European Day of Languages

The European Union has recently celebrated the European Day of Languages, namely last Friday 26th September, so I could not skip citing this international event on my blog.

The poster below depicts different proverbs and quotes from recognized literates in all of the European Union official languages expect for Croatian (they had not joined the EU by the time this poster was created). So I have picked a Croatian proverb to close the circle.

These are the translated proverbs into English:

Aprender a hablar es aprender a traducir. (Spanish)

Learning how to speak is learning how to translate.

Två av språkets grymmaste ord: FÖR SENT. (Swedish)

Two of the language's cruelest words: too late.

Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen. (German)

Whoever does not know foreign languages knows nothing about themselves.

Mais pode durar um bom costume e vocábulo do que um padrão. (Portuguese)

A good custom and word can last more than a pattern.

Quand on se fait entendre, on parle toujours bien. (French)

When you make yourself heard, you always speak well.

Kdor jezika špara, kruha strada. (Slovenian)

Who saves his mouth, starves.

Vyřčené slovo nevrátíš. (Czech)

A word spoken is past recalling.

Η στρέβλωση τής γλώσσας είναι συνυφασμένη με τη στρέβλωση τού λογικού. (Greek)

The distortion of language is intertwined with the distortion of logic.

Kas siis selle maa keel laulu tuules ei või taevani tõustes üles igavikku omale otsida? (Estonian)

Is it the case that the earth is not a song in the wind, or the sky rocketed to yourself to look into eternity?

A niechaj narodowie wżdy postronni znają, iż Polacy nie gęsi, iż swój język mają. (Polish) 

Let it by all and sundry foreign nations be known that Poles speak not Anserine but a tongue of their own.

Det er pudsigt, at der med de relativt få ord, som findes i sproget, kan siges så meget sludder. (Danish)

It is funny that with the relatively few words existing in a language, so much nonsense can be said.

Nyelvében él a nemzet. (Hungarian)

The language of living in the nation.

Kun kieli kuolee, kieli väreineen, kieli vivahduksineen, kuolee kansa. (Finnish) 

When a language dies, language dyes, language tinges, people die.

Un linguaggio diverso è una diversa visione della vita. (Italian)

A different language is a different vision of life.

Koľko jazykov vieš, toľkokrát si človekom. (Slovak) 

The more language you know, the more of a person you are.

Kalboje tauta pasisako, kas esanti. (Lithuanian)

Speech to the nation in favor of what it is worth.

Ħobb, jekk jiswewlek, l-Ilsna barranija, iżda le tbarri lil min hu ta' ġewwa (Maltese)

Please help! Pending translation

Kur auša runā, tur gudrais cieš klusu. (Latvian) 

Please help! Pending translation

Een goed verstaander heeft maar een half woord nodig. (Dutch)

A good listener only needs a few words.

Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of people. (English)

на мълчашия не можеш да му отнемеш думата. (Bulgarian) 

You cannot take the word of the silent.

Limba este întâiul mare poem al unui popor. (Romanian) 

Language is the firstborn great poem of a people.

Tír gan teanga - tír gan anam. (Irish) 

A country without a language - a country without a soul.

Bez muke nema nauke. (Croatian) 

No pain, no gain.
--

PS: I am sorry for some of the bad translations. I cannot speak all the official European languages, if only I could! I would be grateful if you could collaborate and help properly translate the quote / proverb in your language.




Image source: European Commission DG Translation's Facebook page: Translating for Europe

Llanito

Gibraltar National Day has been celebrated on Wednesday 10th September, so this week's entry goes to the llanitos (the Gibraltarians).

The official language in Gibraltar is English, as its sovereignity belongs to the United Kingdom, but Spanish is also widely spoken due to the geographical proximity to Spain (the city is located in a peninsula connected to Spain).

The mixture of Andalusian Spanish, spoken in the neighbouring Spanish region of Andalusia and British English comprise the Gibraltarian dialect "Llanito". This dialect also takes some loanwords from other Mediterranean languages such as Hebrew, Genovese or Maltese.

This dialect sounds utterly weird for either Spanish or English native speakers (including myself, as I perceived few days ago during a short visit to the city), as both languages are mixed in mid-sentence. For instance:

English: Man, I'm telling you (that) you can't...

Spanish: Hombre, te digo que no puedes...

Llanito: Hombre, I'm telling you que no puede...

Other expressions translated into Llanito, Spanish and English that prove this peculiar mixture are:

English: I'll call you back.

Español: Te llamo de vuelta.

Llanito: Te llamo pa tras (literal translation of back from Andalusian Spanish).


