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Iversen’s Multiconfused Log (see p.1!) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes  Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3729 of 3959 29 October 2014 at 7:08am | IP Logged | ||
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I have been quite busy at my job the last couple of days, so my evenings have been spent in an armchair with some of my routine activities like wordlists, text study-and-copy. As I have mentioned earlier I found a long text in Indonesian in as unlikely a place as Facebook about the history of the Earth, and I have now reached Ordovicium - for some reason there isn't a separate chapter about the Cambrian.
Because it is the same author and the same general topic all the way through I have now learnt the basics about rocks been boiled, smashed together, dipped in oxygen (become rusty in the process) and supporting the first vestiges of bacterial life in Bahasa. The snowball Earth episode - which to me probably constitute the true starting point for the Cambrian explosion - is mentioned, though not by name. A major glaciation called Gowganda is mentioned in the article, but the only Gowganda I can find on the internet is an area in Canada. Well, that area has 3 km thick 'Huronian' glacial deposits so it may still be the intended place - although the Huronian is a much earlier phase in the Precambrian period than the one which normally is referred to as the snowball earth period. I'll have to study that question later, but so far my reading skills in Bahasa Indonesia have reach the point where I almost can read an article like this without referring to the translation if I look up a few words up beforehand. And it isn't my fault that some of the more specialized words aren't found in my modest-size, but otherwise excellent Tuttle dictionary. Serbian? Well, I am watching the news in Serbian right now (temperatures in the 11-12 degrees range now, against 34° C in Beograd one day after the conference in Novi Sad), and I have read some texts about Kalemegdan (the big fortress in Beograd) yesterday in the bus back home from work. Greek? I have started an A to Ω perousal of my old Swanson dictionary. It is special because it has relatively few words, but explains them better then many bigger dictionaries - for instance there are always sufficient information in the articles about verbs to form all relevant forms. But it is so old that it uses 3 accents and 2 aspirations. Other languages? Well, TV mostly - which limits the choice. But Monday evening I did study a page of Harry Potter in Irish. Edited by Iversen on 31 October 2014 at 6:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3730 of 3959 30 October 2014 at 7:51am | IP Logged | ||
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"Whæt!"
That's the start of the famous Anglosaxon poem Beowulf... ahem, the ONLY anglosaxon poem, apart from some short snippets with much less punch. The poetic heritage from Old Norse is much richer, mostly because some people on Iceland didn't know what to do during those dark long winternights and then they began writing down the oral tales of their heathen forebears (slightly amended to suit their new Christian religion). I read through some of their products yesterday evening, including a couple that had a distinctly learned aspect - and Vafþrúðnismál is certainly one of those pedagogical resources. The plot is that Oðinn wants to test his knowledge against that that of the giant troll Vafþrúðnir. First he speaks to his wife Frigg about the project, then he rides on his eightlegged horse Sleipner to the abode of Vafþrúðnir where he falsely calls himself Gangráðr and behaves like a spoilt brat of a besserwisser. When it comes to the intended duel on wits Oðinn is hard pressed and at the end he has to resort to a trick: he asks what he - Odin - whispered to his dead son Baldr on the pyre, and of course only he himself knows that (and maybe Baldr, but he's down at Hel's place). However I'm actually more impressed by the wisdom of the giant than of the God, who has a wellorganized intelligence service in the form of two sneaky ravens (Hugin and Munin) plus a magic seat where he can sit down and see the whole world (really an analog version of the internet). IC: "Fiǫld ek fór, fiǫld ek freistaða, fiǫld ek reynda regin" - og af því kallar Óðinn sig Gagnraðr á heimsóknin til jötuns Vafþrúðnis. Athugið stafsetningu tilvitnunar - það er tekið bein úr Edduljóðum II Helgasonar (2. útgáfa, 1952). Jötunnin spyrjar fyrst hvað hesturinn heitir sem dregur daginn (þ.e. sólinni) kring. Eða á norræna: "Hvé sá hestr heitir er hverian dregr dag of dróttmǫgo" - og það er að sjálfsögðu Hrimfaxe. Náungi hennar sem er að draga um tunglið og nóttin kallast Skinfaxi. Við vitum það óg frá Oehlenschlägers tíma "Guldhornene": DA: "Hrymfaxe den sorte puster og dukker og i Havet sig begraver. Morgenens Porte Delling oplukker, og Skinfaxe traver i straalende Lue paa Himlens Bue.." IC: Spurningarnar verða erfiðara og erfiðara, og að lokum svindlar Óðinn og spyrjar: "Hvat mælti Oðinn, ádr á bál stigi, siálfr í eyra syni?" Og það veitt aðeins Óðinn sjálfur (og kannski Baldr, en hann segir ekkert því að hann er dauður) Edited by Iversen on 31 October 2014 at 4:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| glavkos Triglot Newbie Greece glavkos.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5231 days ago 13 posts - 15 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Esperanto Studies: Russian | Message 3731 of 3959 30 October 2014 at 9:43am | IP Logged | ||
