| français | English | Cymraeg | Brezhoneg |
|---|---|---|---|
| la boîte à gants; vide-poche | glove box | bocs/blwch maneg (?) | lak-pep-tra |
| le visage impassible | poker face | wyneb difnegiant | |
| le courroux; la colère | wrath | dig; dicter; digofaint | buanegezh; droug |
| les raisins de la colère | the grapes of wrath | grawnwin digofaint | |
| rayé(e); à rayures | striped | rhesog; streipiog | rezennet |
| le pull-over | jumper | siwmper | stamm |
| le directeur intérim | acting manager | rheolwr gweithredol | rener etreadegourien |
| les ordures | (household) rubbish | (y)sbwriel | stronkoù |
| les déchets | (garden) rubbish | cribinion | lostajoù; stronkajoù |
| la camelote | rubbish (junk) | hen drugareddau; sothach | brizhvarc’hadourezh |
| le orgue | organ (instrument) | organ | orglez |
Ffrangeg a iwcwlilis
Roedd dim ond tri ohonon ni yn y grŵp sgwrsio Ffrangeg heno – wel tri a hanner, a dweud y gwir – roedd un arall sy’n medru deall Ffrangeg ac sy’n methu ei siarad. Ar ôl awr o Ffrangeg mi es i i’r clwb iwcwlili yn y tafarn Groegeg. Roedd llai ohonon ni yna na’r wythnos diwetha’ – tua deg, dw i’n meddwl, ond mae hyn yn lot mwy na’r tymor diwetha’. Heblaw’r caneuon arferol, mi wnes i canu rhyw ganeuon fy hunan hefyd, caneuon dw i ‘di sgwenu.
There were only three of us in the French conversation group tonight – well, three and a half actually – there was one who can understand French but doesn’t speak it. After an hour of French I went to the ukulele club in the Greek. There were fewer of us there than last week – about 10, I think, but that’s a lot more than last term. Apart from the usual songs, I also sang a few of my own songs, songs that I’ve written.
Szia
The other day I discovered that the Hungarian word szia [sijɑ], which is used as a informal hello and goodbye, like ciao in Italian and ahoj in Czech and Slovak, possibly comes from the English expression ‘see you’ / ‘see ya’, at least that’s what a Hungarian friend believes. I hadn’t noticed the similarity between the two phrases before, and if I had, I would have assumed that it was a coincidence.
Another possible origin for this word is the Austria greeting/parting word servus, which is written szervusz in Hungarian, and which somehow became szia. This is the etymology given by Zaicz Gábor in the Etimológiai szótár (Etymology Dictionary) according to this discussion.
Does anybody know more about the origins of this word?
Cerddoriaeth
Ar ôl brecwast y bore ‘ma mi wnes i taflu yr afalau olaf o’r afallen yn fy ngardd, ac yna mi es i i’r archfachnad. Roedd hi’n bwrw glaw mân ar y ffordd yna, ac ar y ffordd adref mi wnaeth hi’n dechrau treisio bwrw. Yn ffodus roedd gen i trywsus dal dŵr, felly do’n i ddim gor wlyb. Mi wnes i tipyn bach o waith cyn ac ar ôl cinio, ac mi wnes canu cerddoriaeth efo ffrindiau yn y prynhawn. Gyda’r nos mi wnes i canu yn y côr cymuned. Dan ni’n dysgu cân o’r ardal Megrelian yn Georgia ar hyn o bryd – mae’r geiriau yn anodd i ynganu ac i gofio, ond mae’r cytgordiau yn hyfryd.
After breakfast this morning I picked the last of the apples from the apple tree in my garden, and then went to the supermarket. It was drizzling on the way there, and on the way back it started to pour down. Fortunately I had my waterproof trouser, so I didn’t get too wet. I did a bit of work before and after lunch, and played music with friends in the afternoon. In the evening I went to the community choir. We are learning a song from the Megrelian region of Georgia at the moment – the words are difficult to pronounce and to remember, but the harmonies are lovely.
