Search found 543 matches

by Rui
Sat Oct 03, 2015 9:37 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language
Replies: 112
Views: 22372

Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Do Japanese really call "testicles" 金玉? LOL. The standard word in Chinese is 睾丸 as far as I know. I also Googled and found that that's the hanja for Kim Ok who was Kim Jong Il's secretary OK, it's not the "standard" word, but it's the one I know. 睾丸 or 精巣 are listed as "anatomical terms" in my dict...
by Rui
Sat Oct 03, 2015 9:33 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: "this one" for "i"?
Replies: 9
Views: 3542

Re: "this one" for "i"?

The standard/common word for "I, me" in Mandarin is 我 but in very formal language, 本人 ("this person") also refers to the speaker. I've seen it used on dating sites/apps before too, to clarify that the person is/isn't using fake pictures to conceal their identity, i.e. 照片(非)本人 ("photo[s] (aren't) min...
by Rui
Sun Sep 27, 2015 2:09 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Venting thread that still excludes eddy (2)
Replies: 2639
Views: 301372

Re: Venting thread that embraces everyone without distinctio

I don't think I've ever heard a native speaker of American English use the word "thongs" as footwear in a context where they weren't making fun of Australian English.
by Rui
Sun Sep 27, 2015 1:45 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language
Replies: 112
Views: 22372

Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Do Japanese really call "testicles" 金玉? LOL. The standard word in Chinese is 睾丸 as far as I know. I also Googled and found that that's the hanja for Kim Ok who was Kim Jong Il's secretary
by Rui
Sun Sep 27, 2015 1:16 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Duolingo
Replies: 2
Views: 1307

Re: Duolingo

Funny you just posted this thread today, as I just logged in for the first time in probably about a year to clear my courses and start over. I definitely agree that it's more a matter of maintaining motivation to study and learning vocab than anything else really, but that's still something, and it'...
by Rui
Thu Jul 16, 2015 6:30 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: please call stella
Replies: 23
Views: 7365

Re: please call stella

Here's mine: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0j6qq4OnoAx

I always hate listening to my voice >.< I sound so squeaky.
by Rui
Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:11 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: What are you listening to? -- Non-English Edition
Replies: 1735
Views: 352038

Re: What are you listening to? -- Non-English Edition

An a cappella group that I follow just covered this song, so now I'm listening to it...I need to work on my Tagalog vocabulary

Sarah Geronimo - Kilometro
by Rui
Thu May 21, 2015 10:53 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Chinese thread
Replies: 108
Views: 23476

Re: Chinese thread

Huh I never really thought about the phonetic values of the nasalized vowels... I speak with a Beijing accent and always assumed it was just [V~] but actually your analysis fits my pronunciation way better. (Though I'm still non-native, I do get told I have a fairly Beijing-ish accent, anyway. Makes...
by Rui
Wed May 20, 2015 9:56 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Duolingo
Replies: 50
Views: 16681

Re: Duolingo

I'll also add that, like those spaced repetition flashcard apps like Anki and Memrise, it can get really daunting if you miss a day or more due to personal life or whatever issues that make you unable to log in for a while. Everything piles up and it can become overwhelming to have so much to review...
by Rui
Wed May 20, 2015 9:41 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Austronesian alignment
Replies: 4
Views: 1825

Re: Austronesian alignment

This post is specifically about Tagalog: Binasa nang tao ang aklat. b<in>asa nang tao ang aklat <PST.P>read IND person DIR book The book was read by a person. Bumasa nang aklat ang tao. b<um>asa nang aklat ang tao <PST.A>read IND book DIR person A person read the book. Binilhán nang tao nang aklat a...
by Rui
Mon May 18, 2015 6:27 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Duolingo
Replies: 50
Views: 16681

Re: Duolingo

I used to use Duolingo for German, Portuguese, and Irish. I quickly dropped Irish after it was clear the pronunciations were horrible. I dropped German shortly after (which I had just been using to maintain, not to learn) as I became more and more frustrated with the limitations of what was an accep...
by Rui
Tue May 12, 2015 6:13 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Venting thread that still excludes eddy (2)
Replies: 2639
Views: 301372

Re: Venting thread that excludes sirdanilot

After doing all this, and with more to come, my basic question is, HOW ON EARTH DO STUDENTS JUST UP AND STUDY ABROAD SO EASILY? Who is doing all of this for them, because I need that person. Which part? For me it was easy as applying to a program and they literally send me all the stuff I'll need, ...
by Rui
Sun May 10, 2015 12:07 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Venting thread that still excludes eddy (2)
Replies: 2639
Views: 301372

