|
|
Universal Language Nerd thread
As requested in another thread, I hereby declare the Universal
Language Nerd (ULN) thread open.
In this thread, all things language–y and nerdy may be discussed, and the resident crew of the ULN will do their best to aid in any linguistic
distress which may present itself to them. In other words, if you’ve got a language question/doubt/curiosity, post it here, and some language geek
will probably be able to help somehow.
Commence!
*smashes champagne bottle against hull of thread*
|
|
|
i have several questions about russian i wanna know but can't figure out how to put the cyrillic alphabet in this thread!
don't play with cellotape
|
|
|
Is this thread actually universal? I'm betting you just do Earth (and perhaps Middle Earth).
False advertising.
But here's a question for you: out of... Dutch and German which would be more useful and/or interesting to learn? I'm strongly considering an adult
ed course (I'd love to know *something* about another language) and these are the only two that interest me at all.
|
|
|
How do you say “suck my dick you stupid cum slut” in as many different languages as possible?
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by halften
But here's a question for you: out of... Dutch and German which would be more useful and/or interesting to learn? |
Good question. With Dutch being my mother tongue, I'd say go for Dutch because it's easier than German. German still has 4 cases, 3 genders and a
rather difficult system of adjective declension.
|
|
|
Shhh, Hannah, don’t blow our covers! It has been said of me, though, that I am a Martian (or some other kind of alien), so I might be able to help
with some of that... let’s not put it to the test, though.
German would definitely be the more useful of those two languages, I’d say. Dutch is basically useful for the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa
(though you’d have to learn Afrikaans on top, then), and a few places scattered around Africa and the West Indies. German, while spoken natively in
fewer places (only Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Lilliputian states of Monaco and Liechtenstein), has more international clout and a larger
literary base. Also, I believe there’s quite a large tradition for physical/chemical/biological journals and other technical writings in German, far
more so than in Dutch.
Dutch is prettier and a more interesting language, though, if you ask me.
Beggling: which browser are you using? If you’re using Internet Explorer (for Windows), Firefox, or Opera, you can simply type the Cyrillic letters as
regular, and they will appear correctly in the thread. If you’re using a browser such as Safari or Camino (I think), they won’t automatically convert
characters not supported by the page’s specified encoding, and the Cyrillic will become question marks. You can fix this by turning it into HTML
values (&#XXX;). Here is a link to a page that will convert it for you. Type
the Russian into the first field, and then click on the button to the right of that field (don’t press enter!). Then copy–paste everything you get in
the bottom field.
Bill: Let’s see...
Danish: “Slik min pik, din lede spermluder”
That’s the only one I’d feel certain enough to postulate. I wouldn’t quite know how to go about translate “cum slut” into other languages. We can do
this as a team effort! :D
|
|
|
oh yeah cool. ok, so when the russians want to say "i think that...." do they say я думаю
followed by what ever they want to say or is there a word meaning "that" that follows the verb, like in spanish when they say yo pienso QUE....
don't play with cellotape
|
|
|
Svenska: "Sug min kuk ditt dumma sprutluder"
Comments: sprut- means squirt, spurt and is the most common expression used for " to cum", att spruta.
| quote: | ursprungligen inlagt av Oisín
“Slik min pik, din lede spærmluder” |
Whereas in Swedish, Sug means "suck" and nothing else, in Danish Slik mean "Lick" but also "Candy". This makes Slik min pik
a clever play with words, "Candy my dick" and "Lick my dick" cojoining poetically into "Come lick my dick, it tastes like candy, and I can
rhyme".
It is uncertain whether this comes from differences in practise or if it is a case of advertisement becoming corroborated by the general culture. I
would suggest navy culture as the source for this expression.
|
|
|
"Zuig aan mijn pik, jij domme spermaslet" would be the proper Dutch equivalent.
Wow, I never thought I'd ever have to say above sentence.
|
|
|
If Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan was translating it into German, it would probably be:
sukken my dickin, yow sctumpid com slutten
|
|
|
Oh, and I was meaning to ask this. In Swedish, when do you have to use "hans/hennes" and when is it "sin/sitt/sina"? I've read several
explanations but none made any sense.
|
|
|
You use sin/sitt/sina when you're referring to the subject of the clause.
