I think Chinese and Japanese are quite well represented on the Agora. We’ve had a few discussions involving features of these languages. The languages of Africa and south Pacific are those we most neglect. There is a limit to how specialist you can take your discussion of Asiatic languages. If you began a thread on the defining features of the Miao-Yao languages and their relationship with Tibeto-Burman languages, then you might be left talking to yourself…
I see your point… You think that the preponderance of IE languages is overwhelming and little attention is paid to others equally as reverent and widely spoken such as the Asiatic ones.
Well, Garzo points out the main reasons… Let me just add one more in relation with my own field: I’m not the only one Spanish-native speaker. I daresay there are 5 or so who more or less often post in this forum. Furthermore, we have usually the priceless help of some Brazilians who, whether they like it or not, are surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries, and last but not least, this is an US-hosted forum; a country where Spanish has an increasing influence. And there are more examples.
Hitherto you’re quite the only Japanese native speaker I’ve seen here, not to speak of any other Asiatic tongue. It’s not simply that Japanese or the Asiatic languages aren’t spoken by enough people here… I reckon that they aren’t [I]felt[/I] as much as others.
Regards,
WS.
PS: Nevertheless, my friends are very interested in Anime and stuff like that… However, they taught me little else than "yatta" and "yuoz" and a couple of Kanji I’ve already forgotten…. Not worthwhile asking further, I think.
[quote author=Guy link=board=a-suggest;num=1083709716;start=15#24 date=07/12/04 at 21:25:04]
Pourquois pas?
And why not a Latin word of the day - a rich source of word derivations.
Maybe we will all be able to translate PW’s quotations.
That was an easy one: "All of me I carry with me" is the literal translation as I recall. Now let’s see here . . . tippity-tappety-tip-tap-tap . . . ah yes, here it is, straight from the [s]horse’s[/s] Palewriter’s uh, whatever:
Pretty close. It’s Ovid. The translation I adhere to is "everything that I am I carry with me". I’ve tried to apply that philosophy to my life for [. . .] years.
Now, M. Henri Day’s Latin quotes took a good bit of time at the Perseus Project web site to attempt a translation.
How ‘bout this one that I modified slightly from the original to use on our astronomy club web site:
Haec nox quam fecit Dominus: exultemus et laetemur in ea
(This is the night the Lord has made: Let us exult and rejoice in it.)
[quote author=Robert P. link=board=a-suggest;num=1083709716;start=0#0 date=05/04/04 at 18:28:36]Perhaps a section for conversing in other languages e.g. a French section, German section etc…. of the forum would be nice. Not only would it open up the forum to those who aren’t as comfortable using English, but would also provide an area where we who are can practice our newly (or not so newly) acquired languages.
Just a thought…
Robert
...Although then you have to decide which languages to choose, because certainly we cannot have forums for all languages…:)
Actually, you can just start your own thread under the World Languages section in the Language Forum. The description says it all:
Discuss issues regarding the many world languages besides English.
If the topic takes on a life of its own I’m quite certain the Board God could be convinced to make it a section unto itself. After all, the Idioms section didn’t exist until I suggested it way back when.
[quote author=anders link=board=a-suggest;num=1083709716;start=15#28 date=08/03/04 at 05:03:00]Gulliver’s Travels should carry a warning for the Spanish and Portuguese. The flying island in the third part is named Laputa.
Interesting… in the (otherwise) excellent Portuguese translation I remember having read when I was a kid, the name of the island is rendered as Labuta, which to most of us, Romance languages speakers, suggests hard work going on. Now I can’t recall if did the islanders work that hard indeed.
