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ReachingOut Pentaglot Groupie Greece Joined 5238 days ago 57 posts - 81 votes Speaks: English*, German, GreekB2, French, Romanian Studies: Italian
| Message 73 of 90 29 July 2010 at 10:18am | IP Logged |
In English, the word LEVEL can be written backwards and is still the same word.
In Italian the same is true for I TOPI NON AVEVANO NIPOTI (the mice didn't have grandsons)
On a fountain at Hagia Sofia in Istanbul there is the inscription "Νίψον ανομήματα μη μόναν όψιν" (clean your sins, not just your face) which also reads backwards.
On a lighter note, in Romania you might be invited to the table to eat crap. This is not what you think it is, but a kind of fish!
Also, Romanian has a word with three vowels the same in a row: COPIII meaning the children. COPII with just two Is(????) is stressed on the last syllable and means children, not to be confused with COPII stressed on the first syllable which means copies.
Confused?
Edited by ReachingOut on 29 July 2010 at 10:26am
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| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6666 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil
| Message 74 of 90 30 July 2010 at 11:27pm | IP Logged |
Your examples are dwarfed by the following palindrome in French by Georges Perec:
Georges Perec wrote:
Trace l'inégal palindrome. Neige. Bagatelle, dira
Hercule. Le brut repentir, cet écrit né Perec. L'arc
lu pèse trop, lis à vice versa.
Perte. Cerise d'une vérité banale, le Malstrom,
Alep, mort édulcoré, crêpe porté de ce désir brisé
d'un iota. Livre si aboli, tes sacres ont éreinté, cor
cruel, nos albatros. Être las, autel bâti, miette vice
versa du jeu que fit, nacré, médical, le sélénite
relaps, ellipsoïdal.
Ivre il bat, la turbine bat, l'isolé me ravale : le verre
si obéi du Pernod -- eh, port su ! -- obsédante
sonate teintée d'ivresse.
Ce rêve se mit -- peste ! -- à blaguer. Beh ! L'art
sec n'a si peu qu'algèbre s'élabore de l'or évalué.
Idiome étiré, hésite, bâtard replié, l'os nu. Si, à la
gêne secrète -- verbe nul à l'instar de cinq occis --,
rets amincis, drailles inégales, il, avatar espacé,
caresse ce noir Belzebuth, oeil offensé, tire !
L'écho fit (à désert) : Salut, sang, robe et été.
Fièvres.
Adam, rauque ; il écrit : Abrupt ogre, eh, cercueil,
l'avenir tu, effilé, génial à la rue (murmure sud eu
ne tire vaseline séparée ; l'épeire gelée rode : Hep,
mortel ?) lia ta balafre native.
Litige. Regagner (et ne m'...).
Ressac. Il frémit, se sape, na ! Eh, cavale ! Timide, il
nia ce sursaut.
Hasard repu, tel, le magicien à morte me lit. Un
ignare le rapsode, lacs ému, mixa, mêla : Hep,
Oceano Nox, ô, béchamel azur ! Éjaculer ! Topaze !
Le cèdre, malabar faible, Arsinoë le macule, mante
ivre, glauque, pis, l'air atone (sic). Art sournois : si,
médicinale, l'autre glace (Melba ?) l'un ? N'alertai
ni pollen (retêter : gercé, repu, denté...) ni
tobacco.
Tu, désir, brio rimé, eh, prolixe nécrophore, tu
ferres l'avenir velu, ocre, cromant-né ?
Rage, l'ara. Veuglaire. Sedan, tes elzévirs
t'obsèdent. Romain ? Exact. Et Nemrod selle ses
Samson !
Et nier téocalli ?
Cave canem (car ce nu trop minois -- rembuscade
d'éruptives à babil -- admonesta, fil accru,
Têtebleu ! qu'Ariane évitât net. Attention, ébénier
factice, ressorti du réel. Ci-gît. Alpaga, gnôme, le
héros se lamente, trompé, chocolat : ce laid totem,
ord, nil aplati, rituel biscornu ; ce sacré bedeau
(quel bât ce Jésus !). Palace piégé, Torpédo drue
si à fellah tôt ne peut ni le Big à ruer bezef.
L'eugéniste en rut consuma d'art son épi
d'éolienne ici rot (eh... rut ?). Toi, d'idem gin,
élèvera, élu, bifocal, l'ithos et notre pathos à la
hauteur de sec salamalec ?
