The Official Languages Thread

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Linaewen
I was kidding. It's so easy! But I guess you just had to show off anyway, ikke sant?

[innocent voice]Nono, I just didn't notice your smilies.[/innocent voice]

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Falagar
[innocent voice]Nono, I just didn't notice your smilies.[/innocent voice]

Kan du svenska? Or did you work out the words because they're similar to the Norwegian counterparts?

Let's start another Scandinavian conversation again, to scare JD. Bli inte förskräckt! We [I am almost a Swede ] won't hurt you...much.

[Jonathan]

Originally posted by Linaewen
Kan du svenska? Or did you work out the words because they're similar to the Norwegian counterparts?

I don't think that poem was too hard for a Norwegian to translate

[Falagar]

Jag kan vise deg hur diktet hadde vorit på norska:

Min jul skal være kul
min jul får ikke være *dårlig
som påsken den er gul
skal min jul være kul
snøen skal være hvit
og er den gul har noen pisset på den
-kanskje en hund

Hardly any difference at all. And besides, many/most (I am among them) Norwegians grew up with Swedish TV and movies (Jag tror Astrid Lindgren måste ta mycket av skulden for at vi nordbaggar kan forstå mycket svensk (though writing it is much harder))

[Baby-K]

Lin, just for you....to get you started on the Sotho:

Hello - Dumela (sl) Dumelang (pl)
Answering a greeting (if someone says Dumela to you) - Agêe
How are you? - Likae
I am fine & how are you? - Ke gona, wena okae?

(If you are friends with the person the formal greeting is usually dropped and replaced with Keteng).

Water - Meetse
Tea - iTee
Mother - Me
Father - Tate
Chair - Sithulo (sl) Dithulo (pl)
Child - Mona
Children - Bana
Boy- Mosemane
Boys - Basemane
Girl - Mosetsana
Girls - Basetsana
Mister / Sir - Morena
Thank You - Ke a leboga (I thank you)
I / me - Ke
You - wena


If you use a singular noun the vowel will be singular too, i.e Mona mo sekholo (The child goes to school) and the plural will have a plural verb - Bana ba sekholo (The children go to school).

I wish I could attach an audiofile, so you can hear the actual sounds, because the are not pronounced the way they are written at all.

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Falagar
Jag kan vise deg hur diktet hadde vorit på norska....

Hardly any difference at all. And besides, many/most (I am among them) Norwegians grew up with Swedish TV and movies (Jag tror Astrid Lindgren måste ta mycket av skulden for at vi nordbaggar kan forstå mycket svensk (though writing it is much harder))

Takk! Jaså! They are rather similar, except Swedish is better. No, I like the Norwegian alphabet quite a lot.

Is that true of danska too? Nice translation, too. I now know the norsk version of some Swedish words. Det er bra!

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Baby-K
Lin, just for you....to get you started on the Sotho:

If you use a singular noun the vowel will be singular too, i.e Mona mo sekholo (The child goes to school) and the plural will have a plural verb - Bana ba sekholo (The children go to school).

I wish I could attach an audiofile, so you can hear the actual sounds, because the are not pronounced the way they are written at all.

Baie dankie. Grammar points ---> *Slurp* I owe you, mate! I love grammar.

It's not spoken in Zimbabwe, is it? Maybe I could get my friend to pronounce some of it for me.

How about going through the Swahili greetings now?

*Commences clicking practice* Tsk, Tsk, Tsk... I wonder if this will hurt my throat/mouth region like the time I tried to pronounce the guttural Arabic sound over and over..

[Edit]Oh, K, I forgot to ask. Why do some Bantu words have capital letters in the middle of them, like iTee?

[Baby-K]

LOL - in Zimbabwe they speak Shona, which isn't the same as the South African languages at all. Though there are some people there obviously who would be able to speak the SA languages. If you had a friend in Lesotho you might have better luck

As for Swahili, I', afraid I can't help you there - after all I don't live in Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda (where it's the official language)...but this might help

Oh, hey - this might help you a bit with the Sotho.

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Linaewen
Takk! Jaså! They are rather similar, except Swedish is better. No, I like the Norwegian alphabet quite a lot.

Is that true of danska too? Nice translation, too. I now know the norsk version of some Swedish words. Det er bra!

