Tag: English

[Русский внизу]
If you wonder how it usually begins in our home, here’s the first Esperanto conversation.
.
*Shurka bolts into the bedroom upon hearing the first sounds of the waking husband*
Shurka: Jen estas la mia kato!
Very sleepy Yauheni: *mrprfr*
– Mi amas la mian katon!
– *mrrrprrrfrrr*
– Kaj la mia kato dormas.
– *mrp*
– Ĉu la mia kato… [want? ŝatas? no, it’s “likes”. amas? no, it’s “loves”. want? quiere? veut? What would Zamenhof have taken? Oh, deziras would do. But does it really exist? Sure, it does. Come on, are you learning a language or inventing a new one? Let’s go and look it up in GoogleTranslate]
– Fuck, I forgot it. Wait a sec.
*beetles off to google, then comes back*
– Ĉu la mia kato… fuck, I forgot it again.
*rushes out, comes back*
– Ĉu la mia kato volas kafo?
– *nods in perfect Esperanto*
…
– Jen estas la via kafo.
– Thnx.
– Say “dankon”.
– Dankon.
– Weee-hooo!!! *darts away, back to Duolingo*
.
***
.
Если вам интересно, как это обычно происходит в нашем доме, вот вам первый разговор на эсперанто. (Через косую черту фразы на эсперанто)
*Шурка стремглав влетает в спальню, заслышав первые звуки просыпающегося мужа*
Шурка: /Вот мой кот!/
Очень сонный Яўген: *мрпрфр*
– /Я люблю своего кота!/
– *мрррпрррфрр*
– А мой кот спит.
– *мрп*
– /А мой кот…/ [хочет? /шатас?/ нет, это «нравится». /амас?/ нет, это «любит». want? quiere? veut? Что бы взял Заменгоф? О, дезирас подойдёт. А оно правда есть? Да конечно есть. Эй, ну ты учишь язык или изобретаешь новый? Надо пойти и посмотреть в GoogleTranslate]
– Бля, забыла. Пять сек.
*уносится гуглить, возвращается*
– /А мой кот…/ бля, опять забыла.
*вылетает, влетает*
– /А мой кот хочет кофе?/
– *кивает на идеальном эсперанто*
…
– /Вот твой кофе./
– Спс.
– Скажи /данкон/.
– Данкон.
– Йу-хуу!! *вприпрыжку несётся обратно в Дуолинго*

Internationally, Barcelona’s name is wrongly abbreviated to Barça. However, this name refers only to FC Barcelona, the football club. The common abbreviated form used by locals is Barna. (w)

В международной среде название Барселоны часто сокращают до “Барсы”. Местные, однако, так называют только футбольный клуб, а город сокращённо называют “Барна”.

О людях-придурках магических ритуалах, правильных названиях, блестящей монополии и о том, что следовало переназвать птицу, когда Гоголь умер.

[Tarahumara] are said to use the same word for “dancing” and for “working”—obviously because the distinction between these two activities is not immediately apparent to them, since in their scheme of things dance and agriculture serve essentially the same purpose of providing the means of livelihood. The growth and prosperity of their crops seems to them to depend as much or more on the correct performance of their dances, their magical and religious ceremonies, than on prompt and proper attention to the soil.

In the Kate language, which is current in New Guinea, there is a word bilin, which denotes a certain kind of grass with tough stems and roots that are wedged firmly in the soil; the latter are said to hold the earth together during earthquakes, so that it does not break apart. When nails were first introduced by Europeans, and when their use became popularly known, the natives applied this word to them—as also to wire and to iron rods, in short, to everything that served the purpose of holding things together.

Georg von der Gabelentz, in his book on the science of language, mentions the edict of a Chinese emperor of the third century B.C., whereby a pronoun in the first person, that had been legitimately in popular use, was henceforth reserved to him alone.

The dead may, at any moment, be literally “invoked,” the moment those who survive him speak his name. As everyone knows, the fear of such visitation has led many savages to avoid not only every mention of the departed, whose name is tabooed, but even the enunciation of all assonances to his name. Often, for instance, an animal species whose name a defunct person had borne has to be given a different appellation, lest the dead man be inadvertently called upon by speaking of the beast.” In many cases procedures of this sort, entirely mythic in their motivation, have had a radical influence on language, and modified vocabularies considerably.
Ernst Cassirer, “Language and Myth”

It is funny to note that in several translations of the Ecclesiastes the Preacher states calmly and solemnly that all is in vain, and only the Italian version shouts and throws its arms about 🙂

Из попавшихся мне версий перевода  Экклезиаста о том, что всё тлен, только итальянская версия орёт и размахивает руками 🙂

Vanitas vanitatum, dixit Ecclesiastes. Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas. (Vulgata)

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities ; all is vanity. (King James)

Fumée de fumée, dit Qhoèlèt : fumée de fumée, tout est fumée. (Chouraqui)

Est ist ganz eitel, sprach der Predigter, est ist alles ganz eitel. (Luther)

« Vanità delle vanità ! – dice Kohelet – Vanità delle vanità ! Tutto è vanità ! » (Galbiati)

A notable Irish joke is that it is not possible to translate mañana into Gaelic as the Irish “don’t have a word that conveys that degree of urgency”. (W)

Известная ирландская шутка гласит, что слово “завтра” невозможно перевести на гэльский, так как у ирландев “нет слова, передающего такую степень срочности”.

“Tense is most often marked on verbs, but not always. The California language Hupa has tense-marking on nouns. Thus, for example, the word for ‘house’ has three tenses: a present tense “xonta” (house which now exists), a past tense “xontaneen” (house which is now in ruins) and a future tense “xontate” (house which is not built yet). English, of course, has nothing like this, and we have to use different words to achieve the same effect: one might consider, for example, that “ex-wife” is the ‘past tense’ of “wife”, while “fiancée” is its ‘future tense’! ”

“Language: The Basics” by L. Trask

Говоря о людях или вещах, глухонемые на них показывают. Говоря об отсутствующих людях, рассказчик зачастую назначает каждому персонажу определённое место в своём личном пространстве, и ориентирует знаки к нему. Жест со значением “давать” может быть направлен от одного человекоместа к другому, показывая таким образом дающего и получателя.

“When signing about people or objects that are present, signers point to them. When signing about people or objects that are not present, they often assign each person to a different location within their signing space, and then orient their signs toward these assigned spots. A sign meaning “give” can then move from one spot to another, so both the giver and the recipient are shown simultaneously with the sign for “give”.”

“The Talking Ape: How Language Evolved” by Robbins Burling

Как у людей, у птиц одного вида могут быть разные “диалекты”. У живущей в Калифорнии белоголовой овсянки они различаются настолько, что человек с натренированным ухом мог бы с завязанными глазами определить, в какой части штата он находится, просто слушая пение птиц.

As with humans, the song of a single species of bird may have different but related ‘dialects’. The white-crowned sparrow, a Californian resident, has dialects so different, even within the San Francisco area, that ‘someone with a cultivated ear would be able to tell where he or she was in California, blindfolded, simply by listening to their songs’ (Marler 1991b: 38).

The Seeds of Speech: Language Origin and Evolution (Jean Aitchison).