Élucider. Ion éclaté : Elle ? Tenu. Etna but (item mal
famé), degré vide, julep : macédoine d'axiomes,
sac semé d'École, véniel, ah, le verbe enivré (ne
sucer ni arrêter, eh ça jamais !) lu n'abolira le
hasard ?
Nu, ottoman à écho, l'art su, oh, tara zéro, belle
Deborah, ô, sacre ! Pute, vertubleu, qualité si vertu
à la part tarifé (décalitres ?) et nul n'a lu trop s'il
séria de ce basilic Iseut.
Il à prié bonzes, Samaritain, Tora, vilains monstres
(idolâtre DNA en sus) rêvés, évaporés : Arbalète
(bètes) en noce du Tell ivre-mort, émeri tu : O,
trapu à elfe, il lie l'os, il lia jérémiade lucide.
Pétard ! Rate ta reinette, bigleur cruel, non à ce
lot ! Si, farcis-toi dito le coeur !
Lied à monstre velu, ange ni bête, sec à pseudo
délire : Tsarine (sellée, là), Cid, Arétin, abruti de
Ninive, Déjanire...
Le Phenix, ève de sables, écarté, ne peut égarer
racines radiales en mana : l'Oubli, fétiche en argile.
Foudre.
Prix : Ile de la Gorgone en roc, et, ô, Licorne
écartelée, Sirène, rumb à bannir à ma (Red n'osa)
niére de mimosa : Paysage d'Ourcq ocre sous ive
d'écale ; Volcan. Roc : tarot célé du Père.
Livres.
Silène bavard, replié sur sa nullité (nu à je) belge :
ipséité banale. L' (eh, ça !) hydromel à ri,
psaltérion. Errée Lorelei...
Fi ! Marmelade déviré d'Aladine. D'or, Noël : crèche
(l'an ici taverne gelée dès bol...) à santon givré,
fi !, culé de l'âne vairon.
Lapalisse élu, gnoses sans orgueil (écru, sale,
sec). Saluts : angiome. T'es si crâneur !
* * *
Rue. Narcisse ! Témoignas-tu ! l'ascèse, là, sur ce
lieu gros, nasses ongulées...
S'il a pal, noria vénale de Lucifer, vignot nasal
(obsédée, le genre vaticinal), eh, Cercle, on rode,
nid à la dérive, Dèdale (M... !) ramifié ?
Le rôle erre, noir, et la spirale mord, y hache l'élan
abêti : Espiègle (béjaune) Till : un as rusé.
Il perdra. Va bene.
Lis, servile repu d'électorat, cornac, Lovelace. De
visu, oser ?
Coq cru, ô, Degas, y'a pas, ô mime, de rein à
sonder : à marin nabab, murène risée.
Le trace en roc, ilote cornéen.
O, grog, ale d'elixir perdu, ô, feligrane ! Eh, cité, fil
bu ! ô ! l'anamnèse, lai d'arsenic, arrérage tué,
pénétra ce sel-base de Vexin. Eh, pèlerin à (Je :
devin inédit) urbanité radicale (elle s'en ira...),
stérile, dodu.
Espaces (été biné ? gnaule ?) verts.
Nomade, il rue, ocelot. Idiot-sic rafistolé : canon !
Leur cruel gibet te niera, têtard raté, pédicule
d'aimé rejailli.
Soleil lie, fléau, partout ire (Métro, Mer, Ville...) tu
déconnes. Été : bètel à brasero. Pavese versus
Neandertal ! O, diserts noms ni à Livarot ni à Tir !
Amassez.
N'obéir.
Pali, tu es ici : lis abécédaires, lis portulan : l'un te
sert-il ? à ce défi rattrapa l'autre ? Vise-t-il auquel
but rêvé tu perças ?
Oh, arobe d'ellébore, Zarathoustra ! L'ohcéan à
mot (Toundra ? Sahel ?) à ri : Lob à nul si à ma
jachère, terrain récusé, nervi, née brève l'haleine
véloce de mes casse-moix à (Déni, ô !) décampé.
Lu, je diverge de ma flamme titubante : une telle
(étal, ce noir édicule cela mal) ascèse drue tua,
ha, l'As.
Oh, taper ! Tontes ! Oh, tillac, ô, fibule à reve
l'Énigme (d'idiot tu) rhétoricienne.
