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It can't help, where the traditional English alphabet is replaced by what are ludicrous hieroglyphics!
Chinese (simplified or other wise) is bonkers! It must take forever to draw the characters, and I can't imagine how they achieve this on a keyboard!
It's like they haven't evolved since the stone age!
I hesitate to give the controversial example that I just tried, but try typing something dodgy into "Google Translate", and then C&P the Chinese back to English and it's hilarious!
Chinese (simplified or other wise) is bonkers! It must take forever to draw the characters, and I can't imagine how they achieve this on a keyboard!
It's like they haven't evolved since the stone age!
I hesitate to give the controversial example that I just tried, but try typing something dodgy into "Google Translate", and then C&P the Chinese back to English and it's hilarious!
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Actually it's ludicrous that, within this septic isle, we can't even understand our own people!
I can help you there CF with the only 4 geordie words you will ever need to placate the natives.
Gannin fer a broon? but its pronounced ganninferabroon?
The ? part is generally superfluous.
Gannin fer a broon? but its pronounced ganninferabroon?
The ? part is generally superfluous.
The thing with Chinese, is that they don't seem to have any words of more than four letters, and peoples names as short as "ng" and yet they have the crazy
and laborious way of writing!
At my son's graduation there were very many Chinese students (all seemingly doing (Electrical Engineering) and parents in the auditorium.
Many of them ere called "ng", but the person announcing them was saying "en gee", much to the amusement of the Chinese guests!
and laborious way of writing!
At my son's graduation there were very many Chinese students (all seemingly doing (Electrical Engineering) and parents in the auditorium.
Many of them ere called "ng", but the person announcing them was saying "en gee", much to the amusement of the Chinese guests!
普通話
So it takes all of that to say Mandarin!
Pity the poor school kids!
So it takes all of that to say Mandarin!
Pity the poor school kids!
Not only that, AP, slight rearrangement of characters can mean something completely different!
Just found Ng is Cantonese for Wu, Wu being the state in which resides Hong Kong.
A friends son is learning Mandarin & Russian he can also speak about seven other languages including Serbian 
He says Mandarin is the hardest one he has to learn to date, the rate he can pick up a language is nothing short of astonishing at the age of 19, though his mum says he has absolutely no common sense & would struggle to boil an egg
He says Mandarin is the hardest one he has to learn to date, the rate he can pick up a language is nothing short of astonishing at the age of 19, though his mum says he has absolutely no common sense & would struggle to boil an egg
....and how about the Arabic writing from right to left?
I guess that's good for left handers!
I guess that's good for left handers!
Nov 29, 2015 -- 5:08PM, The Leopard wrote:
Just found Ng is Cantonese for Wu, Wu being the state in which resides Hong Kong.
You're thinking of Phuk Dat Bich, Shirley?
I think Polish and Finnish would take high rank among the toughies.
most languages can be learned fairly quickly, generally the easiest way is to live in the place where it is most widely spoken, don't speak any english, and get a part time job and find a local girlfriend or boyfriend.
Chinese the hardest.
Bahasa Indonesia the easiest. Read a small book on it on the flight and was pretty proficient on arrival.
Bahasa Indonesia the easiest. Read a small book on it on the flight and was pretty proficient on arrival.
Not particularly surprising that pumpy's friend's son knows some Serbian, if he knows Russian. You can pick out quite a lot of similar words, and they share similar alphabets. And if he knows Serbian, then he also knows Croatian. The only real difference is that Croatian uses the Latin alphabet (like English), while Serbian uses the Cyrillic alphabet (like Russian).
Polish only appears superficially odd to us because the squiggle they employ to modify a consonant is denoted by a z, while we use an h. For example, sh and ch in English become sz and cz in Polish. And our w is denoted by an l with a cross through it. Mind you, the grammar's a bit complex for an English speaker.
But all Indo-European languages, bar Hungarian and Finnish/Estonian, are just variations on one long-gone original version. I mean, I can't speak a word of Dutch, but because I know English and German, I can read and understand Dutch quite readily.
