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Name the language

Simon on 18 Feb 2007

Language and Quiz questions | Comments (11)

11 Responses to “Name the language”

1. Lillian Sagtit on 18 Feb 2007 at 9:14 pm #

   Its sounds like an asian language, Korean or Vietnamese maybe??

2. AR on 18 Feb 2007 at 9:23 pm #

   I don’t think its Korean, because the recording is of a language that is undoubtedly tonal, and Korean is not a tonal language.

3. Josh on 18 Feb 2007 at 9:37 pm #

   It sounds Mon-Khmer… maybe. Is it Lao or Cambodian?

4. bichofoo on 18 Feb 2007 at 11:37 pm #

   It sounds like Lao or vietnamese?

5. Joseph Staleknight on 19 Feb 2007 at 2:18 am #

   Doesn’t it sound Chinese?

6. Alex on 19 Feb 2007 at 3:19 am #

   Sounds like a Sino-tibetan language. very tonal maybe cantonese?

7. bichofoo on 19 Feb 2007 at 4:17 am #

   My guess is that is a chinese language.
   Definitely Taiwanese or Hakka.

8. d.m.falk on 19 Feb 2007 at 7:12 am #

   It’s definitely a Chinese dialect- My first impression is, in fact, Mandarin, perhaps Cantonese. Good choice, too, being that it is the start of the Chinese lunar new year festivities- The year of the Golden Pig. :)

   d.m.f.

9. dmh on 19 Feb 2007 at 11:18 am #

   I think I heard huanying, huanying, 欢迎，欢迎, welcome, welcome, near the beginning. And the final -t sound on a couple of words makes me think it’s Cantonese.

10. Josh on 19 Feb 2007 at 12:44 pm #

    Thanks for the transliteration- hardly anyone seems to bother with that. Not everyone can read Chinese, Hebrew and Arabic.

11. Simon on 19 Feb 2007 at 12:59 pm #

    The answer is Taiwanese. Here’s a transcription, transliteration and translation:

    Taiwanese

    王教授，歡迎，歡迎！請入來坐。
    Ong⁵ kau³-siu⁷, hoan-geng⁵, hoan-geng⁵! Chhiaⁿ² jip⁸ lai⁵ che⁷

    真歡喜會當來恁兜。
    Chin hoaⁿ-hi² e⁷-tang³ lai⁵ lin² tau.

    請坐，請用茶．咱先來開講，等以下呷食飯。
    Chhiaⁿ²-che⁷. Chhiaⁿ² iong⁷ te⁵. Lan² seng lai⁵ khai-kang², tan² chit^o-e^o chiah chiah⁸ png⁷

    M⁷免麻煩。
    M⁷-bian² ma⁵-hoan⁵

    Be⁷麻煩，已經攏準備好啊。
    Be⁷ ma⁵-hoan⁵, i²-keng long² chun²-pi⁷ ho² a^o.

    Mandarin

    王教授，歡迎，歡迎！請近來坐。
    Wáng jiàoshòu，huānyíng，huānyíng! Qǐng jìnlái zuò.

    很高興能來你家。
    Hěn gāoxìng néng lái nǐ jiā.

    請坐，請用茶，我們先閒聊，等以下才吃飯。
    Qǐng zuò. Qǐng yòng chá, wǒmen xiān xiánliáo, děng yǐxià cái chīfàn

    不必麻煩。
    Bù bì máfan.

    不會麻煩，都已經準備好了。
    Bù huì máfan, dōu yǐjīng zhǔnbèi hǎo le.

    English

    Welcome, welcome Professor Wang. Please come in and sit down.

    I’m very happy to be able to visit your home.

    Please have a seat, please have some tea. We’ll have a chat first, then we’ll eat.

    Don’t go to any trouble.

    It’s no trouble, everything is prepared already.

    This conversation comes from 生活台語 (Sing-wa Tai⁵-gi²), a Taiwanese course I bought in Taiwan.