For example: "Hon tvättar sina händer" (She washes her own hands), but "Jag tvättar hennes händer" (I wash her hands). Does it make sense?
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Oisín
As requested in another thread, I hereby declare the Universal
Language Nerd (ULN) thread open. |
hahaha, another monster spawned by the mother of all monsters.
halften, try flemish, practical use=nill (unless you come over here) but it will enable you to read my poems, so that would make up for it.
|
|
|
I hope you know Flemish and Dutch are virtually the same language.
|
|
|
0101010011010101010100011001001010010010010010110101010101011110010001001001001001001001000111
1001010101010110111101000101100100101010010010111100010101001001011001010101010101001010010101
0010100101010001010100010100101010100101010100100101001010010010100101001010101010010101010101
0101010010010100101101100100100010100100101001010001011001010101011010010100110110000101101010
1001001110101000101001001010010010100101011010001011001010010010101001010100111010010100001010
1110100101001011010101010100101010010100101001010100101010101010010101010010101010101001010101
0010101001010010100101001100101010010101001010100101010010100101010010101001010010101001010100
1010100101010010100101001010100101010101010111011111001010100010101011010101010010010101001010
0110100110110101001010010110010100101010100110101010101000110010010100100100100101101010101010
1111001000100100100100100100100011110010101010101101111010001011001001010100100101111000101010
0100101100101010101010100101001010100101001010100010101000101001010101001010101001001010010100
1001010010100101010101001010101010101010100100101001011011001001000101001001010010100010110010
1010101101001010011011000010110101010010011101010001010010010100100101001010110100010110010100
1001010100101010011101001010000101011101001010010110101010101001010100101001010010101001010101
0101001010101001010101010100101010100101010010100101001010011001010100101010010101001010100101
0010101001010100101001010100101010010101001010100101001010010101001010101010101110111110010101
0001010101101010101001001010100101001101001101101010010101001, BITCHES!
i'm the bird on the brim
hypnotized by the whirl
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Autoharp
I hope you know Flemish and Dutch are virtually the same language. |
virtually the same, but not identical, they are two different
languages
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Oisín
German, while spoken natively in fewer places (only Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Lilliputian states of Monaco and
Liechtenstein |
I think you speak french in Monaco. And also you forgot Luxembourg (for german). maybe just mixed them up??
|
|
|
they speak both french and german (and some local germanlike thing) in luxembourg
there is also a germanspeaking part in belgium
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by obélix
| quote: | originally posted by Oisín
German, while spoken natively in fewer places (only Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Lilliputian states of Monaco and
Liechtenstein |
I think you speak french in Monaco. And also you forgot Luxembourg (for german). maybe just mixed them up?? |
Seconded.
« Voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. »
« Mais les yeux sont aveugles. Il faut chercher avec le cœur. »
~ Le Petit Prince par Antoine de Saint-Exupéry |
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by !linus
| quote: | originally posted by Autoharp
I hope you know Flemish and Dutch are virtually the same language. |
virtually the same, but not identical, they are two different
languages |
Ahem, please explain how.
The vocabulary is the same and the grammar is the same.
|
|
|
you have spoken to dutch people, haven't you. that is explanation enough (and if you do not get it, that means you are in denial)
btw, this is in no way meant to offend the dutch among you
(the vocabulary is NOT the same)
|
|
|
If you're talking about pronunciation, even my friend from Limburg (Belgian Limburg) didn't understand a word of what I was saying when she first
met me.
And as for vocabulary, sure there are some typical Flemish words and expressions and some typical Dutch ones. They're still the same god damned
language.
|
|
|
stephen fry, that clever gay dude from tv, said that 'king' in danish is 'kong' so the film is called kong kong in denmark. is this true? i tried
a free internet translation but it came up with kongen
|
|
|
kongen would be the definate form, the king.
i guess...
