Mi aĉetis antaÅ kelkaj jaroj La Mastro de l’ Ringoj de J. R. R. Tolkien, kaj komencis legi Äin. Sed estis malrapide, kaj ÄeniÄe, ĉar mi kutimas legi angle tre facile kaj flue. Sed dum la lastaj du aÅ tri semajnoj Åajnas ke mi atingis novan lertnivelon, ĉar mi eblas legi multe pli rapide. AntaÅ nun mi apenaÅ sekvis la hobitojn for de la Provinco, sed ĉimomente oni restas en Rivendelo. Min amuzas esti pliboniganta mian lerton je iu temo. Prizorgi du infanoj malviglecigas min.
Category: Linguistics
Exercises in translation
Over the summer I have been working on translating a short story from classical Greek to English. Some discussion and an excerpt are available at my new site Chalcolith.com. The full story is available at Amazon or Smashwords.
—How, he says, shall we comprehend the kingdom of God, and by what analogy shall we illuminate it?
Like a mustard seed, which, when sown on the earth, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth, [but] when sown, rises up and becomes greater than all the [other] herbs, and grows branches so great that all the birds of the sky can roost in its shade.
Paschal Greeting
I led a brief multilingual Paschal Greeting in church this past Easter Sunday. When I was researching the greetings I found the Wikipedia article and various websites not very useful for getting actual pronunciations. With the help of more research and some native speakers I came up with the following list. The second line of each part is my attempt a phonetic transcription, and the third line is aimed at getting native English speakers as close as possible (for monolingual English speakers) to something resembling the actual pronunciation.
English
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
[ kʰɹÉʲst ɪz ˈɹɪznÌ© hi ɪz ˈɹɪznÌ© ɪn.ˈdiËd ]
Kraist ihz RIH-zen! Hee ihz RIH-zen ihn-DEED!
French
Christ est ressuscité! Il est vraiment ressuscité!
[ kʀist ɛ ʀe.ˌsy.si.ˈte il ɛ ˈvʀɛ.mã ʀe.ˌsy.si.ˈte ]
Kreest ay ray-SÜÜ-see-TAY! Eel ay VREH-mahn ray-SÜÜ-see-TAY!
Cantonese
基ç£å¾©æ´»äº†! 他確實復活了!
[ kei˦˥ tÉ”kÌš Ë¥ fÉ”kÌš ˨ wÊŠtÌš ˨ liuË˩˨ taË˦ kÉ”k̚˦ sÊŒt̚˦ fÉ”kÌš ˨ wÊŠtÌš ˨ liuË˩˨ ]
GAY DOLK folk wuht leew! TAA KOLK SUT folk wuht leew!
Spanish
¡Cristo ha resucitado! ¡En verdad ha resucitado!
[ ˈkɾis.to a ɾe.ËŒsu.si.ˈtaË.ðo ɛɱ βɛɾ.ˈɗaËð a ɾe.ËŒsu.si.ˈtaË.ðo ]
KREES-to ah ray-SU-si-TA-dho! En ver-DADH ah ray-SU-si-TA-dho!
Mandarin
基ç£å¾©æ´»äº†! (JÄ«dÅ« fùhuóle) 他確實復活了! (TÄ quèshà fùhuóle)
[ tÉ•iËË¥.tu˦ fu˥˩.xu̯ɔ˩˥.lɯ̯ʌ˧ tÊ°aË˦ tÉ•Ê°y̯œ˥˩.Ê‚iË©Ë¥ fu˥˩.xu̯ɔ˩˥.lɯ̯ʌ˧ ]
CHEE-DOO FOo-khwO-luh! TAA CHwö-shI FOo-khwO-luh!
German
Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!
[ krist.us ɪst ËŒau̯f.eÉ̯ˤ.ˈʃtan.dɨn eÉ̯ˤ ɪst vaˤ.ˈhaf.tiç ËŒau̯f.eÉ̯ˤ.ˈʃtan.dɨn ]
KREES-toos ihst AWF-eya-SHTAHN-den! Eya ihst vaa-HAHF-teekh AWF-eya-SHTAHN-den!
Korean
예수 부활 하셨네! 참으로 부활 하셨네!
[ ˈje.su ˈpu.ɸʷÉl ˈhaÉ•ËjÉ”nËÉ› ˈtÉ•Ém.u.ɾo ˈpu.ɸʷÉl ˈhaÉ•ËjÉ”nËÉ› ]
YAY-soo BOO-hwal HASS-yon-ne! CHAM-oo-ro BOO-hwal HASS-yon-ne!
Arabic
!Ø§Ù„Ù…Ø³ÙŠØ Ù‚Ø§Ù…! Øقاً قام
[ Éœl mÉœ.ˈsiËʲħ qÉ‘Ëm ˈħÉqË.Én qÉ‘Ëm ]
El-ma-SEE-ehh QAHM! HHAQ-qan qahm!
Greek
ΧÏιστός ἀνÎστη! Ἀληθῶς ἀνÎστη!
[ xɾi.ˈstÉ”s aˈnÉ›s.ti a.li.ˈθɔËs aˈnÉ›s.ti ]
Hree-STOESS a-NESS-tee! A-lee-THOESS a-NESS-tee!
Noam Chomsky is like the Swamp King
When I first came here, this was all a swamp of structural linguistics. Everyone said I was daft to build a Universal Grammar on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them.
First I built a Transformational Grammar. That sank into the swamp.
Then I built a Government and Binding. That fell over and sank into the swamp.
So I built a Minimalist Program. That burned down, fell over, and sank into the swamp.
But Recursion stayed up!
Until that pesky Dan Everett came up out of the Amazonian swamp…
Apologies to Monty Python.