Καλησπέρα κύριε Ίβερσεν, σε ποιά έκθεση της Κυπριακής Πρεσβείας αναφέρεστε εδώ; Μήπως θα μπορούσατε να μας δώσετε περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες; 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3732 of 3959 30 October 2014 at 5:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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GR: Ο τίτλος του άρθρου είναι: "Επιτυχμένη έκθεση ζωγραφικής". Η Πρεσβεία είναι η πρεσβεία στην Ουάσιγκτον, ΗΠΑ. Edited by Iversen on 30 October 2014 at 5:21pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| glavkos Triglot Newbie Greece glavkos.blogspot.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5231 days ago 13 posts - 15 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Esperanto Studies: Russian | Message 3733 of 3959 30 October 2014 at 7:48pm | IP Logged | ||
EN: Well, thank you for the swift reply. Just another typical gala among Cyprian officials and "outstanding" members of American elit. I don't even know the painter. Cyprus is an unknown chapter for me also. EO: Sinioro Iversen, cxu vi memoras la ludo dum la vespermangxo Vendrede en Novi Sad, kiam vi tute ne povus paroli kaj ni kommunikis per skribitaj mesagxoj sur plastika ebena ilo, kiun luprenigis nin iu blonda Amerikanino sidinta kontraux nin (sed apud la sama tablo kiel ni). Tio estis ege amuza afero. Do, mi vere gxojas ke mi povas renkonti vin denove, almenaux rete en cxi tiu forumo. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3734 of 3959 31 October 2014 at 9:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Mi bone memoras tiun situacion, kaj mi ĝojas, ke mi unufoje povis uzi miajn grekajn lingvajn skiadojn ekster HTLAL. Kaj komunikadon tra skribado estis la sola ebla solvo por la brua problemon en Novi Sad. Bedaŭrinde miaj grekaj lertecoj ne estis tiel vasta, ke mi kuraĝis uzi ĝin parole dum la konferenco. Edited by Iversen on 31 October 2014 at 9:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3735 of 3959 31 October 2014 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ég fann rétt í þessu íslensk-katalónska orðabók á vefnum,gjert af Macià Riutort i Riutort. Það kemur mér eitthvað á óvart, en ég man líka að hafa sjáið íslenska málfræði á ítölsku. Það mun líklega aldrei koma á prenti, en húrrrra fyrir suðurríkjamanninir sem gerði þessi verk. Orðabók Riutornar er óg virði að lesa, vegna þess að sú býður upp íslenskum orðalag með þýðing á katalónsku. En kannski þeir sem nema íslensku skilja ekki katalónsku..
EDIT: I would like to mention one unusually detailed word comment from the Icelandic-Catalan dictionary mentioned above: the word "ab·bindi", which according to the dictionary can (or rather could) mean three things: 1) constipation, 2) dysentery, 3) "tenesme", which isn't even in my DE Catalan-English dictionary. But according to "Vulgaris Medial" the meaning in French is "Un ténesme est une tension douloureuse, avec sensation de brûlure et envie constante d'aller à la selle ou d'uriner". Macía Riutort flatly refuses to accept translation no. 3 with the following comment: "Al meu entendre, l'accepció 3. tenesme no està pas justificada i es deu a un error de traducció dels autors del Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose (cf. http://www.onp.hum.ku.dk/webart/a/ab/35art.htm) que defineixen el mot com a: tenesmi, stoltvang (symptom på dysenteri) ‖ symptoms of dysentery (lat. tenesmus). Doncs bé, el danès stoltvang, si manté el significat del baix-alemany stooldwang, neerlandès stoeldwang i alt-alemany Stuhlzwang, no significa pas tenesme amb el significat que aquest mot té actualment, sinó amb el significat que aquest mot tenia als segles XVII i XVIII. En aquests segles, el mot s'emprava per a designar el mal de ventre provocat per les ganes de defecar i la impossibilitat de fer-ho a causa d'anar restret i no pas el tenesme rectal, símptoma de la disenteria. En paraules dels Germans Grimm: schmerzhafter trieb zum stuhlgang, namentlich der ohne genügenden erfolg: tenesmus. Segons això, podem dir que el mot en qüestió no pot significar res més que restrenyement. L'accepció 3. es deu, per tant, a una mala traducció d'un terme danès emprat realment per a definir l'accepció 1.. Quant a l'exemple que aporta l'Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, tak oxagall ok ríð um endaþarmsrauf, þá mun batna við abbindi, aquesta cita