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Category Archives: real language profile

Pop Quiz! Which language do you hear?

23 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by polyglossic in languages, real language profile, speakers

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Danish, German, Hebrew, Irish, languages, Spanish, speakers

One of my favorite things about writing this blog is getting to listen to the audio clips of our Featured Speakers.  I am always looking for additions to this feature, so if you speak a language that I haven’t had a chance to spotlight yet, or you know someone else who does, please get in touch with me!  We love hearing other languages!

Today’s pop quiz comes directly from our speakers, but I’ve made it a little trickier – each clip is only about ten seconds of the original audio (wouldn’t want it to be too easy, would you?)  See if you can recognize the language, and then check out the links to hear the original and read the interviews with the speakers!

MATCHING: Which language is being spoken in the following clips?  Your choices are:

  • Azerbaijani
  • Chinese (Mandarin)
  • Danish
  • German
  • Hebrew
  • Indonesian
  • Irish
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Spanish
    (note not all of the choices will be used!)

***
ANSWERS:

  1. Azerbaijani
  2. (Mandarin) Chinese
  3. German
  4. Danish
  5. Irish
  6. Italian
  7. Japanese
  8. Hebrew

How did you do?  Have you studied any of the languages in those clips?  Do you speak a language you’d like to share?

 

Copyright Allison Taylor-Adams.  See About for details.

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Friday’s Featured Language: Irish

03 Friday Aug 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, real language profile, speakers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

endangered languages, Gaelic, Ireland, Irish, language revitalization, languages, speakers

I’m really excited about today’s language!  My passion is for endangered languages, and I’m excited by stories of languages that have not only been saved but have been revitalized (you can see some examples of this in my Green Book posts).  And my guest today is sharing one of those languages!

Professor Ronan Connolly grew up in Monaghan, Ireland, and now lives in Washington, DC where he teaches Irish language classes (if you live in the DC area, here is his website!  He offers classes frequently and they look like a lot of fun!)  He grew up monolingual in English, but has since learned Irish and says his life is bilingual whenever he goes back to Ireland.

Ronan says he loves “the richness, the history and culture associated with the Irish language.”  Irish (sometimes called “Gaelic,” or Gaelige in Irish) is a very old language, he explains, older than English, with “the oldest written literature of all the surviving Celtic languages… [it] was first written 2,000 years ago.”

“Irish was the language of the vast majority of the population until the early 19th century, when the devastating effects of English colonialism started taking their toll on the native tongue,” he notes. “The development of Ireland as a free country during the early 20th century brought with it a cultural revival. The Irish language made major gains in the 20th century due largely to a combination of public, private and government efforts.”

Ronan is hopeful about the state of his language.  “Currently, the language is going through a major renaissance and more people are able to speak and write Irish today than have been able to for over 150 years,” he says. “The great increase in learning Irish by children, as well as adults in non-Gaeltacht areas and abroad, is also very encouraging.”

The Gaeltachts are areas of Ireland where Irish is the dominant language, and the vernacular spoken in the home.  The three areas – Ulster, Connacht, and Munster – are fairly isolated from each other geographically, meaning that each area has its own distinct dialect.  Ronan speaks primarily with an Ulster accent.  In this clip, he says: “I wanted to communicate with the listener – tell them who I am, what I do and also a little bit about the Irish language!”

Dia dhiaoibh a chairde, caidé mar atá sibh?

Is mise Ronan Connolly agus faoi láthair táim i mo chónaí anseo i Washington DC, príomhchathair na Stáit Aontaithe.

Bíonn ranganna Gaeilge ar bun agam anseo – bím ag teagasc in Ollscoil Chaitliceach Mheiriceá sa chathair, agus chomh maith le sin bím ag teagasc mo ranganna féin, Learn Irish With Me.com, I dtuaisceart na cathrach.

Anois, cad is brí le Gaeilge?  Cén sort teanga í? Ar chuala tú í riamh? Bhuel, cinnte gur chuala tú an Ghaeilge cheana féin! Tagann focail ar nós dude, smashing, phony, galore, whiskey, baloney, shamrock, in cahoots, hooligan, uilig ón nGaeilge. Agus cinnte gur chuala sibh faoin gcathair Baltimore – sin ainm eile a thagann ón nGaeilge! An ndeir tú ‘so long’ le duine agus tú ag fágáil? Deirtear go dtagann an frása sin ón nGaeilge chomh maith, mar deir muidne ‘slán’ in ionad ‘goodbye’. Slan / so long – feiceann tú an chosúlacht!

