Yesterday I discovered the interesting French word pantoufler /pɑ̃.tu.fle/, which, according to Reverso means to “switch from civil service to the private sector (French elite jargon, usually to make more money)”.
According to Wikpedia the related word pantouflage refers to high-level French civil servants, usually former students of the École Polytechnique or the École nationale d’administration, going to work in private enterprise. It also applies to politicians doing the same thing. Someone who engages in pantouflage at known as a pantouflard, which is also translated as stay-at-home.
The word pantoufler come from pantoufle (slipper), which combines pan (a piece of cloth) with the suffix -oufle, which denotes mbloated objects and muffled sounds. A pantoufle was originally a cloth shoe [source].
Apparently the term revolving door is used for this practice in the USA.
In Japan this practice is known as 天下り [amakudari] (“descent from paradise or the sky”).
Are there similar expressions and practices in other languages?
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| la surabondance | superfluity | gormodedd | gourfaoter |
| superflu | superfluous | gormodol | didal; diouverus |
| le pari | a bet | bet; mentro arian | pariadenn |
| parier | to bet | betio; mentro; chwarae hap | pariañ |
| les futilités; les bagatelles | trivia | pethau dibwys/diwerth | raneoù |
| la dune de sable | sand dune | twyn tywod | tevenn (traezh) |
| le gage | pawn (in chess) | gwerinwr | gouestl |
| le paon [pɑ̃] | peacock | paun | paun |
| la paonne [pan] | peahen | peunes | paunez |
| la pantoufle | slipper | sliper; llopan; esgid nos | pañtoufl |
| pantoufler | to switch from civil servant to the private sector | luduenniñ | |
| pantouflard | stay-at-home | cartrefol; diantur; difenter | ludu |
| se relaxer | to chill out | ymlacio | dibrezañ; dizalc’hen |
| le soap; le feuilleton | soap opera | sioe sebon; opera sebon | heuliadenn |
| tour à tour | alternately | bob yn ail | a bep eil |
| l’échange | exchange | cyfnewid | eskemm |
| intermédiaire | go-between | canolwr | hanterour |
| le relais; l’auberge | hotel, inn | llety, gwesti | leti; ostaleri |
| le relais | (electronic) relay | relái | relae |
It’s generally a good idea to do a bit of warming up before physical activity, especially sport. It also helps to do some warm up exercises before playing a musical instrument – I usually play a few scales before launching into other pieces on the guitar and piano, for example – and vocal and physical warms up are a good idea before singing.
I wonder if there are equivalent exercises you could do before using a language you’re learning. Speaking is a physical, as well as mental, activity, so some warming up might be useful. Maybe this could involve practising the sounds of the language at different pitches and speeds, putting them together in various combinations and just playing about with them a bit. You could focus on particular sounds or combinations that you find challenging. It could also involve going over very familiar phrases and having mini conversations with yourself. Maybe it could also involve playing with inflections, playing with verb tenses, noun cases and so.
When I was learning the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), I found it helped me to sing the different vowel sounds at different pitches. I haven’t tried this with particularly languages yet, but might give it a go.
Do you do anything like this? Do you think it is / would be helpful?
Today a friend told me about an app he’s developing that shows you where other language learners are in your vicinity and enables you to contact them to suggest a language exchange. You enter your details, including your native language(s) and the language(s) you’re learning, and it shows you if there’s anybody around who speaks the language you’re learning and is learning the language you speak.
It sounds like a great idea to me, and I thought something similar might be useful for speakers and learners of minority languages to find others who speak the same language. My friend, who is based in Zurich, is planning to develop such an app for Romansh speakers, and we might develop one for other languages like Welsh as well.
Does anybody know if any such apps already exist?
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
Yesterday I came across an idea of writing very short stories in just six words. Here are some examples from Wired Magazine written by sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers:
Dinosaurs return. Want their oil back.
– David Brin
Lost, then found. Too bad.
– Graeme Gibson
Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.
– Richard Powers
TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
– Harry Harrison
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
– Ernest Hemmingway
The last one was written by Hemmingway in the 1920s after his colleagues bet him that he couldn’t write a complete story in just six words. They paid up. Hemingway is said to have considered it his best work. So this certainly isn’t a new idea. There are many more on Six Word Stories.
On discovering this, I started wondering whether such stories could be written in languages other than English. I thought it might be easier in some languages than in others. So can you come up with any six word stories in any language or combination of languages? If it’s not possible in six words, maybe ten words would work better.
| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| le gratte-papier | pen(cil)-pusher | clercyn | louf-torchenn |
| l’écurie (f) | stable (for horses) | ystabl | kraou (-kezeg) |
| la fausse couche | miscarriage | erthyliad (naturiol) | kolladenn |
| l’erreur judiciaire | miscarriage of justice | aflwyddiant cyfiawnder | fazi barnerezh |
| le mal d’altitude | altitude sickness | salwch pen mynydd | |
| le vertige | vertigo | pendro; pensyfrdandod | pennfoll |
As today is St Piran’s Day, here are a few Cornish words and phrases (provided by Sam Brown at the Polyglot conversation group), with equivalents in Welsh, Breton and French:
| Kernewek | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg | français |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goel Peran Lowen | Happy St Piran’s Day | Gwyl Peran Hapus | Gouel Peran laouenn | Joyeuse fête de Saint Péran |
| kerdhva | parade | parêd; rhodfa | prosesion | défilé |
| kebywi | party | parti | fest | fête |
| solempnyans | celebration | dathliad | fest | fête |
| solempnya | to celebrate | dathlu | goueliañ | célébrer; fêter |
| pasti (kernowek) | (Cornish) pasty | pastai/pasten (Gernyweg) | pastez (keneveg ?) | petit pâté (en croûte) (cornouaillais) / chausson à la viande et aux légumes |
| keus hag onyonenn | cheese and onion | caws a nionyn | keuz hag ognon | fromage et oignons |
Today is St Piran’s Day and a special day in Cornwall as Piran is regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall (and of tin miners), along with Saint Michael and Saint Petroc. Piran or Perran was an abbot of possibly Irish origin who lived in Cornwall in the early 6th century and later became a saint. His flag (see top right) is a symbol of Cornwall.
Here are a few Cornish phrases related to today (provided by Sam Brown)
– Goel Peran Lowen – Happy Saint Piran’s Day;
Gŵyl Peran Llawen (Welsh); Gouel Peran laouenn (Breton)
– Dydh da ha goel Peran lowen dhis! = Hello and happy Saint Piran’s day!
– A vynnydh ta pasti kernowek? = Would you like a Cornish pasty?
– Gwell yw genev pasti keus hag onyonenn = I’d prefer a cheese and onion pasty.
I haven’t started learning Cornish yet, put have picked up odd bits and pieces of the language and can understand it to a limited extent thanks to my knowledge of Welsh and Breton.
Are any of you learning Cornish?
