Languages, Anyone interested? Options

[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?