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Speaking in Tongues

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May 24, 2013 11:35 PM
olivia_e

last reply
May 24, 2013 11:35 PM
olivia_e

0 replies
12 views


Travel guide design project

Hello everyone!

I am currently in my final year of high school, and undertaking a class called design and technology where you have to create a Major Design Project (MDP). For this large project, I generated the following design brief: "To design and create a personalised travel guide that is specific to a client’s personality, likes, dislikes and needs (both real and perceived)."

In this guide, I will include sections on Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. On the introductory pages for each country, I was wanting to include some phrases in the language that that country predominantly speaks. If anyone has advice for essential phrases or expressions that would be useful for one to know if they were travelling in any of these countries, then please let me know!

Thank you for your help, it is very much appreciated!

May 22, 2013 6:24 AM
VinnyD

last reply
May 24, 2013 2:29 PM
VinnyD

14 replies
324 views


I'll have him ring you.

In the TLS of 3 May, Hugo Williams devotes a column to new words and phrases in British English, not too grumpily as these things go.

One paragraph starts:

James Lasdun said recently that every time he comes to England it has become more American. What's not to like? I'm just so honoured to be part of your journey. With phrases like "I'll have him ring you" and "I get to drive" all around you, you feel as though you're part of Desperate Housewives .

"I'll have him ring you" isn't American, because we would say "call" or "phone", not "ring". But I imagine what he finds American in the phrase is "I'll have him (verb)" meaning "I will ask/cause him to (verb)." Don't they say that in Britain? How would they/you say it?

In Scots there used to be a verb gar with the same force as "have" there, and perhaps there still is. But what would the English say? more »

May 22, 2013 3:13 AM
kalpea_tuli

last reply
May 24, 2013 11:47 PM
tonieja

19 replies
410 views


Pages 1 2

Polish words of German origin

I remember that a long time ago I learnt that in Polish the German word "Feuerzeug" is used. How is it spelt correctly in Polish? Fojrzojg or something?

Since the two countries are neighbours, I expect there to be a lot of words from German in Polish and vice-versa.
What are some more examples?

May 21, 2013 12:40 PM
iaxestupidquest...

last reply
May 23, 2013 7:42 AM
MTL

3 replies
111 views


The Bosnian language

I noticed Google recently added Bosnian to the list of available translations and was wondering if it's closer to Serbian or Croatian? Would someone from the Republika Srpska part of Bosnia speak Bosnian or Serbian? Does Bosnian have more Turkish and/or Arabic loan words than Croatian or Serbian or is the vocabulary mostly all the same?

May 16, 2013 7:49 PM
nutraxfornerves

last reply
May 22, 2013 10:05 PM
Myanmarbound

15 replies
560 views


Pages 1 2

I fear for the future

From a column in today's San Francisco Chronicle

Rayma Zwinge, who knows that her name is unusual, spelled it out recently when a clerk in a professional office asked. Zwinge had been watching the clerk's distress over her computer being down. "As she fumbled to figure change for $89 out of the $100 bill presented by a very elderly man," e-mailed Zwinge, she seemed "wild with fear."

Zwinge spelled her name, and then there was a pause. "After a while, she looked up, pen in hand, and asked, 'How do you make a "Z"?' "


Nutrax

The plural of anecdote is not data.

May 16, 2013 4:19 PM
NorthAmerican

last reply
May 17, 2013 8:32 AM
VinnyD

3 replies
237 views


How long is someone "the late" so-and-so?

I saw an obituary for Billy Sol Estes, a Texas "wheeler dealer" of some years back, that referred to his having friends in high places, including "the late President Lyndon B. Johnson."

Wouldn't it have been appropriate to write "including President Lyndon B. Johnson" ? Would any reader by unaware that Johnson is dead? I think that I would reserve the term "the late" for someone more recently deceased, like Ronald Reagan. What would your choice be?

May 16, 2013 1:46 PM
leilar

last reply
May 16, 2013 1:46 PM
leilar

0 replies
107 views


Caluquier consejo sobre el DELE C1 o C2! Advice about the DELE

Hola a todos,

Me preguntaba si alguien ha tomado el DELE C1 o C2? Estoy pensando en tomar uno o el otro, el motivo principal una meta personal - mejorar mi español, y bueno cacho que la calificacion oficial seria util en el futuro.

