Languages, Anyone interested? Options

[Maya]

I learnt through a topic that some people in here are interested in languages.
How about a topic where we can share our languages? I'll suggest a greeting for example and members who are interested can post their translation of it in their own languages. (In English letters plz, so that we can all pronounce it)
I'm an Arab, so I hope I can be useful as one

Good Morning

"Sabah el kheir" -----------> Arabic
" Ohayoo Gozaimus" ------> Japanese
" Bonjour" ------------------> French

Anybody interested to add to my list?

[Maya]

Now I gotta add this info about Arabic as a language. Egypt speaks Arabic, and it's the official language in here. However, what we speak is different from what we write. Meaning that we use Egyptian colloquial Arabic in speaking, but use the Standard Arabic in writing (newspapers, documents, ..etc)

Arabic Alphabet:



An example of the letters in use



Translation: Learn Arabic in Torento University.

If u wanna read more about Arabic, Click here

[deacon]

A very interesting topic you picked there Maya! I myself find languages adorable, yet I do not know many of them.

Let me add some more:

Irish gaelic, or simply irish: The original language used in Ireland. Linguistically it forms a group with Scottish gaelic and Manx, named Q-Celtic (as opposed to P-Celtic, which consists of Brythonic, Welsh and another lang. which I cannot remember at the moment). Today, due to the lengthy english occupation,irish has somewhat faded with english taking its place, especially in major cities. Yet there are still regions, called Gaeltacht, in which irish is the primary language used. There exist various dialects, the most prominant ones being Ulster, Munster and Donegal.

It is written nowadays using the latin alphabet, minus the letters q,v,w,x. In the very old days, druids would use Ogham letters, which consisted of lines and were meant to be carved at the edges of stones. You must bear in mind, though, that pronunciation rules are completely different from english, e.g. bean in irish is pronounced "ban" and means woman! (hence bean sidhe, commonly known as banshee )

These could be considered common phrases (unfortunately I cannot provide an accurate english pronunciation, because I do not remember all pronunciation rules by heart!). Also acute accents are omitted because they do not show up in this encoding

Dia dhuit - Hello (literally, "God with you" I think)
Conas ata tu? - How are you?
Slan go foill - Bye for now
Oiche mhaith, codlach samh - Goodnight, sleep well
Breithla sona dhuit - Happy birthday

I will try and figure out the way these should be pronounced

By the way, the info about the arabic language was very interesting, I am glad you wrote it! Also: I thought it was "ohayo konzai mas " in japanese, at least that's what I hear all the time in anime

[NickTheGreek]

i have already pointed out, this is a wondeful idea !

[Maya]

Oh am glad somebody else is inetersted. Like you, Deacon, I'm interested in languages, but dont know much about them. But as for " Ohayoo Gozaymasu", u can say am sure of it

Irish.. interesting. I thought Irish people forgot about their Irish and used English instead. (I have been listening to "Irish son" lately) I find it useful that you pointed out the difference in the way vowels are pronounced in the two languages. (Bean-Ban). Thank you for ur reply, that was fun (f)

Here're the Arabic equivalents of what you mentioned:

Hello: Ahlan/ Marhaba (in some Arab countries) Egyptians say hi too!
How are you: Ezayak (to a male) Ezayek (to a female)
Bye for now: Salam/Bye
Goodnight, sleep well: tesbah ala kheir (to a m.) tesbahy ala kheir (to a f.)
Happy Birthday: Kol sana wenta tayeb (to a m.) kol sana wenty tayeba (to a f.)

Now the translations mentioned above are what we Egyptians speak, not necessarily what we write. So dont expect to read that somewhere, you can just hear it.

NickTheGreek: hi !

[viv]

Nice topic Maya!
2 years ago I was searching where to go and learn Arabic. I found something but unfortunately I didn't make it....

I like Arabic a lot, so please post more...

[deacon]

Well, it is true that the Irish have almost forgotten their language. It is sad actually. The have this saying about the situation: Tir gan teanga tir gan anam which means "land without a language land without a soul". The good thing is that there seems to be a revival of the language these days as more and more want to learn Irish and Irish is about to be recognized as an official EU language. (If not already recognized).