Tá an teanga thart fá 3,000 bliana d’aois – b’fhéidir níos mó, b’fhéidir níos lú –agus is í ceann de na teangacha is sine san Eoraip, níos sine ná  an Bhéarla, Fraincis nó Spáinis.

Faoi láthair tá thart fá 80,000 ag caint na Gaeilge in Eirinn gach lá, ach tá an uimhir sin ag méadú an t-am uilig. Le raidio, teilifís agus na meáin trí mhean na Gaeilge, táim féin an-dóchasach don teanga! Bhuel, sin mo phíosa anois – má tá suim agat I bhfoghlaim na Gaeilge, cuir scairt orm!

Go dtí sin, slán!

English translation:
Hello friends, how are you?

I am Ronan Connolly, and I am presently living in Washington DC, the capital city of the USA. I teach Irish classes here – at Catholic University of America in the city, and also my own classes, Learn Irish With Me.com, in the north of the city.

Now, what exactly is Irish? What sort of language is it? Have you heard it before? Well, most certainly you have heard it before! Words such as dude, smashing, phony, galore, whiskey, shamrock, hooligan, all come from Irish. And surely you have heard of the city of Baltimore – that’s another name that comes from Irish! Do you say ‘so long’ when you are saying goodbye to someone? It’s said that that phrase comes from Irish too, because we say ‘slán’ for ‘goodbye’. Slán / so long – you can see the similarity!

The language is about 3,000 years old – maybe more, maybe less – and it’s one of the oldest languages in Europe, older than English, French or Spanish.

There are presently 80,000 people speaking Irish in Ireland everyday, but the number is rising. With radio, television and media in Irish, I am very optimistic for the language! Well, that’s my piece for now – if you are interested in learning Irish, just call me!

Until then, goodbye!

Thank you very much, Ronan, for sharing your lovely living language with us!

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Friday’s Featured Language: Italian

20 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, real language profile, speakers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

endangered languages, Italian, Italy, language, languages, speakers

Happy Friday everyone!  I love Fridays where I have some language to listen to and share.

My guest today is Claudia Soria, who runs a facebook page and a blog about linguistic diversity, and is a native speaker of Standard Italian.  Claudia was born and raised in Pisa, which is in the Tuscany region of Italy.  When Italy was united as a nation, only 150 years ago, the Tuscan dialect was chosen as the official language of the country, so the language Claudia grew up speaking varies little from what we would call the “standard.”  But what we think of as Standard Italian actually co-exists with some 40 different languages, and Claudia is very concerned about the status of the 31 languages that UNESCO classifies as endangered.  “Unfortunately, Italy is lagging behind other states concerning protection of minority languages and encouragement towards multilingualism,” she says.

Map of the linguistic diversity of Italy

Claudia says that she loves her language, and especially loves “the subtle differences in meaning of verbs, nouns and adjectives. It pairs beautifully with the culture and beauty that are our national heritage.”  She adds, “Italian is spoken loud. I am not aware of scientific studies about this fact, but I am convinced that it’s more than perception. We don’t realize it as long as we are immersed in the Italian language, but if we happen to be in a multilingual context, Italian speakers stand out for being louder than other speakers, even when they whisper… This might also the reason why foreign speakers always add an exclamation mark when they mimic Italian: ‘Mamma mia!’, ‘Cappuccino!'”  (I also picture a lot of hand gesturing when saying these words too…is it just me?  Or is that something that Italians really do?)

The sample Claudia is sharing with us today is a description of an “amazing celebration taking place in Pisa every year, on the 16th of June,” called the Luminara.

La Luminara è una parte bellissima ed importante dei festeggiamenti per San Ranieri, e si svolge il 16 giugno, alla vigilia della festa del santo patrono. L’altra parte grande della festa è la Regata di San Ranieri che si svolge nel tardo pomeriggio nel giorno della festa vera e propria, il 17 giugno.
La tradizione di illuminare la città con le candele risale al 1688. In quell’anno, l’urna contenente le spoglie di San Ranieri fu collocata nella Cappella dell’Incoronata nella cattedrale, che ora è a lui dedicata. Cosimo III dei Medici voleva che l’urna antica che conteneva le spoglie del santo fosse sostituita con una urna più sontuosa e moderna. Il cambiamento fu l’occasione per la città di una festa memorabile e così secondo la tradizione è nata la Luminara,  o “illuminazione”. Da allora L’evento si svolge ogni anno, tranne qualche interruzione.
Oggi la celebrazione ha assunto una forma specifica: i dettagli architettonici dei palazzi, chiese, torri e ponti lungo l’Arno (finestre, cornicioni, balconi) sono ricreati con cornici in legno bianco. Questi telai sono montati sulle facciate degli edifici e supportano delle candele, che vengono accese dopo il tramonto. Oltre 70.000 “lumini” (come le candele vengono chiamati in lingua italiana quando sono all’interno di un contenitore di vetro, in questo caso) bruciano e riflettono la loro luce sul fiume. Alcune candele sono messe a galleggiare sulle acque dell’Arno. Tutta la città intorno al lungarno semplicemente risplende e si trasforma in un ambiente da fiaba.

