Category: Language

Dictionaries – what are they for?

By Simon

Many people see dictionaries as major sources of authority on language-related matters. If a word is not in the dictionary, then it can’t possibly exist, even if you hear it every day in the conversations of others. Dictionaries are there to tell us what words ‘really mean’, and how they ‘should’ be used and pronounced. These types of attitudes could be called prescriptive.

There is however another view of the function of dictionaries: that they should provide a description that is as objective as possible of a particular language, including information about pronunciation, meanings, etymology and usage.

While composing this, I starting wondering whether anybody has ever compiled an oral dictionary, i.e. a dictionary of spoken language consisting of recordings of words, definitions and examples of usage. Such a dictionary would be very interesting, and particularly useful for language students.

This post was inspired by one of the books I’m reading at the moment: Proper English – Myths and Misunderstandings about Language, by Ronald Wardhaugh.

Language X is better for activity Y, or is it?

By Simon

The seems to be a common belief that some languages are better suited to certain types of activities than others. For example, Emperor Charles V apparently said “I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my dog.”

Some people believe that certain languages are not suitable for such things as literature, romance, poetry, pop music or stand-up comedy. Which languages they view in this way might depend on their own linguistic background, nationality and ethnicity. Such beliefs aren’t necessarily about the languages themselves but rather about the people who speak them.

In theory, every language has the same expressive potential, i.e. what you can say in one language can be said in any other language. In practise, some languages lack the vocabulary to talk about certain things, though there’s no reason why the necessary words couldn’t be coined or borrowed if people felt the need to discuss such matters. For example, in the fields of computing and related technologies, English is the dominant language. Speakers of other languages tend to borrow and/or adapt English words to talk about such things, or coin words from the native stock.

If you speak more than one language, do you use each of your languages to talk about different things or to talk to different people, like Charles V?

Word of the day – 闋 (què)

By Simon

闋 (què) – to close or shut the door after finishing something; to be at rest; to end; the expiry of a period of mourning; a numerical adjunct for songs; empty, blank

In addition to all the above meanings, this character is also used as a measure word (量詞 [量词] liàngcí) for words (詞 [词] cí) and indeed measure words themselves. Measure words or classifiers are used when counting things in Chinese, and also in Japanese, Thai and a number of other languages of East Asia. In English we have a few measure words, such as a box of matches, a sheet of paper, a pint of milk, a can of worms, etc. In Chinese there are about 150 such words and they have to be used when you add a number to a noun.

You can’t just say, for example, two tables, or three letters, instead you have to add a measure word between the number and the noun – for tables the measure word is 張 [张] (zhāng), which means sheet and is used for flat objects (paper, tables, etc.), faces, bows, paintings, tickets and constellations, e.g. 兩張桌子 (liǎng zhāng zhuòzi) – two tables. For letters the measure word is 封 (fēng), e.g. 三封信 (sān fēng xìn) – three letters (the kind you put in an envelope).

Fortunately there is a default measure word 個 [个] (ge) which you can use if you can’t remember the correct one.

Learning Russian and Manx

By Simon

I’ve been learning Russian with Rosetta Stone for just over six months now and don’t feel like I’m making much progress. The Rosetta Stone Russian course is a fairly effective way of learning vocabulary and some sentence patterns, but not particularly useful if you want to learn how to converse in Russian. So I’m considering trying a different course. Any suggestions? As far as I can tell, the Teach Yourself Russian courses seem to be pretty good.

Why am I learning Russian? Well, a knowledge of that language would be quite useful to me when editing websites in Russian, and I am quite interested in Russian literature. I’ve read and enjoyed some Russian novels and short stories in English and French translation, and would quite like to be able to read them and others in the original – it will be quite a while before I can do that though, I think.

Ec y traa cheddin, ta mee gynsaghey Gaelg myrgeddin. Shegin dou jannoo ymmyd mennick jeh fockleyr, agh ta fys ennagh aym er y Ghaelg nish. Ta mee goaill gynsaghey çhengaghyn, ny çhengaghyn Celtiagh er lheh, as ta treisht orrym bee Gaelg flaaoil aym dy leah.

At the same time, I’ve also been learning Manx, and can now understand, speak, read and write it, at least to some extent, with frequent reference to a dictionary. The Manx courses I’ve been using are more focused on everyday language, and I’m more motivated to learn Manx.

Traditional v Simplified Characters (繁體或简体)

By Simon

This morning not long after I switched on my computer two people were wanting to chat to me on MSN messenger, one from China and one from Taiwan. I had to keep on changing from writing in simplified to traditional characters but occasionally forgot, much to their confusion. At the same time I was also writing email in English – multitaskingtastic! (now that’s a bit of a tonguetwister) I use pinyin input for both types of characters, so it’s easy for me switch between them.

This got me thinking about whether those familiar with simplified characters and read traditional characters, and vice versa. My impression is that it’s easier for traditional character users to read simplified characters than the other way round, but I may be wrong.

