Has anyone in this community ever had an (in-person, not penpal) language exchange partner?

If so, what was your experience like and do you have any tips?

I'm currently living in Korea, and this is my third year here. Since I've been here so long, I've started to study the local language more seriously. I began just a few months ago and my level is very low. My goal is basically to be conversational.

I take a weekly free class but am starting to meet partners to help me practice.

The big problem I have is that Koreans, on average, have been studying my language for years on end obsessively, while I'm only a beginner in their language. It makes it much easier them to push English. (Related note, this past weekend I went to a "language exchange" meeting, only to find everyone, including other expats, only speaking English.) So, I feel like I have to be careful to make sure they're not the only ones benefiting from the "exchange." Anyone ever been in this situation?

Hello everybody!

I don't understand this passage very well (It's difficult to read! D:)

The passage in bracket says "空を天じょうから吊るしている糸"? (like "From the deep sky a hanging thread"?) I'm not sure of this!

Can you help me?? Thank you so much!

Hi everybody.

There is a little problem in understanding the following passage typed bold.

Why and what was the proviso in the writer's mind, if the writer agreed with the famous surgeon?

[q]A well-known brilliant surgeon in Dublin who excelled in most out-of-the-way, venturesome operations, spoke very slightingly to me years ago of the uselessness of medicines. "They are all rubbish and should be thown overboard, with the exception of perhaps one or two pain-killing drugs. You don't believe in medicines, do you?" he turned to me, then the young tyro just fresh from the schools. I suppose he saw the faintly doubting expression on my face. "Oh, no," I quickly replied, with a proviso in my mind--it would not do to offend the great man. Certainly I did not believe in the efficacy of the medicines, as I had seen them applied in the wards of the famous hospital, where I was trained.[/q]

Thank you in advance.

Hi all, hope your language studies are going well! I'm trying to give myself homework regularly for Japanese, I know, such a nerd = P anyway...

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Super-random question, so I apologize in advance, although there is actually a reason for it. Is there a French equivalent to the "gangster/mafia" dialect that exists in English? In which ordinary words have a variety of completely off-the-wall definitions when taken in that context (ex. to clip = to kill, juice = interest on a loan, to pinch = to arrest)? If so, can someone direct me to some sort of glossary/list? If not, thank you anyway!

Thanks so much for your support and help with the ESL help / phrases! It's very helpful to use. At times there are usually one or two students who clearly have a little more difficulty than others with their English, so knowing the Japanese phrases or writing it on the board in katakana really helps them! =) Then of course I get them all to repeat my English haha.

1.~ I would like to say 'DON"T stand on the table/desk' 'Sit down' but in this context should I use the actual vocabulary word for table, or desk - I guess they are interchangeable in this sense...

Also sit down, is it 'suwatte kudasai' to be polite, and would this include talking about myself, like 'May I sit here' would that be 'Suwatte kudasai' or 'Suwatte onegai shimasu'? OR I think I must use the form of 'te' verb, plus 'mo ii desu ka' - so for ME, do I say 'Watashi wa, koko ni suwatte mo ii desu ka?'

BUT to tell a student 'Don't stand' 'Sit down' would it be the same?

2.~ I want to tell students to make sentences using vocabulary words. I have shown them the word 'sentence' in the dictionary but the process of 'to make a sentence' does not seem to register. What would you recommend to convey this better? Is there a special verb to use, when talking about grammar, and like..' to make ' a sentence, same thing ' to make ' a story?

3.~ How would you ask a student ' Can YOU teach ME? ' sometimes I think it helps their confidence, especially the weaker ones in English, if they show me with their actions for example...how to play a game or do some craft.

Can I say ' Onegai shimasu, oshiete kudasai ' like please tell me or instruct me? Or ' Kore wa, do yatte shimasu? ' ( This thing, how / in what manner do you do it? '

Thanks you all =)

Hi!

