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Words that only exist in some languages | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | Vocabulary learning | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6950 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 65 of 97 25 May 2010 at 1:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
This way of looking at it is a common misunderstanding. 知る is a so-called 'instantaneous verb' , which means that the ている form means 'in the state of having completed' rather than 'in the process of doing.' For example, 食べる 'eat' and 話す 'talk' are continuous verbs, so 食べている and 話している mean 'eating' and 'talking', respectively. With continuous verbs, you can express being in the middle of doing something with the ている form. On the other hand, 着る 'put on' and 帰る 'go home' are instantaneous verbs, which means they are momentary actions: you can be about to do them, and you can be in the state of having done them, but there is no way in standard Japanese (though there is in other dialects) to express being in the process of 'putting on' or 'going home'. Rather, 着ている and 帰っている mean 'have put on' and 'have gone/come home', respectively. A more literal translation for 'shiru' might be 'to find out' or 'get to know', and it's an instantaneous verb. So there is no way to say 'am knowing' (just like how we don't say it in English); rather, 知っている literally means 'in the state of having found out', 'in the state of having gotten to know', which is why it's used where we would say 'know' in English. EDIT: By the way, 知る・知ります ARE used where we would say 'find out' or 'get to know' in English. Similarly, 知った・知りました means 'found out' e.g. ネットで調べて知った (I found out by looking it up online). Edited by Lucky Charms on 25 May 2010 at 1:45pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Tally Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Israel Joined 5609 days ago 135 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English*, Modern Hebrew* Studies: French | Message 66 of 97 27 May 2010 at 12:17pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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In Hebrew there is a word that you say to someone who got something new.תתחדש It's translation is 'get new' and I haven't come across it yet in other languages.
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| Tally Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Israel Joined 5609 days ago 135 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English*, Modern Hebrew* Studies: French | Message 67 of 97 27 May 2010 at 12:21pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Wow you're right I can't believe I haven't thought of that. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cebeel Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6561 days ago 51 posts - 60 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 68 of 97 28 May 2010 at 6:44am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Obviously you don't work in private industry, not for the government. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cherepaha Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6590 days ago 126 posts - 175 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Polish, Latin, French | Message 69 of 97 28 May 2010 at 9:05am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Russian also has a word "фраер". It comes into the contemporary Russian from the Odessa slang that was heavily informed by Yiddish. It is a con language word used to describe a person who does not belong to the criminal world and behaves in a naïve manner which makes him into a potential victim of a con man. Wiktionary says that its origins are traced back to German "Freier"/adj."frei"(= free). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cherepaha Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6590 days ago 126 posts - 175 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Polish, Latin, French | Message 70 of 97 28 May 2010 at 9:41am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I was just pondering "пешком" (pesh'kom) = "by foot" recently. What's interesting is that while "пешком" (pesh'kom) does contain an Indo-European root for the word "foot" (рēd- ), yet that is not at the root of the contemporary word for "foot" ("нога"). So, a modern Russ. lang. speaker would be recognizing the meaning of "пешком/пешим ходом" not as "by foot", but rather through what it is not, i.e. "not mounted (on a horse or vehicle)". Edited by Cherepaha on 28 May 2010 at 9:49am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cherepaha Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6590 days ago 126 posts - 175 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Polish, Latin, French | Message 71 of 97 28 May 2010 at 10:26am | IP Logged | ||||||||
That is true. In contemporary colloquial speech, however, there is an expression "быть в курсе" which has the meaning of "to know", but can only be used with regards to some events, and never in the meaning of knowing a person. Here is an example of usage: - А ты знаешь, что мы скоро едем в Выборг? (Do you know that we'll be going to Vyborg soon?) - Да, я в курсе – ребята рассказали. (Yes, I know – guys have told me.) P.S. The word "ведать" has also left traces in various contemporary compound nouns: - медведь (a bear – the word is comprised of мед+ведать (honey+to know), i.e. someone who knows honey) - ведьма (a witch) and set phrases: - Ни ведать, ни гадать (Neither know nor guess) - Никому неведомо (Not known to anyone) 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| horshod Pentaglot Groupie India Joined 5771 days ago 74 posts - 107 votes Speaks: Hindi, Marathi*, Bengali, Gujarati, English Studies: German, Spanish, Turkish | Message 72 of 97 29 May 2010 at 8:36am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Indian languages have specific words for many relations which is I think pretty unique. They have separate words for maternal and paternal uncle/aunt/grandparents.
I think some words in Marathi like, आजेसासू (aajesaasoo = husband's grandmother), साडू (saaDoo = wife's sister's husband) are pretty unique. Also, I have never seen a usage similar to the Marathi word मधील (madheel = the one which is inside something) as in, पाण्यामधील (paaNyaamadheel = the one which is in water) anywhere else... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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