Polyglot Pathways

If you’re a polyglot who learns languages for fun, you might choose languages from a particular family or region, or languages that have contributed to your mother tongue. Or you might choose ones that are completely unrelated to one another in order to challenge yourself. These are possible pathways a polyglot might pursue.

Another possible polyglot pathway that I came up with the other day is especially for dog lovers: learning languages from regions associated with breeds of dog. For example, if you have an Alsatian, you could learn the Alsatian (Ëlsässisch) and speak to your dog in that tongue. Or if you have a Bernese mountain dog you could learn Béarnese, and chihuahua owners could learn one or more of the languages of Chihuahua state in Mexico, where their dogs originate. The most widely-spoken of these is Tarahumara (Rarámuri ra’ícha).

Do the languages you study have a particular theme or connection?

French and potatoes

I came across an interesting phrase in Scottish Gaelic today: Ith do bhuntàta beag mus dig na Frangaich!, which means “eat your small potatoes before the French come!” and it is apparently said to children picking at their food to encourage them to eat up [source].

Are there similar phrases in other languages, perhaps used in different contexts?

What did your parents say to you to get you to finish your food?

Or if you have kids, what do you say to them, if they need encouragment?

Les mots de la semaine

français English Cymraeg
adroit dexterous deheuig; llawdde; medrus
habile; qualifié skilled medrus; celfydd; crefftus
la trappe trapdoor trapddor
resquilleur free-loader sbwnjwr; progiwr
contagieux; infectieux infectious heintus; heintol
contagieux contagious heintus; ymledol
s’inviter à; entrer sans invitation to gatecrash (a party) ymwthio (i barti); gwthio’ch ffordd
la pâte brisée shortcrust pastry crwst brau
le poivron sweet pepper pupryn melys
directeur de thèse academic supervisor goruchwyliwr; arolygydd
les tissus d’ameublement (m) soft furnishings carpedi a llenni
la palourde clam cragen fylchog
la soupe de poisson chowder cawl
la semaine blanche reading week wythnos ddarllen

La vie de baguette

The best-known type of French bread is the baguette, which was possibly introduced to France in the early 19th century by August Zang from Austria, though that’s another story.

Baguettes only stay fresh for a day, so what do you do with them once they start to go hard?

Here are a few possibilities:

La vie de baguette - a cartoon showing ways in which the French use their baguettes

Here’s a translation:

1. First Day: sliced with butter, sandwich
2. Second Day: toast
3. Third Day: French toast (“lost bread”)
4. Fourth Day: croutons, crumbs for the pigeons
5. Fifth Day: hammer, golf club

Image supplied by Frantastique, who can teach you all about the bizarre French cuisine, and help you to learn French.

I was told that if your baguette is a bit stale you can revive it by sprinkling a bit of water on slices and blasting them in a microwave for a short while. I haven’t tried this as I’m am microwaveless.

The French word baguette can also refer to:

– a magic wand = baguette magique; baguette de fée; baguette de sourcler
– chopsticks = baguettes chinoises
– conductor’s baton = baguette de direction; baguette de chef d’orchestre
– a drumstick = baguette de tambour

Expressions incorporating baguette include:

– sous la baguette de … = conducted by …
– faire marcher qn à la baguette = to rule sb with an iron hand

What are baguettes called in your country?

Free Language Podcast

Yesterday I did an interview over Skype with Chapman Woodriff, who runs FreeLanguage.org, which provides a variety of language-learning material and advice. Chapman made the interview into a podcast in which I explain how I got into languages, how I started Omniglot and how people can use Omniglot to learn languages.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/232625884″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

Mandarin or Putonghua?

Today I received an email in which the writer tells me that Chinese should be called Putonghua and not Mandarin. Apparently, “People don’t know, and school teachers don’t care! obviously; leaving me to inform: The name ‘Mandarin’ has been obsolete 105 years now.” The name Mandarin was used for a ‘Manchurian high official’ who spoke 官話 (official speech). However since the fall of the Manchurian Qing monarchy in 1911, “Mandarins dead as dodos” and to use the name Mandarin is “an affront to the republican nation”.

This language in fact has a number of different names in different countries and regions:

– 普通话 [普通話] (pǔtōnghuà) – “common speech” – in China
– 國語 (guóyǔ) – “national language” – in Taiwan
– 华语 [華語] (huáyǔ) – “Chinese language” – in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and the other parts of Southeast Asia.
– 汉语 [漢語] (hànyǔ) – “Han language” – in the USA and among the Chinese diaspora
– 中文 (zhōngwén) – “Chinese language” – in Taiwan, mainly
– Chinese, Mandarin, Mandarin Chinese, Putonghua, etc. in English-speaking countries
– Other names in other countries and languages

During the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, the language used by court officials became known as 官话 [官話] (guānhuà) – “official speech”. The word Mandarin comes from the the Sanskrit मन्त्रिन् (mantrin = counselor, minister) via the Portuguese mandarim. It was first used to refer to Chinese bureaucrats, and later it was used to refer to the language those officials spoke, which was used as a lingua franca of China from the 14th century.

What is Mandarin / Putonghua / Chinese known as in other languages?

Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chinese