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Autoharp
If you're talking about pronunciation, |
I am not
have you ever known a dutch person living in belgium who suddenly starts to talk flemish? if that is the case and you still believe them to be the
same language then you sure are in denial
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by obélix
I think you speak french in Monaco. And also you forgot Luxembourg (for german). maybe just mixed them up?? |
Uhh, yeah, Monaco was supposed to be Luxembourg. Dunno where that little mix-up came from... :S
| quote: | | virtually the same, but not identical, they are two different languages |
While it’s true that there’s no specific way to separate languages from dialects, I think it’s pretty much universally agreed that Dutch and Flemish
are dialects of the same language—just as there is near-universal agreement that Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian are dialects of the same language.
The fact that there are differences between the two, both in vocabulary and grammar, doesn’t necessarily make them two different languages. Many
Danish dialects have grammars that are quite different from Standard Danish (to the point where some dialects, for instance, have separate definite
articles in all instances, like German or Dutch, but unlike Standard Danish). Some of them actually belong to a whole different branch of the Germanic
language group (East Germanic) than Danish (North Germanic), and so are historically speaking in closer relation to German and Dutch than they are to
Danish; however, due to the influence the standardised Danish language has had on them for over a millennium, they are now considered dialects of
Danish with their own, frequently East-Germanic, idiosynchrasies.
| quote: | | have you ever known a dutch person living in belgium who suddenly starts to talk flemish? if that is the case and you still
believe them to be the same language then you sure are in denial |
How does that prove anything at all? The fact that Dutch people in Belgium (if I understand you correctly) do not switch to Flemish, but continue to
speak their own Dutch dialect, is only proof that the two are so close to each other that they are to be considered dialects, rather than separate
languages.
Similarly, many (though not all) Swedes and Norwegians living in Denmark continue to speak their own ‘language’ (dialect) here, adjusting only a
little for improved mutual intelligibility. (Unlike Dutch and Flemish, one of the things that makes the Scandinavian dialects hard to understand
mutually is the fact that while Swedish and Norwegian have very marked [‘singing’] melodies, Danish has very little melody [much like High German orAmerican English].)
| quote: | | stephen fry, that clever gay dude from tv, said that 'king' in danish is 'kong' so the film is called kong kong in denmark.
is this true? i tried a free internet translation but it came up with kongen |
Kongen is indeed the definite form, ‘the king’.
The movie’s name is not translated; it’s called King Kong here as well. However, if you have an actual king whose name is Kong (which has
happened occasionally—I believe there was a Vietnamese king named Kong at some point in history), his title would properly be kong Kong, that’s
true.
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Oisín
While it’s true that there’s no specific way to separate languages from dialects, I think it’s pretty much universally agreed that Dutch and Flemish
are dialects of the same language—just as there is near-universal agreement that Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian are dialects of the same
language. |
I don't realy care about what most people think on a subject I have strong opinions about. of course if you consider them
three scandinavian languages dialects of one and the same language, okay I guess dutch and flemish are one language. but I believe that's not what
freddie meant
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by !linus
I don't realy care about what most people think on a subject I have strong opinions about. of course if you consider them three scandinavian
languages dialects of one and the same language, okay I guess dutch and flemish are one language. but I believe that's not what freddie
meant |
Actually, I think it’s exactly what he meant—not that Dutch and Flemish are the same thing, but that they are distinct dialects, not distinct
languages.
Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I have a date. :D
|
|
|
"wairþai wilja þeins, swe on himina jah ana airþai"
That is from the Gothic bible Codex Argentis, and at first I thought it was jibberich, but when I read further on the pronounciation, I found that
"ei" = "í"
"ai" = "æ" or "e" as in "let"
"h" in "jah" is most probably more like "gh" or "k"
"a" is like "o" as in "on".
So then, if we turn the "th" into "d"* we get:
"Verde vilja díns, sve ón himina yock onno erde"
My question is as follows. The quote looks very much like Swedish, with more grammar and +/- one letter here and there, but according to language
geneology gothic and swedish are meant to be quite distant. If that is so, are the similarities due to later influences from German in Swedish?
I think about this because I live in Gothenburg...
