Tag: language is amazing

The best translations into English do not, in fact, read as if they were originally written in English. The English words are arranged in such a way that the reader sees a glimpse of another culture’s patterns of thinking, hears an echo of another language’s rhythms and cadences, and feels a tremor of another people’s gestures and movements.

Ken Liu, Translator’s Postscript to The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin (via theletterkilleth)

greysexualwarden:

resident0181:

greysexualwarden:

me learning asl: how do you say y’all

I’m working towards my ASL Interpreters Certificate in Texas, and so naturally I had the exact same question for my teachers. They way that my teachers (all Deaf) tend to sign “y’all” is with a ‘Y’ handsign facing the signer’s chest, then pulling it around like you’re signing “everybody” or “all you people” but with an ‘L’ hand instead of a general pointing hand.

That’s the technical kind of way. Most of the time though I’ll see people skip the ‘Y’ hand and go straight to just using a loose “L” hand to gesture outwards.

Thank you for blessing me with this knowledge

allthingslinguistic:

seductive-celery:

wordfully:

chaotischkladblok:

awelshpolyglot:

langsandlit:

sprachtraeume:

viktor-risjak:

uselessslovakiafacts:

useless-finlandfacts:

psychokonfetti:

useless-finlandfacts:

samtaims ai vonder if inglis spiiking piipöl aar eiböl tu riölais thät ai äm äksöli vraiting in inglish rait nau bat tsast vith veri finnish spelling

sou if juu spiik inglish bat not finnish kän juu pliis reblog änd liiv ö komment on tis post tänk juu veri mats

Sammteims ei wonda iff inglisch schbieking pipel ahr ebel tu rieleis set ei ehm ecktschuli reiting in inglisch reit nauh batt schast wiss währi tschörmen schbelling

So iff ju schbiek inglisch batt nott tschörmen kenn ju plies riplock end lief eh kommänt on dies pust senk ju wäri matsch

tänk juu for joor tsörman kontribjuusson, ai äpprishieit it veri mats. änd it oolsou helps mii tu gräsp tö essens of tsörman äksent

Samtajms aj vonder if ingliš spíking pípl ár ejbl tu rielajz det aj em ekšuely rajting in ingliš rajt náv bat džast vit veri slovak speling. Sou if jú spík ingliš bat not slovak ken jú plís riblog end lív en koment on tiz poust tenk jú veri mač

Самтаймз ай вондр иф иньглиш спикинь пийпль ар эйбль ту риэлайз дзят ай эм экшуалий райтинь ин иньглиш райт нау бат джаст виць вейрий рашин спеллинь. Со иф ю спик иньглиш бат нот рашин кэн ю плиз риблог энд лив э комент ан дзис пост цянк ю вейрий мач

Samtæms æ wonda if ínglis spíking pípl ar eybel tú ríalæs ðet æ em ektsuali ræting in ínglis ræt ná bat dsast við veri æslendik speling

so if jú spík ínglis bat nott æslendik ken jú plís ríblog end líf a komment on ðis post þenk jú veri mats

Samtaims ai uonder if inglisc spiching pipol ar eibol tu rialais det i em acscualli raiting in inglisc rait nau bat dez uid veri italian spelling. sou if iu spic inglisc bat not italian chen iu plis riblog end liv a comment on dis post tenk iu veri macc’. 

sumtaimes ai wundère eef angliche peepole ar ébl tu rayolize zat i am actualie ritin en angliche rite nau bat dees iz veri french spélling. sau if u speec angliche bat nut french plis cun u reeblog end leev a commant en deez post tank u veri muche

somtajms ai wonde if inglisj spieking piepel ar ebel toe riëlais det ai em eksjelie wraiting in inglisj rait nau but djust wif verrie dutsj spelling

so if joe spiek inglisj but not dutsj ken joe plies rieblok ent lief uh komment on dis poost tenk joe verrie mutsj

Samtajms aj łonder if inglisz spikink pipul ar ejbul tu rielajs dat aj em akczueli rajtink in inglisz rajt nał bat dżast łif weri połlisz spelink

Soł if ju spik inglisz bat not połlisz ken ju plis riblok ent lif a koment on dis połst fenk ju weri macz

somtaghms aigh bhondar iobh iunglois spíocang píopal ár éabal ta ríalaghs dat aigh eim aicsiúlaí raghtuing in iunglois raght nadh bot diost bhot bhéirí aighris spoiling

sómh iobh dhiú spíoc iunglois bot nát aighris cean dhiú plíos ríoblág eand líomh a camoint án dus póst taenc dhiú bhéirí moit

sʌmtaɪmz aɪ wʌndɚ ɪf ɪŋglɪʃ spikɪŋ pipl̩ ɚ eɪbl̩ tə ɹilaɪz ðæt aɪ æm ækʃəli ɹaɪɾɪŋ ɪn ɪŋglɪʃ ɹaɪt naʊ bʌt dʒʌst ɪn ði ɪntɚnæʃʌnl̩ fənɛɾɪk ælfəbɛt

soʊ ɪf ju spik ɪŋglɪʃ bʌt nɑt aɪ pi eɪ kæn ju pliz ɹiblɑg ænd liv ə kɑmənt ɑn ðɪs poʊst θænk ju vɛɹi mʌtʃ

englishable:

Old English just has some wonderful words and kennings. I mean, really:

Their word for sea? It was often swan-rad or “road of the swan.” Spider was gangelwaefre, literally “the walking weaver.” They had the simple and now-obsolete word uht, which describes that time just before sunrise when mist still hangs heavy over all the fields and lakes and the last few stars are still out.