English: Apply for a job

Español: Apuntarse a una oferta de empleo

Llanito: Aplicar para un puesto de trabajo (literal translation from English)


English: credit card

Español: tarjeta de crédito

Llanito: cartón


English: plumber

Español: fontanero

Llanito: plomero


English: pigeon

Spanish: paloma

Llanito: palomo

Vorarlbergerisch

I am going to dedicate this opening entry to Vorarlberg and their dialect (Vorarlbergerisch). Vorarlberg is the westernmost Bundesland (region) in Austria, bordering Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein.

I had the chance to visit this beautiful region back in 2010 and I was able to learn some peculiarities about its dialect thanks to the locals I spent my time with, whose help I really appreciate.

Vorarlbergerisch is not comparable to the rest of Austrian dialects, closer to standard German, because it stems from Alemannisch, group of dialects which also comprises Schwitza Dytch -Schweizer Deutsch or Swiss German, spoken by around 60℅ of the Swiss- and other dialects in southern Germany (Baden-Würtemberg), to cite but a few. Alemannisch differs from High German (Hochdeutsch) when it comes to spelling or pronunciation, so it is hardly understandable even for German-speaking natives. The variations of each dialect from town to town could be deemed as an aggravating factor, to the extent that locals in e.g. Götzis and Lustenau (Vorarlberg) might not understand each other.

The grammatical singularities of Vorarlbergisch might lead to mistakes when writing German. Although High German is indeed taught at schools and texts in the press are written in Hochdeutsch, the Vorarlberger always speak in their dialect, so they do not mind speaking High German or English equally, as neither of these are their common way of speaking.

Some characteristics of Vorarlbergerisch

· ei -> i     e.g. bei -> bi , weißt -> wisst, but Ei -> Ei.

  au -> u e.g. Haus -> Hus, auf -> uf, aus -> us.

  a -> o     e.g. Strasse -> Stross, Strafe -> Strof

· gesprochen -> gesprocht

  Ich weiss nicht -> i waas net (similar to Wienerisch, the dialect in Vienna)

  Deutsch -> Dytch

  Mich, mein -> mi

  ich auch --> i o

  man kann -> ma ka

  Setzt dich! -> Hock ahe!
  gewesen -> gsi

  Wie bitte? -> hä?
  Fenster oder Tür -> Loch

· g'hörig -> a versatile expression, e.g. used to answer "gut" to the question Wia hea schas? -> Wie geht's dir?
· They use od'r? at the end of many sentences, not meaning exactly the same as "oder?" in Hochdeutsch.

· One remarkable feature is the usage of diminutives for almost every noun. However, it is not formed with -chen like in High German, but rather with -le. For instance:

  · Land -> Ländle (colloquial way of naming Vorarlberg)
  · Laden -> Lädele
  · Stiege -> Stiagele
· The Vorarlberger always address a person using "Du" (informal "you" in High German) and never with "Sie" (formal German address of "you"). Nevertheless this does not have to do with lack of politeness. 

· Double negatives: Incorrect in Hochdeutsch, but allowed in Vorarlbergerisch. For instance, the sentence: "Ich habe nicht keine Chancen" is wrong in Standard German.
·  The "r" sound is articulated differently than in High German.

 · Relative clauses: instead of using "der, das, die..." as relative pronouns to link clauses just like in Hochdeutsch, they use wo or was.

Introduction & Presentation

Welcome to my language blog!
Bienvenido a mi blog de idiomas!
Herzlich willkommen auf meinem Sprachenblog!
Bienvenu-Bienvenue à mon blog de langues!
Benvenuto-Benvenuta nel mio blog de lingue!

My name is Juan Valentín (Juan is the first name and Valentín my middle name) and I'm a 28-year-old bloke from Madrid, Spain with a background in IT.

Last month I came up with the idea of writing this blog to share my true passion: languages. So here we are! Not only do I intend to share my knowledge in the languages I know so far to some extent (Spanish, English, German, French, Italian and Mandarin Chinese) and those I get to pick up some day -if any-, but also to engage the blog readers to express their insights and fill some knowledge gaps or curiosities that could be beneficial for everyone. The topics I will be focusing on might vary interchangeably from phonetics to grammar or vocabulary.

You might wonder why I chose this name for the blog... Originally I got this Little Britain's Marjorie Dawes's catchphrase, who acts as the Fat Fighters coach. She would constantly make fun of Meera, one Indian attendee, by making her repeat any time she intervened, as if the coach did not understand Indian English. I certainly do not want to mock anyone for their accents, but rather to highlight the differences between different accents such as Indian English, American English or Canadian French comparing to the standard dialects or even how a certain language is spoken by native speakers and by those using it as a second language. I think that these peculiarities do make languages look more thrilling and fascinating.

I will struggle to provide at least one new entry per week. The next entry is coming up thorughout the present week.

I would be extremely glad for your suggestions, as I am new at this. I really wish this blog can be of your interest and that you enjoy it at ease, just like I will for sure :) So let's get started!