Today's language is Quenya! While it has all characteristics of a language it has a difference from most others: it is artificial. As Esperanto or Klingon, this language was created by a linguist and not via evolution in the real world. Quenya specifically, was created by famous linguist J.R.R. Tolkien, mostly known by the fantasy novels he wrote. It's purpose was to be the language spoken by the Elves of his universe called Arda. Despite being artificial, it evolved inside the mythos (it's evolution depicting the changes made to it by Tolkien, which where numerous). But Quenya was not the only language Tolkien created.

It is based on ideas taken from latin, finnish and propably other european languages. Its pronunciation approaches that of Italian. Words tend to get long because of the addition of suffixes to their stem. It is written using its own alphabet, called Tengwar, but oftenly latin letters are used for simplicity. Here are some example phrases commonly utilized by the Elves

Aiya! - Hello! (EYE-ya)
Aa harya melwa arin - Have a nice day (ah HAR-yah MEL-wah AHR-in)
Ma quetelye Eldarin? - Do you speak Elvish? (ma kwet-ELL-yeh ELL-dar-in)
Ma istanyel? - Do I know you? (mah iss-TAN-yell)
A harya melwa anduune - Have a nice evening. (ah HAR-yah MEL-wah an-DOO-neh)

These I found from a site I stumbled upon Note that double vowels where used where normally the acute accent would occur. (It denotes long vowels).

Enjoy!

[www.yourforum.gr]

Greek...

Hello: γεία > yia'
How are you: πως είσαι > po's i'se
Bye for now: αντίο προς το παρόν > adi'o pro's to paro'n
Goodnight, sleep well: καληνύχτα, και καλόν ύπνο > kalini'xta kai' kalo'n y'pno
Happy Birthday: χρόνια πολλά > hro'nia polla'

Have a nice day : καλή μέρα να έχεις > kali' me'ra na e'xeis
Do I know you? : σε ξέρω ? > se' xe'ro
Have a nice evening. : καλό βράδυ > kalo' bra'di

[pengiranijam]

Good job Maya... Arabic alphabet so many function.. ^_^

[hlias_gr]

Nice idea maya!

Can u also give us the colors in arabic?

[Maya]

Nice topic Maya!
2 years ago I was searching where to go and learn Arabic. I found something but unfortunately I didn't make it....

I like Arabic a lot, so please post more...

Sure, Viv, my pleasure. But can I ask u if there are any reasons behind your interest in Arabic.

Decon, that was quite informative. So is the Elvish language similar to the languages used in the novel/movie Lord of the Rings? I hear the author (also a linguist I guess) created an artificial language too. So are we talkin about the same guy?
You provided pronounciations too. I liked that one a lot:
Ma istanyel? - Do I know you? (mah iss-TAN-yell)

www.yourforum.gr, without the latin alphabet I would never know how to pronounce any of what u mentioned ty.

Syaoran and hlias_gr, ty guys. And here are the Arabic colours:

Modern standard Arabic (MSA): the written lang.
Colloquial Egyptian Arabic(CEA): the spoken language

BLUE:azraq. (azra' in CEA)
RED: ahmar
BLACK: Aswad (Eswed in CEA)
WHITE: Abyad
GREEN: Akhdar
Yellow:: Asfar
PURPLE: (mouv in CEA)
ORANGE: Bortoqaly (borto'any in CEA)
GREY: (Rosasy in CEA)

[NickTheGreek]

BLUE: μπλέ > ble'
RED: κόκκινο > ko'kino
BLACK: μαύρο > ma'vro
WHITE: άσπρο > a'spro
GREEN: πράσινo > pra'sino
Yellow:: κίτρινο > ki'trino
PURPLE: μοβ > mo'v
ORANGE: πορτοκαλί > portokali'
GREY: γκρί > gri'

P.S.
It is really amazing, Colloquial Egyptian Arabic(CEA), has many many identical words to modern Greek !

[Maya]

Interesting ! specially this Bortoqali thing, its really identical (but to the MSA) We share the same word for purple too (in CEA)? great.

How about:

You're cute
Life sux
I want a coke, plz

[NickTheGreek]

You're cute > είσαι χαριτωμένος > i'se charitome'nos ( 2 a boy ) / είσαι χαριτωμένη > i'se charitome'ni ( 2 a girl )

Life sux > η ζωή είναι χάλια > i zoi' i'ne cha'lia

I want a coke, plz > θέλω μια κόκα, παρακαλώ > the'lo mi'a ko'ka, parakalo'

[deacon]

@Maya: yes, it was created by Tolkien (I think I say so).