*which happened in swedish sometime 300 years ago
|
|
|
What I meant was, that they're basically the same. Not two different languages as French and Chinese for example are completely different from each
other. I, for one, would never say Flemish is my mother tongue and I hardly speak any real dialect anymore either. Otherwise nobody understands
me... ;)
edit: i really love this thread btw...
|
|
|
see, there we differ, I say I speak flemish. (edit: I don't speak adialect either, I never have, I only have the typical kempen vowels, but
apparently I am even losing that after living in antwerp for 5 years. (but people still find it funny over here when I refer to my dad as 'onze
vader'))
as fo magnoos question: I have no idea, but I can bring in some tolkien stuff if you like.
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Magnoos
My question is as follows. The quote looks very much like Swedish, with more grammar and +/- one letter here and there, but according to language
geneology gothic and swedish are meant to be quite distant. If that is so, are the similarities due to later influences from German in
Swedish? |
Swedish and Gothic are relatively closely related. They are not of the same branch within the Germanic languages, but they are both Germanic, and
because Gothic is one of the oldest Germanic languages, it will necessarily be easier to identify more closely with any of the modern Germanic
languages than it would be to closely identify two modern Germanic languages to each other, if that makes sense.
What I mean is, if you have a more or less uniform Germanic language around, say, 200 B.C., most of the words in that language will then evolve in
different ways in different places, creating different languages. The more time passes by, the more different these languages become from each other.
In order to compare two of them, you basically have to trace the word in your own language (Swedish, for instance) back to the ‘original’ form, and
then recreate all the changes that have happened in the language you’re comparing it to(Dutch, for instance) since then. If you want to compare with
Gothic, however, you need only jump one way, since Gothic is a lot closer to the ‘original’ Germanic language.
|
|
|
| quote: | ursprungligen inlagt av Oisín
“Slik min pik, |
i chuckled when i read that
slik mijn pik = dutch for swallow my dick
King of Intergalactic Awkwardness
|
|
|
On that note, why does the swedish and danish translation use "ditt" and "din" for "you"? aren't that possessive pronouns?
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Autoharp
On that note, why does the swedish and danish translation use "ditt" and "din" for "you"? aren't that possessive
pronouns? |
They are, yes; but in certain phrases where you would in English (and in German, and, I assume, also in Dutch) use the vocative [=nominative] of the
personal pronoun in question, the Scandinavian languages tend to use the possessive pronominal equivalent. This is mostly when insulting people (or
rather, when calling someone using a noun):
Din idiot = You idiot [lit. “your idiot”]
Din snuskebasse = You sweetie–pie [do.]
English (and German and Dutch, I assume), do have this use of the possessive pronouns as well, but only in terms of reverence, or (jokingly, playing
on the reverence aspect) with abstract nouns: your excellence, your honour, “your idiocy”, etc.
Apart from these cases, I can’t think of any contexts where din/dit/dine should be used for simply ‘you’.
Edit: I spoke too hastily there, without thinking properly. The possessive pronoun is only used in the second person singular; in all other
persons, the vocative [=nominative] of the personal pronoun is used as in the other relevant languages:
Jeg idiot ? I’m such an idiot [lit. “I idiot”]
I idioter = You idiots
|
|
|
Just to throw a little diversity into this thread, I thought I'd mention that I'm taking a course on ancient Greek (language) this year. Anyone else
suffered through this experience? Or if anyone's curious about it, I can attempt to answer your questions, I'd love to have some practical use for
it.
|
|
|
Nerd alert, indeed, but still a thread after my own heart. :)
There was a time when I was studying four languages at once, though in the last year or so I've slackened off somewhat and have lost varying degrees
of fluency in about three of them. :( I am, however, thinking of trying my hand at French this year.
And on a slightly more random note, indigenous Australian languages (all 3,434,567,839 of them) fascinate me, and are surprisingly easy to get your
mouth around. I received a couple of impromptu lessons in Pitjantjara (or Pitjantjatjara) when I was up in central Australia a few years back... looks
horrendous when written on paper (which I suppose it was never meant to be) but has a delicious rhythm to it when spoken.
