Because I am becoming ever more interested in linguistics, I am trying to learn simple phrases in as many different languages as possible, and bulletining them here in the language lab. Here's what I've got so far:

How to Say 'Hello' and 'Goodbye' in Ten Tongues

ENGLISH	Hello	Goodbye
FRENCH	Bonjour	Au revoir
ITALIAN	Buon giorno	Arrivederchi
SPANISH	Buenas dìas	Adìos
GERMAN	Guten tag	Auf wiedersehen!
CZECH	Dobrý den	Na schledanou!
HUNGARIAN	Jó napot	Viszlát
RUSSIAN	Zdravstvuyte	Do svidaniya
JAPANESE	Konnichiwa	Sayonara
CHINESE	Ni hao	Zaì jiàn

Notes:
1. The 'j' in 'bonjour' sounds like 'sh'; 'au revoir' is often pronounced as one word: "are-voir'.
2. Italian is a phonetic language: "bwOn-gyore-no"; "ah-rive-ah-dere-chee'.
3. If you live in California, you've used these Spanish phrases already. (Hint: the 'i's are stressed.)
4. Fairly phonetic in the German, I think...
5. For the Czech, I'm guessing stress on the 'y', and "na schledanou' is pronounced similarly to the russian 'da svidaniya'.
6. Like many Slavic languages, in Hungarian 'j' sounds like 'y'; otherwise, pretty phonetic.
7. Transliterated from the cyrillic alphabet, "Zdravstvuyte' sounds like "strass-veet-yuh"; you've heard 'do svidaniya' in the movies before...
8. Do I even need to bother with an explanation for the Japanese?
9. 'Ni hao' is pretty phonetic; 'zai jian' is like "sai-shin".

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Feel free to offer any corrections...

(Actually, I had this yummy spam-rice-seaweed wrap thing over break that was delish, but anyhow...)

Stolen from

docbrite: Regional Dialect Meme!

+(My region being Sacramento, of course...XP)

What do you call:

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
Those cement canals that drain into the river.

2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
Cart.

3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
Lunchbox.

4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
Frying pan.

5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
Couch.

6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
Gutter.

7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
Porch (or Patio).

8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverage.
Soda.

9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
Pancakes.

10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
Sub? XP

11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
Swim trunks... pool shorts? *shrug*

12. Shoes worn for sports.
Sneakers... or tennis shoes?

13. Putting a room in order.
Cleaning... organizing?

14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
Firefly... though we don't really have 'em around here that I've seen. So, either mosquitoes or cars.

15. The little insect that curls up into a ball.
I don't know what they're called. Sometimes we called 'em curliecues.

16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down.
Seesaw.

17. How do you eat your pizza?
In bites you can count on one hand. XP (Though when we were younger, those Pizza Hut commercials brainwashed us to eat the crust first, so I'm fond of that part, but last... those cheese-filled crusts were the best! ^_^)

18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
Garage sale.

19. What's the evening meal?
Meal? XP (Dinner, I've heard...)

20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?
I don't know if it's better to have a basement on a flood plain or not, but most houses don't have them, they just have an empty space under there...*shrug*

21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
Drinking fountain.

22: If something is diagonally located, where is it in relation to you?
I have no idea... across the street? That corner over there? *shrug*

23. What do you call the place where the water comes out of the sink?
Faucet.

And one I (docbrite) added:

24. What are the four points of the compass?
Gold Country (Folsom Lake, Roseville, Auburn, Placerville); Stockton/Modesto/Lodi; San Francisco/Bay Area; Sierra Nevada/Lake Tahoe.

*I *really* need a Sacramento icon...;.;

 

Lots of stuff going on the past few days... but I'm waiting for it all to pan out before I spill the beans.

Actually, I've spent most of the last two days labouring over this translation; my Italian is come-ci come-ca at best (only got to il passato prossimo), so I did this using both the excellent Word-Reference dictionary site and an archaic italian dictionary from 1611... and Grennan's helpfully literal translation. XP

(His is actually a fairly good translation, I just make different choices, and go for my own tone it seems. Methinks the boi dost improve as renderer of verse written in foreign tongues!...or something like that. XP)

Now to see if LJ will let me do parallel texts... *crosses self*

NON. Okay,

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Comments are welcome, even if you don't know Italian... It's not that my translation is so loose, but I was trying to find layers, and equivocate something of Leopardi's music here. (Did I mention this was l"italiano nihilist suffering from domestic entrapment, romantic failure, and general misery and early death? Yeah, 1820's fer ya...)

Grennan's introduction helped illuminate things as well (not just his translation, but, yanno, the *theory*), and taking into account the supposed "impossibilities" of Leopardi... I think I might try line-breaks to smooth out his transitions? And though I don't stray as far from actual meaning as Grennan does, I do have the little quirks of twisting the language for double meanings, or basically anything that I thought was more in Leopardi's spirit.

Basically, does this sound like romantic poetry? Or at least, less emo and more gothic? Thanks! ^_^

Hey, if you can, and wish to hear both my beautiful voice and taste in music, listen to the Mann Show tomorrow (Wednesday.) at 7p.m. (link to listen is here: http://www.live365.com/stations/kpoet?site=pro)

Directly after that, at 8, I have to get to "The Crucible", in which my lesbian lover, Branden, is playing Abigail. So my day tomorrah is gonna be packed. Then Midterm on Thursday in AICH, followed by a test in French right after that--yikes!

Meanwhile, due to the fact that we're getting ever deeper into grammar in French, I'm pulling out my old Italian notes and grammar book, because I feel like it's fallen to the wayside. So, this summer, I *need* to take an Italian class... and voice lessons. *crosses fingers* Oh, yeah, and I'll need a job too--however will I find that? I guess I'll just temp, m'kay? That's what I suggested 

hikari_leo do, seeing as she's looking lately, too.

Okay, so that's the plan! Listen in tomorrah, and I'll let you know how Gender Club goes on Thursday! ^_^