Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
Encore!
After the concert I went to last night I discussed with friends what people say when they want the performers to come back and sing another song or play another tune. In English we shout ‘Encore!’ or ‘More!’. Encore is a French word meaning ‘still, again, even’, and I’d assumed that in French they shout ‘Encore!’ at concerts as well, however one of my friends told me that they shout ‘Une autre!’ (Another!).
According to Reverso, the French equivalent of the exclamation Encore! is Bis! [bis], and bisser means to do an encore or to ask for an encore.
According to Wikipedia, French speakers will shout une autre!, un rappel! (a curtain call) or bis!, or sometimes encore! when asking for an encore. The word bis comes from Latin and means twice or double, which, according to the OED, is a prefix used in Late Latin, French and Italian before s, c or a vowel in place or bi-.
What are the equivalents of encore! and an encore in other languages?
Dydd llawn cerddoriaeth
Y bore ‘ma mi wnes i canu recorders efo cyfeillion yn nhŷ haf un o aelodau y grŵp. Ar ôl cinio mi wnes canu yn y Côr MS, grŵp o bobl sy’n codi arian ar gyfer Cymdeithas y Parlys Ymledol Gogledd Cymru. Mae rhai o aelodau y côr ‘ma yn canu yn y Côr Cymuned Bangor hefyd, ac mi wnaethon nhw annog fi i ymuno â’r Côr MS yr wythnos ‘ma. Dw i’n wrth fy modd cael unrhyw gyfle i ganu, felly mi wnes i mwynhau canu efo nhw yn fawr. Gyda’r nos mi es i i gyngerdd yn y prifysgol efo Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos, band â’i lleoliad yn Llundain efo aelodau o’r Ariannin, o Israel, o Groatia ac o Loegr sy’n canu cymysgedd o gerddoriaeth sipsi o Ddwyrain Ewrop, cerddoriaeth clasurol a cherddoriaeth roc a phop, ac sy’n canu am filiwn milltir yr awr. Cyngerdd gwych ydoedd.
This morning I played recorders with friends in the summer house of one of the members of the group. After lunch I sang in the MS Choir, a group of people who raise money for the North Wales Multiple Sclerosis Society. Some of the member of this choir also sing in the Bangor Community Choir, and they persuaded me to join the MS Choir this week. I am delighted to have any opportunity to sing, so I really enjoyed singing with them. In the evening I went to a concert at the university featuring Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos, a London-based band with members from Argentina, Israel, Croatia and England who play a mixture of music from Eastern European Roma people, as well as classical, rock and pop music, and they play at a million miles an hour. It was a great concert.
Clwb Iwcalili
Heno mi es i i’r grŵp sgwrsio Ffrangeg yn gytanf, ond doedd neb arall yno, felly mi wnes i sgwenu e-bost hir. Pan ro’n i’n ar fin gadael am 8 o’r gloch mi ddaeth ddau arall, ond mi wnes i ddim aros gan ro’n i’n ar y ffordd i’r clwb iwcalili yn y tafarn Groegeg. Heno oedd cyfarfod cyntaf y clwb ers misoedd, ac roedd llawer iawn o bobl yna – mwy nag erioed o’r blaen. Doedd dim digon o iwcalilis am bawb, ond mi wnaethon ni ymdopi yn eithaf da. Yn anffodus roedd y tafarn yn swnllyd ac yn llawn dop ac roedd troellwr yna, felly dan ni’n chwilio am le arall tawelach.
Tonight I went to the French conversation group first, but nobody else was there, so I wrote a long email. When I was about to leave at 8 o’clock two others came, but I didn’t stay as I was on the way to the ukulele club in the Greek. It was the first meeting of the club for months, and many people were there – more than ever before. There weren’t enough ukuleles for everyone, but we managed fairly well. Unfortunately the pub was noisy and crowded and there was a DJ, so we are looking for a quieter place.
I forgot the elephant!
A few days ago after the Bangor Languages Learners’ meet up, I was talking to one of the other members of the group and suddenly exclaimed, “I forgot the elephant!”, and hurried back into the café to retrieve it. As he commented, it’s not a phrase that often comes up in conversation. The elephant in question is a small white one from Morocco that usually lives on my mantelpiece, but which had taken up temporary residence on the table in the café where we met so that people who hadn’t been to the group before could find us. When we left the café I forgot to take the elephant, and only remembered when I went outside.
Many people suggest that you should focus on learning the most frequently-used words of a language first, and only learn the less common ones later, if you really want to. However, I like to learn both frequently-used words and obscure words because you never know when you might need them.
Do you focus exclusively on frequently-used words, or do you like learning obscure and unusual words as well?
Can you imagine a situation in which you would say “I forgot the elephant!” or something similarly unusual?
Cerddoriaeth
Fel arfer, mi wnes i tipyn bach o waith y bore ‘ma – mi wnes i ateb e-byst a rhoi recordiadau newydd ar y tudalen ymadroddion Sinhaleg – ac roedd sesiwn cerddoriaeth yma yn y prynhawn. Roedd tri ohonon ni yma y prynhawn ‘ma yn chwarae amrywiad o offerynau a cherddoriaeth. Gyda’r hwyr mi es i i’r côr cymunedol Bangor ac mi wnaethon ni’n canu caneuon yn Saesneg, Cymraeg a Xhosa, ac roedd llawer o bobl yna, yn cynnwys rhyw pobl newydd.
As usual, I did a bit of work this morning – I answered emails and put new recordings in the Sinhala phrases page – and there was a music session here in the afternoon. There were three of us here this afternoon playing a variety of instruments and music. In the evening I went to the Bangor Community Choir and we sang songs in English, Welsh and Xhosa, and there were plenty of people there, including some new ones.
Polyglot chat
Last night there were three of us at the polyglot chat group, which I’ve renamed Bangor Language Learners and which now at different times in a different venue. When I set up the group earlier this year my idea was that it would give me and other polyglots a chance to get together to chat in a variety of languages. Some weeks there have been enough of us to have several different conversations in different languages, other weeks there have been only a few of us and we have talked mainly in English, or in other languages we all had in common, like Welsh or German.
During the summer quite a few of the regular attendees were away and the meetings petered out. Then with the start of a new academic year I thought I’d change the focus of the group and make it for anybody who is learning a language, rather than just people who already speak several languages. After discussion on Facebook we came up with better days and times and so far we’ve had two meetings, which have gone well. Last night, for example, there were three of us and we spoke mainly in Welsh and French, which are the languages we have in common, along with English. I’m hoping numbers will increase as more people hear about it.
After the language learners group last night, I went to Global Café, a group run by Bangor University Christian Union which aims to bring together international and local students, and others. I started going to it while I was a student, and have been going on and off since then, though haven’t been regularly for a few years as it clashed with the ukuele club. The ukuele club has now moved to another night and I can go to Global Café again. It’s a great way to meet people from many countries and to practise a variety of languages – as well as English I spoke Mandarin, French, German, Spanish and a bit of Italian, Cantonese and Hungarian last night. I really enjoy opportunities like this. Is there anything similar in your area?
Dydd amlieithog
Dydd eitha nodweddiadol oedd ddoe efo tipyn bach o waith yn bore, ac yn y prynhawn mi wnes i ymarfer y piano, y gitár ac offerynnau eraill, ac mi wnes i dysgu tipyn bach mwy o Lydaweg. Gyda’r nos mi wnes i darllen, a gwilio rhaglen teledu arlein. Heno roedd tri ohonon ni yn yr grŵp sgwrsio amlieithog, ac mi wnaethon ni siarad yn y Gymraeg ac yn Ffrangeg yn bennaf. Ar ôl hynny mi es i i Global Café, grŵp ar gyfer myfyrwyr rhyngwladol a lleol, a phobl eraill, a mi wnes i cwrdd a llawer o bobl gwahanol, a ges i gyfleoedd i siarad sawl ieithoedd, yn cynnwys Mandarineg, Cantoneg, Ffrangeg, Eidaleg, Sbaeneg ac Almaeneg.
Yesterday was a fairly typical day with a bit of work in the morning, and I practised the piano, guitar and other instruments in the afternoon, and learnt a bit more Breton. In the evening I read and watched a television programme online. This evening there were three of us in the polyglot group and we talked mainly in Welsh and French. After that I went to Global Café, a group for international students and locals students, and others, and I met lots of different people and had opportunities to speak many languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, French, Italian, Spanish and German.
Which language next?
As today is the 1st October it’s time to change my focus to a different language on my Multilngual Musings blog – but which one? During the past three months I’ve focused on Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx – a different one each month – and have found the exercise of writing something and recording it every day very useful for my proficiency in them. While my knowledge of each of these languages has improved, there is still plenty more to learn.
As for the next language to focus on – I could continue the Celtic theme and choose Welsh or Breton, or go for one of the other languages I want to brush up, such as German, Chinese, Japanese, Esperanto, French or Spanish. I feel confident writing in Welsh, and fairly confident in French, but the it would be a struggle with the others, which is one reason why I’m doing this as I need the practice.
Have you undertaken any language-related project like this? If so, how successful have they been?
Laa aashagh
Cha ren mee mooarane jea – beggan obbyr, baggan cliaghtey kiaull as beggan lhaihderys, shen ooilley. V’eh grianagh ‘sy voghrey, as mooirjeenagh ‘syn ‘astyr.
I didn’t do a lot yesterday – a bit of work, a bit of music practise and a bit of reading, that’s all. It was sunny in the morning, and cloudy in the afternoon.