Omniglot - the blog

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.

Finding time to study languages, and do all the other things I enjoy doing (including writing this blog), is quite tricky. Fortunately, because I work at home most of the time, I have some flexibility in when I start and finish my work, and I can take breaks to practice my juggling, etc without disturbing colleagues.

I usually learn a bit more Manx while making toast in the morning - the lessons in the course I’m currently following are all quite short so this works out well.

While eating meals I tend to read serious tomes - at the moment that’s An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, by Ralph W. Fasold and Jeff Connor-Linton, which is very interesting.

While working I listen to online radio in various languages (currently Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh). I don’t actually listen to it closely all the time, but having it playing in the background helps me to absorb new vocabulary and grammar, and to reinforce what I already know of these languages.

In the evening, I study Russian and Irish, practice the tin whistle, and/or learn some more Gaelic songs. When the weather’s fine, I spend the evenings, and weekends, blading, playing hockey and just hanging out with my friends.

Somehow I manage to keep on up-dating and improving Omniglot, and replying to all the correspondence the site generates as well. Maybe one day I’ll be able to give up the day job and concentrate on Omniglot. Now that would be wonderful!

glisser, verb = to slide, slip, glide

Examples of usage
le beateau glissait sur les eaux = the boat glided over the water
ils glissèrent le long de la pente dans le ravin = they slid down the slope into the gully
le voleur leur a glissé entre les mains = the thief slipped through their fingers

Related words
glissade = slide, slip, skid
glissant = slippery
glissoire = (ice/snow) slide

I haven’t an particularly reason for slipping this word in today - I just like the sound of it.

The equivalent words in Irish are also interesting: sleamhnaigh (to slide, slip, slither), sleamhain (slippery, smooth, sleek), as are the Welsh words: llithro (to glide, slide, slip, skid, slither) and llithrig (slippery)

On a typical day, I listen to Raidió na Gaeltachta in the morning, and Radio nan Gaidheal and Radio Cymru in the afternoon. Of the languages spoken on these radio stations - Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh respectively, I understand Welsh the best, and the other two quite well, though my Irish is stronger than my Scottish Gaelic. I find that after struggling to understand the two Gaelics, Welsh seems much easier.

Similarly if I listen to Cantonese or Taiwanese, and then Mandarin, the Mandarin seems so much easier. My strongest Sinitic language is Mandarin, followed by Taiwanese then Cantonese. Although I don’t understand much Taiwanese, I’m much more familiar with it than with Cantonese as I’ve spent a lot longer in Taiwan than in Hong Kong or other Cantonese-speaking areas.

Among my Romance languages, French is my strongest, followed by Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Spanish becomes much easier to follow if I’ve been listening to Portuguese or Italian first.

This phenomenon applies not just to languages - after trying to juggle six or seven balls, juggling five or fewer seems like a piece of cake in comparison, and relatively simple skating moves seem much easier after attempting more complex ones.

When watching films in languages I can understand but which are foreign to me, I try to follow the spoken dialogue and read the subtitles at the same time. This is quite a challenge. When the subtitles are not there, I can usually follow the dialogue better because my concentration isn’t split between listening to one language and reading another.

What is even more challenging is watching a foreign film with subtitles in a language other than English. For example, while in Taiwan I saw a few films in French and Taiwanese with Chinese subtitles. Trying to understand them was hard work.

Foreign films or TV programmes with subtitles in the same language are actually easier to follow than those with no subtitles. In China and Taiwan for example, most films have subtitles in Chinese because not everybody there can understand Mandarin.

seilleann-dé, noun = butterfly - (lit. “bee of God”)

Related words:
seilleann-mòr - bumble bee (lit. “big bee”)
seilleann-nimh - hornet (lit. “poison bee”)
seilleann-seimhid - snail
seilleannach - fulls of bees, teasing, capricious

There are also some interesting words for butterfly in Welsh:
iâr fach yr haf (lit. “summer chick”)
glöyn byw (lit. “living coal”)
pila-pala
bili-balo

In Irish, a butterfly is a féileacán - sounds like “failure can”, and in Manx it’s foillycan or follican - sounds like “foily can” as in a can covered in foil.

When I listen to speech in a foreign language there is often a delay between my hearing of what is said and my understanding of it. My brain is working hard to separate the continuous stream of sound into words, and to work out the meanings of those words, though I don’t usually translate the words into English in my head, as that adds an extra delay. It’s a bit like the delays you get on some trans-Atlantic phone lines.

Such delays are not too much of a problem when listening to the radio or watching TV/films, but I tend to miss things because I’m trying to understand previous utterances. When talking to someone though, such delays make it appear that I don’t understand what they’re saying so they repeat themselves a lot or switch to English, while I’m frustrated because I know what they’re saying, but not immediately.

Practice should reduce and eventually eliminate these comprehension delays, with any luck. In the meantime, perhaps what I need are words or noises that indicate that I’ve heard what’s been said and am considering my response. The length of time you can remain silent after somebody has said something varies from culture to culture. In many cultures , people start to feel uncomfortable after a few seconds and feel the need to say something to fill the silence.

In Japanese you say hai! frequently to show you’re listening. If you do the same in English it can sound very rude - as if you want to other person to shut up so that you can say something.

My brother and his girlfriend are currently polliwogs, but sometime today or tomorrow they will become shellbacks. A polliwog or pollywog is a sailor who has not crossed the equator, while a shellback is one who has, or an experienced or old sailor.

According to nautical tradition, when the equator is crossed, a ceremony is performed for King Neptune and shellbacks ridicule and humiliate polliwogs.

Polliwog comes from the Middle English polwygle. Pol comes from Middle Low German polle, hair of the head, head, top of a tree, and wygle from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch wiggeln.

There’s some details of the equator crossing ceremonies in the US navy at: http://www.desausa.org/pollywog_to_shellback.htm

And you can follow my brother’s adventures at:
http://kikasailing.blogspot.com

dylunio gwe = web design
dylunio = to design; gwe = web, gauze, texture

Heddiw, o’r diwedd, dw i’n wedi dod o hyd i’r gair Cymraeg am web design, a thermau defnyddiol eraill fel systemau rheoli cynnwys, datblygu gwefanau a mewnrwydi. Rŵan, os oes angen arna i, dw i’n gallu siarad am y pethau hyn.

Today, I finally found the Welsh word for web design, and a number of other useful words such as content management system, website development and intranet. So I can now talk about these things in Welsh if the need every arises.

I find it interesting to see how different languages deal with terminology for new inventions and technology. Some just borrow the words from the original language (often English), some translate the terms, and others coin new words from their existing word stock. For example, computer is 计算机 (jìsuànjī) - “calculating machine” in China and 電腦 (diànnào) - “electric brain” in Taiwan, while in Japan it’s コンピューター (konpyūtā). The Welsh word for computer is cyfrifiadur - “thing that counts/calculates”.

I read somewhere that Iceland they hold a national competition to come up with words for new inventions. Does anybody know if this is true? One such word is tulva (computer), which literally means “number seer” or “fortune teller”.

In the case of Welsh, official terms may exist for most new inventions, but they aren’t necessarily used in everyday speech. Usage of the official terms tends to more common in formal settings. In informal situations, people often use the English terms, or alternative Welsh words they’ve coined. For example, the official term for ‘to send text message’ is anfon neges testun, but many people just say tecstio.

Source of the Welsh terms: www.technoleg-taliesin.com

bean ghlúine, noun = midwife (lit. “kneeling woman”)

This word suggests that kneeling was once a major part of being a midwife in Ireland. Other Irish words for midwife are bean chabhartha (”helping woman”) and cnáimhseach, and midwifery is cnáimhseachas.

The word midwife comes from the Old English mid (with) and wif (woman). One of the Welsh words for midwife, gwidwith, perhaps comes from the same root; the other is bydwraig (”world wife”).

Faoi láthair tá mo dheirfiúr a dhéanamh staidéar ar an chnaimhseachas, agus sin é an fáth a phioc mé an focal seo.

My sister is currently studying midwifery, which is why I choose this word.

崎 (qí), noun = the banks of a winding river

This is an example of one of the very specific words in Chinese. I doubt if it’s used very often, but the fact that you pack so much meaning into a single syllable is quite impressive.

Pronounced with the first tone and combined with 嶇 (qū), this character means rugged, uneven or rough, e.g. 這條小徑崎嶇而多泥 (zhè tiáo xiǎojīng qīqū ér duō ní) - This path is rugged and muddy.