Sgwrsio
Heno mi wnaethon ni siarad am y Wyddeleg a llawer ieithoedd a phethau eraill yn y grŵp sgrwsio amlieithog. Yn Global Café ar ôl hyn mi wnes i cwrdd â myfyrwragedd o Gorea ac roedden nhw’n synnu i glywed fi yn dweud rhyw eiriau yn y Gorëeg – mi wnes i dysgu tipyn bach o Gorëeg efo ffrindiau o Gorea pan ro’n i’n dysgu Tsieinëeg yn Taiwan.
Tonight we talked about Irish and lots of other languages and other things in the polyglot conversation group. In Global Café after that I met some students from Korea who were very surprised that to hear me say a few words in Korean – I learnt a little bit of Korean from Korean friends when I was studying Chinese in Taiwan.
Frequently-used words
One piece of language learning advice that is quite widely preached is that you should concentrate on learning the most frequently -used words in a language at first, before learning less common words. By doing so you should have enough words to be able to understand and talk about everyday kinds of things. The advice on how to learn the words varies. I tend to absorb them through extensive reading and listening, but others like to use flash cards.
I was thinking about this today and realised that the words and phrases that I use most frequently might not be the same as the ones you use. We will probably have a shared core of words, but beyond that the list for each of us is likely to be different. Lists of frequently-used words are available for a variety of languages and are useful, but it might also be useful to think about what you as an individual most often talk about and to learn how to say those things in the language(s) you’re learning.
One way of finding out which particularly words and expressions you use most often would be to record your conversations for several days or even a week, and then to analyse the recordings. If you have a recording function on your phone, or a small recording device, this could be done discretely. As well as finding out which words and expressions you tend to use, you would also find out the typical topics you talk about. Once this has been done once, the results can be used for any language you’re learning.
Have you ever tried anything like this?
Clwb Iwcwlili
Roedd pedwar ohonon ni yn y clwb iwcwlili heno – tri myfyrwyr a fi. Mae myfyrwr, o Loegr, yn medru canu’r iwc yn dda, ac mae dau arall, o Tsieina, wedi dechrau canu’r iwc yr wythnos diwethaf. Mi wnaethon ni canu caneuon eithaf syml dan ni i gyd yn gwybod heb gormod o gordiau. Roedd y grŵp iwc yn cyfarfod un waith yr wythnos, ond mi wnes i awgrymu cyfarfod arall ar nos Lun ar gyfer y rhai sy methu dod ar nos Iau, ac ar gyfer y rhai sy’n eisiau canu iwcs dwy waith yr wythnos.
There were four of us in the ukulele club tonight – three students and me. One student, from England, can play the uke well, and two others, from China, started playing the uke last week. We played fairly simple songs that we all know without too many chords. The group was meeting once a week, but I suggested another meeting on Monday nights for those who can’t come on Thursday nights, and for those who want to play ukes twice a week.
Grawnwin Digofaint
Heddiw mi wnes tipyn bach o waith a mi wnes canu’r gitâr, y piano a’r chwiban tun. Heno mi wnes i i’r prifygsol i weld y fflim ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ o 1940. Dw i ddim ‘di darllen y llyfr, a dyma’r tro cyntaf i mi gweld y ffilm. Roedd yn ddiddorol ac yn drist, ac mae llawer o’r trafferion yn y stori yn dal i fodoli heddiw.
Today I did some work and played the guitar, piano and tin whistle. Tonight I went to the university to see the film ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ from 1940. I haven’t read the book, and this was the first time I’ve seen the film. It was interesting and sad, and many of the problems in the story are with us today.
Language quiz
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
Afalau a chaneuon
Fel arfer, mi wnes i gweithio ar fy wefan y bore ‘ma – heddiw mi wnes i rhoi tudalen newydd efo manylion am fath o Aramaeg arno (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic). Ar ôl cinio mi wnes i stiwio afalau o fy afallen efo syltanaiaid a thipyn bach o fêl, ac yn y grŵp sgrwsio amlieithog, mi wnaethon ni siarad am y Wyddeleg, a chaneuon yn y Wyddeleg yn arbennig.
As usual, I worked on my website this morning – today I added a new page with details of a type of Aramaic (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic). After lunch I stewed some apples from my apple tree with sultanas and a bit of honey, and in the polyglot conversation group we talked about Irish, and particularly about Irish songs.