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TAC 2015 - Rare Languages Team Thread | ||
Tags: Telugu | Hawaiian | Albanian | Team Thread | Malay | Sanskrit | Georgian | Tagalog | Indonesian | Thai | Rare Languages | Farsi/Persian | Hindi | Hebrew | Dutch | Arabic | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4487 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 73 of 113 13 February 2015 at 10:41pm | IP Logged | ||
Sorry, I guess I missed that this was a February team challenge. Luso, I still don't think I understand what exactly you're suggesting here, though. What is a "cultural feature?" Are you just saying "tell us something--anything-- about the culture associated with speakers of this language?" (If other people on the team understand better then maybe it will become clearer for me as they chime in with their contributions.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 5860 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 74 of 113 13 February 2015 at 11:49pm | IP Logged | ||
No problem. Probably I was not clear. Actually, it's quite open-ended. Here are a few examples: - Sami languages have I-don't-know-how-many words for snow and reindeer, because it's relevant to them. - Portuguese fishermen make a lot of differentiation between species of fish that other people refer to using just one name. - Quite a few languages have an inordinate number of speech taboos, causing duplication of words (lexical sets). I'm sure there are a lot of urban legends regarding these subjects. It would be nice to have some actual facts from real learners. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4487 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 75 of 113 22 February 2015 at 2:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, Modern Hebrew is certainly unique and fascinating in being the only example in history of a fantastically
successful language revival. There are differences between the modern and the ancient language, but mastery of one is certainly enough to make the other completely accessible. The biggest issue is probably the necessary invention of modern vocabulary to describe the modern world. Less than a mere 150 years ago, Hebrew was not used as a vernacular anywhere in the world, and there were no native speakers. Now, it is an official language of a nation and the native language of millions of that nation's inhabitants who use it daily as a primary means of communication. Significant original literature has been and is being created in Modern Hebrew, and there are radio and tv stations in Hebrew, websites, etc. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Anya Pentaglot Senior Member France Joined 5592 days ago 636 posts - 708 votes Speaks: Russian*, FrenchC1, English, Italian, Spanish Studies: German, Japanese, Hungarian, Sanskrit, Portuguese, Turkish, Mandarin Studies: Ancient Greek, Hindi | Message 76 of 113 22 February 2015 at 3:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Sanskrit: every character corresponds to the divinity and has the symbolics. In my Sanskrit textbook (in Russian, by
Matveev), there is a table for all the characters: character in devanagari, in latin transcription, corresponding divinity, symbolics. For example: ल l Lakshmi love, pleasure, sea waves, moving 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4487 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 77 of 113 22 February 2015 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | ||
So is that by extension true for other languages that are written using a Devanagari script? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4487 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian | Message 78 of 113 22 February 2015 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | ||
Similarly, though not quite as awesome as that, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet originated essentially as pictographs, and the names of the letters are actual words with meanings corresponding to those pictographs. For example: The letter 'bet' (ב) refers to a house. The word beit/bayit means house. The character has a floor, wall, and roof. The letter 'gimel' (ג) refers to a camel. The word gamal means camel. The character has legs and a long neck. The letter 'vav' (ו) refers to a hook. The word vav means hook, and the pictograph is obvious. Also, the letter vav also is used to write what in English would be the word "and," in effect hooking two words or phrases together. The letter 'peh' (פ) refers to a mouth. The word peh means mouth. The character has a pair of lips and a tongue between them. EDIT: The vav isn't showing up clearly as a hook when I post, as perhaps the forum has a different Hebrew font than I do? See here for a better picture. Edited by geoffw on 22 February 2015 at 3:28pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4965 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 79 of 113 24 February 2015 at 9:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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February Challenge
შარშან ქართული სამზარეულოს შესახებ დავწერე. ახლა მიდა ცოტა დავწერო საქართველოს გეოგრაფიის შესახებ. საქართველო საერთოდ მთიანი ქვეყანაა. მაგალითად, თბილისი, მცხეთა და სვანეთი მთიანია. აქ ზამთარში ბევრო თოვს. მაგრამ საქართველოში ასევე პლაჟებია, როგორს იმ სანაპირო ქალაქში ბათუმი, შავი ზღვის სანაპიროზე. ბევრი ტურისტი ყოველ ზაფხულში საქართველო და უცხოეთიდან მოგზაურობენ ბათუმის პლაჟებისკენ. Last year I wrote about the Georgian cuisine. Now I would like to write a bit about the geography of Georgia. Georgia is a mountainous country. For example, Tbilisi, Mtskheta and Svaneti are montainous. There is a lot of snow in the winter. But there are beaches in Georgia as well, as in the coastal city of Batumi, in the coast of the Black Sea. Many tourists travel every summer from Georgia and from abroad to the beaches of Batumi. EDIT: forgot to add the header 'February Challenge'. Edited by Expugnator on 24 February 2015 at 9:56pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Stelle Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Canada tobefluent.com Joined 3943 days ago 949 posts - 1686 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish Studies: Tagalog | Message 80 of 113 25 February 2015 at 12:34am | IP Logged | ||
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February Challenge - a long ramble on language and culture and food
The Philippines has a long history of occupation. It was a Spanish colony from the mid-1500s until the late 1800s, and then an American protectorate until after WWII. The country currently has two official languages, Filipino and English. It's one of the most English-speaking country in Asia, with a lot of public education and local media consisting of a mix of both Tagalog and English. The term Filipino is sort-of-almost interchangeable with Tagalog, although there's a bit of political tension there, since Tagalog is actually the native language of a particular ethnic group in the Manila area. All told, there are somewhere between 125 and 175 languages spoken in the Philippines, 13 of which count over a million native speakers. While they're sometimes described as dialects, they're actually completely different languages. I find it interesting that - unlike other Spanish colonies from the same era - the Philippines didn't have a ton of Spanish immigration and isn't at all a Spanish-speaking country (although it *is* very Catholic). My father-in-law, who is nearly 80, is a native Vasaya-speaker who is also fluent in Tagalog and English (although his accent in English is very, VERY strong!). He learned some Spanish as an elementary student, but was never able to speak it fluently. Tagalog grammar is very different from both English and Spanish grammar. However, the Spanish influence is very prevalent in loan words: miyerkules (from miércoles, meaning Wednesday) lamesa (from la mesa, meaning the table) sapatos (from zapato, meaning shoe) alas tres (from a las tres, meaning 3 o'clock) Other Spanish loan words have changed their meanings altogether, which can be a bit tricky for Spanish-speakers learning the language: siyempre (of course - from siempre, which means always) casi (because - from casi, which means almost) siguro (maybe - from seguro, which means sure) Modern words and technological words are often borrowed from English: kompyuter (computer) pulis (police) isports (sports) selpon (cell phone) keyk (cake) Anyway, all that to say that, while Tagalog is a difficult language with some tricky constructions, Spanish and English speakers get quite a lot of vocabulary for free. Outside influences are also evident in Filipino cuisine, which is absolutely delicious and very eclectic. I honestly don't know why Filipino cuisine isn't more well-known or admired! As the Filipino community in Toronto continues to grow in leaps and bounds, more and more Filipino restaurants and products are becoming available. We had a feast at a local Filipino restaurant last week: 
Kare kare, pata and pinakbet, traditional Filipino dishes Pansit canton and lumpia, via ancient trade routes with China Adobo and kaldereta, via Spanish colonization 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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