Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

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Pole, the
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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Pole, the »

I am not a native Anglophone, but the only time I have heard “maize” was from German, Dutch and French people. Except they mere mispronouncing it as /maɪs/, so probably they didn't know the English word and were only using the word from their respective mother tongue.
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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Vijay »

I've actually seen both in books from India. I have an Indian children's story where a bunny goes to visit her grandmother who gives him lots of food to eat, including "corn and maize."

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by jal »

Pole, the wrote:Except they mere mispronouncing it as /maɪs/, so probably they didn't know the English word and were only using the word from their respective mother tongue.
Pedant alert: you can't pronounce something //, you pronounce it [] :).

The Dutch pronunciation is indeed [mɑjs] or [majs]. I don't think I've ever heard Dutch people pronounce it like that when speaking English, but I can imagine someone would (there's a lot of Dutch people who speak and/or pronounce English quite badly). I've learned at school (about 20 years ago), that the Brits call it "maize", but apparently that's old fashioned. The Wikipedia talk page on "maize" is dedicated to why it should be called "corn". Quite funny.


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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Vijay »

OK, here are the Malayalam terms for all of these (of course, as I already said, I didn't know most of these, so I looked them up and said so below). I'm including both the original picture and the English terms because I can't even identify some of these things just from the picture:
Imralu wrote:
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Image
English
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1. lung(s)
2. trachea, windpipe
3. liver
#? spleen
4. large intestine
5. small intestine
6. ovary, ovaries
7. uterus, womb
8. penis (dick, cock, schlong, wang ...)
9. scrotum, teste(s), testicle(s) (ballsack, balls ...)
10. bladder
11. kidney(s)
12. stomach
13. heart
14. ear(s)
15. brain ... my brain's name is Brian.
More: show
1. Didn't know this one. It's ശ്വാസകോശം [ɕʋaːsəˈgoːɕəm].
2. Didn't know this one, either: ശ്വാസനാളം [ɕʋaːsəˈn̪aːɭəm]
3. കരൾ [kəˈɾəɭ]. I know this one because in Malayalam, the seat of emotions isn't the heart; it's the liver. :) But didn't know these:
4. വൻകുടൽ [ˈʋənguɖɛl]
5. ചെറുകുടൽ [t͡ʃɛˈruguɖɛl]
6. Apparently, this can be called either അണ്ഡകോശം [əɳɖəˈgoːɕəm] or ബീജകോശം [biːd͡ʒəˈgoːɕəm]. So I guess where either eggs or semen (respectively) is kept - maybe you could argue that once an egg is fertilized, the semen that fertilized it is "kept" in some sense - though of course the second one can also be used for #9.
7. ഗർഭകോശം [gərbʱəˈgoːɕəm] or, perhaps more commonly, ഗർഭപാത്രം [gərbʱəˈbaːt̪rəm]
8. This I do know. ലിംഗം. (There's also a swearword version of this I know, but I'm definitely not sharing that with non-Malayalees, especially while I'm still living with my parents!)
9. വൃഷണം [ʋrɯˈʃəɳəm]. Huh. I'm sure I've seen this word before, but I don't think I ever realized that's what it meant!
10. മൂത്രകോശം [muːt̪rəˈgoːɕəm]. I wonder whether I've ever seen this one. I might have. (My dictionaries seem to disagree a bit on this one).
11. I had totally forgotten this word: വൃക്ക [ʋrɯˈka].
12. The rest of these are easy. വയറ് [ˈʋajərɯ]
13. ഹൃദയം [hrɯˈd̪ejəm]
14. ചെവി [t͡ʃɛˈʋi]
15. തലച്ചോറ് [t̪ələˈt͡ʃoːrɯ]

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Salmoneus »

I grew up taught to call maize 'maize'. Generally, though, I would call the foodstuff 'sweetcorn'. I don't think I've ever heard anyone call it just 'corn', which would be weird to me, as 'corn' by itself is a cereal grain (primarily wheat). Except in phrases like ''corn-on-the-cob'.

So I would call the food 'sweetcorn'; however, I generally still call it 'maize' when it's actually out in the fields. Likewise I would be happy to talk about fields of corn, meaning fields of wheat (or other cereal) - but I rarely say 'corn' when talking about it as a food, as it's old-fashioned and potentially ambiguous.

I think it's important to know that 'corn' used to unproblematically mean 'wheat', though, because other than in the US, any appearance of the word in history and literature up to the sixties, and in economics for some time after that, will refer to wheat - from the King James Bible to the Corn Laws.
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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Qwynegold »

jal wrote:
Qwynegold wrote:*If uneaten. Otherwise I don't know if we have words for these as corn is not native to Europe.
Neither are the people that eat them in the 'Merica's.
So? :?
jal wrote:
Qwynegold wrote:Window stuff: 8. What is this even?
It's a window stay. It's used to keep a top tilting window open to a certain width.


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Ah, I see. It's difficult to make out in that picture.
Travis B. wrote:The word corn in English, like German Korn, originally meant the grain most commonly grown in an area, with the specialization to mean maize being specific to North American English.
That's interesting, because in Swedish korn means both grain and barley.
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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Viktor77 »

Could you pass driver's ed in a foreign language?

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

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My attempt in French:
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1. Le volant
2. