There’s a popular myth that each Arabic word can denote itself, its opposite, and a kind of camel. Another version of this is that “Every Arabic word has a basic meaning, a second meaning which is the exact opposite of the first, a third meaning which refers to either a camel or horse, and a fourth meaning that is so obscene that you’ll have to look it up for yourself.” [source].
One possible example of this is rass (رأس ?), which apparently means to eat a lot, to eat a little, and a camel with especially hairy ears*.
I haven’t been able to find this word in any online dictionaries – does anybody know if it actually exists? Are there any other examples of words like this?
[*From: The Secret Life of Words – How English Became English by Henry Hitchings]
Yesterday I came across some interesting discussion on Keith’s Voice on Extreme Language Learning about the hodgepodge approach to learning languages, which he describes as follows:
“It’s a kind of do-it-all approach and can be constructed in various ways. Absolutely no plan whatsoever is needed! Try some technique out and if you don’t like it you can just discard it. Then try something else. When you get bored with that, pick a new activity to go to work on. There’s one caveat though. Results will vary!”
This is pretty much how I learn languages, and the results certainly do vary. I don’t go in for plans or methods very much, and just try to practise all language skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – as much and as often as possible. Often I think to myself that perhaps I should be a bit more systematic in my approach, but rarely do anything about it.
Keith goes on to explain why he’s not keen on this approach:
“For a language learner like myself, the hodgepodge method is unacceptable. We do not want varying results. We all want the same thing. The only standard of speaking a language is the native speaker. This is what we want to reach. This is the only acceptable result.”
Achieving a native-like proficiency in a language is certainly worth aiming for, however it may not be for everybody. Some people are happy to acquire a good reading ability in a language, others might be content with an ability to understand it, or to communicate in it at a basic level. It depends why you’re learning the language and what you want to do with it.
Are you a hodgepodger or do you use a particular method to learn languages?
Yn çhaightyn shoh chaie ren mee briwnys kionnaghey tie ayns ynnyd jeh’n arasane ‘syn shenn cabbal. Tie ardane t’ayn lesh shamyr hoie as shamyr aarlee heese-greeishyn, daa çhamyr lhiabbagh as shamyr oonlee heose-greeishyn, as ta garey cooyl ayn myrgeddin. T’eh faggys da’n laaragh Bangor ec kione yn ard-straid, as faggys da’n tie c’raad ta mee cummal nish. Ta feme echey er lhiasaghey ennagh, agh ta enney aym er sleih foddee jannoo shen.
An seachtain seo caite chinn mé ar theach a cheannach in áit an árasán sa sean séipéal. Teach sraith atá ann leis seomra suí as cistin thíos staighre, dhá seomra leapa as seomra folctha thusa staighre, as gairdín sa chúl. Tá sé in aice leis lár Bangor ar bun na príomhshráide, agus níl sé chomh fada ón teach cá bhfuil mé mo chónaí ar faoi láthair. Tá oibreacha feabhsúcháin de dhíth air, ach tá aithne agam ar daoine atá ábalta sin a dhéanamh.
Yr wythnos diwethaf penderfynais brynu tŷ yn lle’r fflat yn y hen gapel. Tŷ rhes ydy o efo ystafell byw a chegin lawr grisiau, dwy ystafell wely ac ystafell ymolchi lan grisiau, a gardd yn y cefn. Mae o’n ymyl canolfan Bangor ar waelod y Stryd Fawr, a dydy o ddim mor bell o’r tŷ lle dw i’n byw ar hyn o bryd. Mae angen gwaith gwella, ond dw i’n nabod pobl sy’n medru gwneud hynny.
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Do you know or can you guess the language and where it’s spoken?
The word paraphe, which is also spelled parafe, came up last night at the French conversation group – we were looking for how to say initial (letter) in French and found this word, along with initiale.
The word also exists in English – paraph. Definitions include:
[Source]
It comes from via French from the Medieval Latin paraphus, a variant of paragraphus (paragraph).
Using mathematical analysis, scholars at the University of Exeter have discovered that the symbols used in Pictish inscriptions are likely to represent a language, according to this article.
The team compared the Pictish symbols, which date from the 4th-9th centuries AD with more than hundreds of texts in known ancient and modern languages. They compared short and longer sequences of characters and concluded that the Pictish symbols seem to represent a language with a small vocabulary, however the meaning of the texts remains a mystery.
There are plans to apply these techniques to other undeciphered scripts such as the Indus Valley script.
Last week I came across a useful-looking new site called RhinoSpike, where you can request recordings in a wide variety of languages and make them in your native language.
The way it works is that you submit text in the language you want to be recorded by a native speaker. It goes into a queue for that language. Native speakers see your request, make the recording and upload the audio file, which you can then download.
You can also record texts in your native language for other people, and doing so bumps your own requests forward in the queue, so native speakers will see them faster.
It’s free and the recordings are accessible by anybody.
This is a great idea and I plan make regular use of the site.
This image was sent in by a visitor to Omniglot who would like to know if anybody knows what writing system and language it’s in.
The text appears within a Danish hymn book published in 1879.
It looks a bit like cursive Hebrew to me, though appears to be written from left to right.
[Update] Here’s the full text:
Here’s a recording in a mystery language.
Do you know or can you guess which language it’s in and where it’s spoken?