Cheayll mee voish my ynsaghey mychione my thraaghtys jiu, as er lhimmey jeh arraghey ny ghaa, t’eh begnagh aarloo cur roish.
Mi glywedais gan fy nhiwtor am fy nhraethawd hir heddiw, ac ar wahân i newid neu ddau, mae o bron yn barod i gyflwyno.
Chuala mé ó mo mhaoirseoir faoi mo thráchtas inniu, agus lasmuigh de athrú nó dhó, tá sé beagnach réidh cuir isteach.
Va ny Fir Scaanagh ard-yindyssagh, feer aitt as arraneyderyn mie erskyn towse. Ghow ad arraneyn smooinaghtagh as ommidjagh lesh skeealyn giare eddyr oc. Va taitnys vooar aym.
Jea hie mee dys Llangefni er Anglesey dys cooney caarjyn ta gleashagh thie dys Reading ayns Sostyn.
Roedd y Dynion Bwganod yn wych dros ben llestri, yn ddoniol iawn ac yn cantorion ardderchog. Mi ganasant ganeuon difri a dwl efo hanesion byrion rhwngddynt. Mi fwynheais yn fawr iawn.
Ddoe es i i Langefni i helpu ffrindiau sy’n symud i Reading yn Lloegr.
Here’s a recording of part of a news report in a mystery language.
Do you know or can you guess which language it is and where it’s spoken?
Noght ta mee goll dys cuirrey-kiaull ‘syn Galeri Caernarfon lesh ny Fir Scaanagh (Spooky Men), sheshaght chiaullee voish Yn Austrail ta jannoo turrys mygeayrt yn Reeriaght Unnaneyssit ec y traa t’ayn. She arraneyderyn yindyssagh ad, as t’ad goaill arraneyn feer aitt – ta mee jeeaghyn roym lesh.
Heno dw i’n mynd i gyngerdd yn y Galeri Caernarfon gan y Dynion Bwganod (Spooky Men), côr o Awstralia sy’n teithio o gwmpas y DU ar hyn o bryd. Maen nhw’n canu yn ardderchog, ac yn canu caneuon doniol iawn – dw i’n edrych ymlaen ato yn fawr.
Anocht tá mé ag dhul chuig ceolchoirm sa Galeri Caernarfon lena Fir Uaigneach (Spooky Men), cór ón Astráil atá ag tabhairt camchuairt na Ríochta Aontaithe ar faoi láthair. Is amhránaithe den scoth iad, agus bíonn siad ag canadh amhráin an ghrianmhar – tá mé ag súil go mór leis.
Recently while reading Douglas Coupland novel Gum Thief I came across a used of bus(ing) that I hadn’t heard before – one of the characters talks about “busing” tables, which sounded a bit strange to me. I’m familiar with the word busboy, but haven’t been quite sure what a busboy did. Now I’ve discovered that a busboy, busgirl or busser is someone who works in a restaurant clearing and laying (busing) tables and helping the waiting staff – a kind of assistant waiter. I’ve never heard this expression being used in the UK though and, as far as I know, no equivalent position exists here – waiters and waiteresses are normally responsible for clearing and laying tables.
The use of busing to refer to clearing tables was apparently first attested to 1913 and probably comes from the four-wheeled cart used to carry dishes.
In the UK the word busing might be used in the context of transporting people by bus, especially school children. According to Wikipedia busing is “The transportation of schoolchildren, by bus, to schools in other neighbourhoods in order to alleviate social inequalities or to achieve racial integration.”
Are busing or to bus used in other English-speaking countries? If so, what does in mean?
T’eh ceau fliaghey dy mennick er y gherrid, as t’eh deayrtyey ny keayrtyn. T’ad gra dy vel laghyn fliaghagh graynoil, as ta niart mooinjer gra nagh row sourey ain mleeaney, agh er lhiam dy vel y fliaghey mie dy liooar myr ta eaddaghyn kiart ayd, as myr ta ymmyrkey jarrooagh ayd.