Look at Welsh. Cwmru is exactly the same word as Wales. A town with Combe in its name in England is always in a valley, e.g., Salcombe, Moulsecoomb, Templecombe. So we know Cwm means Valley. We know from Child/Children in English that -r can denote a plural, hence Cwm/Cymru = Valley/Valleys. An archaic word for valley is vale, so Cwmru = Vales, or Wales to a German or a Pole.
Polish only appears superficially odd to us because the squiggle they employ to modify a consonant is denoted by a z, while we use an h. For example, sh and ch in English become sz and cz in Polish. And our w is denoted by an l with a cross through it. Mind you, the grammar's a bit complex for an English speaker.
But all Indo-European languages, bar Hungarian and Finnish/Estonian, are just variations on one long-gone original version. I mean, I can't speak a word of Dutch, but because I know English and German, I can read and understand Dutch quite readily.
Look at Welsh. Cwmru is exactly the same word as Wales. A town with Combe in its name in England is always in a valley, e.g., Salcombe, Moulsecoomb, Templecombe. So we know Cwm means Valley. We know from Child/Children in English that -r can denote a plural, hence Cwm/Cymru = Valley/Valleys. An archaic word for valley is vale, so Cwmru = Vales, or Wales to a German or a Pole.
My son has a degree in Japanese and German. He's in Japan as an assistant English language teacher. I'm learning it as I plan to go there next year.
Fecking difficult!
Fecking difficult!
Excellent stuff SFBTW.
What about Basque (Euskara?)
What about Basque (Euskara?)
Japanese you have to learn 2 different alphabest AND the Chinese kanji characters. Mental.
The European Commission has announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU, rather than German, which was the other contender. Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had room for improvement and has therefore accepted a five-year phasing in of "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make sivil servants jump for joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k", Which should klear up some konfusion and allow one key less on keyboards.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f", making words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.
In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e" is disgrasful.
By the fourth yer, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and everivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer.
Und zen ze dream vill be komplete.
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make sivil servants jump for joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of the "k", Which should klear up some konfusion and allow one key less on keyboards.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f", making words like "fotograf" 20% shorter.
In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e" is disgrasful.
By the fourth yer, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and everivun vil find it ezi to understand ech ozer.
Und zen ze dream vill be komplete.
Ng, ng, or NG may refer to:
Ng (name), a surname of Asian origin
Ng (name), a surname of Asian origin
I'd forgotten all about Basque. It uses the Latin alphabet, but other than that I can't make head nor tail of it. I mean, the names of some of those players at Athletic Bilbao ... Gorka Iraizoz etc.
As an addendum to SFBTW's exposition of Cymru, I draw people's attention to the Indo-European suffix which usually emerges in English as
-(e)ry. It means 'the plural of whatever element precedes it'.
Thus we find examples in English like 'Jewry', 'Nunnery' ,'Infantry' 'Constabulary' etc.
I have the feeling that this may be the suffix at work in 'Cymru'. The phonetic similarity suggests it may be related to the old English plural form -er but I can only speculate about that.
Perceptive readers will have noted that the suffix -ry is likely to refer only to human antecedents although I think 'Jewellery' might be an exception.
My knowledge of Irish Gaelic showsme the same cognate suffix at work. The Gaelic word for 'population' is 'daonra' where 'daon' means something like 'person'. Also there is a farming organisation for young people called Macra na Feirme' where 'Macra' is composed of
'mac'= son + -ra = 'plural'.
It is almost certainly the case that this pluralising element is at work in other Indo-European languages. Perhaps SFBTW can add further to this discussion.
-(e)ry. It means 'the plural of whatever element precedes it'.
Thus we find examples in English like 'Jewry', 'Nunnery' ,'Infantry' 'Constabulary' etc.
I have the feeling that this may be the suffix at work in 'Cymru'. The phonetic similarity suggests it may be related to the old English plural form -er but I can only speculate about that.
Perceptive readers will have noted that the suffix -ry is likely to refer only to human antecedents although I think 'Jewellery' might be an exception.
My knowledge of Irish Gaelic showsme the same cognate suffix at work. The Gaelic word for 'population' is 'daonra' where 'daon' means something like 'person'. Also there is a farming organisation for young people called Macra na Feirme' where 'Macra' is composed of
'mac'= son + -ra = 'plural'.