I'm going to be teaching an introductory linguistics class this summer, and I'd like to introduce class sessions with short video clips illustrating various concepts. These should not be pedagogical, but rather cases of linguistics in action. For example, in the last season of the West Wing, there's a conversation between Leo McGarry and his very short publicity assistant about how to pronounce Matt Santos's last name: [sɑntos] or [sæntos], complete with a discussion of the implications of saying it wrong. This can introduce both a class on vowel transcription, and also a class on sociolinguistics. There's also that great scene from Pirates of Penzance where the entire humor rests in the fact that, in British English, "orphan" and "often" (here, starting at about 1:30: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiXSR3PQQPE) are homophonous which can introduce a discussion of mergers (also use vs. mention). And, of course, practically any scene from My Fair Lady is good for phonetics (and sociolinguistics). Do you have any scenes from films or TV shows (ideally three minutes or less) that made you think, "Golly, what a great example of [syntactic ambiguity/Gricean conversational implicature/imperfect synonyms/morphological productivity]?" It's good if they're on youtube, but I can also get them through my school's library, so don't hold back!

Thanks!

My translation of the song :)



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A friend of mine (different one from the last one I posted about) got this in Konya, a conservative area of Turkey, in 1968. It is about a foot long, painted on glass. Can anyone translate?

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/bychoice/609336/441515/441515_600.jpg

Thanks in advance!

Hello again!

In my previous post (here) I asked your opinions on my accent. Thanks everyone for your answers! But because of some comments I'm a little bit confused. (

My teacher of English spoke RP. He was not a native speaker but he visited UK many, many times, so I trusted that man! (. He claimed RP to be the most 'neutral' accent of all the English accents. And he also said that RP would be the best choice for a foreigner, because it is not assosiated with any specific area\region\etc.

So I do try to imitate RP when I speak English. And until now I have thought that RP does not equal a 'posh accent'.

My questions are:
if RP is considered to be 'posh' and somewhat associated with upper-classes, what accent would you call 'neutral' (which has no negative or positive connotations)?
What accent would you expect a foreigner to speak with?

Thank you!

Ah, and most of you were right about where I cme from. I'm Ukrainian, so my native languages are Ukrainian and Russian respectively.

Hello fellow linguaphiles!

Could anyone please tell me where I could find a good cost-free source for pronunciation and listening practice for European Spanish online?
Or any site that focuses on, or at least gives an equal amount of time, to the European Spanish way of writing and speaking?
Everything I come across seems to be more focused on South American accents/dialects.

Thanks so much!

Current Mood: curious

It often seems to me that "will" and "shall" can be used interchangeably, with only a tiny bit difference in tone. However, a friend sent me the following quote and asked about "will" vs. "shall" in it.

What warm, unspoken secrets will we learn? Beyond the point of no return.

I told him:
I think that "shall" implies that it will definitely happen.
"what shall we learn beyond the point of no return?"
"what will we learn beyond the point of no return?"
The best way I can explain this is that in the second one, with "will", he is holding out his hand to someone, implying "if you come with me". In the first one, the listener has taken his hand, and it implies "when you come with me."

What do the rest of you think of using "will" or "shall" in this quote? Would the meaning or flavor change? Also, if I'm totally wrong about the use of "shall" please let me know. Thanks!

( note - xposted to linguaphiles )

Okay, I think if I can do this correctly and have students understand, I'll meet with better experiences as I'm teaching.

I'd so appreciate the correct way to write this - I think these kids know all hiragana, katakana and tons of kanji, but perhaps hiragana is the best for them to read quickly and understand the concept? I'm not sure if at times, kanji is better because it may indicate a clearer definition or meaning for some message that a foreigner is trying to give them.

1. I want to make a sign for students indicating ' BOOKBAGS HERE. ' or ' PERSONAL ITEMS HERE.' like this includes all bookbags, jackets, water bottles / juice bottles, snacks. Something should be added maybe, like 'Bags / etc MUST stay here '

2. NO CELL PHONES IN CLASS - TURN OFF AND USE AFTER CLASS or maybe that last part isn't necessary

3. PICK UP YOUR TRASH

4. DO NOT UNLOCK THE DOOR

5. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM WITHOUT ASKING YOUR TEACHER



Do you guys think any of this is too hard to get the msg across to the students, who range from 5 yrs - 15??

I wonder if I should post all of it on a big paper saying ' Classroom Rules ' and go over it every day. It sounds so...I forget the word, something like presumptuous or pretentious, maybe it will make the kids feel like they are being be-littled BUT they need that discipline and classroom rules aren't even up anywhere in this classroom at least the one I taught this week. Maybe and hopefully it will be more in order when I go to my different school next week.

I can't blame my Japanese teacher for any of this, she's also fairly new ( just been here for 4 months ) and it's a new term so she has to learn the new students and their mannerisms, as well.

Some of you might be interested in this map of all the dialect and language variations in the US and some in Canada. For my own area, it looks correct.

Hello to you, linguaphilies!

1 Which foreign accents in your native language sound most annoying to you?
And which are tolerable or even pleasant?

2. I've never been to any English-speaking country and, thinking about it, never communicated orally with a native English speaker.
So I've recorded myself reading a few sentences in English (the video is short really - 1.01 min). Would you watch it please and comment my accent? Does it sound unpleasant to you?
And can you tell from it what my native language is?

hello linguaphiles - I have a question for you.

Hopefully this hasn't been posted here before; if so, please direct me to the entry!

We all know that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, and that in "proper" English, you're supposed to ask where something or someone is, not where something or someone is at. I noticed that sometimes I use the latter phrase and for a long time chalked it up to growing up in Appalachia, but then I began to notice that I actually don't use these interchangeably; in my mind, they mean slightly different things.

So my question to you is: am I just weird, or do other people make this distinction as well? I think sometimes these phrases are certainly used synonymously, but has anyone else here used them or heard them used to mean specific and different things?

So  for example:

Where is Jillian?
and
Where is Jillian at?

Do these mean the same thing to you, or not? If not, what is the distinction? I'll wait to reveal how I use them until I've heard from some of you ... :)

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone out there would be so kind as to proofread this for me and point out any mistakes:

"En général, j’aime tous les arts. J’aime de la musique. Je ne joue pas d'instruments, mais quand j'étais enfant je voulais jouer du piano et du violon. J'adore la musique classique. Je n'aime pas beaucoup des concerts. Je déteste la foule. Je préfère les concerts de musique classique, des DVD ou mon iPod.

J'aime aussi regarder des films. Je vais au cinéma chaque fois que je peux. J'aime bien la comédie, mais je préfère le mélange de comédie et de drame.

Une autre chose que j'aime faire est aller aux musées et visiter des galeries d'art. J'aime bien la sculpture, mais je préfère la peinture et le dessin. Je veux aller au Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) et regarder "La Nuit étoilée". C'est ma peinture favorite.

Aussi, j'aime beaucoup les comics. Mes préférés sont les japonais, belges, américains et les français.
En plus, j'aime un peu le sport. Je ne joue pas des sports, mais parfois je joue du ping-pong avec mes sœurs bien que je suis très mauvaise. J'aime beaucoup regarder le football, surtout les matches du Real Madrid."


Thank you in advance.

I forgot what I red long time ago. It was something like:

"my insoles began debate
how to better insolate"

And tell me please what is the right name of such wordplay
UpD reading wiki , no idea

upD2 with a proper metre, may be there was "the insoles debate ... to insolate", but it doesn't matter. It was like a poem (I don't remember too) about mistakes in English

Hi all,

I wanted to convey this idea today and had no clue how to piece the sentence parts properly...

So someone asked me 'now what will you do? Or later, what will you do?'

Since I am 会話学校で英語教師をしてい, ( is that right? The word 'keiwa' meaning a conversational school?' in Japan?
I wanted to say 'I am going to plan for my classes tomorrow.'

How would I say something like that?

Also, how would I say that I need to leave somewhere early because I have to teach?

I just don't want to be rude and I wwant to make sure I keep in accordance with Japanese polite etiquette. I have to teach at a daycare Wednesday morning, and usually they want us to stay for an extra hour afterwards, i guess like drinking tea, eating snacks with the kids. I would rather get to my 2nd school as soon as I can, since I've got four classes to teach there back to back and prepare for!

What is the best thing to say?

Maybe 'sorry, maybe next week, but today I have to teach a lot' something like that?

Thanks guys! I really don't want to make any people upset and I have to make sure I'm polite etc, no matter what...it's so hard knowing the rules to this when you're in a new country...

I love articles like these :)

http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/23/bilingualism/

Hello everyone,
I'm looking for good resources on New Ionic. I've seen several lists of differences between the Ionic and Attic dialects, but I'm looking for something (a list, a book, a website...) that discusses New Ionic specifically.
Thanks!

Hi all,

So having moved to my new apartment here in Japan, I'd love to hear your advice or thoughts on what are some essential items I should know how to say. I'm not sure how to ask for these items because I've either heard different words for it, or I just don't know haha.

~ How would I say room-spray, or fragrance for my room?
~ How would i ask for a small bookshelf, or bookcase to place books?
~ Is there a special word for slippers you wear inside the house and bedroom, vs. 'kutsu' the shoes you wear outdoors?

Domo arigato =)

Hello fellow linguaphiles!

I have a couple semesters before I have to make a final decision about a specific masters degree, but I am curious as to what this community might think.

I am not sure if I am even going to apply to my local university yet, but if I did, the choices for a masters having to to with German would be:

1. Teaching German as a Foreign Language

2. German Philology

My main question is, which one of these two masters degrees would open up the most job opportunities on an international level? Perhaps more specifically for someone potentially living in either the United States, Europe or Turkey. (Or a combination of all three!)

Aside from teaching German as a foreign language or German philology, what are some other German related masters programs out there that lead to good job opportunities?

OR, would a masters in anything having to do with German be of any use at all?

Vielen Dank for any comments in advance!

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Would anybody like to have a go at translating this into English or German or Serbo-Croatian? The translations that I have read of it vary wildly from one another (again). I am particularly interested in the lines starting from "И в пролет не брошусь". Спасибо.

So for the first time I've come across a grammatical concept in my Japanese textbook which has me completely stumped. I've googled for more explanations, but I think what would help the most is to see how onw would translate the examples given in my book. Most examples in the book are not given in translation, which is why I am hoping someone here might help?

The grammatical topic being covered is -んです form. Here are the example sentences.

１．その花、きれいですね？どうしたんですか？
答え：　私が持って来たんですよ。

I think the first sentence is asking, "What did you do with it?". I understand that the answer means "I took it with me." But what nuance does the NDESU form contribute?　Same goes for the following two examples.

２．暑いですね？　ちょっと飲んで行きましょうか？
答え：　ええ、ぜひ。　仕事の後のいっぱいがうまいんですよね？

３。日本語の試験なんです。　漢字をたくさ覚えないといけないんです。
答え：　へえ、それはたいへんですね。頑張ってくださいね。

Not sure if I phrased that correctly, but I was trying to say along the lines ' Mochi mochi galore!' or Mochi everywhere!

I am indeed in the neverending land of mochi. Perhaps other places, maybe south Korea and China also, have a lot of mochi?

Training here in Japan has been stressful so I'm trying to incorporate some levity into my life in the form of
和菓子 wagashi. Some questions. =)

~ How is wagashi different from お菓子, okashi?

~ Is there a difference between o-manju, mochi, and daifuku?

~ Does every mochi have the red bean filling inside it, the 'an' or 'anko'? I've heard this word 'mitsu' a lot for a yellow-ish kind of mochi filling, but have no idea what is this.

~ Lastly, I've seen a lot of mochi I think, they are mochi anyway, wrapped inside a leaf.

Is this Kashiwa mochi, 桜餅 cherry blossom mochi, or 道明寺 Domyoji ( the mochi with leaf??)

I guess I can just keep asking 'kono mochi wa, no naka de, nani ka / nani um...flavour... arimasu ka?'

Dorothy L. Sayers had a sometimes frustrating tendency to write character's accents out phonetically but in a way that leaves me, at least, often mystified as to exactly what the sound or effect is supposed to be. Sometimes this is doubtless because I'm an American and don't grok all the differences between accents in the British isles.

