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"Well, um..." in different languages | ||
Tags: Speaking | Multilingual | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Stephen7878 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4569 days ago 34 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Greek, Italian | Message 1 of 22 18 July 2013 at 7:37am | IP Logged | ||
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I just realized as I was talking to myself in Greek (it's lame, I know, but helpful) that I don't really know any
Greek interjections (I think that's what you call them). I use the word "well" quite often in the sense of "well what do you think" as well as in Spanish "pues/pos qué piensas", but I have absolutely no clue how to express that in any of the languages I am studying: Greek, Italian, Arabic. If anybody knows please share, along with any other examples in any languages that you know. Thanks. Edited by Fasulye on 23 July 2013 at 11:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hekje Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4491 days ago 842 posts - 1330 votes  Speaks: English*, Dutch Studies: French, Indonesian | Message 2 of 22 18 July 2013 at 8:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Ooh, fun topic. I don't know about Greek, but the rough Dutch equivalent of "well" would
be "nou" or "nou ja". "Um" is written "ehm". Bonus: you can throw in "zeg maar" when you would put "like" in English, but don't overuse - it can come off as annoying. A well-known Dutch cabaretière recently wrote a book about contemporary usage of the Dutch language and ironically titled it Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding. That roughly translates to: "Language is like, totally my thing." 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4146 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 22 18 July 2013 at 2:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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Λοιπόν, in greek, I'd say.
Allora, in Italian. Alors, in french. I think... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lakeseayesno Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico thepolyglotist.com Joined 4122 days ago 280 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 4 of 22 18 July 2013 at 5:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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An equivalent for "well..." in Japanese would be "sate" or "satetto" (as in "well, shall we get back to work?", sate, shigoto ni modorouka).
However, I'm partial to another interjection that's closer to "um": "etto" or "~nto". I've noticed I use the second one quite often to buy time whenever I need to put my thoughts in order before replying to a question. :p 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4805 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 5 of 22 18 July 2013 at 7:34pm | IP Logged | ||
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Is it worth learning those words ? I think they are only usefull to people afraid of their own silences. Since they are used by natives they are not a matter of foreign language ability.
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| Stephen7878 Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4569 days ago 34 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Greek, Italian | Message 6 of 22 18 July 2013 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks renaissancemedi. I suppose I already knew the words λοιπόν and allora but I didn't think they were
used casually like that. That's good to know as it has been really bothering me lately. And at Michel1020, if it wasn't important to me then I wouldn't have asked. If my aim in foreign language learning is to converse casually with natives, why wouldn't it be worth it to learn those words? 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Michel1020 Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4805 days ago 365 posts - 559 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Dutch | Message 7 of 22 18 July 2013 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Because they are mistakes in speech, they show your weaknesses in a native way and now and then are a bit impolite. Beside some if not all of those words cannot be used in all cases so if you use one at the wrong time you are making a wrong mistake (where minus by minus don't give plus). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| I'm With Stupid Senior Member Vietnam Joined 3961 days ago 165 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Vietnamese | Message 8 of 22 18 July 2013 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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They're important functional pieces of language. They offer you thinking time while telling the other person that you're still speaking. If you just stop to think, they'll think you've finished or perhaps didn't understand the question.
It was only a couple of weeks ago that I taught an entire lesson on this sort of language, and in English, includes things like "mmm" with the correct intonation to show interest or sympathy. It's just as valid as words with a "proper" meaning in my opinion. They're certainly not mistakes, because you have to learn how to use them and use them at the right time. Edited by I'm With Stupid on 18 July 2013 at 9:00pm 12 persons have voted this message useful |
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