Monthly Archives: October 2006

New phrases page

10/10/2006 Simon

I’m just putting together a new phrases page, which you can see here, and wonder if you could help. The phrase in question is “Do you speak … language?” with the reply “Yes (a little)”. In each case the language in question is the language of the question, for example, the phrase in French is […]

Language, Words and phrases 36 Comments

How old is your language?

09/10/2006 Simon

When researching the background of the Siraiki language, which I’ve just added to Omniglot, I came across a claim that this language might be “the oldest language … of the world”. The arguments in support of this claim don’t appear to be particularly credible, but it’s interesting that the text includes such an assertion. An […]

Language 12 Comments

Name the script

08/10/2006 Simon

Here’s a question from gee – can you identify and decipher the following script? Some clues – the script was designed solely for one language – normally another script is used to write that language

Language, Quiz questions 8 Comments

Muppet shuffling

07/10/2006 Simon

If modern management-speak, buzzwords and other jargon leaves you confused, then Shoot the Puppy: A survival guide to the curious jargon of modern life, by Tony Thorne, which I borrowed from my local library today, will help to enlighten you. The title of this post, muppet shuffling, refers to the practise of moving underperforming or […]

English, Language, Words and phrases 1 Comment

Language in books

06/10/2006 Simon

The ways authors represent foreign languages in their books are interesting. In some cases, they use a different typeface to indicate that a character is speaking a foreign language. The typefaces used sometimes resemble the alphabet normally used to write the language in question. This enables the readers to follow what the characters are saying, […]

Language 7 Comments

Word of the day – amynedd

05/10/2006 Simon

amynedd [a’mənɛð] = y gallu i ddioddef, goddefgarwch, dioddefgarwch, dyfalbarhad, pwyll Examples of usage Amynedd sant sy genno fo. He has the patience of a saint. Bydd rhaid i ni fod dipyn yn amyneddgar. We’ll have to be a bit patient. Today’s word is something you need plenty of when learning a language – patience. […]

Language, Welsh, Words and phrases Comments Off on Word of the day – amynedd

Mnemonics

04/10/2006 Simon

Verses or rhymes used to help you to remember things are known as mnemonics. They’re sometimes made of the the first letters of a series of words you want to memorise. For example, Richard of York gives battle in vain for the colours of the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo, violet); Every good […]

Language, Memory 20 Comments

Languages of Europe

03/10/2006 Simon

I came across an interesting report from the European Commission about the languages of Europe today. It shows the proportions of people who are native speakers each of the official languages of the EU, and how many people speak them well enough to take part in a conversation. The language with the highest proportion of […]

Language, Language learning 4 Comments

Do my ears deceive me?

02/10/2006 Simon

Sometimes people speak to you in a language you’re not expecting. You might assume they’re speaking in the language you were expecting, and try to make sense of their utterances as if they were in that language, which just confuses you. An example of this happened the other day when I went to pick up […]

Language 10 Comments

Name the style of calligraphy

01/10/2006 Simon

Today we have a quiz question sent in by TJ – can you identify the style of calligraphy of the piece below, and also the writing, language and what it says?

Language, Quiz questions 15 Comments
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