Note that in Lord Of The Rings, the language spoken by the Elves is Sindarin and not Quenya!
An exception is when Frodo says a famous greeting in Quenya at some point: Elen siila lummen' omentielvo which means "A star shined on the moment of our meeting". Generally, in the times of The Lord of the Rings, Quenya was used mostly for ceremonial reasons, with Sindarin being the "common Elvish".

Let's say the same using Sindarin (pronounced SIndarin)

Mae govannen: Hello (actually: well met) (MY go-VAN-nen)
Garo aur vaer: Have a nice day (GAR-oh our vire)
Garo tinnu vaer: Have a nice evening (GAR-oh TIN-noo vire)
Pedich Edhellen?: Do you speak Elvish? (PED-ick eth-EL-len, with th sounding like in "the")
Iston le?: Do I know you? (IST-on leh)

And yes, Tolkien was a linguist, you are correct Btw can you explain why is that you speak and write differently, and not speak e.g. the way you write?

[Maya]

Thank you NickTheGreek, i'se charitome'nos , lol

Deacon, sorry I couldnt recognize the guy I'm not a LOTR fan, in fact i kinda hate it
I like mah iss-TAN-yell more than IST-on leh in translation to Do I know u?

Btw can you explain why is that you speak and write differently, and not speak e.g. the way you write?

well. Arabic, to Arabs in general and to Muslims in particular, is kinda a holy language, since the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam is written in Arabic. Arabs in SA, where Islam started, spoke Arabic fluently and most of them were great poets too, even though most of them could neither read or write. But other countries, like Egypt, did not speak Arabic at the time. So Egyptians learnt Arabic and embraced Islam. But I think they couldnt be so good at Arabic.

I think languages change constantly, to suit the requirements of society. This age of imformation and globalization we live in, has a great impact on everything we say, do and learn, so why not affect language too. I guess that's what happened to Arabic. It kept on changin, till it reached the point where there's no turning back, lol. Egyptian Colloquial Arabic is derived from Standard Arabic, but its like it has its own grammatical structure and its own sets of vocab.

I read that on a site, you might b interested in:

Diglossia
Psichari (1928) - In what is perhaps the earliest use of diglossia, this writer refers to the situation of Greek at the end of the 19th century, describing Greece as "a country that doesn’t want its language." This observation refers to the fact that while Dimotiki ("popular language, " "people’s language") is used as the everyday medium of communication, Katharévusa ("pure language") is used for writing, and reflects Classical Greek more than the popular form.

Marçais (1930) - This writer described the situation in the Arabic world in the thirties, when the gulf between spoken Arabic dialects and the classical standard was particularly large. Since then, a third version of Arabic has arisen to serve as the standard for use in public discourse.

I hope I made any sense here. and was able to answer your Q., deacon

[viv]

Nice topic Maya!
2 years ago I was searching where to go and learn Arabic. I found something but unfortunately I didn't make it....

I like Arabic a lot, so please post more...

Sure, Viv, my pleasure. But can I ask u if there are any reasons behind your interest in Arabic.

Maya, I'm not very sure if I understood well....
Reasons: I like a lot Arabic music and dance, I find the language interesting (the writing, the letters), your culture....

[Maya]

Yea Viv, this is what i was askin about, thank you. So u like Arabic music and culture? So if there's a question u have plz go ahead and ask

[viv]

Thanx Maya.... I will!!

[deacon]

Maya: The books are better than the movie actually

I am glad you answered the wuestion, upon researching I also found out that the Qur'an was written using arabic.

You are correct, it shouldn't seem so strange since it has happened in my country also

There is an explanation for this: After four hundred years under Turkish occupation (and not limited to, as other parts of Greece where controlled by western countries as well), the greek language got influenced alot. A great part of the scholars viewed the foreign elements as an "infection" and thus tried to "purify" the greek language, by adapting it to archaic forms. This lead to a failure over the years as you cannot enforce how people should communicate

[NickTheGreek]

i 100% agree with the last part : a language is evolving under its own rules

[Maya]

Yes I agree too. Well, I learnt in Uni. that there's no such thing as good grammar and bad grammar, so this is a misconception. We should be descriptive and not prescriptive when it comes to language; meaning that a linguist should be interested in what people actually say, the way they use language, and not merely in what the linguist think language SHOULD be (based on social circumstances maybe)

[hlias_gr]

maya means spells in Greek language!

