However (and leaving aside the fact that this only mentions “Chinese language” but not whether it’s Mandarin or something else), wouldn’t it be better to use hànyǔ 汉语 instead of zhōngwén 中文 in a sentence like that?
As far as I can tell, zhōngwén 中文 is the preferred word when one refers to the Chinese language in general but also especially in written form, so it seems kind of not-quite-right in a context where it’s about speaking (讲) the language.
Thai: For men: “Phom phut phasaa Thai mai ben.” For women: “Dichan [or Chan, for short] phut phasaa Thai mai ben.” (“Ph” is the hard P sound. I’m not including tonal accents here.)
There are some variations, but that’s basically it.
The women’s version is this: ฉันพูดไทยไม่เป็น. On a very few occasions, I’ve heard non-gay men use “dichan” or “chan” for “I” or “me,” but that’s usually just for ladies.
Yeah, generally what I see in online chats in Latin for ‘to speak a language’ is the adverbial form of the language name in -ē plus either loquī or scīre. Capellānus has linguā Latīnā loquī, citing Nepos (macrons mine – it couldn’t be accusative).
Incidentally, I really would like to have the sentences I mentioned in my February 5th PM posting answered, regardless of the Finns’ outlook on the Russians…
All right, I’ll get the ball rolling. My Russian isn’t great, so this will want correcting.
“неуклюжий дурак!” (ne-oo-klyoo-zhee doo-rahk) = Clumsy fool! That said, I think it’s much more natural in Russian just to say “Дурак!”
“Франк, что ты здесь?” (Frank, shto tы zdyess, with ы that distinctively Russian unrounded ü). You could easily and gramatically say “Франк, что ты здесь делаешь?” (adding dyelayesh), which is literally “Frank, what are you doing here,” but I think the latter is “what is it that you are doing” and the former is more “why are you here?”
Of course, in Russian, you’d probably address Frank by either his nickname or his name and patronymic, depending on how well you knew him, and you might need the formal “you.”
I have been a soldier all my life (quoting Civil War General James Longstreet). So I have found it much more useful to be able to say: “I surrender” in many languages.
Well, I don’t know if any Soviets would have addressed Ol’ Blue Eyes as Chairman of the Board (let alone as Ol’ Blue Eyes), and they might not know his father’s name, so they would not address him as Francis Antonio; and how would the question come out with Vy instead of ty?
Also, I’ve been puzzled as to what the real sound of a consonant followed by the soft sound (myakiiznak) would be; it seems hard to add consonantal y to a “sh” sound.
The soft sign—palatalization—is not the addition of a consonantal y sound. It’s a manner of articulating a single consonant with the top surface of the middle of the tongue raised toward the hard palate. A sh sound could be articulated either with or without it, like in Polish spelling which shows the difference between retroflex sz and palatal ś.
That would be “Je me rends” in French. The “-ds” is silent so it’s pronounced something like “Juh muh ran”. “Don’t shoot” would be “Ne tirez pas” (nuh tirey pah)
