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"Um" in various languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| jsun Groupie Joined 5086 days ago 62 posts - 129 votes  | Message 41 of 47 23 January 2011 at 5:59am | IP Logged | ||
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In Cantonese, it's "ehhhhhh..."
When someone teaches you something or orders you to do something: "mmm....mmm.....mmm...." (唔....唔.....唔)and nod your head. When thinking for solution for a question: "mmm......ehhh....." When you feel annoyed or see/hear something unpleasant or something you despise, use "tsk tsk tsk" For example, you see your enemy is begging on the street. you: "tsktsktsk....乜咁慘要乞食呀" (tsktsktsk.....why do you have to beg? it's so unfortunate) in a tone that's pretending you care. Edited by jsun on 23 January 2011 at 6:02am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Deji Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5441 days ago 116 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Hindi, Bengali | Message 42 of 47 24 January 2011 at 2:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Great posts ! Thank you all. I love it!
This kind of information is actually not so easy to find. And it also adds a lot to my own french conversation as well. Perhaps not exactly to the benefit of Francophones who have to hear my newfound ability to put together a string of meaningless remarks... mais..comme on dit en Anglais-- whatever! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darya0Khoshki Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5069 days ago 71 posts - 91 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Iraqi) Studies: Persian | Message 43 of 47 24 January 2011 at 3:14am | IP Logged | ||
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In Arabic, we say "ehhh" too but the word that's the placeholder "like", "you know", "I mean" is يعني y3ani, which literally means "it means". It's a very convenient word and it can mean "sort of" and it can even be used to finish a sentence.
Kurdish and Farsi have also adopted this word.
So Iraqis (and other Middle Eastern people) use that noise to mean "no". "Do you want more tea?" [tongue click and wave hand] But Americans use that to show they are upset or they disapprove. So at first when I went to Egypt in college I was offended when people did that when they were talking to me, then I learned it just means "uh-uh". :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 5082 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 44 of 47 24 January 2011 at 12:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Portuguese:
"ããããhh.." 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| WentworthsGal Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4889 days ago 191 posts - 246 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish, Spanish | Message 45 of 47 11 July 2011 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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I remember "Pues..." for well... in Spanish and in French well... was "Boff...".
How accurate they are in real life I couldn't tell you, or even if they're out of date. I think (unless it's just me lol) the UK uses hmmmm when thinking. As a filler word we also get the "like" from the younger generation and I'm probably guilty of it myself. Lolz (from lol) has crept in a little too (from my stepdaughter at least). Interesting thread :o) x 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6920 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 46 of 47 12 July 2011 at 12:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Click here: Fillers in other languages
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| Aquila123 Tetraglot Senior Member Norway mydeltapi.com Joined 5307 days ago 201 posts - 262 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Italian, Spanish Studies: Finnish, Russian | Message 47 of 47 22 July 2011 at 12:34am | IP Logged | ||
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In Norwegian, there are several variants, and the speaker will often use a considerable creativity of length, cyllabism, glottal stops and tune patterns.
The basic unit is however (h)m, with cyllabic "m". This basic unit fill most often be extended in some way or another, for exaample: hm:1, m:2m, hm:2, hm:2m, m'2m : = long wovel, 1=tune one, 2=tune 2. Some of these hms often bear a concrete meaning. "m:2m" often will mean "yes". As you see, to say hum in Norwegian is an art. Edited by Aquila123 on 22 July 2011 at 12:47am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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