[Maya]

Maya is a charmin person, i gotta tell u. lol Thank u hlias_gr, did u tell me that before?

[Sabbattack]

Yes he did, but with so many personalities that he has maybe he logged in with the wrong one!!!!

nice thread maya! I like your seriousness, something surely missing from this forum in the past!!

[NickTheGreek]

well, i can do nothing but agree with sabbattack 100%

[NickTheGreek]

in fact, i will help clearing things up : no more split personalities.. we will have bans again for doing this

[Starf.cker]

German (I wonder if someone is interested )

Hello - Hallo
Good morning - Guten Morgen
How are you - Wie geht's
Bye - Tschüss
Goodnight - Gute Nacht
Sleep well - Schlaf gut
Happy birthday - Alles Gute zum Geburtstag

Have a nice day/evening - Einen schönen Tag/Abend noch
Do you speak English? - Sprechen Sie Englisch?
Do I know you? - Kenne ich Sie?

blue
- blau
red - rot
purple - lila
orange - orange
yellow - gelb
gray - grau
green - grün
black - schwarz
white - weiß

You're cute - Du bist süß
Life sux - Das Leben ist Scheiße
I want a coke, plz - Ich hätte gern eine Cola (if you buy, also: Eine Cola, bitte)

[NickTheGreek]

Starf.cker, there is 100% german support in this site, haveyou checked ? you can change language in the bottom

[Starf.cker]

oh sry, my bad again... be honored I wasted time on you

well then.. how about russian? (now I don't have so much time...)

Hallo - Prevet
Good morning - Dobroye utro
How are you? - Kac dela?
Bye - Paka
Goodnight - Spakoinoi nochi
Happy birthday - Z dnoem radzdenyam
Do you speak English? - Vi govorite po angliskii?
Do I know you? - Ya vas znayu?

[NickTheGreek]

no no maybe you misunderstood my point : i do not know German and i am very glad with what you wrote !!!

i just wanted youto know that you can have our site menus in your native language that's all

[Maya]

WOW, I'm interested, Starf.cker
Now I have so much to study lol
Sabbattack and Nickthegreek, thank you guys. Sabbattack, Never knew somebody would like my seriousness! lol

Now thank you guys for makin the topic worth readin (and studyin!)

Some Japanese I know:
Good morning - O hayoo gozaimasu
How are you - O genki desu ka
Bye - Sayoonara
Goodnight (and see u tomorrow) - O yasu mina sai (ma ta ashtane)

[Starf.cker]

oh, japanese *clappz hanz* I LOVE japanese!
I can't speak much of it (well, honestly only a few words) but Id like 2 learn it so badly...

some words I know:
Thank you - ari-gatoo
Sorry - gomen
fast - hayaku
right - migi
left - hidari

black - kuroi
white - shiro
red - aka
blue - ao
cute - kawaii

@ nickthegreek: I guess misunderstood u thanks, I already saw the button but I like english more than german so I kept it in english...

[Maya]

More Japanese then!

Excuse me: Sumi masen
Where are you from? : Dochira kara ira shaii mashi ta ka
i'm fine thank u: Genki desu
Yes: Hai
No: Iee (cant really type the way its pronounced :s)
Pleased to meet you: Dozo yourush ku
Japanese: Nihon go

You mentioned "thank you", Starf.cker, and there are other forms of it too. It depends on who you're sayin it to (they have respect levels)

Thank you: Domo (to ur friend) (or) Domo Arigato (or) Domo arigatoo gozai masu (more formal)

[thekiller]

good job

[Jack The Ripper]

ha... εγω ξερω λιγα πραγματα αλλα ξερω ξωτικισια... look:
annar kaluva tielyana
et earelo endorenna utulien. Sinome maruvan ar hibliniyar tenn' ambar-metta
aiya earendil elenion ancalima
translation:
ο ηλιος να φωτιζει το δρομο σου
Out of the great sea to middle earth i am come. In this place will i abide and my heirs unto the ending of the world...
το αλλο ειναι τα λογια που ειπε ο Frodo για αν αναψει το αστρο που του ειχε δωσει η Galndriel...

[Jack The Ripper]

ξερω και κυπριακα... γγια την ακριβια ειμαι ελληνοκυπριος...

[Jack The Ripper]

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