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Same words in different languages | ||
Tags: False friends | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| hribecek Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5350 days ago 1243 posts - 1458 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech, Spanish Studies: Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Toki Pona, Russian | Message 10 of 21 21 March 2011 at 6:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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So now 'ma' is the clear leader with at least 15 different meanings! I didn't even count some of the ones with different spelling (from tones etc.), so with them too it would be 18 I think.
Will be very difficult to beat. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6143 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 11 of 21 21 March 2011 at 9:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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'Μα' is also a word in Greek meaning 'but'. I would guess that it's borrowed from Italian since those are the
same, and since Greek already has 'αλλά' and 'όμως'. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 12 of 21 22 March 2011 at 4:56am | IP Logged | ||
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How about 'na'?
Asturian, Galician: na = "in the" Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian: на = "at", "on" etc. Czech, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Slovenian: na = "at, on" etc. Dutch: na = "after" English (dialectal), Romani, Tajik: na = "not" Estonian: na = "so" (less emphatic version of adverb nii which also means "so") German, Hungarian, Lithuanian: na = "well!" [interjection] Irish: na = "the" Japanese: 名 (na) = "name"; 汝 (na) = "you" Korean: 나 (na) = "I" (plain or non-polite form of "I") Kurdish, Northern Lappish, Welsh: na = "no" Mandarin: 拿 (na2) = "take"; 娜 (na4) = "elegant"; 納 (na4) = "accept" Ojibwe: na [interrogative particle] Scottish Gaelic: na = "in his/her" Sicilian: na = "a, an" Sranan Toho: na = "to" Swahili, Tok Pisin: na = "and" Vietnamese: na = "sugar apple" 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hribecek Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5350 days ago 1243 posts - 1458 votes Speaks: English*, Czech, Spanish Studies: Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Toki Pona, Russian | Message 13 of 21 22 March 2011 at 12:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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So 'na' has 17 different meanings. How do you know all this Chung? Just from your own studies? A couple of the languages you've mentioned in your last couple of posts (sranan toho, ojibwe, dorze, tz'utujil) I haven't even heard of, let alone know what a word means in them! Edited by hribecek on 22 March 2011 at 12:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 14 of 21 22 March 2011 at 2:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I look things up in Wiktionary.
I haven't heard of some of these languages either, although a few I have e.g. Ojibwe (but if you live in the Americas it's typical for us to be familiar with the names of a few Amerindian languages). Oops. I just noticed that it should be "Sranan Tongo" not "Sranan Toho" 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mallorina Triglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5009 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Italian Studies: German, Portuguese, Norwegian, Hawaiian, Irish, Arabic (classical) | Message 15 of 21 22 March 2011 at 3:10pm | IP Logged | ||
Sicilian isn't a language. It's a dialect of Italian. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hribecek Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5350 days ago 1243 posts - 1458 votes Speaks: English*, Czech, Spanish Studies: Italian, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Toki Pona, Russian | Message 16 of 21 22 March 2011 at 3:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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My internet ability is very weak so I wouldn't even know how to look that up in Wiktionary (I've never even used wiktionary!).
Sranan TONGO, in that case maybe I've heard of it if it's the language of Tonga? Edited by hribecek on 23 March 2011 at 9:30am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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