Four years of French in school. --Don't remember much beyond the numbers forty years later
un
deux
trois
quatre
cinq
six
sept
huit
neuf
dix
Languages, Dialects, Accents
by LoveUniHateExams 180 Replies latest jw friends
-
TD
-
Simon
Speaking a foreign language is now considered 'cultural appropriation' and they are not allowed to learn English either because it's supporting the white male colonialist patriarchy.
</end-sarcasm>
-
sparrowdown
Barry - That video is hilarious thanks for the laugh!
-
LoveUniHateExams
@TD - tres bien, mon ami!
And I know you are a German speaker (du sprichst sehr gut Deutsch, oder?) ... c'mon, give us the numerals in German.
Speaking a foreign language is now considered 'cultural appropriation' and they are not allowed to learn English either because it's supporting the white male colonialist patriarchy - XD f**king hilarious!
Simon, you cynical old so-and-so.
What about the Welsh?
Only a minority are fluent in Welsh and none is monolingual. What do the Taffies do, communicate in sign language?!
Ouch I'm laughing so hard my stomach hurts! XD
PS - I'm not a racialist. No Taffs were harmed during the making of this comment.
-
TD
du sprichst sehr gut Deutsch, oder?
Um ehrlich zu sein, ich verstehe Deutsch besser als ich es sprechen kann. Ich denke immer noch wie eine Engländer und mein Deutsch leidet offensichtlich darunter.
Trotzdem sind Zahlen einfach genug:
eins
zwei
drei
vier
fünf
sechs
sieben
acht
neun
zehn -
LoveUniHateExams
eins ... zehn - danke schoen TD.
Ich denke immer noch wie eine Engländer und mein Deutsch leidet offensichtlich darunter - ist Deutsch deine Muttersprache?
-
LoveUniHateExams
Love this YT vid of a white Jamaican guy who's living in Canada (I think).
He speaks with a strong accent. XD
It seems legit because I've checked out more of his daughter's videos where she goes on holiday to Jamaica and meets her white grandma who still lives pon de eye-lan'.
God knows what the PC crowd makes of it. XD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDgA9LUVMA
and
-
LoveUniHateExams
Here's another white Jamaican talking about nicknames in Jamaica. XD
I love the Jamaican accent anyway and as an amateur linguist I find Patwa interesting from a linguistic point of view.
I knew that there are white Jamaicans but when I first heard Patois coming out of a white guy's mouth, I found it hilarious!
"If ya white, dem caal ya Pinkie, Cyaspa ... if ya black like tar, dem caal ya Coal, Midnight ... if ya taal, dem caal ya Stretch ..."
When I was a kid, I used to believe God put certain groups of people on Earth purely for my own amusement but I was wrong.
Still, I had a good laugh at this vid ...
-
LoveUniHateExams
A few pages back I briefly mentioned the vowel system in Arabic, so I want to talk about it today in a bit more detail.
Arabic has a three-vowel system - a, i and u.
The letter alif (ا) represents the long a sound that can be transliterated as aa.
The letter yaa (ي) represents the long i sound that can be transliterated as ee.
The letter waw (و) represents the long u sound that can be transliterated as oo.
Short vowels aren't usually shown - except for new words in children's books or books that teach Arabic to foreigners.
Fatha is an oblique line above the preceding consonant and represents the short a sound.
Damma is a little squiggle above the preceding consonant that looks like a miniature waw and represents the short u sound.
Kasra is an oblique line below the preceding consonant and represents the short i sound.
Now, here's where it starts to get more complicated. Yaa and waw not only represent ee and oo, they also represent the consonants y and w respectively - they are semi-consonants. In the context of the Arabic vowel system, I like to think of yaa and waw as part-time vowels.
Alif is the only full-time vowel. In fact, it has to do over time! XD
When Arabic words start with a short vowel sound (fatha, damma or kasra), an alif must be used to 'carry' the short vowel that's written either above or below in children's books.
Result: umm (ام), ab (اب) and ibn (ابن) all start with an alif.
Umm means mother, ab means father and ibn means son.
Here's min (means 'from') without short vowels: من
And here it is with short vowels, as you'd find it for the first time in a children's book: مِن
Totally batshit but interesting at the same time! XD
-
LoveUniHateExams
Here's an interesting video about the meaning(s) behind common Arabic names for women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Ja9BEOJRk
Who knew Selma is Arabic, derived from salaam? I didn't until I watched the video.
