BrianL

One of the first Tagalog words I learned was "Sayang!". The same word also exists in Malay and Indonesian, with a similar meaning. My aunts in Malaysia like to say, "The neighbour's daughter is so young and pretty, and she's got a good job too, sayang she doesn't want to get married!". The English equivalent "It's a pity / It's a shame" doesn't quite capture the nuance

I recently stumbled upon this amazing blog : http://yourdailygerman.com/ If by any chance the creator of this blog is a member of this forum and happens to be reading this now, I would just like to say "Wow!!!". I am impressed! Not only are there extremely well-thought-out and detailed explanations on the finer points of German grammar (like the different uses of the "ver-" prefix and how common words like "möglich" and "mal" evolved) but there are also very comprehensive free grammar lessons explained in a humorous way. I really give it two thumbs up! PS: It was on this blog that I finally found out that the "ent-" in "entdecken" and the "emp-" in "empfehlen" are actually the same prefix!

Manchu is also one of my top 10 favourite scripts! I am also a fan of the Nastaliq version of Arabic script, especially when used to write Urdu or Persian.

Hi guys! My name is Brian and like many of you I'm a self-confessed polyglot and language geek. I used to be pretty active on this forum a while back, before my various commitments and projects began taking up too much of my time . However, I am now trying to make an effort to at least participate more in this very interesting community. My first languages are Malay and Chinese (specifically the Minnan dialect of Southern Fujian Province in China as well as in Taiwan). My working languages on a day-to-day basis are English and French although I've recently started working on improving my German and Turkish. I lived for a long time in various parts of Asia and Europe and am thus also fairly fluent in Mandarin, Tagalog, Hindi, Burmese and spoken Tamil. I'm fascinated by indigenous cultures and have recently begun studying Siberian and Navajo shamanism. As such I am deeply interested in Central Asian, North American Native and Australian aboriginal languages, although by no means am I fluent in any of these languages .