By far the worst of example, in terms of making me puzzle every time I read either book, is the word "really" spelled "reelly" or "reely" when used by two characters:, Mr. Thipps (an architect) in Whose Body? and Mr. Smayle (an advertiser) in Murder Must Advertise. Smayle's dialogue is otherwise entirely conventional in grammar and spelling (which adds to my mystification). Thipps occasionally drops his hs, although he usually corrects himself (but he does not hypercorrect), and has some minor other grammatical errors, and his mother drops her hs and has many grammatical errors. So for Thipps the overall effect is suggesting someone who is the first generation middle class, educated but not highly educated, and striving to be correct in speech.

1. What is the sound difference we're meant to imagine between "really" and "reelly"? A longer [i]? A sharper [i]? Something else?
2. What is this pronunciation supposed to tell us, especially about Mr. Smayle?

Here are some descriptions of Mr. Smayle and some quotes in which he says "reelly":
"A brisk, neat young man, with an immaculate head of wavy brown hair, a minute dark moustache, and very white teeth"
"'I'm reelly very sorry,' said Mr. Smayle, 'that Tallboy and I should have indulged in anything approaching to words in your presence, Miss Meteyard.'... 'No, but reelly,' said Mr. Smayle, lingering at the door of Miss Meteyard's room, 'if a man can't take a harmless joke, it's a great pity, isn't it?'"
"'I like to be agreeable with everybody,' said Mr. Smayle, 'but reelly, when it comes to shoving your way past a person into the lift as if one wasn't there and then telling you to keep your hands off as if a person was dirt, a man may be excused for taking offence. I suppose Tallboy thinks I'm not worth speaking to, just because he's been to a public school and I haven't.'... 'but what I say is, I went to a Council School and I'm not ashamed of it.'" [NB: I'm not positive exactly what a Council School is, but assume it's similar to a modern comprehensive.]
Another character (who dislikes Smayle) speaking of Smayle: "'Last year [to play cricket] he wore white suede shoes with crocodile vamps, and an incredible blazer with Old Borstalian colours.'" [NB: "Old Borstalian" seems to be a waggish way of describing a former reform school student, but I'm not sure what colors this is supposed to indicate, other than perhaps just being an extra snobby way of saying "he looked trashy". I don't know if it would be a helpful clue regarding origin or not, but Smayle is actually a moderately good cricketer.]

Mr. Thipps, ditto:
"Mr. Alfred Thipps was a small, nervous man, whose flaxen hair was beginning to abandon the unequal struggle with destiny."
"'Such a thing has never 'appened—happened to me in all my born days. Such a state I was in this morning—I didn't know if I was on my head or my heels—I reely didn't, and my heart not being too strong, I hardly knew how to get out of that horrid room and telephone for the police. It's affected me, sir, it's affected me, it reely has—I couldn't touch a bit of breakfast, nor lunch neither...'"
Lord Peter imitates Thipps: "'Oh, Parker, Parker! I could kiss her, I reely could, as Thipps says.'" [So this seems to indicate that this pronunciation is very distinctive?]
"'But it went against my conscience—such a young girl as she was—and she put her arm round my neck afterwards and kissed me just like as if she was paying for the drink—and it reelly went to my 'eart,' said Mr. Thipps, a little ambiguously, but with uncommon emphasis."

Both books take place in London and environs, 20s and early 30s.

I'm having a bit of trouble interpreting the meaning of this sentence. It's about the passengers on a very slow-moving train. What I don't get is this solnechniy zaichik image. I mean, those are sunbeams, but a zaichik can also refer to somebody traveling for free, without a ticket, right? So is this a play on that?

Thanks!

Устраивали пикники, не боясь отстать, ведь за час поезд проходил всего два-три километра. Многие принимали на крыше вагонов солнечные ванные, а особо нетерпеливые женщины ловили в зеркала солнечных зайчиков, и отпускали тех только за жаркий поцелуй.

They held picnics and weren’t afraid of being left behind, for in an entire hour the train would cover two or three kilometers, no more than that. Many people sunbathed on the roof, and especially impatient women caught sunbeams in their mirrors and let them go only for a passionate kiss.

The other day, I came across an odd rant in the blog of a self-published true crime writer, who claimed that it was inappropriate to use the word "missing" in connection with a person who might have voluntarily disappeared or taken their own life. According to him, "missing" was properly reserved for those likely to be victims of a crime like abduction or murder. He actually got kind of indignant about it.

