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Nuances in Word Usage in Languages | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Sereniti Diglot Newbie Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4998 days ago 2 posts - 3 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German, Italian, Spanish, French | Message 9 of 10 23 March 2011 at 6:15am | IP Logged |
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An interesting thing. For me, the meaning of German affixes is always pretty obvious and has never been of any difficulty. Has it something to do with the fact my mother tongue is Russian or just a coincidence, what do you think?
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| ikinaridango Triglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6126 days ago 61 posts - 80 votes  Speaks: English*, Japanese, Italian Studies: German, Polish | Message 10 of 10 23 March 2011 at 11:57am | IP Logged |
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You could do the same thing with just about any two languages, I'd wager. For example,
I've just looked up wahren in the Beolingus dictionary and found multiple translations with different English verbs. den Anschein von Ordnung wahren = maintain some semblance of order das Gesicht wahren = to save face jds. Interessen wahren = to safeguard sbs interests den Schein wahren = to keep up appearances die berechtigten Interessen (der Anleger usw.) wahren = to protect the legitimate interests (of investors etc.) Further consultation tells me that raise, break, dismiss, suspend, cancel, reverse, abolish, merge, pick up, abolish, overrule, override and quite a few other words can all be translated as aufheben, to take another of the translations of keep provided by koba, depending on the circumstances. I've used the Portuguese feature on the same website, and though the results were fewer I suspect that this merely suggests a shortcoming of the dictionary rather than a dearth of synonyms in the Portuguese language. I agree with Iversen's comment that some languages demand a greater degree of specificity in certain areas, but surely there is no language that doesn't have a whole host of collocations lying in wait to catch the unsuspecting non-native unawares. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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