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Linguaholic

levitator

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Posts posted by levitator

  1. Ok, let me start with english-spanish "false friends":

    1) Pan (same pronunciation in both languages)

    - In english, it means "cooking instrument to fry stuff" or "mythical creature".

    - In spanish, it means "bread".

    In polish, "Pan" means Mr. and precedes all official titles when referring to a man.

    Very enlightening!

  2. It is a valuable help but only as a tool, as it is very much imperfect. I find the best method to translate between english and Polish is to insert a big block of text and then work out the odd words and expressions one by one, using a more exact dictionary. It may seem complex but still takes a lot less time than traditional translation, especially since business-oriented vocabulary is quite well developed in the google translator.

  3. Polish:

    Good afternoon. ---->We don't have one! We say "Dzień dobry" (good day) all day, until the evening when we say "Dobry Wieczór" (good evening)

    Where do you live? --->Gdzie mieszkasz?

    What is your nationality? --->Z jakiego kraju jesteś?

    What is your job? --->Czym się zajmujesz / jaką masz pracę?

  4. Hi, can you translate this in any foreign language that you know. Please specify the language and if possible the pronunciation.

    Polish:

    Good Morning - Dzień dobry

    How are you? - Jak się masz?

    What is your name? - Jak masz na imię? (first name); Jak się nazywasz? (second name)

    My name is Ray. (Insert your name instead) - Mam na imię Jan (formal); Jestem Jan (informal)

  5. :karate:

    I have heard that Polish is the most difficult, but I think it depends on how your mind works.  I think I would have more difficulty with a tonal language than Polish because I am not oriented to that way of speaking at all.

    I also read that article, I think they determined that by checking at what age the children reach the "linguistic maturity" i.e. the ability to fluently use the language and with Polish children it was no sooner than at the age of sixteen! (or maybe it just means us Poles are a little slow...;))

  6. I tried learning Lojban for a while because I liked the looks of it. But just as the most people in this thread - I realised it is pretty much pointless and not likely even to impress anyone. Hobbies are the best when you can share it with other people, and when they result in something useful or pretty. This however seemed to me as a hobby for hobby's sake and I decided not to waste my time on it anymore.

  7. I'd say, if it has legs, it can "stand" on them - simple but I think it applies in most cases. If it rises from the floor in a more or less upright position - "standing" is also ok, I think it has to be a bit intuitive.

    If it lays flat on the floor, well - that is obvious.

    I think "sitting" is the least often used in reference to inanimate objects, and can usually also be replaced with "standing".

  8. Movies have been an invaluable mean to me to learn english. Actually, belive it or not, I learned the most english while binge-watching "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" over and over again, back when it was not so popular in Poland, and only english version was available. Actually I took it upon myself to create subtitles for several episodes, just so I could show them to my polish-speaking family and friends. I learned a lot in the process!

  9. Haha goodness, I wish I could! I don't know Finnish nearly well enough yet, although I'm curious as well.

    I do know how most of these are possible, though. (Here's my not-much-grammar-knowledge explanation:) Most of the time Finns just kind of don't use extra words. So instead of asking "Could I have coffee?" you say "Kahvi" (in a polite tone). So a lot of the words in these tongue twisters probably imply the actions needed. Many finnish words are combinations of other words. In fact, people have theorized that Finnish is an "infinite language", because it is set up so you can easily make new words. So you can combine fluffy and dog to mean a fluffy dog or a dog that seems fluffy, and so on.

    Although I'm not sure how 'bath whisk' (which is a bundle of branches, by the way), 'person', and the concept of responsibility all got tied in :P

    That's really informative, thanks! The ability to connect words to make new ones reminds me of German, where also such long, "infinite" words can be found :)

  10. Vasta vastaa vasta vastaavasta vastavastaavasta.

    (The bath whisk answers only for the respective person responsible for the bath whisk.)

    I love this one, since it looks like the same word repeated over and over! Would you be able to dissect it to show which part means what? Of course, if it is too much hassle, do not bother :)

  11. Hooray, 100/100!

    I enjoyed it, in fact I think that was far too short.

    You should make a test focusing on the "there/their/they're" and "your/you're" distinction - people mix them up all the time!

    And while you are at it, why not throw some "should have/should of" in there...that one really grinds my gears...

    good job!

  12. For me language learning is more of a hobby - something I enjoy doing in my free time, so I rarely can motivate myself to "practice" rigorously. I force myself to read foreign newspapers regularly and see how much I can understand. For vocabulary and grammar excercises, nothing beats Livemocha.

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