coincideix gairebé punt per punt amb un passatge del , aquesta cita coincideix gairebé punt per punt amb un passatge del Llibre de Receptes, pàg. 112 del Ms. Royal Irish Academy 23 D 43, editat a Oslo el 1931 per Henning Larsen, que fa: tak uxagall ok ríð um endaþarmsrauf, þá mun aptr snúaz. Aquí, emperò, el remei s'aplica al prolapse rectal (“ef endaþarmr snýz”): “agafa fel de bou i frega-la per l'anus i aleshores aquest tornarà al seu lloc natural”. Interessant per nosaltres, emperò, és que, poc abans, en aquest mateix manuscrit, la fel de bou hi és descrita com a purgant (“er maðr má eigi þurftar sinnar ganga”): ítem uxagall ok smyr um endaþarmsrauf, ço és: ítem la fel de bou: unta-la al voltant de l'anus . No hi ha dubte, al meu entendre, que el mot abbindi de la cita aportada per l'Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose s'hi ha d'entendre en el sentit de restrenyement i no pas en el de tenesme rectal en cas de disenteria.". Let the putrid toilet smell dissipate and we are left with the impression that the author of this dictionary is extraordinarily erudite even when it comes to rather marginal words. My otherwise excellent dictionary from Iðunn doesn't even mention the word, and I doubt that I'll need to mention it again. Edited by Iversen on 01 November 2014 at 4:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3736 of 3959 02 November 2014 at 1:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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If you thought yesterday's theme smelled badly then today's topic will be pure rotten stench from Hell!
In Denmark (and possibly other places) it is permitted to lie on April 1 (or at least that's what the pranksters among us claim). But the night between October 31 and November 1 is not super lying day, but Halloween - and this custom has been spreading steadily from the US to the rest of the world. It's a night where the purpose is to scare people (as if that still was possible after thousands of horror films and news broadcasts). And at least one person (me) was deeply shocked when I read in yesterday's newspaper that British Airways is going to provide its passengers with music while they try to eat their bland shrink wrapped fodder. According to a study from Oxford University called "Sonic Seasoning" people loose some 30% of their ability to taste food when they are sitting in thin dry smelly air some 11 km above the ground, and the claim is that you can make food taste 10% more sweet or salty if you listen to some tailormade music while munching (which still leaves 20% lost taste unaccounted for). My problem with this scheme is that being forcefed with unwanted music makes my food taste 110% like dog poo, and when I read the notice in my newspaper my first reaction was that I never ever again could or would enter a British Airways plane - that company had disappeared from the list of decent airways in a gush of foul odeur. But since then I have checked the story on the internet, and that changed the situation marginally: it now seems that the tailormade munching music now only will be served through earphones, which means that I can avoid it. However I wonder how anybody could come up with the sick idea that rock fans would switch to classical music like a docile drove of sheep just because they drank white wine, while fans of Mendelssohn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel would want to have Motörhead or AC/DC banging in their headphones while they sipped their red wine. So I still don't trust BA. Somebody there must be bonkers. And as for Oxford University? Ahem, I hope they still have islands where simple common sense reigns. Speaking of horrors, the same issue of my newspaper had an interview with a representative of Moesgård museum about the part of the museum which illustrates the 'Dia de los Muertos' in Mexico. The poor journalist had to be told that this doesn't involve pumpkin heads, and that it was a relevant and interesting part of Mexican culture and not just the result of some weird infatuation with death among the employees of the museum. And now I should have told about my language studies the last couple of days, but I have been busy doing programming in Basic for a LibreOffice project and gluing photos from Balkan into my photo album. I did however read a fair part of the Kauderwelsch guide to Arabic - not because I intend to learn it (a language whose speakers don't write their wowels down can't be learnt through written sources alone), but because I wanted to know some basic facts about it. PS: I just saw that Iberia actually intends to blow perfume into their cabines and play 17 Spanish songs at start and landing - so never more Iberia for me (too much influence from the Spanish Inquisition). Yes, I should have written this in Spanish. This is a sad day. Edited by Iversen on 03 November 2014 at 1:28pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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