English translation:
An important part of the festivities for San Ranieri in Pisa is the beautiful Luminara which takes place on the evening of June 16, the eve of the patron saint’s feast day. The other big part of the celebration is the Regatta of San Ranieri which takes place in the late afternoon on the actual feast day, the 17th of June.

The tradition of lighting the city with candles dates back to 1688. In that year, the urn containing the remains of Saint Ranieri was placed in the Cappella dell’Incoronata in the cathedral, which is now dedicated to him. Cosimo III of the Medici wanted the antique urn that contained the saint’s remains to be substituted with a more sumptuous and modern urn. The change was occassion for a memorable city feast and according to tradition, the Luminara, or “illumination” as it was called back then, was born. The event has been held every year since then except for a few interruptions.
Today the celebration has taken a specific form: the architectural details of the palaces, churches, towers and bridges along the Arno (windows, cornices, balconies) are recreated with white wooden frames. These frames are fitted onto the buildings and on these frames candles are attached and lit after sunset. Over 70,000 “lumini” (how candles are called in Italian when they are inside a container, glass in this case) burn and reflect on the river. Some candles are also floated on the waters of the Arno. The city along the lungarno simply glows and transforms into a phantasmagoric fairy-tale setting.

Oh, I really hope I get to go to Pisa to see this some day.  Thank you, Claudia, for sharing a bit of your beautiful language and your beautiful country with us!

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Friday’s Featured Language: Azerbaijani

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, real language profile, speakers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani, languages, speakers, Turkic

Happy Friday!  I’m really excited about today’s feature because today’s language is one I’ve never gotten to hear spoken before!

My guest today is Yegana Baghirova, who grew up in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, but now lives here in Washington, DC.  Yegana says her family is “international,” so the primary language in her childhood home was Russian.  However, her paternal grandmother also lived with them, and only spoke Azerbaijani, so Yegana and her sister “learned Azerbaijani while speaking to her, accompanying her to a mosque, and watching Azerbaijani movies together.”  She adds that she learned “bureaucratic and more sophisticated” Azerbaijani at work as an adult.

Azerbaijani is spoken, obviously, in Azerbaijan, but Yegana points out that it is also the second most widely spoken language in Iran.  It’s a Turkic language, related to a lot of other Central Asian languages like Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz, as well as of course Turkish.  Yegana says that “if you know Azerbaijani, you will experience no problem with understanding and speaking with Turks, but not vice-versa.”

Yegana says that she likes how her language “delivers ethnic Azerbaijani but also local (regional: differing by districts, cities, and even villages) color, which in many cases cannot be translated into other languages. It is also very soft, almost song-like, poetic.”  I think the audio clips she’s sharing with us really show off that softness and poetry.

To give us a sampling of Azerbaijani, Yegana has selected two short texts.  The first one is an excerpt from a poem titled ‘Azerbaijan’, by the famous Azerbaijani and Soviet poet Samad Vurgun.  Yegana says this is “probably the only poem that all Azerbaijanis know by heart.”

Azərbaycan (parça)
Çox keçmişəm bu dağlardan,
Durna gözlü bulaqlardan;
Eşitmişəm uzaqlardan
Sakit axan arazları;
Sınamışam dostu, yarı…

El bilir ki, sən mənimsən,
Yurdum, yuvam, məskənimsən,
Anam, doğma vətənimsən!
Ayrılarmı könül candan?
Azərbaycan, Azərbaycan!
–Səməd Vurğun

English translation:
Azerbaijan (excerpt)

I often walked among these hills,
Among the crane-eyed springs and rills,
And listened to the distant trills
Where river waters peacefully move…
Here I knew friendship and true love.

