Ceci n'est pas une endive - the other words - Comments

How Speaking Too Many Languages Is Limiting - notafish

notafish — Sun, 05 May 2013 23:28:30 +0200

@Eugene I think you have a point, with the kids, I've come to this conclusion too, but it really only is true for a bit of my not writing. ;)

@Patricio I saw this when not too long ago, you explained a word you used in a Facebook status (the one about the basketball player). :)

How Speaking Too Many Languages Is Limiting - Patricio

Patricio — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:50:28 +0200

True. I realize that I've stopped tweetting because of the different audiences (in languages and in interests). And sometimes, when I update my Facebook status in plain Argentinian Spanish, I fear the risk of misunderstandings.

How Speaking Too Many Languages Is Limiting - Eugene Eric Kim

Eugene Eric Kim — Sun, 05 May 2013 16:36:34 +0200

I get what you're saying. Classic paradox of choice. Options can be paralyzing. So I'm glad you're going to just work through it and write, even if that means I won't be able to understand all of it!

That said, I can't help but think that having two kids might also have had something to do with your lower output. :-)

Of Language and Thought: Gender Awareness - cilantro

cilantro — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 16:34:37 +0200

Imagine the trouble when mixing with non indoeuropean languages, for instance Hebrew (has masculine and feminine as a function of the consonant the word ends with, but is full of exceptions)!
Nominally nouns are masculine unless they end in 'Heh' (the fifth letter in the Alef-Bet), or 'Taf' (the last one). Notwithstanding that Heh is silent and most of the time takes the sound of the tacit vowel it accompanies, and that Taf can be confused with 'Tet' (the ninth letter), which used to have a slightly different sound but is now pronounced the same, the language is full of exceptions... for instance fire=esh, clearly ends in 'Shin' (the next to last letter), but is however feminine. Or, as per your example shemesh=sun is feminine also, but iareach=moon is masculine as per the rule.
Go figure

Why the Accent Is so Important - Jon Harald Søby

Jon Harald Søby — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:39:09 +0200

Sure it's not a pun? Since it means "dirty spot", maybe they actually did mean that you should put many spots, or, spotify if you will, your iPhone? ;-)

Why the Accent Is so Important - Jodi Schneider

Jodi Schneider — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:23:01 +0200

Nice example! Wonder if I met you at Wikimania?

Faute de grammaire, on mange de la dessert - Darkoneko

Darkoneko — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:20:52 +0200

Si tu veux souffrir un bon coup, mais version anglaise, il y a la manière dont les japonais le massacrent dans leurs marques sur http://www.engrish.com/ :)

Which Language Says it Best? - Stéphane Deschamps

Stéphane Deschamps — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:39:28 +0200

For "background", in French I do use "un fond" or "un passif".

But yes, I see what you mean nonetheless.

And here's my pet annoyance from english to french: "lashing out". My kids do it sometimes (you know, they're mad at nothing in particular, so they just grouch and claw around), and there's really no french equivalent that I can think of.

There are others, assuredly. I'll try to come back here if they pop back to my mind.

Which Language Says it Best? - notafish

notafish — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:05:11 +0200

Background, exactly! I can't translate that either. It definitely is missing in French.

Which Language Says it Best? - Cécile

Cécile — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:14:29 +0200

Background as in cultural background, family background, etc. Impossible to translate into French accurately... Believe me, I have tried.

Which Language Says it Best? - jredmond

jredmond — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:03:31 +0200

The Spanish words "macho" and "machismo" didn't really exist in English, so we stole them. "Macho" is an adjective I usually take to mean "competitively masculine", though there are often connotations of foolishness; "machismo" is the noun form.

The Bowl Theory - Jean-Sébastien Girard

Jean-Sébastien Girard — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:01:58 +0200

Well, Our tablewares did have four hundred years to grow different :p I was just pointing the difference.

I'm fairly sure I would refer to an assiette à soupe as a bol too, if it had soup in it, anyway. But then we always served soup in "true" bols in my family (we used what would possibly be referred to in Europe as assiettes à soupe almost exclusively for pasta).

The Bowl Theory - notafish

notafish — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:59:54 +0200

@Jean-Sébastien now, that's interesting! Remind me to do a post about how Québécois always pretend that the French speak some kind of terrible Franglish...

The Bowl Theory - Jean-Sébastien Girard

Jean-Sébastien Girard — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:45:57 +0200

For what it's worth, asking for a bowl of stuff to drink will also get you odd looks in Quebec, unless you're in a fancy café or something. "Bols" (or "plats", which I think is fairly common too) are for soup or cereals. In fact, bowls specifically for drinking are a kind of novelty items, the closest I've seen are ramen bowls.

The Bowl Theory - Andrew Whitworth

Andrew Whitworth — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:40:01 +0200

Reminds me of the blog engrishfunny.com. It's a humorous, if crass, look at translation problems that arise between Asian languages and English. It always amazes me how even common concepts cannot be translated between two languages with any certainty.

The Bowl Theory - pfctdayelise

pfctdayelise — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:21:41 +0200

Your talk of bowls reminds me of soup. In English soup is eaten but in Chinese it is drunk. Or is it the other way around? Now I've confused myself.

When I went to France for the first time just before Wikimania, I was so charmed when my friend brought me a bowl of hot chocolate for breakfast. how decadent, I thought. :)

The Bowl Theory - digitalfemme

digitalfemme — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:53:48 +0200

The word bowl, bol and many OTHER words were sources for many great arguments with my German bf. I would use one English word and he would take it completely wrong. He would ask me what a certain word in English was and I would tell him, and he would not believe me. I had soon learned to just say nothing. :o)

Truly multilingual - PrincessH

PrincessH — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:37:43 +0200

Maybe she won't think anything of it before your asking, because
till that point, it's just her normal way to be.

(Princess who needs to study some grammar and tenses !)