Es posible que voy a estudiar en el extranjero en España o en América Latina y, por supuesto, si estudio en espanol, voy a querer tomar las mismas clases que los otros estudiantes nativos del pais, no como un estudiante de lengua española.
Hay alguien aquei que ha tomado la prueba? ¿Hay una gran diferencia en dificultad entre el C1 y C2? Alguien sabe si las universidades requieren el C2, o es solo necesario el C1?

Tome la Prueba de Nivel que el Instituto de Cervantes ofrece y me dio un C1.3, C1.4 - no es exhuastiva como el examen real, pero igual

Mi experiencia con el español - estudió durante toda la secundaria, estudió en el extranjer... more »

May 15, 2013 11:57 PM
bjd

last reply
May 16, 2013 2:30 PM
iviehoff

6 replies
291 views


Icelandic names

The other day I was at the library looking at books in the detective fiction section. Now that Scandinavian thrillers are popular, there were quite a few there. I noticed that two Icelandic authors were in the wrong place, under A for Arnaldur Indridason and Arni Thorarinsson.

I asked the librarian who told me that they had received a notice specifying that Icelandic names should be filed that way, and only Icelandic names, not any of the other Scandinavians.

Icelandic surnames seem to be formed by adding son or dottir to the father's name. Does anyone know why the first name comes first on a library shelf?

May 14, 2013 11:16 PM
Myanmarbound

last reply
May 16, 2013 12:08 AM
bjd

3 replies
162 views


May 14, 2013 12:31 PM
1612

last reply
May 15, 2013 8:50 AM
iviehoff

3 replies
200 views


Castellano, Paraiso Fiscal x Tax Haven

En Argentina Tax Haven es traducido como Paraiso Fiscal,

En otros Paises de habla hispana le dicen igual - Paraiso Fiscal - o tienen/usan una mejor/correcta traduccion ?

M Gracias

Tambien, en castellano heaven se pronuncia jeven en ingles haven como se pronuncia ?, javen como en el verbo have o distinto ?

Nuevamente M Gracias

May 13, 2013 5:41 PM
NorthAmerican

last reply
May 15, 2013 4:55 AM
NorthAmerican

23 replies
622 views


Pages 1 2

Too arcane for a quiz?

Some workers were to come to my apartment today "between 9 and 3," which I thought was a bit too generous in their favor, but once I finished the crossword puzzle in today's paper I had to look for something to occupy my time. Why not create a puzzle of my own? I came up with a literary quiz.

Many of us have read the same books and stories, and the first sentences of some of them identify them immediately; think "Happy families are all alike." I wanted something a little more arcane, so I looked at my books to see what I had on hand. It doesn't matter (except to you, perhaps) if you know any of the answers, and there are no prizes except the satisfaction you might derive from seeing again something you might have read. There is only one rule: Don't use a machine translator except for the Russian text.

All but one are by well known authors, and all but one are in the original lan... more »

May 13, 2013 8:57 AM
bjd

last reply
May 16, 2013 12:31 AM
iviehoff

11 replies
388 views


May 12, 2013 6:12 PM
Caballero

last reply
May 18, 2013 6:11 AM
CrazyEddie

7 replies
304 views


My hands

I've just read that my hands are chiral......all this time I thought I was right-handed

May 11, 2013 9:37 AM
piaczka

last reply
May 13, 2013 11:52 AM
piaczka

13 replies
421 views


translate into Spanish please?

Could a Spanish speaker help me by translating this into Spanish please?
X was the perfect host, not obtrusive in any way but always responsive when needed. He even spent an afternoon with us showing us the vineyards around the town and sampling some of the Cava at a local vineyard. His apartment was just the place to return to after a long day of trekking or sightseeing. Highly recommended.

Many thanks!

May 10, 2013 1:14 AM
iviehoff

last reply
May 17, 2013 12:09 PM
VinnyD

11 replies
394 views


Njáls saga

If you were referring to Njáls saga (being one way to refer to this work in modern Icelandic - Brennu-Njáls saga and Njála being a couple of other ways) in an English text, which of the following would you consider acceptable? (I tend to presume you will capitalise the Saga although the Icelander probably won't).

1) Njáls Saga
2) Njals Saga
3) Njáll's Saga
4) Njall's Saga
5) Njál's Saga
6) Njal's Saga

You may wish to take into account that in modern Icelandic Njáls is the genitive form of Njáll, ie Njáll is the correct modern Icelandic spelling, in non-inflected form of the name of the person in question. A modern Icelander would pronounced something like nyowtl, nothing like you will hear on Monty Python. However it might be written differently in Old Norse and other Scandinavian languages. For example in the wiki articles in other Scandinavian languages they write Njå... more »

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