Il, Oedipe, Nostradamus nocturne et, si né Guelfe,
zébreur à Gibelin tué (pentothal ?), le faiseur
d'ode protège.
Ipéca... : lapsus.
Eject à bleu qu'aède berça sec. Un roc si bleu ! Tir.
ital. : palindrome tôt dialectal. Oc ? Oh, cep mort et
né, mal essoré, hélé. Mon gag aplati gicle. Érudit
rossérecit, ça freine, benoit, net.
Ta tentative en air auquel bète, turc, califat se
(nom d'Ali-Baba !) sévit, pure de -- d'ac ? --
submersion importune, crac, menace, vacilla,
co-étreinte...
Nos masses, elles dorment ? Etc... Axé ni à
mort-né des bots. Rivez ! Les Etna de
Serial-Guevara l'égarent. N'amorcer coulevrine.
Valser. Refuter.
Oh, porc en exil (Orphée), miroir brisé du toc
cabotin et né du Perec : Regret éternel.
L'opiniâtre. L'annulable.
Mec, Alger tua l'élan ici démission. Ru ostracisé,
notarial, si peu qu'Alger, Viet-Nam (élu
caméléon !), Israël, Biafra, bal à merde : celez,
apôtre Luc à Jéruzalem, ah ce boxon ! On à écopé,
ha, le maximum
Escale d'os, pare le rang inutile. Métromane ici
gamelle, tu perdras. Ah, tu as rusé ! Cain ! Lied
imité la vache (à ne pas estimer) (flic assermenté,
rengagé) régit.
Il évita, nerf à la bataille trompé.
Hé, dorée, l'Égérie pelée rape, sénile, sa vérité
nue du sérum : rumeur à la laine, gel, if, feutrine,
val, lieu-créche, ergot, pur, Bâtir ce lieu
qu'Armada serve : if étété, éborgnas-tu l'astre
sédatif ?
Oh, célérités ! Nef ! Folie ! Oh, tubez ! Le brio ne
cessera, ce cap sera ta valise ; l'âge : ni sel-liard
(sic) ni master-(sic)-coq, ni cédrats, ni la lune
brève. Tercé, sénégalais, un soleil perdra ta bétise
héritée (Moi-Dieu, la vérole !)
Déroba le serbe glauque, pis, ancestral, hébreu
(Galba et Septime-Sévère). Cesser, vidé et nié.
Tetanos. Etna dès boustrophédon répudié. Boiser.
Révèle l'avare mélo, s'il t'a béni, brutal tablier vil.
Adios. Pilles, pale rétine, le sel, l'acide mercanti.
Feu que Judas rêve, civette imitable, tu as alerté,
sort à blason, leur croc. Et nier et n'oser.
Casse-t-il, ô, baiser vil ? à toi, nu désir brisé,
décédé, trope percé, roc lu. Détrompe la. Morts :
l'Ame, l'Élan abêti, revenu.
Désire ce trépas rêvé : Ci va ! S'il porte, sépulcral,
ce repentir, cet écrit ne perturbe le lucre :
Haridelle, ta gabegie ne mord ni la plage ni l'écart.
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3 persons have voted this message useful
| Veedo Newbie United States Joined 5422 days ago 12 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese
| Message 75 of 90 08 August 2010 at 4:42pm | IP Logged |
Sagitta_fr wrote:
So, some japanese combinations of kanjis sound really funny to Chinese speakers, it's like some French words used by English speakers may sound strange to French people. For example, the word "resume" in North American English means a document listing one's qualifications for employment. But originally in French, it means "summary" only: the French people would use C.V. instead, as in "Curriculum Vitae".
Alright, here're the commonly used Japanese kanji words:
...
- To say "It's alright!" in Japanese, it's "Daijoubu!(大丈夫)", which literally means "BIG MACHO MAN" in Chinese. |
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People used to say to bring along a really big man in threatening situations for security. That's where the expression comes from -- "It's alright[, I brought along a really big man so we'll be fine]".
Incidentally I saw a discussion on slashdot.jp where people were basically saying it's possible to use your knowledge of kanji to communicate with someone from taiwan even though a lot of the japanese meanings are different from the chinese ones. The same doesn't hold true for someone from mainland china cause they use simplified chinese.