Mae’n bwrw glaw yn aml yn ddiwedar, ac weithiau mae’n bwrw yn drwm iawn. Maen nhw’n dweud bod diwrnodau glawog yn ofnadwy, ac mae llawer o bobol yn dweud nag oedd gynnon ni haf eleni, ond dw i’n meddwl bod y glaw yn iawn os oes gen ti dillad addas, ac os oes gen ti agwedd positiv.
Dw i’n ceisio ysgrifennu tipyn bach yn Fanaweg bob dydd ac yn dechrau heddiw. Bydda i’n cyfieithu i’r ieithoedd Celtaidd eraill os oes gen i digon o amser.
Yesterday I finally finished the British Sign Language (BSL) course I’ve been working on for the past year – if other things didn’t keep distracting me I would have finished it sooner. The course consists of just seven unit but manages to fit quite a lot in them, including numbers, colours, time, money, describing people, tenses, hobbies and interests, and food and drink. It also shows you how to construct sentences, and provides background information about sign language and the deaf community. I’ve found it fascinating and would like to learn more. Unfortunately there aren’t any sign language courses available in this area, but I do have a few books on BSL and a CD-ROM.
BSL is a bit simliar to Chinese languages in terms of structure – eg it’s an isolating language which uses time expressions to indicate when things happen rather than conjugating verbs. So you sign things like “Yesterday I eat cake” or “This morning I go to work”. Unlike Chinese or other spoken languages, sign languages can modify signs (words) to add nuances to their meanings. The amount of movement in a sign might be increased and/or its direction changed: for example instead of signing the equivalent of “she’s jumping high” you could sign “she’s jumping” with the sign for jump going higher than usual. Or if you’re describing someone’s hair you can modify the sign for hair to indicate whether it’s straight, curly, long or short hair.
One thing I plan to do with BSL is to link signs to words in the languages I’m learning. This will give me something extra to help me remember the words, and will help me to link words in different languages without using English. I think the physical nature of signs helps me remember them better than spoken words – my auditory memory is good, but my physical memory seems even better.
Have you studied or are you studying a sign language?
Today we have a guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online colleges for OnlineColleges.net.
Finding free translation tools online is a great way for translators and language learners to practice their skills. There are many different tools that can be used for translating text, websites, emails, and even speech. Here is a list of 20 free tools for translators and language learners to try:
WorldLingo – is a top-notch professional translation service that offers a free text, document, website, and email translator. The free translators have a 500 word limit.
SDLFreeTranslation.com – This free translation site provides language learners with tools to translate text and websites into more than 30 different languages.
Free-Translator.com – allows you to translate up to 150 words at a time. With this site, users can also translate web pages, find newspapers and courses for practice, and much more.
Translation2 – features a free text translator, dictionary, text to speech translation, and IM translator. The text translator provides a free editing tool, keyboard, decoder, and spell checker.
Google Translate – a free translator that allows you to enter text, web pages, or simply upload a document. Google Translate also features tools for searching web pages in other languages that can then be translated into your native language.
Dictionary.com – provides a free translator for translating text in over 85 different languages. Just a few of the languages included in this translator are French, Chinese, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Hindi.
Mezzofani Translations – This free translation site offers direct access to multilingual dictionaries and translators. Mezzofani Translation features a rating system for several translators as well as offering links to many more.
Freelang.net – provides users with free bilingual dictionaries, human translation, and other resources that are useful for language learners. This site also features a helpful forum for finding words and expressions in a wide variety of languages.
YAHOO! Babel Fish – In addition to providing a search engine, YAHOO! Also offers free text and web page translation tools. The Babel Fish translator allows users to translate up to 150 words at one time or enter the web page they wish to be translated.
ConveyThis – has a free translator that will translate your text into 40 different languages. This site also offers a website translation button that can be added to your website or blog to make it accessible in 40 languages.
Linguanaut Free Translation – features free human translations in over 40 languages. The translations are provided by several volunteer translators. One translation request can be submitted every 24 hours.
e-Free Translation.com – This translation site offers free language translators and dictionaries in over 30 different languages. E-Free Translation.com also provides language practice by featuring the news in 32 languages.