All people know that you’re my land,
My life, my nest, my country grand,
My dearest mother, my native strand!
Can one split body and soul in a man?
Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan!
Samad Vurghun

The second sample is a story about a character named Molla Nasreddin, a legendary figure about whom thousands of beloved stories and anecdotes are told in the Turkic-speaking countries where they originated (and beyond.)  I love Yegana’s explanation, so I’ll share it here in full:

“Azerbaijanis are extremely fond of Molla Nasreddin anecdotes and entertain one another by telling them at parties and family gatherings, injecting Molla’s humor and wit into the natural flow of conversation just as they do with proverbs and jokes. Since these anecdotes have been passed down orally, generation after generation, considerable variations may exist in the way they are told. Molla’s wife and his donkey are among his most constant companions. His stories often point to an obvious truth which has been taken for granted and usually include unexpected twists that make his ideas witty and fresh. Though Molla often appears as a fool, he usually is the one who cleverly exposes other people’s foolishness.”

Pişik Hanı?
Molla bazardan üç kilo ət alıb evə göndərir ki, arvad bir-iki gün xörək bişirsin. Arvad qonşu arvadları çağırır, əti bişirib yeyirlər. Molla axşam böyük bir iştahla evə qayıdır ki, indi ət yeyəcək. Evə çatan kimi arvadına deyir:
–          Arvad, acam, xörəyi gətir şam edək!

Arvad bir az çörək, bir-iki baş soğan gətirib Mollanın qabağına qoyur. Molla soruşur ki:
–          Arvad, bəs, əti niyə bişirməmisən?

Arvad deyir:
–          Başıma daş düşsün! Əti yuyub stolun üstünə qoydum ki, ocağı yandırım. Başim qarışmışdı.
Sonra getdim əti götürüm. Gördum ki, pişik hamısını yeyib!

Molla heç nə deməyib durur. Pişiyi tutub qoyur tərəziyə. Çəkib görur ki, düz üç kilodur. Arvada baxıb deyir:
–          İndi mənə düz de: əgər bu pişikdirsə, bəs ət hanı? Əgər ətdirsə, bəs pişik hanı?

English translation:
Where’s the Cat?

Molla bought three kilos of meat from the bazaar and sent it home so that his wife could prepare meals for a day or two. His wife called other neighborhood wives over and they cooked and ate the meat. That evening Molla returned home with a big appetite anticipating a meat meal. As soon as he arrives home, he says to his wife:
–          Wife, I’m hungry, bring the food and let’s have supper.      

His wife brought him some bread and a couple of onions and put them in front of Molla. Molla asks her:
–          Wife, but why didn’t you cook the meat?

His wife says:
–          Oh let a stone fall on my head! I had washed the meat and put it on top of the table so that I could light the fire. My head was confused. Then I went to bring the meat. I saw that the cat had eaten it all!

Molla didn’t say anything. He stood up and grabbed the cat and put it on the scale. He weighed it and saw that it weighed exactly three kilos. He says to his wife:
–          Tell me the truth now: if this is the cat, then where is the meat? And if this is the meat, then where is the cat?

***

Thank you, Yegana, not only for sharing your beautiful language with us, but also for sharing so much of the flavor of your culture.  I really loved this feature.

Спасибо большое!

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Friday’s Featured Language: German

27 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by polyglossic in real language profile, speakers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

audio, German, Germany, languages, poetry

Happy Friday!  If you would be so kind, could you please send me some extra brain power and a few gallons of coffee?  I could really use both right now…

Hurray for Friday’s Featured Language!

My guest today is Annie, who blogs over here in both German and English.  Annie grew up and still lives in Germany.  She says she started learning English in school in the 5th grade, and “also gained a lot of English by trying to figure out the meaning of some songs and by watching movies on DVD using the English language feature.” That sounds like a great language learning tip! (Another great tip would be to read a German blog if you’re learning German…hint-hint!)

Annie has selected a poem to share with us, to show us that “German isn’t a hard, uncomfy language one can’t bear to hear. Or speak.” She thinks German is a much more poetic language than we might realize!  She adds that she really likes this poem, and notes that it is “a bit funny and a bit sad. Both, fun and sadness, are topics of which German sounds great when talking about.”

The poem is by Theodor Fontane, who is a famous and important writer in Germany, and this poem is sometimes learned in school; Annie says, “I still remember the poem in my German book, on a double page, which a lovely pear tree on it.”

{Note: the text of the poem is a little long, so I’ve posted it here as an image with English translation side-by-side.  If you’d like to enlarge the text, just click on the image and a larger version will open in a new window.}

The source for this poem in German is here and its translation is available on this webpage that also includes a Hindi and an Afrikaans translation, if you’re interested 🙂  By the way, Annie says that we should compare the sounds of German with Dutch or Danish.  “You’ll be surprised!”

Thank you so much for sharing, Annie!

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Friday’s Featured Language: Chinese

20 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, poetry, real language profile, speakers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Beijing, China, Chinese, Li Po, Mandarin, poetry, speakers

Happy (?) Friday.  I put that question mark in there because I’m at the point in the semester when weekends aren’t actually breaks from working, and all my days are starting to blur together…but anyway, it is Friday.  And I should remember to always be thankful for Fridays!

My guest today is Xiaofei, a speaker of Mandarin Chinese.  Xiaofei grew up in Beijing.  She studied Spanish for several years as a young teenager, and began learning English in college at Beijing University, but says “I did not get to seriously learn English until after I came to the US in 1990.” She now lives in Falls Church, Virginia, where English is the dominant language, but Mandarin Chinese is still the primary language in her home.

She says we might be surprised to know that Chinese has no verb tenses!  She also says she has “no idea how others would react to spoken Chinese,” and hopes that listeners can recognize the rhythm of the text she has selected.
*For those of you who might not know this, Chinese is a tonal language, so what you will hear in this clip is both tone, which is part of the language, and rhythm, which is part of the poem.

Xiaofei’s sample is a famous poem by Li Po, one of the greatest poets in Chinese history, and “is about the beauty of being alone and the melancholic joy of solitude.”

月下独酌

花间一壶酒,
独酌无相亲。
举杯邀明月,
对影成三人.
月既不解饮,
影徒随我身,
暂伴月将影;
行乐须及春.

我歌月徘徊;
我舞影凌乱.
醒时同交欢;
醉后各分散.
永结无情游,
相期邈云汉.

English translation:
Drinking Alone in the Moonlight

Beneath the blossoms with a pot of wine
No friends at hand, so poured wine
I raised my cup to invite the moon
Turned to my shadow, and we became three
Now the moon had never learned about my drinking
And my shadow had merely followed my form
But I quickly made friends with the moon and my shadow
To find pleasure in life, make the most of the spring

Wherever I sang, the moon swayed with me
Whenever I danced, my shadow went wild
Drinking, we shared our enjoyment together
Drunk, then each went off on his own
But forever agreed on dispassionate revels
We promised to meet in the far Milky Way

[The translation is by Elling Eide in Victor Mair, ed., The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Chinese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), p. 203.]

Mandarin Chinese is the world’s most widely spoken language, with 840 million speakers; for comparison, English only has about 330 million native speakers.  Even so, I’ve never had the pleasure of listening to poetry in spoken Chinese!  Thank you very much Xiaofei, for sharing with us!

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Friday’s Featured Language: Spanish

13 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, real language profile, speakers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Argentina, Borges, Buenos Aires, language, Spanish

Praises be, we’ve all made it to Friday!

My speaker today is Patrick Elliot.  Patrick was born in Beunos Aires, Argentina.  His father is Argentine of British descent…which explains why my Spanish speaker is named “Patrick Elliot” 🙂  His mother is Argentine but learned English in school; the family eventually moved to the US, though Spanish was the only language spoken in Patrick’s childhood home.

Patrick says that Spanish is a widely-spoken language but there are many different dialects and accents in different parts of the world.  Patrick speaks porteño (a word derived from Buenos Aires’s  importance as a port – puerto.)  “My friends from other countries and I like to exchange and joke about how many things are said so many different ways – sometimes in ways that are innocent in one dialect and vulgar in another,” he says.  For instance, ” ‘bicho’ in porteño means ‘bug’ but in some Caribbean countries refers to the male sexual organ.”

Patrick says that since he was raised outside of Argentina, he was at first reluctant to maintain his language.  “It’s a lot of work,” he notes.  “But I eventually changed my view; I began to see my language and accent as a point of focus and pride. Even now, when I visit Argentina, I measure my accent against my relatives. It’s never good enough.”

Around where I grew up, and where I live now, the Spanish I hear is mostly Central American, and before I got to hear Patrick I’m not sure I’d ever heard an Argentine accent.  He points out that “since I was raised most of life outside Argentina, a native Spanish speaker would eventually notice that I wasn’t raised my entire life in Argentina. But I hope I brought an accent that’s unique within the Spanish language. 🙂 ”

The clip Patrick is sharing with us today is an excerpt from La Biblioteca de Babel, a story by Jorge Luis Borges.  He says “Borges is a well-known Argentine author, and this is one of his best-known works. I wanted to pick something people could relate to!”  I will confess, I adore Borges, and when I found out Patrick was from Argentina, I secretly hoped that he would pick one of his stories!  It sounds different than any Spanish I’ve heard, and the idea that this is how the author would have spoken is pretty thrilling for me.  I hope you enjoy it as well!

Cuando se proclamó que la Biblioteca abarcaba todos los libros, la primera impresión fue de extravagante felicidad. Todos los hombres se sintieron señores de un tesoro intacto y secreto. No había problema personal o mundial cuya elocuente solución no existiera: en algún hexágono. El universo estaba justificado, el universo bruscamente usurpó las dimensiones ilimitadas de la esperanza. En aquel tiempo se habló mucho de las Vindicaciones: libros de apología y de profecía, que para siempre vindicaban los actos de cada hombre del universo y guardaban arcanos prodigiosos para su porvenir. Miles de codiciosos abandonaron el dulce hexágono natal y se lanzaron escaleras arriba, urgidos por el vano propósito de encontrar su Vindicación. Esos peregrinos disputaban en los corredores estrechos, proferían oscuras maldiciones, se estrangulaban en las escaleras divinas, arrojaban los libros engañosos al fondo de los túneles, morían despeñados por los hombres de regiones remotas. Otros se enloquecieron… Las Vindicaciones existen (yo he visto dos que se refieren a personas del porvenir, a personas acaso no imaginarias) pero los buscadores no recordaban que la posibilidad de que un hombre encuentre la suya, o alguna pérfida variación de la suya, es computable en cero.

English translation:
“When it was proclaimed that the Library contained all books, the first impression was one of extravagant happiness. All men felt themselves to be the masters of an intact and secret treasure. There was no personal or world problem whose eloquent solution did not exist in some hexagon. The universe was justified, the universe suddenly usurped the unlimited dimensions of hope. At that time a great deal was said about the Vindications: books of apology and prophecy which vindicated for all time the acts of every man in the universe and retained prodigious arcana for his future. Thousands of the greedy abandoned their sweet native hexagons and rushed up the stairways, urged on by the vain intention of finding their Vindication. These pilgrims disputed in the narrow corridors, proferred dark curses, strangled each other on the divine stairways, flung the deceptive books into the air shafts, met their death cast down in a similar fashion by the inhabitants of remote regions. Others went mad … The Vindications exist (I have seen two which refer to persons of the future, to persons who are perhaps not imaginary) but the searchers did not remember that the possibility of a man’s finding his Vindication, or some treacherous variation thereof, can be computed as zero.”

(Note: this translation, as well as the full text in English, is available here.)

Thank you so much for sharing, Patrick!


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Friday’s Featured Language: Danish

06 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, real language profile, speakers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Danish, Denmark, languages

Happy Friday everyone!

My guest today is Lennart Kiil.  Lennart is a journalist and science writer currently living in Copenhagen.  He grew up monolingual in Danish, and currently only speaks Danish at home, but when he was a child his family moved to Sacramento so his father could train to be an F-16 pilot, and Lennart says he learned English by “talking to other kids.”

He says one of his favorite things about his language is that “it’s easy to mumble in Danish and you can speak it without much energy expenditure (you don’t need to move your mouth a lot) – in effect you can maintain conversations while very tired.” (That made me laugh.)  He said we might be surprised that Danish is very closely related to English, even though they “do not sound similar to the untrained ear.”

One of the things non-Danish speakers find difficult about the language is the discrepancy between written and spoken Danish; Lennart says that “words are often spelled differently than they are pronounced.”  And since he’s a full-time writer, written Danish is something he’s very familiar with!

The sample Lennart is sharing with us, in fact, is an article he recently wrote.  He says he thought people would find it interesting to read about Vikings in Normandy.  🙂 I think they will too (I did!)  Here is Lennart reading an excerpt from the article, followed by the Danish text and an English translation.  Enjoy!

Rollo blev født i år 846. Han blev senere en stor dansk vikingehøvding på egnen omkring Faxe. Allerede som 21-årig måtte han efter uoverenstemmelser med kongen forlade Danmark.

I stedet for at surmule så Rollo udvisningen som en mulighed for at prøve kræfter med verden omkring ham. Han samlede sine mænd og sejlede sine vikingeskibe ned langs vesterhavet forbi Holland og op ad den franske flod Seinen, der udmunder i den engelske kanal.

Det viste sig at være en rigtig beslutning, for landområderne omkring floden var ret ubeskyttede. Her lå mange klostre inde med store samlinger af rigdomme, der var lige til at plyndre for Rollo. Desuden var store dele af Frankrig svækket af interne stridigheder i perioden.

Rollo og hans flåde af bredbundede vikingeskibe bevægede sig op ad Seinen, der for en flod egnede sig usædvanligt godt til sejllads. Rollo og hans mænd kunne derfor bevæge sig hurtigt og ubesværet i de fleksible vikingeskibe, der både kunne sejles og roes. Vikingeskibene var lige så velegnede til floder som til åbent hav.

English translation:
“Rollo was born in the year 846. He later became an important danish viking chieftain in the area around Faxe. Only 21 years old after disagreements with the king he had to leave Denmark.

Instead of sulking Rollo saw this as an opportunity to try his strength against the world around him. He gathered his men and sailed his viking ships down along the west coast past the Netherlands and up the french river Seine, which ends in the English Channel.

It turned out to be the right decision, because the land along the river was rather unprotected. Many monasteries had collections and riches that Rollo could easily plunder. Furthermore, large parts of France was vulnerable due to internal fighting during the epoch.

Rollo and his fleet of viking ships moved up along the Seine, which was unusually, for a river, well suited for sailing. Rollo and his men could therefore move fast and without difficulty in the flexible viking ships, which were made for both sailing and rowing. The viking ships did just as good on rivers as on the open sea.”

Thank you for sharing, Lennart!  Danish language and Viking ships are the perfect way to finish out the week.

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Friday’s Featured Language: Japanese

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, poetry, real language profile, speakers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Japan, Japanese, languages, poetry

Happy Friday everyone!  I probably say that every Friday but…well, every Friday is happy, so it’s appropriate.

For Friday’s Featured Language, I am very happy to have Nozomi!  Nozomi grew up in Japan, in Kanawaga Prefecture (near Tokyo), speaking Japanese.  She started studying English in junior high and English was mandatory through high school, but she says the way the language was taught made it very difficult to actually learn, so she doesn’t think she really learned to speak English until she turned 18.  Currently she lives in Michigan and speaks English with her husband and Japanese to her son.

Japanese has three script systems: Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.  Both Hiragana and Katakana have 46 characters each, while the current system of Kanji includes about 50,000!  Despite what I would think is a bewildering writing system, Nozomi says that we would be surprised that skim reading is easy in Japanese, as most content words are Kanjis and Kanjis are ideographic, “so even if you do not know how to read them, you can guess the meanings.”  Only about 2,000 Kanjis are in everyday use, and Nozomi says that elementary students learn about 1,000 while the average Japanese adult has command of about 3,000.  As if that weren’t already a cognitive feat, Nozomi notes that “many of the Kanjis have complicated forms and are pronounced in several different ways!”

On the other hand, Nozomi says Japanese grammar is very easy, and pronunciation is pretty straightforward.  And she assures her students that they do not need to know all the Kanjis immediately; at first, students can read and write in Hiragana and Katakana scripts, which are phonetic systems, so much easier to pick up.  She loves Japanese and loves teaching it!  Her website is full of basic information on Japanese and some fun language practice.  When I asked her if there was anything she wanted to say to my blog readers, she said “Let’s study Japanese!  I will be there to help you out!”

The language sample Nozomi selected is a poem written by Misuzu Kaneko in 1928. Nozomi says, “Even though her poems were written long time ago, many of them still move our heart and make us think about life in general.  This poem was used as a TV commercial after 3/11 last year, healing Japanese hearts who were suffering from the unexpected natural disaster.  I think in this modern society where people are just busy about themselves, we need to think about others and be nice to each other.  If we are nice to others, they would respond just like an echo.”