I realize that sometimes the connotation of a word may trump its dictionary definition, but I've never heard this writer's argument before and it just seems bizarre to me.

Any thoughts? Is he right?

I'm doing a presentation on descriptive grammar and prescriptive grammar at a seminar for undergraduates. The presentation is supposed to be about 5 minutes and the students participating don't really have much knowledge about linguistics. How should I arrange my presentation to cover as much as possible within 5 minutes and at the same time not too hard to follow?

I'm thinking about quoting An Introduction to Language pp13-15(pdf version at: http://emilkirkegaard.dk/en/wp-content/uploads/Victoria-Fromkin-Robert-Rodman-Nina-Hyams-An-Introduction-to-Language.pdf) but it should not be just that, should it?

Any other suggestions/ references?

1) "The Purchaser may submit to the Manufacturer a complaint related to defects of workmanship if these defects HAVE BEEN (or WERE?) discovered during the specified warranty period".

2) And one more question: in contracts, is "may" equal to "have the right to"? Or does MAY sound meeker?

How to spell 813 548 (whatever, can be USD, or euro, or units)? Thank to all who reply in advance.

So, a while ago you guys helped me identify my last name as being of Ukranian origin, but now I've finally gotten around to asking about my first name. So, my mother was born and raised in Germany, and my parents kinda-sorta named me after Nastassja Kinski Obviously Nastassja is a variant of the Greek Anastasia/Nastasia, but is that variant in particular of a certain origin? I believe my parents told me at one point it was Polish, but then a Polish customer told me it's not. Is it perhaps a German variant? Or should I just simply tell people that it's Greek?

Also, any hints on the best way to help Americans say my name right? It's not like any of the sounds aren't in English, but even when I write it out as "Nah-stah-syah", or even "Nas-tas-ya", people still manage to butcher it. (Where on earth did you get "Natazha" out of "Nas-tas-ya"?)

I heard on the radio yesterday that in Russian "blue" is seen as two distinct colors with different names. Is this true?

I am currently looking into different kinds of language disorders - both acquired and developmental.
Now, I understand that there are aphasias, which affect all language modalities - writing, speaking, comprehension and reading.
But how are developmental dyslexias related to acquired dyslexias on the one hand and aphasias ont he other? Do all the occurring subtypes of dyslexia, like surface dyslexia or deep dyslexia, appear in both acquired and developmental form?

The sources I have here keep contradicting themselves - some claim the symptoms and shape dyslexias take are the same whether acquired or developed, others claim there is no such thing as an acquired dyslexia, and that reading/writing problems only occur within the "frame" of an aphasia.

Any help or pointers to reliable sources would be very much appreciated!

The job and training have been stressful, but for now the plan is not to give up! We'll see what happens...I think I'll know the final outcome by next week.

How would I ask for a knife and spoon, do I just use the katakana loan words or are there better Japanese words to use?

- There are so many types of Japanese sea vegetables. Nori, wakame, hijiki, konbu. What is different about each one, and how would I ask what's inside something like...well recently I've discovered おにぎり which I love, and hope to learn and make myself.

But to ask 'what's inside' something...can I use 'Kono uchigawa ni, nan desu ka?' or is it better to say 'Kono no naka de, nan desu ka' ?

- Finally, is there a word for caffeine? Like to ask for a milk or coffee type drink that is de-caf or has no caffeine?

Itsumo arigato!

In North America, they refer to a sports team as "is", eg. "The team is playing tonight."

In the UK, they say a team "are", eg. "The team are playing tonight."

In North America, the team is a single entity, a team. In the UK, the team is a bunch of people.

Is there a linguistic terminology for this? Also, how did this difference happen?

Thanks!

My dad has run into some Spanish abbreviations and wants to translate them to English.  We know what the abbreviations signify in Spanish but not the meanings in English.
Here are the abbreviations and what they stand for in Spanish:
n/o. (nuestra orden)
n/f. (nuestro favor)
n/g. (nuestro giro)
n/l. (nuestra letra)

Thanks for any insight.

Just curious...

Which language do you think you can learn faster?
Dutch or French?

Which language gives you more skills to learn a wider variety of other languages?
Dutch or French?