Danish is closer to Norwegian than Swedish is (many words are identical), but they have a very different pronounciation and it's (at least to me) very hard to follow (for one thing, they speak too fast! )

Baby K, I hope you don't mind if I try to follow some of your lessons (though I'm afraid it seems a bit too hard for me). I've always admired Africa. My mother have visited Zimbabwe and my father climbed the Kilimanjaro (sp?) not long ago, it seems like a very (probably the most) beautiful continent...

[Baby-K]

Sorry, the 'i' was supposed to have been deleted - I was typing something and probably didn't delete the entire thing.

I'm not sure why some of the words have the prefix, it might have something to do with the posessive pronoun or something. Will find out & let you know.

Oh and here you go English / Afrikaans

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Baby-K
LOL - in Zimbabwe they speak Shona, which isn't the same as the South African languages at all. Though there are some people there obviously who would be able to speak the SA languages. If you had a friend in Lesotho you might have better luck

As for Swahili, I', afraid I can't help you there - after all I don't live in Kenya, Tanzania or Uganda (where it's the official language)...but this might help

Oh, hey - this might help you a bit with the Sotho.

Oh, darn. I like African names too! My friend's called Chipo. Pronounced 'Chip-oh'. But you wouldn't believe how many different pronunciations people can come up with- I made so much fun of her.

I was only joking about Swahili. But I trust you've heard of their complex greeting routines?

Thanks for the links!

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Falagar
Danish is closer to Norwegian than Swedish is (many words are identical), but they have a very different pronounciation and it's (at least to me) very hard to follow (for one thing, they speak too fast! )

Baby K, I hope you don't mind if I try to follow some of your lessons (though I'm afraid it seems a bit too hard for me). I've always admired Africa. My mother have visited Zimbabwe and my father climbed the Kilimanjaro (sp?) not long ago, it seems like a very (probably the most) beautiful continent...

Oh yeah, I knew that. Danish doesn't have the tones/accents any more, does it? (Warm potato in throat ). And it has a glottal stop too, IIRC. It sounds funny even to me, but I'm used to Scandinavian languages sounding all ...clear like Swedish, from watching so many movies.

Å, Kilimanjaro. I used to have a teacher who would not shut up about that mountain.

[Baby-K]

Originally posted by Falagar
Baby K, I hope you don't mind if I try to follow some of your lessons (though I'm afraid it seems a bit too hard for me). I've always admired Africa. My mother have visited Zimbabwe and my father climbed the Kilimanjaro (sp?) not long ago, it seems like a very (probably the most) beautiful continent...

Not at all I'm not sure how much good it will do, as the African languages are only third & fourth to me, but I'll try and help where I can.

Where in Zimbabwe did your mom go (was it recent?) And WOW to your dad climbing Kilimanjaro - I've heard it's an extremely difficult climb, but well worth it. Africa is beautiful - but obviously not to everyone's taste, because in some places it is still rather primitive. And it's extremely hot throughout the entire continent with very little rain, which in a way adds to the beauty and mystery since it lends the very typical colours of Africa (the golds and reds especially).

[Baby-K]

Originally posted by Linaewen
Oh, darn. I like African names too! My friend's called Chipo. Pronounced 'Chip-oh'. But you wouldn't believe how many different pronunciations people can come up with- I made so much fun of her.

I was only joking about Swahili. But I trust you've heard of their complex greeting routines?

Thanks for the links!

LOL, I knew you were joking, which is why I was being delibirate in posting the link - so yu can sit there for hours going through the words and trying to figure them out

How's this for some fun African names (and these are people who work with me - you try and figure the pronunciation out, I'm sure you'll have fun)

Zamile Mgolozeli
Nomabhele Tshangela
Tembelihle Mfihlo
Monica Majombozi
Pillemon Mngomezulu
Kuzwayi Kanyangarara

This is one of my favourite songs about Africa. It's called Great Heart by Johnny Clegg & Jaluka (Savuka)

The world is full of strange behaviour
Every man has to be his own saviour
I know I can make it on my own if I try
But I'm searching for a Great Heart to stand me by
Underneath the African sky
A Great Heart to stand me by

Chorus:
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
To hold and stand me by
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
Under African sky
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
I see the fire in your eyes
I'm searching for the spirit of the Great Heart
That beats my name inside
Sometimes I feel that you really know me
Sometimes there's much you can show me

There's a highway of stars across the heavens
The whispering song of the wind in the grass
There's the rolling thunder across the savanna
A hope and dream at the edge of the sky
And your life is a story like the wind
Your life is a story like the wind

Chorus

Guka 'mzimba (body grow old)
Sala 'nhliziyo (but heart remain behind)

[Linaewen]

Originally posted by Baby-K
LOL, I knew you were joking, which is why I was being delibirate in posting the link - so yu can sit there for hours going through the words and trying to figure them out

How's this for some fun African names (and these are people who work with me - you try and figure the pronunciation out, I'm sure you'll have fun)

You realise, I am going to be doing that.
*Look up 'I'. Ok, done*
*Look up 'Me'. Ok, done*
*Look up 'You'. Ok, done*
*Look up 'They. Ok, done* .......

