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Nov 22, 2008 11:40:13 GMT
per se - as such ad infinitum - continued to infinity coup de grace - lethal blow (originally a duelling term)
Some other commonly used Latin phrases:
vice versa - the other way round ad nauseum - continued until sickening via - through
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Post by Morgoth on Nov 22, 2008 11:46:15 GMT
per se can also mean "by itself".
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Nov 22, 2008 12:30:34 GMT
True, and that's closer to a literal translation.
One thing I hate is when people spell it "per say". Why would you use Latin if you don't understand it? It's not even showing off, because it makes you look illiterate.
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Sissi
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Post by Sissi on Jan 19, 2009 16:51:31 GMT
Well well well, how an interesting thread ! Jatayu, was it Tamul the first time you wrote ? Von C and Basse : 'could you pass me the frogs legs' are 'pouvez vous me passer les cuisses de grenouilles' if you are in a dining room. But in a brothel night club, say rather 'Passez moi les jambes françaises', you won't be disappointed !
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Post by Basse on Jan 19, 2009 16:57:45 GMT
Heh. I'll leave any French translation to you from now on
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Jatayu
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Post by Jatayu on Jan 19, 2009 17:02:51 GMT
cc, are you French? And what is Tamul?
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Post by Basse on Jan 19, 2009 17:06:12 GMT
A misspelled version of Tamil, perhaps?
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Sissi
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Post by Sissi on Jan 19, 2009 18:21:41 GMT
That's a beautiful language they speak (less and less, alas) and write in Sri Lanka, in the South, mostly. One of my friends is learning it, and it looks like that. I don't know how this is spelled in English, perhaps Tamoul ? And what is Tamil ?
And somehow I'm French, since I was born in France. But I do not think I've got a single drop of French blood in my veins. I'm a...mongrel ?
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Jan 19, 2009 18:34:10 GMT
It's the ethnic minority in Sri Lanka. As in Tamil Tigers.
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Sissi
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Post by Sissi on Jan 19, 2009 19:13:15 GMT
Ah, so that's the English name for Tamoul. Thanks, Julius. Basse was right then. I do apologise, but I'm self-taught in English, so it's a bit hard sometimes.
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Jatayu
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Post by Jatayu on Jan 20, 2009 4:52:33 GMT
Ah, I see.
Btw you are mistaken.. it is spoken in the northern areas of Sri Lanka and the South Indian state of Tamil nadu. And I don't know Tamil. sorry.
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Sissi
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Post by Sissi on Jan 20, 2009 9:57:30 GMT
Hem, next time I'll check my info instead of trusting everything my friends say... My mistake once again. Sorry !
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Post by Sissi on Mar 21, 2009 9:00:33 GMT
That's a discussion I've tried to start in Heaven, but no one was interested ,(that was in the "Henry Dunant "thread). Functions of LanguageI think it interesting and funny to read people posts from that point of view, how they use the differents functions, mix them etc... Perhaps someone else likes Linguistics, over here ? At least an attempt to keep the forum alive.
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Post by Julius CMXCIX on Mar 21, 2009 19:29:58 GMT
I find linguistics quite interesting. Mostly the use of language is what appeals to me. I'm not really a scientific person.
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Sissi
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Post by Sissi on Mar 21, 2009 21:56:41 GMT
Well, Linguistics are(is?) a science, you know. It requires lots of logics, abstraction, pertinency in the choice of your criteria for classifications, and so on. It's akin to anthropology, for searchers.
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Post by Basse on Mar 21, 2009 22:57:41 GMT
Personally I'm much more interested in using language rather than doing research on why it's used the way it is. Of course, it's still very useful to know, but I can't say it's a big interest of mine
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Post by jon. on Mar 22, 2009 14:10:35 GMT
Definitely with Basse on this one.
I started taking French for one of my classes, and if there's one thing that I cannot do, it is pronounce French R's correctly. How do you do it?
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