TRADUguide – a portal for language interpretation and translation services, offers a free beta translator’s dictionary. The site allows you to add a word or phrase then pick a source and target language.
Foreignword.com – This online language site offers a translation wizard, dictionary links, and a translator’s directory. The site also features a quick find for other languages and options.
Word2Word – a free language learning site that offers free courses, chat rooms, forums, and translation services. Within this site, users will find links to over 50 free online translators and translation software.
Applied Language Solutions – This online translation company offers a free online language translator that can be used for translating several languages. The translator features text, e-mail, and website translation.
Prompt Translator – The Prompt Translator is a free online dictionary as well as text, website, and desktop translators.
Babylon 8 – This leading translation software offers an online language translator that anyone can use free of charge.
Cucumis – This translator site offers free translations to users. The site is based on a translation exchange service. Every time you translate information you gain points. If you do not speak a foreign language, you can gain points by logging in every ten days.
Global Voices – This site offers free online text translation and translation tools that can be used for translating French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. Global Voices also features a free text translation tool for websites.
Yr wythnos hon mi orffennes y trydedd fersiwn fy nhraethawd hir, ac mi es i weld fy nhiwtor i siarad amdano. Ers hynny dw i wedi bod yn meddwl am pa bethau sy angen newid neu wella ynddo, ond mae rhaid i mi aros tan Ddydd Mercher i glywed beth mae nhiwtor yn meddwl amdano.
Ar ôl i mi orffen fy nghwrs MA, beth bydda i’n gwneud? Dyna sut mae llawer o bobl yn fy ofyn yn ddiweddar. A dweud y gwir, dw i ddim yn hollol siŵr. Does dim rhaid i mi chwilio am waith ‘go iawn’ oherwydd mod i’n medru ennill digon o bres i fyw amdano o fy ngwefan Omniglot, ac o’r erthyglau ydw i’n ysgrifennu am wefannau eraill. Ac dw i’n medru gwneud y pethau hyn o unrhywle yn y byd, ar yr amod fod gen i cysylltiad i’r we.
Dw i’n bwriadu aros ym Mangor am blwyddyn neu ddwy arall yn gwella fy wefan, fy ieithoedd ac fy ngherddoriaeth, ac efallai yn gwneud rhyw waith gwirfoddol. Hoffwn i’n gwneud cwrs Gaeleg a cherddoriaeth traddodiadoli yn y coleg ym Menbecwla (Beinn na Faoghla), ynys bach yn yr Ynysoedd Allanol Heledd hefyd.
An seachtain seo chríochnaigh mé an tríú leagan mo thráchtas, agus chuaigh mé chun mo theagascóir a fheiceáil agus phléigh muid faoi. As sin amach tá mé ag smaoineamh ar cén rudaí ba cheart dom athrú nó feabhsú ann, ach caithfidh mé ag fanacht go dtí Dé Céadaoin chun cad é atá sé ag smaoineamh faoi a chluinstin.
I ndiaidh dom mo chúrsa MA a chríochnú, cad é a dhéanfaidh mé? Sin í an cheist a mbíonn a lán daoine ag cuir orm le déanaí. Déanta na fírinne, níl mé cinnte. Ní mór dom post ‘ceart’ a lorg, mar bhíonn go leor airgid ag teacht isteach ó mo shuíomh gréasáin Omniglot, agus ó na hailt a bhím ag scríobh le suíomhanna eile. Agus is féidir liom na rudaí sin a dhéanamh in áit air bith sa domhain, a fhad agus tá ceagal idirlín agam.
Tá rún agam a bheith ag fanacht anseo i mBangor le bliana nó dhá eile ag feabhsú mo shuíomh gréasáin, mo theangacha agus mo cheol, agus b’fhéidir ag déanamh obair deonach. Ba maith liom cúrsa a dhéanamh ar ceol traidisiúnta agus Gaeilge na hAlban sa Colaisde Bheinn na Faoghla chomh maith.