『こだまでしょうか』

「遊ぼう」っていうと
「遊ぼう」っていう。

「馬鹿」っていうと
「馬鹿」っていう。

「もう遊ばない」っていうと
「遊ばない」っていう。

そうして、あとで
さみしくなって、

「ごめんね」っていうと
「ごめんね」っていう。

こだまでしょうか、
いいえ、誰でも。

Transliteration:
<Kodama de shooka>

“Asobo”tte iuto
“Asobo”tte iu

“Baka”tte iuto
“Baka”tteiu

“Moo asobanai”tte iuto
“Asobanai”tte iu

Soushite atode
Samishiku natte

“Gomenne”tteiuto
“Gomenne”tteiu

Kodama de shooka
Iie, daredemo

English Translation:
<Are they echoes?>

When I say, “Let’s play “
You say, “Let’s play”

When I say, “Stupid”
You say, “Stupid”

When I say, “I don’t want to play with you anymore”
You say, “I don’t want to play with you”

Then later
I feel sad

Then I say, “I am Sorry”
You say, “I’m sorry”

Are they echoes?
No, true for anyone

In addition to this beautiful language sample, Nozomi wanted to share this video with us:


It is a thank you message from some of the victims of the March 11th, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  Please make sure you have lots of tissues handy, and maybe don’t watch it at work – it is a tearjerker.  (I’m kind of glad no one was around to see what a mess I was when I was watching it.)  But it is so lovely, and touching, and even polyglossic!

Thank you so much Nozomi for sharing your language and your culture with us.  Arigato!

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Friday’s Featured Language: Hebrew

23 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by polyglossic in languages, real language profile, speakers

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Hebrew, languages, Modern Hebrew, speakers

Happy Friday everyone!  Do you ever have those weeks where you feel like you’re just limping towards the finish line?  That is definitely the week I’m having.  TGIF.

And since it’s Friday, it’s time for another installment of my new regular feature, Friday’s Featured Language!  This series lets speakers show off the sounds and richness of their native languages, and lets us hear and learn about a language we might not have had the chance to encounter before!  (Again, sorry for the excessive use of exclamation points.  This series makes me very happy.)

Today’s native speaker is Professor Eyal Aviv.  Eyal is a speaker of (Modern) Hebrew, and grew up monolingual in Israel.  He lives in the US now and speaks English outside of his home and with his children, but he still speaks Hebrew with his “dear wife.”  He says he learned some English in school, but learned a lot “from books, music, and life.”

His favorite thing about his language, he says, is how old it is.  “It was a dead language for more than a millennium and was revived against all odds in the modern period by one dedicated person,” he says.  (For more on the revival of Modern Hebrew, here is a summary.)

The audio sample Eyal recorded is an excerpt of a song by popular Israeli singer/songwriter Meir Ariel.  Although Eyal said trying to translate Ariel’s writings into English is “a crime against humanity,” he still wanted to share this piece because “It is a beautiful song that I like and the singer/poet who wrote it is one of the few masters of Hebrew that can bring the language to a rare level of perfection.” For those who can read Hebrew, a transcription of the clip is included below, and for those who can’t, Eyal’s attempt at an English translation follow.

שוב אני מוצץ גבעול
תחת גשר מט ליפול
כשמעלי העגלות בתנועה מתמדת
שוב אני מתחיל לשאול
מה לרצות מה לאכול
כשהנמלה העניינית אותי מודדת.

אחת לאיזה זמן מוגבל
אני נשמט אביון ודל
ממירוץ הכרכרה המשתקשקת
נפלט משצף מעגל
וכמו שוקע תחת גל
כשההמולה הסחרחרה אט מתרחקת.

ואבא תמיד אומר
תעזבהו יום יעזבך יומיים
העגלה נוסעת אין עצור.
קפצת ממנה היום
חלפו שנתיים
והנה נשארת מאחור.

English Translation:
Sucking a grass blade again

Underneath a crumbling bridge
With the constant move of the carts above me
Starting to ask again, what should I eat and what should I want when the matter-of-fact ant measures me.
Once in a limited-while I drop out poor and low from the rattling-wagon race.
Ejected from the gushing circle, as if drowning under the wave, when the dizzying hustle slowly moves away.
But dad always says, “if you’ll leave it for one day it will leaves you for two days, the wagon is moving forward with no delay.
You’ll jump off it today, two years will go by and you’ll remain behind.”
Diving freely without a parachute opens up to all directions when my desire for each direction consumes me.
So for now I am resting, exactly as I was laid, while the acceleration above constantly overriding.

If you’d like to hear the whole original song, the music video is on youtube, but I’m warning you, it is very catchy, and if you don’t know Hebrew and you’re anything like me, it might drive you nuts to not be able to sing along!

I’ve often seen Hebrew written, especially in religious writings.  But before I met Eyal I’d never heard the modern language spoken.  Thank you, Professor Aviv, for sharing your lovely language with us all!

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© Allison Taylor-Adams and Polyglossic, 2012-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Allison Taylor-Adams and Polyglossic with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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