Which do you prefer, traditional of simplified characters? I can read and write both kinds and prefer the traditional ones. The traditional characters just look more elegant to me and preserve the semantic and phonetic clues that have been lost in many of the simplified characters.

如果你是用简体字的，你会不会看得懂繁体字？你觉得哪一种字比较好看？

如果你使用繁體子的，你會不會看得懂簡體字？你覺得哪一種字比較好看？

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh’a’

By Simon

The title of today’s post means “Do you speak Klingon?”. Apparently the New Theatre in Cardiff is looking for anybody who speaks Klingon to perform in a play they’re planning to stage soon. I heard this on Radio Cymru (the Welsh language radio station) this morning.

Dw i’n di clywed ar Radio Cymru y bore ma bod y Theatr Newydd Caerdydd yn chwilio am bobol sy’n siarad Klingon i berfformio mewn drama bydd nhw yn llwyfannu cyn bo hir.

So do any of you speak Klingon?

Felly, dych unrhywun ohonoch chi yn siarad Klingon?

Word of the day – smooinaghtagh

By Simon

smooinaghtagh (SMUUN-yakhtakh) = thoughtful, imaginable, pensive, notional, serious, thinking

Related words:
smooinagh – to think
smooinaght – sentiment, notion, impression, opinion, concept, thought
ard-smooinaghtagh – inspired (lit. “high thinking”)
far-smooinaghtagh – imaginary, chimerical (lit. “mock/fake thinking”)
shagh-smooinaghtagh – absent-minded (lit. “past thinking”)
trome-smooinaghtagh – deep-thinking (lit. “heavy thinking”)

Here’s a nice Manx word that I spotted on a CD by the Manx group skeeal that arrived today. It appears as part of a desciption of the band:

ta ‘skeeal’ ny phossan manninagh goaill stiagh queig fir. t’ad jannoo ymmyd jeh stoo tradishoonagh as bunneydagh, t’ad cummey yn kiaull er aght gientynagh as smooinaghtagh as gleashaghey eddyr ny chengaghyn gealgagh.

‘skeeal’ is a five-piece band from the isle of man. drawing on traditional and original material, they shape imaginative and thoughtful arrangements, moving between the gaelic languages.

I heard skeeal playing as part of the féile cholmcille in Gleann Cholm Cille when I was there last month and was impressed by them. At that time I didn’t know who they were, but knew they were from the Isle of Man and that they sang in Manx. Some detective work eventually lead me to their website, which is in Manx and English, and where I bought the CD.

The Irish equivalent of smooinaghtagh is smaointeach, in Scottish Gaelic it’s smaointeachail, and in Welsh it’s meddylgar.

It’s all Greek to me

By Simon

When you can’t understand something, whether it’s an unfamiliar subject in your own language, or something a foreign language, you might say “it’s all Greek to me”. At least you would in English. According to World Wide Words, this phrase comes a Medieval Latin proverb Graecum est; non potest legi (It is Greek; it cannot be read). I understand that Medieval scribes, who weren’t familiar with Greek, wrote this phrase next to any text they came across in that language.

The equivalent phrase in French is C’est du chinois (It’s Chinese). In German the phrase is Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof (I understand only railway station). In Czech incomprehsion is compared to a Spanish village – Je to pro mne španělská vesnice (It’s a Spanish village to me). Does anybody know why?

What about in other languages – are there any similiar idioms indicating incomprehension?

Competitive language learning

By Simon

When learning a language, it’s natural to compare your own progress and abilities with that of others. There’ll usually be other learners who know more than you, at least about some aspects of a language, or who speak and/or write with more fluency and confidence than you. You might also meet people who have been studying a language for a shorter time than you but who have achieved a higher level. This can be discouraging and frustrating, however we learn things at different rates, so such comparisons are not particularly helpful, unless you’re doing some research into second language acquisition (SLA).

Whenever I meet someone who is studying or has studied any of the foreign languages I know, I usually compare their level with my own. If they have a lower level, I feel that I’m doing ok, but if they have a higher level, I feel a bit jealous and resolve to study more. I also wonder whether I’ll ever achieve their level of fluency.

If you’re studying with someone else, some degree of competition can be a good thing, as you can encourage one another to keep going and to achieve more. Too much pressure is probably doesn’t help though.

Word of the day – papelear

By Simon

papelear, verb = to rumage through papers; to make a splash, draw attention to oneself

This word caught my eye while I was looking through my Spanish dictionary today. Though I try to keep the amount paper I use in my home ‘office’ to a minimum, there always seems to be plenty of bits of papers to rumage through.

Related words
papel = paper
papelada = farce, pretence, charade
papelamen = papers, masses of papers
papeleo = paperwork, red tape
papelera = litter bin, wastepaper basket, desk, paper mill
papelería = stationery, stationer (shop), mass/sheaf/heap of papers
papelero = paper, stationer, paper manufacuturer, paper-boy, ridiculous person
papelonero = ridiculous