Pillemon Mngomezulu I will have to go to SA and shake this guy's hand. Then ask him how on earth to pronounce his surname.

Lovely song! Thanks a lot!

[Edit] Swahili 'Kamusi' (dictionary) reminds me of Indonesian 'Kamus' of the same meaning! Fint!

[Falagar]

Originally posted by Baby-K
Not at all I'm not sure how much good it will do, as the African languages are only third & fourth to me, but I'll try and help where I can.

Where in Zimbabwe did your mom go (was it recent?) And WOW to your dad climbing Kilimanjaro - I've heard it's an extremely difficult climb, but well worth it. Africa is beautiful - but obviously not to everyone's taste, because in some places it is still rather primitive. And it's extremely hot throughout the entire continent with very little rain, which in a way adds to the beauty and mystery since it lends the very typical colours of Africa (the golds and reds especially).

I can't remember where she went (it's a long time ago now), but she worked for an organisation named NORAD (Their homepage) which governs the money that are given in support to environment-protecting projects in Africa.

But I remember that my dad then had the responsibility for us kids alone, and that he often bought pizza, made easy food or went to some junk-food restaurant instead of making real dinners (sine our mother wasn't there to complain).

[Baby-K]

LOL, Lin - you pronounce his surname Mn(like you want to say m + n together - lips closed & tongue against the back of your teeth - but don't open your mouth) - ghô (the g is kinda hard and 'explosive' - your mouth will almost automatically open to that sound if you open your lips, rounding your mouth and at the same time let your tongue drop) - mê (close your mouth again for the m and then it almost goes into a smile while you open it flatter for the short, round 'e' - zooloo.

Easy huh?

LOL, Falagar at least your dad had the good sense to buy pizza - when we were small & my mom was in hospital having my brother (he is the baby & 8 years my junior) my dad was left to take care of the household....it was pepper steak in some sort of egg/flour dough EVERY night! To the extent that my oldest sister wrote a note to my mom, asking when she's coming home 'cos dad puts too much pepper on the food. Put me off steak for a very long time.

And of course the hair was a problem - 3 girls, all of us with hair down to our bums and he had to tie it! We ended up taking our brushes to school so the teachers could redo it for us, because with dad playing mom we ended up with pony tails on our foreheads or two pigtails tied so tight we looked Chinese 'cos of the way it pulled our skin back and made our eyes look slanted (aplogies if that offends anyone).

Hey Lin -

here's a link for the Khoisan.....see what I mean about the clicks?

[Lalaith]

Originally posted by Jonathan
I chose Spanish instead of German since I already spoke French. I believe Spanish is more similar to French than German is to the Scandinavian languages. And I believe the Spanish grammar is a lot easier than German grammar

Ha. I'm having my problems with the Spanish Grammar.
But maybe that doesn't count because I don't know any german grammar rules.
But I realized that most of the Austrians don't know any rules. When I listed to some presentations lately, I noticed that there were loads of grammar mistakes. How embarrassing for native speakers.

But from the pronunciation French isn't more similar to Spanish than German to Swedish.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by Lalaith
Ha. I'm having my problems with the Spanish Grammar.

Moi aussi. Yo tambien. I think German grammar was alot easier.

Or maybe it's just me getting older.

[Jonathan]

Originally posted by Lalaith
Ha. I'm having my problems with the Spanish Grammar.
...
But from the pronunciation French isn't more similar to Spanish than German to Swedish.

I had a very good grip of French grammar when I started studying Spanish, and I think the grammar of the two languages are pretty similar. So Spanish grammar was piece of cake to learn . Well, almost.

Spanish and French pronunciation may be as different as German and Swedish, but when it comes to vocabulary I believe French and Spanish share more words than German and Swedish, even though there are quite a few German words in Swedish.