However, Croatian still remains my favourite language, only because it's the most brilliant language for insults and cussing.
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by interstellarburst
Just to throw a little diversity into this thread, I thought I'd mention that I'm taking a course on ancient Greek (language) this year. Anyone else
suffered through this experience? |
Ach, I only wish! I really wanted to take Greek as well as Latin in high school, but unfortunately, there were no qualified teachers at my school, and
not enough students who wanted to learn Greek for them to have to go find one, either. So Latin alone it was :(
I really should get around to taking some Ancient Greek at some point soon—especially since it’s so relevant for my current elective course. (Same
goes for Sanskrit, by the way)
| quote: | | And
on a slightly more random note, indigenous Australian languages (all 3,434,567,839 of them) fascinate me, and are surprisingly easy to get your mouth
around. |
I assume this does not include Damin, one of the few languages in the world to
possess no less than five different forms of click releases..?
(Also the only non–African language to have clicks at all)
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by paulb
stephen fry, that clever gay dude from tv |
It's evidently very important to refer to people's sexuality when identifying them.
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by themanwithsalthair
| quote: | originally posted by paulb
stephen fry, that clever gay dude from tv |
It's evidently very important to refer to people's sexuality when identifying them. |
it is if its one of their defining features
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by combatdave
| quote: | originally posted by themanwithsalthair
| quote: | originally posted by paulb
stephen fry, that clever gay dude from tv |
It's evidently very important to refer to people's sexuality when identifying them. |
it is if its one of their defining features |
it never is
|
|
|
"Gay" is an adjective. It means "cheerful". Or so I have heard.
|
|
|
Gay meaning ‘homosexual,’ dating back to the 1930s (if not earlier), became established in the 1960s as the term preferred by homosexual men to
describe themselves. It is now the standard accepted term throughout the English-speaking world. As a result, the centuries-old other senses of gay
meaning either ‘carefree’ or ‘bright and showy,’ once common in speech and literature, are much less frequent. The word gay cannot be readily used
unselfconsciously today in these older senses without sounding old-fashioned or arousing a sense of double entendre, despite concerted attempts by
some to keep them alive. Gay in its modern sense typically refers to men ( lesbian being the standard term for homosexual women), but in some contexts
it can be used of both men and women.
|
|
|
aww freddie, how gay of you
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Mooreman
How do you say “suck my dick you stupid cum slut” in as many different languages as possible? |
chupa meu pau sua puta de esperma estúpida.
ehmmm cum slut is hard to translate into portuguese
a matança do porco
|
|
|
이거는 설립해서 너무 기뻐요
weil dieses thread beginnt hatte bin ich glucklich.
これは設立しまったからうれしです。
|
|
|
| quote: | originally posted by Oisín
| quote: | originally posted by interstellarburst
Just to throw a little diversity into this thread, I thought I'd mention that I'm taking a course on ancient Greek (language) this year. Anyone else
suffered through this experience? |
Ach, I only wish! I really wanted to take Greek as well as Latin in high school, but unfortunately, there were no qualified teachers at my school, and
not enough students who wanted to learn Greek for them to have to go find one, either. So Latin alone it was :(
I really should get around to taking some Ancient Greek at some point soon—especially since it’s so relevant for my current elective course. (Same
goes for Sanskrit, by the way)
|
At this point I'm wishing I had the chance to take Latin, but I'm a science major, there's just no room. My fascination in language has just begun
to develop in the past year or so, otherwise I would probably have taken it in first year university, maybe even high school.
But yeah, I'd definitely recommend adding a little Greek to the repertoire. It's terribly heavy in declensions, though I hear Latin is worse.
Personally I just love their alphabet.
Hey, has anyone out there tackled Esperanto? Supposedly it's easier to learn a language simultaneously with Esperanto than it is to learn just that
language by itself (probably limited to Indo-European languages).
|
|
|
So is this just a vocab/grammar thread, or truly a linguistic thing?
I'd really like to discuss the word "like" in American English. I've actually sat and spied on sorority girls at school and taken down gobs of
notes, and it seems to have become a word that has multiple uses now. Or, like, something.
|
|
