Month: September 2013

Mandarin in China

By Simon

An article on BBC News reports that according the the Chinese Ministry of Education, some 30% of the people in China don’t speak Mandarin, of the 70% who do speak it, “many do not do it well enough”. As a result the Chinese government has apparently “launched another push for linguistic unity in China”. They will be promoting Mandarin particularly in rural areas and among ethnic minorities. A move that might not be welcomed by all.

China’s current population is 1,359,830,000 [source], so there are some 407,949,000 people in China who do not speak Mandarin, and around 951,881,000 who do – a very large number of people, though not as many as is generally believed. The idea that over a billion people speak Chinese is true if you count all varieties of Chinese, but not for Mandarin.

Feddanyn millish

By Simon

Moghrey jea chouds va mee gobbyr, hug carrey yllagh çhellvane hym as chur ee feysht orrym dy row mee çheet dys y possan feddan millish ny nagh row. Yarrood mee dy bollagh dy row shin cloie y moghrey shen, as hie mee dys tie my charrey dy tappee lesh my feddanyn millish. Lurg kirbyl ren mee thooilliu obbyr, as chloie mee er y phianney as er y gitar.

Yesterday morning while I was working I got call from a friend asking me whether I was coming to the recorder group or not. I completely forgot that we were playing that morning, and hurried off to my friend’s house with my recorders After lunch I did some more work, and played the piano and guitar.

Frassyn as grian

By Simon

V’eh deayrtey fliaghey moghrey jea as ren mee beggan obbyr. ‘Syn ‘astyr haink yn grian magh as hooyl mee seose Dyffryn Cegin (glion kishteen), as er-ash trooid Maesgeirchen (magher corkey). V’eh feer sheeoil as aalin, as cha row ram sleih ayn. Ren mee shuilgey smeir chammah, agh cha row mooaran ayn. ‘Syn oie ren mee coloayrt lesh carrey Sheckagh er Skype.

It tipped it down yesterday morning and I did a bit of work. In the afternoon the sun came out and went for a walk along the Cegin valley, and back through Maesgeirchen. It was very peaceful and beautiful, and there weren’t many people about. I also picked some blackberries, but there weren’t very many. In the evening I chatted to a Czech friend on Skype.

Giense

By Simon

Fastyr jea ren mee shuilgey tooilley smeir, as ren mee broit ad lesh ooylyn voish my villey ooyl. Ren mee sconnagyn lesh ooylyn as sultaanaghyn chammah. ‘Syn ‘astyr hie mee da giense y possan coloayrtys Frangish ec thie carrey. T’eh cummal ayns thie mooar faggys da’n ollooscoill ayns paart jeh Bangor nagh row mee oayllagh rish. Dee shin feill vart bourguignon lesh praaseyn broojit as poanreyn-glass, as va key riojey son puiddin. Va y lhongey feer blasstal. Ren shin coloayrts ny lei jinnair, as goaill mee arrane ny ghaa.

Yesterday afternoon I picked some more blackberries, and I stewed them with apples from my apple tree. I also made some apple and sultana scones. In the evening I went to a friend’s house for a French conversation group party. He lives in a large house close to the university in a part of Bangor I wasn’t familiar with. We had bœuf bourguignon with massed potatoes and green beans, and there was ice cream for pudding. It was a very tasty meal. We chatted after dinner, and I sang a few songs.

Fliaghey

By Simon

Va fliaghey ayn bunnys feie’n laa jea, myr shen cha jagh mee magh. Ayns ynnyd jeh ren mee beggan da obbyr, chloie mee ymmodee greieyn-kiaull as lhaih mee lioar – laa sampleyragh v’ayn.

It rained most of yesterday, so I didn’t go out. Instead I did a bit of work, played various musical instruments and read a book – a typical day.

La gueule enfarinée

By Simon

I discovered an interesting French expression yesterday while ferreting around in the dictionary – la gueule enfarinée, which literally means ‘the floured mouth’, but actually refers to someone who is ‘wet behind the ears’, i.e. new, untrained, inexperienced, immature, innocent, callow or naive (synonyms from The Chambers Thesaurus).

The word gueule usually refers to the mouth of an animal, and is also a slang word for the human mouth, which is normally bouche. Equivalent words in English include gob, mug, snout, cakehole, kisser, trap, etc – do you have any others? It comes from the Old French gole, from the Latin gula (gullet, throat, gluttony, palate), which is also the root of the English word gullet.

Why having a floury mouth is a sign of being inexperienced is a mystery to me. Does anyone know the origins of this expression?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon
français English Cymraeg Brezhoneg
le campus; le cité universitaire campus campws kampus
les vents wind (flatulence) gwynt avel
le casse-croûte snack byrbryd; tamaid torr-naon; adlein
casser la croûte / la graine to have a bite/something to eat cael tamaid debriñ ur begad
grignoter to snack cael tamaid; cael pryd ysgafn krignat
l’amuse-gueule (m) appetizer; nibble mymryn; briwsionyn lipaj
le moucheron midge gwybedyn mân c’hwibu
gardien(ne); concierge caretaker gofalwr gourner; porzhier
la dialyse dialysis dialysis dializ
la gravité; le pesanteur gravity disgyrchiant graviter
en propriété libre freehold rhydd-ddaliadol; rhyddfreiniol
loué/donné à bail leasehold prydles
la douve moat ffos douvez; tuv
le cambriolage burglary lladrad laerezh en tiez
pratique handy (object) hwylus; hylaw boazmant; pleustr

Seshoon kiaullee

By Simon

Dobbree mee er m’ynnyd-eggey moghrey jea, as va sheshoon kiaullee mie ayns my hie fastyr jea. Chloie shin mastey cliaghtagh jeh carryn voish Nalbin, Nerin, yn Roosh as America.

I wokred on my website yesterday morning, there was a good music session in my place yesterday afternoon. We played the usual mixture of tunes from Scotland, Ireland, Russian and America

Docent

By Simon

I came across an unfamiliar word today in a book I’m reading – docent. From the context I guessed it referred to someone who leads guided tours, but according to my English dictionary it means ‘(in the U.S.) a lecturer in some colleges and universities’, and it comes from the German word Dozent (associate professor, tutor, academic, lecturer), from the Latin docēns, from docēre (to teach).

According to Wikipedia, ‘Docent is a title at some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks below professor (i.e. professor ordinarius). Docent is also used at some universities generically for a person who has the right to teach.’ It is used as an academic title in universities in a number of European countries.

There are also museum docents, who guide and educate visitors to museums and other institutions, usually voluntarily.

Have you come across the word docent before? What are such people called, if they exist, in your country?

In the UK they are known as guides.