Edited by Veedo on 08 August 2010 at 4:43pm
1 person has voted this message useful
| Adamdm Groupie Australia Joined 5438 days ago 62 posts - 89 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Dari, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic (Written)
| Message 76 of 90 09 August 2010 at 4:01am | IP Logged |
Veedo wrote:
Incidentally I saw a discussion on slashdot.jp where people were basically saying it's possible to use your knowledge of kanji to communicate with someone from taiwan even though a lot of the japanese meanings are different from the chinese ones. The same doesn't hold true for someone from mainland china cause they use simplified chinese. |
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My Chinese Conversation teacher, who is from Mainland China, and hasn't explicitly studied the fan-ti characters, or Japanese, says that she can read (ie, understand what it's saying) a Japanese newspaper.
Edited by Adamdm on 09 August 2010 at 4:04am
1 person has voted this message useful
| Skauld Tetraglot Newbie Greece sokail-t3h-noobie.de Joined 5377 days ago 3 posts - 7 votes Speaks: Greek*, Japanese, FrenchB2, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Swedish, Norwegian
| Message 77 of 90 02 October 2010 at 5:17am | IP Logged |
@Marc Frisch: This is stunning! I didn't actually read the whole text, yet I've tested the first and the last paragraph... It's positive... Absolument incroyable écriture!
Also about this one...
Darobat wrote:
TixhiiDon wrote:
How about 8 consecutive consonants (9 in the romanization) in the Georgian word
გვფრცქვნის (gvprtskvnis)? Admittedly this is not something you are ever likely to use,
since it means "He is peeling us", but it is a perfectly acceptable, grammatically
correct form. |
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Russian has some fairly formidable initial consonant clusters as well (though probably not that bad):
взгляд (vzgljad) - glance, sight, gaze, opinion
взволноваться (vzvolnovat'sja) - perfective of 'to worry'
мгновенный (mgnovjennyj) - instantaneous
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... well this number of consecutive consonants in a row may seem unusal to some of us... What about the examples drawn from the Nuxalk language then? --->
"13... obstruents"
On a lighter note...
oz-hestekræfte wrote:
Chung wrote:
Estonian has a word that's not an exclamation which consists of the longest string of the same vowel.
jäääär = ice-edge (jää "ice" + äär "edge")
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My Farfar taught me a word in Danish (although I suspect it's a bit of a joke) which is Åååål
From memory it breaks down like this:
Å = a stream or brook
Å = the name of a particular stream, therefore you have:
Åå
Then:
Ål = eel, therefore:
Åål = a stream-eel
Put it all together and:
Åååål = An "Å" stream, stream-eel.
You could never discern the meaning from hearing it. |
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According to an old system of orthography used for the scandinavian languages (still retained as far as I know in some names and some Norwegian dialects), å was written like this ---> "aa"... So Åååål may as well be written like this Aaaaaaaal... 8 "a"'s in a row...
Edited by Skauld on 02 October 2010 at 5:23am
1 person has voted this message useful
| clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5179 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi
| Message 78 of 90 31 October 2010 at 3:10pm | IP Logged |
Korean has over 300 gramattical endings (when combined together the number can be even bigger).
you use characters for "kung fu" in Korean word "learn"
USA means "beautiful country" in Chinese, "rice country" in Japanese, and "beautiful" in Vietnamese language.
Thailand means "peaceful country"
The world "Korea" in Mongolian means actually "rainbows".
(solongos)
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| Kartof Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5067 days ago 391 posts - 550 votes Speaks: English*, Bulgarian*, Spanish Studies: Danish
| Message 79 of 90 12 January 2011 at 5:29pm | IP Logged |
Bulgarian has some long words like
непротивоконституционствувател ствуванията (neprotivokonstitutsionstvuvatelstvuvaniyata)
which has 41 letters and means "the actions not taken against the constitution". Needless to say, it's not often used
colloquially but is a common tongue twister.
Edited by Kartof on 15 January 2011 at 4:02pm
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| ReneeMona Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5336 days ago 864 posts - 1274 votes Speaks: Dutch*, EnglishC2 Studies: French
| Message 80 of 90 12 January 2011 at 6:26pm | IP Logged |
The name England literally means ‘scary country’ in Dutch.
Thankfully for us Anglophiles, if the Dutch name for the country, Engeland, is pronounced quickly enough it sounds like Engelland, which means “angel country”. In fact, there is a well-known children’s song about England that is actually about heaven.
Edited by ReneeMona on 13 January 2011 at 3:22am
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