…Also, they didn’t say body. They said ban-cofan, which means “bone-cave,” and if you don’t think that’s some hardcore shit right there then you need to get out of my face before I turn your skull into a mead-cup.

misbehavingmaiar:

sebastian-bond:

but-the-library-of-alexandria:

the thing about writing fantasy stories is that language is so based on history that it can be hard to decide how far suspension of disbelief can carry you word-choice wise – what do you call a french braid in a world with no france? can a queen ann neckline be described if there was no queen ann? where do you draw the line? can you use the word platonic if plato never existed? can you name a character chris in a land without christianity? can you even say ‘bungalow’ in a world where there was no indian language for the word to originate from? is there a single word in any language that doesn’t have a story behind it? to be accurate a fantasy story would be written in a fantasy language but who has the time for that

Tolkien had the time apparently

LIsten. Linguistics Georg, who invented over 10,000 conlangs each day, is an outlier and should not have been counted. 

theactualcluegirl:

animatedamerican:

theragnarokd:

spanishskulduggery:

barbotrobot:

spanishskulduggery:

footybedsheets:

When men’s toxic behaviour transcends language.

In Spanish it’s machoplantear which is a combination of macho “male” and plantear(se) “to lay out (an idea) / to consider”

We could have had hombrexplicar [hombre “man” + explicar “to explain”] and I’m not sure why we didn’t? Some peopple disagree over which is better.

The noun form is el machoplanteamiento “mansplaining”

My guess is“hombrexplicar” doesn’t capture the critique of “machismo” in quite as pointed a way; that is, “machoplantear” points directly at the problem/the term already generally used to discuss problems of masculinity.

Anyway, I’m delighted by all of this.

You make a very good point

in hebrew it’s הסגברה / hasgvara – basically a mashup of hasbara (explaining, but also carries the implication of ‘propaganda’) and gever = man

this is the best thing I have seen all week 😀

This needs more languages.

German Masterpost

vintagedameron:

Learning a language is much easier if you actually use the language, get to know the culture better and do stuff on your own. My own experience is that I learned English at school, but then I started to watch a lot of stuff on YouTube, watch as many movies as possible in English and read in English and became top of the class. 

This masterposts consists of my favorite German things. I added some more stuff, so not all of this is what I am usually interested in, but they are mainstream and classics that everyone knows. 

I’ve always wanted to do a masterpost of german stuff I would recommend to those who want to learn German or more about the german language 🙂

So, stay tuned for my personal recommendations! (links are bold)

Listening

Radio:

  • N-JOY (northern Germany)
  • 1LIVE (Northrhine-Westphalia) (these two are only the hitradio stations, for younger people. If you want something else, look through the different stations of the WDR and the NDR)

Podcasts:

  • Ohrenbär: stories for children
  • Sanft & Sorgfältig (cancelled, but you can still listen to every episode): the hosts, musician Olli Schulz and comedian Jan Böhmermann discuss lots of different topics (they are funny and down to earth, but speak very fast, so this one is nothing for beginners)

German music:

Reading

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) (really a lot of coverage of diverse topics)

taz.die tageszeitung  (more progressive)

Die ZEIT (really huge tbh, but interesting stuff about so many topics)

Spiegel Online (one of germany’s most famous news magazins)

Die Welt (more conservative)

BILD.de (boulevard press, but the language is easy and the articles aren’t too long I guess) 

BuzzFeed Deutschland 

Watching

News

tagesschau    tagesthemen (ARD)

ZDF heute       ZDF heute-journal 

TV shows

Die Sendung mit der Maus (For children. Information and entertainment. It’s a classic and pretty much everyone’s childhood)

Wissen macht Ah! (For 9-12 year olds whose childhood was Die Sendung mit der Maus and who are not ashamed. I used to love this show.)

Tatort (a crime series, THE german classic. Every bigger german city has its own team. I personally recommend Münster)

heute-show (Satire in the style of a News TV show with an audience. Inspired by the Daily Show. Hosted by Oliver Welke, starring many other German comedians, check them out if you like them. 10/10 would recommend.)

PussyTerrorTV (Cabaret by Carolin Kebekus. Not the most famous thing but I love it and she deserves to be on this.)

NEO MAGAZIN ROYALE (Late night. Hosted by Jan Böhmermann. For younger people, as I said he speaks very fast. Don’t watch this if you don’t understand satire. Also featuring Dendemann from earlier on this list. Listed because it’s one of my favorites. If you want to get to know the style of the show, some of the songs are in English (x) (x) (x))

I would love to show you Circus Halligalli, it’s one of the best things on german television and very funny, but its rights belong to ProSieben, a private TV station, which means you cannot watch it online. But here is what came before: NeoParadise (late night and comedy, starring Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf)

(yeah, the only stuff I watch on TV is news and comedy.)

YouTube 

Rocket Beans TV they someohow brilliantly manage to blend the lines between TV and vlogging which is really cool, check them out!

SPACE FROGS / SPACE RADIO two guys from Berlin. Comedy, commentary on different topics, cooking, gaming and much more.

theclavinover  synchro, music, comedy and more

Sarazar gaming 

Joyce Ilg a nice vlogger

LeFloid news coverage and commentary, talks VERY fast

Please contact me if one of the links doesn’t work!

lauraantoniou:

the-independent-jew:

wonderful-language-sounds:

Overview

Courses & Grammar

Books

Media & Youtube

@so-many-miles-to-go

Bookmarked quite a few from this list – thank you!