Nursery rhymes and computers

Comptine /kɔ̃tin/ is the French for nursery rhyme or for a counting rhyme or song. I learnt it last night and thought I’d look into where it comes from.

According Wiktionnaire, comptine is made up of compte (count, number, account) and the suffix -ine. Compte /kɔ̃t/ comes from computus (count, number, account, calculation), from computo (to count – computer in French), from con- (suffix = with; all) and putō (to think, suppose, reckon, count, prune), perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European *pu- (to wash).

My French dictionary says that comptine refers particularly to nursery rhymes involving counting, which is reflected in its etymology. Other words for children’s songs include chansons pour enfant (songs for children) and berceuse (lullaby, cradle song, hushaby, rocking chair), which also means nursemaid, and comes from bercer (to rock, cradle, lull), which apparently comes from Gaulish.

Links
Comptines et chansons pour enfant
Toutes les comptines et chansons pour enfants
Comptines.net – Paroles de Comptines et Berceuses pour enfants et bébes

Chinese app

Chinese character app logo

A new application for Android devices that teaches you how to read and write the 100 most widely-used Chinese characters was launched today.

It shows you how to write each character with animations, and also has recordings in Mandarin Chinese and English, as well as pinyin transcription and English translations for each character,

It was developed by Adam Beaumont of Leafcutter Studios with Mandarin Chinese recordings by a Chinese friend of mine, Helen Zhang (张丹), and English recordings by me.

Lyrics Translate

The other day I came across a useful site called Lyrics Translate, where you can find, submit and request translations of songs. It currently contains translations between a wide range of languages, including English, German, Russian, Turkish, Spanish, Polish and so on, and the site itself can be viewed in a variety of languages. There is also a forum for translators, as well as articles and videos.

So it look like a good place to practise languages you’re learning – you can find songs in those languages, either originals, or translated from other languages, and you could even have a go at translating songs yourself.

I have submitted translations of Cockles and Mussels (Molly Malone) in Irish and Manx – not my own translations admittedly, and just found a song in Breton with a translations in English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and a video. There are quite a few other songs in Breton too.

Fry’s Planet Word

There’s a new series on the BBC at the moment called Fry’s Planet Word. I just watched the first episode in which Stephen Fry explores the origins of language, and asks how it’s acquired, why only humans have language, why there are so many languages, and so on. He also touches on sign language and conlangs. He doesn’t cover anything in great detail, but it’s very interesting nonetheless.

Fence sitting

Last night I learnt the French equivalent of the English idiom, to sit on the fence (to be undecided in opinion, or neutral in action) – ménager la chèvre et le choux [source], or “to keep the goat and the cabbage”. This phrase is also translated as “to face both ways”, “to keep everyone happy”, “have a foot in both camps” and “to play both ends against the middle”.

As a verb ménager means to handle carefully, to treat considerately, to take care not to hurt sb’s pride, to take care of, to look after or to arrange. As an adjective it means household, domestic, housework, housewife or canteen. The related noun, ménage, means household, housework or housekeeping.

Expressions including ménager and ménage include:

– ménager ses forces – to save one’s strength
– ne pas ménager – to spare no effort.
– robot ménager – food processor
– appareil ménager – domestic appliance
– jeune ménage – young couple
– argent du ménage – housekeeping money
– chef de ménage – head of the household
– chocolat de ménage – plain chocolate
– (mal)heureux en ménage – (un)happily married
– ménage à trois
– (grand) ménage de printemps – spring cleaning

Etymology: ménager and ménage come from the Old French word manoir (to remain, stay, dwell, reside), from the Latin manēre / maneo (same meaning as manoir) [source], from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- (to stay) [source], which is also the root of the French words maison (house) and manoir (manor house), of the English word manor, and of mansion, which is found in French and English.

Sing me a song

Recently I’ve noticed that my motivation to study languages is low. I listen to online radio stations in various language every day; I’m reading literature in Welsh, Irish, French and Manx at the moment; and I speak my languages with myself and with others when the opportunity arises. Occasionally I’ll listen to and/or read a lesson in one of the languages I’m dabbling with at the moment (mainly Czech, Russian and Breton), however I’m not strongly motivated to learn the languages and don’t study them everyday.

I’ve been thinking about other ways to study and practise using my languages that will interest me more and have realised that what I really enjoy is singing. So maybe I could try learning songs in the languages I want to study and practise. I already know quite a few songs in English, Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh, and in the Bangor Community Choir and other groups I’ve sang with, we’ve learnt songs in various other languages, including Bulgarian, Corsican, Croatian, Georgian, Greek, Sindebele, Spanish, Xhosa, Yoruba and Zulu.

What I’d like to learn is songs that most people in a particular country or who speak a particular language know. The kind of songs you might learn at home and/or at school, including children’s songs, which can be good for learning basic vocabulary. So any suggestions are welcome, including words, translations, recordings and so on.

I’m particularly interested in songs in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Breton, Cornish, Czech, Russian, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese), Japanese. I’ll also share them with you in the songs section of Omniglot.

Eyelid batting

The other day a friend asked me about the origins of the phrase “to bat an eyelid”, which is normally used in the negative – he didn’t bat an eyelid at the pink elephant in the fridge – and means that you don’t react or show emotion when surprised or shocked. Or in other words, you took it in your stride. We wondered way it’s ‘bat’, which seems a strange thing to do with your eyelids.

The same verb is used in the phrase “to bat ones eyes/eyelashes”, meaning to open and close your eyes very quickly several times, intending to be attractive to someone [source].

According to the OED, the verb to bat is a variant of bate (to flutter as a hawk), from the Old French batre (to contend, fight, strive, flutter), from the late Latin batĕre/battĕre, from the classical Latin batuĕre (to hit, beat, pound). This comes from the Proto-Indo-European prefix bhau- (to hit) [source], which is also the root of such English words as butt and batter.

Do it because it’s fun

The title of this post is a song writing tips from Kate Rowe’s website – she’s an Australian singer/song writer who support the Spooky Men’s Chorale on their recent UK tour. I saw them in Caernarfon and found the website after that, saw the tips and thought that could apply, with some adaptations to language learning.

Here they are:

• Do it because it’s fun, not because you want to achieve something.
• Write a lot, often, to get used to your own voice and trains of thought.
• Rather than “coming up with” ideas, relax and let images start appearing in your mind.
• Let your mind tell you a story, and write or record exactly what you see and hear.
• Write fast, without editing. Get all the ideas down, even if they seem ridiculous.
• Later, take the most interesting bits. It might only be a sentence! Just keep writing.

Even without changes, these apply to writing in a language you’re learning.

I think it’s better to learn a language because it’s fun, it’s something you enjoy doing, and it’s a language/culture you really like, rather than because you feel you should, or you think the language might be useful one day. I sometimes learn languages to try out different language courses, and unless I fall in love with the languages or the cultures of people who speak them, or the countries where they’re spoken, I find my motivation for them tends to diminish and disappear after a while.

It helps to practise all language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing, and indeed typing, as often as you can.

The third tip isn’t perhaps directly relevant to language learning, but when you’re reading or listening the your L2, it can help to relax and let it flow into your eyes and ears without worrying about things you don’t understand. The meanings of unknown words that come up frequently is likely to become clear from the context.

Stories are useful for language learning – reading and listening to them, and making them up yourself just for fun, and/or to practise using particular grammatical structures and vocabulary.

When writing in a foreign language it might help to write fast, not worry about mistakes, and to edit later.