It is almost certainly the case that this pluralising element is at work in other Indo-European languages. Perhaps SFBTW can add further to this discussion.
He would if he were knowledgeable enough.
I'd never thought of -ry collectives as plurals, but of course you're right. Cwmru is a Vale-ry.
Infantry is/are l'infanterie in French, with the same meaning, a collection of infants/enfants, i.e. soldiers not grand enough to own a horse.
I'd never thought of -ry collectives as plurals, but of course you're right. Cwmru is a Vale-ry.
Infantry is/are l'infanterie in French, with the same meaning, a collection of infants/enfants, i.e. soldiers not grand enough to own a horse.
And cavalry/la cavalerie - a collection of horse/cheval.
Fel atodiad i'r esboniad SFBTW o Cymru, yr wyf yn tynnu sylw pobl at y ddodiad Indo-Ewropeaidd sydd fel arfer yn ymddangos yn Saesneg fel
I just put vubiant's post into google translate to help the native Cymraeg speakers amongst us...
- (D) ry. Mae'n golygu 'y lluosog o ba bynnag elfen ragflaenu'.
Felly rydym yn dod o hyd i enghreifftiau yn Saesneg fel 'Jewry', 'Lleiandy', 'Traed' 'Heddlu' etc.
Rwy'n cael y teimlad y gallai hyn fod yr ôl-ddodiad yn y gwaith yn 'Cymru'. Mae'r tebygrwydd seinegol yn awgrymu y gall fod yn gysylltiedig â'r hen ffurflen -er luosog Saesneg ond ni allaf ond dyfalu ynghylch hynny.
Bydd darllenwyr treiddgar wedi nodi bod y -ry-ddodiad yn debygol o gyfeirio at hanes blaenorol dynol yn unig er fy mod yn credu y gallai 'Gemwaith' fod yn eithriad.
Fy ngwybodaeth am Gaeleg Wyddeleg showsme yr un ôl-ddodiad cytras yn y gwaith. Mae'r gair Gaeleg ar gyfer 'poblogaeth' yw 'daonra' ble 'daon' yn golygu rhywbeth fel 'person'. Hefyd yn sefydliad ffermio ar gyfer pobl ifanc o'r enw Macra na Feirme 'ble' Macra 'yn cynnwys
'Mac' = mab + -ra = 'lluosog'.
Mae bron yn sicr yn wir bod yr elfen hon pluralising yn y gwaith mewn ieithoedd Indo-Ewropeaidd eraill. Efallai y gall SFBTW ychwanegu ymhellach at y drafodaeth hon.
I just put vubiant's post into google translate to help the native Cymraeg speakers amongst us...
- (D) ry. Mae'n golygu 'y lluosog o ba bynnag elfen ragflaenu'.
Felly rydym yn dod o hyd i enghreifftiau yn Saesneg fel 'Jewry', 'Lleiandy', 'Traed' 'Heddlu' etc.
Rwy'n cael y teimlad y gallai hyn fod yr ôl-ddodiad yn y gwaith yn 'Cymru'. Mae'r tebygrwydd seinegol yn awgrymu y gall fod yn gysylltiedig â'r hen ffurflen -er luosog Saesneg ond ni allaf ond dyfalu ynghylch hynny.
Bydd darllenwyr treiddgar wedi nodi bod y -ry-ddodiad yn debygol o gyfeirio at hanes blaenorol dynol yn unig er fy mod yn credu y gallai 'Gemwaith' fod yn eithriad.
Fy ngwybodaeth am Gaeleg Wyddeleg showsme yr un ôl-ddodiad cytras yn y gwaith. Mae'r gair Gaeleg ar gyfer 'poblogaeth' yw 'daonra' ble 'daon' yn golygu rhywbeth fel 'person'. Hefyd yn sefydliad ffermio ar gyfer pobl ifanc o'r enw Macra na Feirme 'ble' Macra 'yn cynnwys
'Mac' = mab + -ra = 'lluosog'.
Mae bron yn sicr yn wir bod yr elfen hon pluralising yn y gwaith mewn ieithoedd Indo-Ewropeaidd eraill. Efallai y gall SFBTW ychwanegu ymhellach at y drafodaeth hon.
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