Re: Venting thread

You're on a linguistics forum. No one cares if you split your infinitives. Many people here probably do as well.
by Rui
Sun May 03, 2015 11:06 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Venting thread that still excludes eddy (2)
Replies: 2639
Views: 301372

Re: Venting thread

I'm a quarter, which by Irish standards means I'm allowed to apply for citizenship, so I did, agus anois is Éireannach mé . What about you? You're Canadian so ... are you also French? As someone who is also 1/4 Irish...what? (Not that I am going to do this, if I can, I just find it interesting) The...
by Rui
Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:09 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Happy Things Thread
Replies: 969
Views: 370291

Re: Happy Things Thread

If only there was a page linked to on the 3rd paragraph of zompist's link that would answer your question (It's also pretty evident that there's a significant Romani community from the TLC show "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding" which is...well, it's a TLC show so that tells you everything you nee...
by Rui
Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:33 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Happy Things Thread
Replies: 969
Views: 370291

Re: Happy Things Thread

I've done a map like Viktor's, from the same website (iirc we found it independent of each other), though I'm not quite as hardcore as Viktor is. It's just something for my knowledge in a "hey, cool" type of thing, not something I'm actively working to complete. This is my map, the legend is on the ...
by Rui
Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:14 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Happy Things Thread
Replies: 969
Views: 370291

Re: Happy Things Thread

[All I am saying is that the attitude of some people here is very anglo-centric in that they expect learners of English to have perfect command of the language and know very infrequent and unimportant words that have to do with a domain that 99% of the population hardly ever talks about, i.e. makin...
by Rui
Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:46 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Chinese thread
Replies: 108
Views: 23476

Re: Chinese thread

How do you distinguish between "i see an interesting book" and "i'm reading an interesting book" in chinese? Same as in English: by your choice of a verb. IANANS, but I think "我看見一本有趣的書" would be clearly understood as "I see an interesting book". It's all in the presence of 見, which also means "see...
by Rui
Thu Apr 09, 2015 10:03 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Happy Things Thread
Replies: 969
Views: 370291

Re: Happy Things Thread

"yarn" is one of those technical terms that every native speakers knows. "drop spindle" is not. I have no idea what it is without googling, for example.
by Rui
Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:11 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Chinese thread
Replies: 108
Views: 23476

Re: Chinese thread

Really? Because it means exactly what it sounds like. It's not like iotation or schwas are unique to Chinese...
by Rui
Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:47 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Chinese thread
Replies: 108
Views: 23476

Re: Chinese thread

How is it not diachronic? It went from [i~ɪ] to [jə~jɤ]. Other varieties maintain the high front vowel, the Beijing-area dialect shifted at some point. Phonemically it's probably /i/, definitely not /jə/, if only because most varieties of Mandarin maintain [i~ɪ] in that position. I'm not even sure i...
by Rui
Fri Mar 20, 2015 11:06 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Chinese thread
Replies: 108
Views: 23476

Re: Chinese thread

[ʂyː˧˥] would definitely be wrong, if only because the vowel is definitely not rounded.
by Rui
Sat Mar 14, 2015 12:56 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Chinese pronunciation of Japanese names
Replies: 27
Views: 7753

Re: Chinese pronunciation of Japanese names

One of the "readings" of 比 in Sino-Viet is tỉ. 毕 is tất 鼻 is tị or tì 必 is tất as well 币 is tệ 滨 is tân 避 is tị So it looks like it's mostly bi syllables in Mandarin with two bin (though there's no pattern in Cantonese). Most of them are 4th tone, except 比 and 鼻 (and also, 闭, 4th tone, is bế), and t...
by Rui
Fri Mar 13, 2015 8:25 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Happy Things Thread
Replies: 969
Views: 370291

Re: Happy Things Thread

I've tried to do genealogy online before, but it usually leads to dead ends around the turn of 1900, considering none of my direct family members were in the US at that time and I don't want to pay to use the international search features on ancestry.com (not that I expect much from the Philippines,...
by Rui
Fri Mar 13, 2015 6:34 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Chinese pronunciation of Japanese names
Replies: 27
Views: 7753

Re: Chinese pronunciation of Japanese names

Brackets are where hanviet.org didn't have a transcription for a rare character, or where there appeared to be something weird with the transcription (three cases of this: Cant. sơi vs. SV nhu , Cant. bân vs. SV tân , and Cant. miện vs. SV diện .) Actually there's a standard correspondence between ...