History is Not Boring discussion
Tower of Babel Language Thread
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i knoweven this style is dictated
by my choice to write less
i chose simple words
and use line breaks to make it intelligible
eschewing all punctuation and capitalization except for clarity
Bit naebdie'll hae a scoobie fit am spaekan aboot fa dinnae pit it aw in English as weel, ken?
In the interests of clarity I suggest we chose a phrase or passage in a book and each "translate" the same into the dialect of our chosing. This will give a good comparison and allow us to gauge how easy it is to be understood when using versions of the same language.I've chosen a biblical passage as it's a common enough ref point and the bible itself has a complex Hx of translations.
I've used Rev Bill Smith's Scot's translation of Matt 2: 7-12...well, it seemed seasonally suitable:
7. Than, Herod, convenin the Wyss Men privately, faund oot mair strickly o' the comin o' the starn ;
8. And bad them gang to Bethlehem ; and quo' he, "Gang, and seek ye oot the wee bairn ; and whan ye ken, fesh me word again, that I as weel may come and worship."
9. Eftir hearing the King, they gaed awa' ; and lo ! the starn whilk they saw i' the East gaed on afore them, till it stood whaur the wee bairn was.
10. And whan they saw the starn, they were blythe wi' unco blythness.
11. And comin intil the hoose, they saw the wee bairn, and his mither Mary ; and loutin doon, worshipp't him. And openin' oot their gear, they offer't till him gifts - gowd, and frankincense, and myrrh.
12. And bein warned in a dream no to gang back till Herod, they airtit their way to their ain kintra anither gate.
Bit naebdie'll hae a scoobie fit am spaekan aboot fa dinnae pit it aw in English as weel, ken?I bet nobody will have any idea what i'm talking about because i didn't put it all in English, you know? Close?
Very, very close. Not an exact literal translation, but the meaning is correct...which brings up the point of how should we translate? The bible (as used above in my example) has been translated many ways and is just one case of this arguement. Literal translations, whether biblical or of Tolstoy, can lose so much when it comes to meaning.
These are not the droids you're looking for...
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very-is it the south carolina barrier islands that still has the gullah dialect? i love the brainpower in this group
thanks all of you
keep it coming
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are you from that area susanna?i remember studying about it in junior high school i think
also, my mother-in-law was a descendent of the inhabitants of cooke's island in the chesapeake bay
they also maintained a dialect that had roots in elizabethan english and survived into the 20th century
one marker was she called an iron frying pan a spider
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Just so happens I still want to learn German and received this from About.com's 1st German lessondas Alphabet
The German Alphabet and Its Sounds
Buchstabe
Letter Aussprache
Pronunciation Beispiele / Examples
A a ah ab (from), der Apparat (appliance, phone)
Ä ä ay der Äther (ether), die Fähre (ferry)
B b bay bei (at, near), das Buch (book)
C c say die City (downtown), der Computer
D d day durch (through), dunkel (dark)
E e ay elf (eleven), wer (who), er (he)
F f eff faul (lazy), der Feind (enemy)
G g gay das Gehirn (brain), gleich (same, equal)
H h haa die Hand (hand), halb (half)
I i eeh der Igel (hedgehog), immer (always)
J j yot das Jahr (year), jung (young)
K k kah der Kalender (calendar), kennen (know)
L l ell langsam (slow, slowly), die Leute (people)
M m emm mein (my), der Mann (man)
N n enn die Nacht (night), nein (no), nicht (not)
O o oh das Ohr (ear), die Oper (opera)
Ö ö ooh Österreich (Austria), öfters (once in a while)
P p pay das Papier (paper), positiv (positive)
Q q koo die Quelle (source), quer (crossways)
R r err das Rathaus (city hall), rechts (right)
S s ess die Sache (matter), das Salz (salt), seit (since)
ß ess-zett
(s-z ligature) Lower case only. Replaces "ss" in some words. Not used in Swiss German.
groß (big, great), die Straße (street)
BUT: das Wasser (water), dass (that), muss (must)
T t tay der Tag (day), das Tier (animal)
U u ooh die U-Bahn (subway, metro), unter (below)
Ü ü uyuh über (over, about), die Tür (door)
V v fow der Vater (father), vier (four)
W w vay wenn (if, whenever), die Woche (week)
X x ixx x-mal (umpteen), das Xylofon
Y y oop-see-
lohn der Yen (yen), der Typ (type)
Z z zett zahlen (pay), die Pizza, zu (to, too)
Always wondered about why "z" is zee in the US and zed in the UK...AE notes it's zett in German, so maybe it's all Anglosaxon in origin for the UK.
But what about the US zee, French origin? Spanish? Anyone have any ideas?
nienje suis fatigue
heehee
I took french I in high school and can follow the written word a little.
The best trick online is the online translator. It isn't always accurate but it does help. German seems more natural for me. Of course, as with anything it takes discipline, time and practice and I have been quite lazy about it.
We should converse privately through our profiles, we are friends after all and wouldn't have to take over a public forum.
If you will message me, I'll follow along. The about.com lesson looks quite good, if I can discipline myself to do it.
no translator needed on thatmy gender has nothing to do with it ! :)
i should have said i am too lazy to sprechen franzozich
Good queston about "Z" Barbarossa.We use it in Spanish quite frequently. Its called a zeta....pronounced SETA.
we also use it in French.
In Spanish we have the letter "K" pronouced KA, though the only word we use if for is Kilometer and other metric measurements.
I always thought if I have a daugher some day, I will name her Kasandra or Karolina....to give the Spanish "K" more of a workout than just for the metric system.
LOL
shrthnd ws a prcss of drppng vwls
i stll use it in my crrnt jb to smmrz a lt of dtls on a sprdsht
translation
when i worked for a credit card company
shorthand was a process of dropping vowels
i still use it in my current job to summarize a lot of details on a spreadsheet