Which language's pronunciation is the easiest to perfect for someone who can perfectly speak American English and German?
Dutch or French?

Though one would probably say that French would surely be more useful, what are the perks of being fluent in Dutch?

*Side Note* I am fluent in American English and German, and can get around in Italy and Turkey without too much of a problem. I am far from what you would call advanced in either of them though.

1. Russian
2. English
3. Moksha
4. German
5. Italian
6. Spanish
7. French
8. Uzbek
9. Japanese
10. Farsi

But what's in the bottom line? Tifinagh?

I've only just started to try to teach myself Biblical Hebrew. Can you help me with the two dots at the end of mélek, king?
מֶ֫לֶךְ
I know that I'm supposed to pronounce the word as "melech", but what are the two dots and what do they signify? Surely not a shewa? (The same with dérek, street, דֶּ֫רֶךְ.)

Please pardon my ignorance, but I've only got three days of learning, just a textbook (no teacher to ask) and I didn't manage to google the answer.

Hi!

In English, a way of remembering which side is left or right is that when you extend the index finger and thumb on your left hand, it makes a the shape of an L, the first letter of left. And I remember right in French because you can make a lower case d (as in droit) by extending your index finger and making a circle with the other fingers on that hand.

I was wondering if other languages have tricks like this to remember which side is which?

Hi everybody,

Would anybody explain what does 'gas bag' mean in the following passage, please?

In the early days of practice in cases of this nature, earache with red congested drums and tenderness over mastoid, I frequently went to a case with fear and trembling on the second visit, gas bag and ear instruments, fine scalpels, etc., all at hand in case of need, but it was never necessary.

Thank you in advance!

Hi linguaphiles!

I'm currently researching an article on useful features that other languages have and English doesn't. I came across something called the "temherte slaq" which seems to be a mark used in Ethiopic script to denote sarcasm or "unreal" language.

Problem is, all references to this mark (and there are a lot of them) seem to date back to one PDF article about encoding Ethiopic languages in Unicode (http://yacob.org/papers/DanielYacob-IUC15.pdf, page 6). I have no reason to believe the authors of the article were making it up, but I'm a bit suspicious that I haven't seen any other sources. Plus, references to it seem to variously mention it being used in "Ethiopian script," "some languages in Ethiopia" or even just "the Ethiopian language," which makes me wonder why no one is being more specific.

Is anyone here familiar enough with Ethiopian languages to confirm that this is actually a thing?

Please could any Russian speakers identify &/or translate the words to or possibly even identify the song that plays over the opening credits in the film below?



Thanks in advance.

Edited thanks to a helpful comment - I had previously thought that it may have been in Serbo-Croatian, because the sound quality is that bad.

One of my friends is an artist, and she's preparing something for an exhibition of science-related art. Her pieces are about the idea of using things like glass-blowing, chemical reactions etc to permanently record breath, something that's normally entirely fleeting. She's been trying to think of a title, but is stumped. All the english phrases she can think of, such as "catching your breath" sound too cheesy, and greek or latin terms like pulmonography sound like medical instruments. She wants something that is eye-catching, but not too pretentious, and that she won't need to explain a million times to people.

Any ideas? I've sent the address of this post to her, so she can see for herself.

For my next blog post I need the best translation for this demand:

"Erzähl mir (et)was."

This question is asked more or less out of the blue by an adult to a friend or aquaintence. It sounds vague and "innocent", but it's a disguised cry for help: Tell me something, anything, to take me away from my sorrows, away from my own inner hell.

The adressed person may be (or is often) bewildered: "What should I tell you?" or "I don't know what you mean." and this baffled reply causes a vague pain for the person who asked.

How could I express the inconclusive or plurivalent term "(et)was." in English? "something"?

Thanks!

Leaving aside the political side of the event, here is a question about one of the more recognizable phrases produced by Mrs Thatcher. I saw the matter discussed elsewhere without people producing sensible explanations, therefore this post in linguaphiles.
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My sister and I are trying to find replacements for my grandmother's china, but we have been stymied by not knowing the manufacturer. Does anyone know either what the characters here mean?

( Apologies for the lack of clarityCollapse )