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United Nations Language Challenge | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5677 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 1 of 14 21 March 2010 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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مرحبـاً, 欢迎光临, Welcome, Bienvenue, Добро пожаловать, Bienvenidos
Welcome to the United Nations Language Challenge. The words on the top line appear on the first page of the UN web site. They say 'Welcome' in the six official languages of the UN; Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The purpose of this 6-language challenge is to learn to read, write, speak and listen to a small but significant amount of all of these languages. This is not a silly party game, but you could use it to impress your friends if you so wish. Instead, it is an opportunity to enrich your language learning. It is an opportunity to learn and understand a short paragraph of three important sentences in these six important language. For many people, some or many of these languages are exotic, and seemingly inaccessible and unattainable. By learning (OK, maybe memorising) these six in their native characters and scripts, learners will obtain a possibly unprecedented (for them) insight into these languages. Perhaps they will thereby gain new understandings of language, and may be inspired to go on to learn these, or other, languages. Let me propose that we challenge ourselves to learn Article One of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. That is a total of two sentences, shown below in the six languages. The main reasons for choosing the UDHR is that it is universal, and it has parallel text in the UN languages (and a total of 365 languages and dialects). The two sentences are short, reasonably easy and very fundamental. This Article One is available in text and audio in these six (and in total over 300) languages on the website: http://omniglot.com/udhr/index.htm At the bottom of this article, I propose to add the names of those who have accepted this challenge and claim, by their own judgment, that they understand these sentences in all six languages, and that they can read, write, speak and listen to them all. There is no time limit. Arabic يولد جميع الناس أحرارًا متساوين في الكرامة والحقوق. وقد وهبوا عقلاً وضميرًا وعليهم أن يعامل بعضهم بعضًا بروح الإخاء. Chinese 人人生而自由，在尊严和权利上一律平等。他 们赋有理性和良心，并应以兄弟关系的精神相 对待。 English All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. French Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité. Russian Все люди рождаются свободными и равными в своем достоинстве и правах. Они наделены разумом и совестью и должны поступать в отношении друг друга в духе братства. Spanish Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia, deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros. ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------- Below is meant eventually to be a list of those Forum members who claim they have mastered Article One in all six UN languages. However, nobody has yet claimed all six. So I will start with those who claim more than two. Forum Member Article One in these UN Languages Fasulye English, French and Spanish. Are there any others? EDIT 2010-04-03: Reduced from Articles 1 and 3 to just Article 1, based on suggestions and feedback. Edited by tommus on 04 April 2010 at 3:46am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5658 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 14 22 March 2010 at 8:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I am sorry but I can read and understand the quoted sentences only in three of the languages: English, French and Spanish.
Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5367 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 3 of 14 22 March 2010 at 9:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Besides my native language of English, I can read and understand the sentences above in French and (surprisingly) much of the Spanish. It's reassuring to see that Russian still needs a lot of work but I can pick out the many of the key words and phrases all the same :)
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| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5677 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 4 of 14 22 March 2010 at 11:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, that is an excellent start. I can do it in English and French. For those who can do it in English, French and Spanish, then the big challenge is to broaden your horizons and learn enough of Arabic, Russian and Chinese to be able to do it in all six. So far, I have been exploring Chinese in a way I have never done before. And it is fascinating. I think this will be a great way for some of us to peek into the exotic world of languages that are completely new and different. It won't be easy. But that is part of the challenge. For the audio, I am willing to provide a web site location where the audio mp3 files can be stored and downloaded. And I can do the English audio. Any volunteers to do a native version of the other languages? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ruskivyetr Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5292 days ago 769 posts - 962 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian, Polish, Modern Hebrew | Message 5 of 14 23 March 2010 at 12:32am | IP Logged | |||||
You can already find those recordings on the respective language pages of those languages at omniglot.com. Go to the A-Z page and you will find all of those languages. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5677 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 6 of 14 23 March 2010 at 2:32am | IP Logged | |||||
Amazing! Thank you very much ruskivyetr. Only Article 1 is there. My proposal was Article 1 and 3, to make the text a bit longer. But seeing that Article 1 is on that webpage for those 6 languages (and many many more), I propose to reduce the text to just Article 1 (two sentences). If there is no objection, I will go back and edit the first page of this thread. It has been my intent to edit that first page as we discuss and adjust the project. Any comments? All of the recordings are loud and clear, except the one in Enlish. It has a lot of background noise, and it is not very loud. I still propose that we have a version, just for this project, on a dedicated web page. That way, we could perhaps have a slightly slower version in each language, and we could have both articles 1 and 3. In the meantime, we can start working with the Omniglot material. It also has the transliteration of the Arabic, Chinese and Russian. http://omniglot.com So, comments? Should we use just Article 1? Any volunteers for our own native audio? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Johntm Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5233 days ago 616 posts - 725 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 14 23 March 2010 at 5:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm in no rush, I plan to learn 5 of the 6 (all but Chinese) eventually, and probably will end up learning Chinese.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tommus Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5677 days ago 979 posts - 1688 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish | Message 8 of 14 04 April 2010 at 3:49am | IP Logged | |||||
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I have updated the Original Post in this thread, based on suggestions and feedback. Also, I plan to initially list anyone who claims to have mastered Article One in more than two of the six UN languages. The eventual goal is to list those who have mastered Article One in all six.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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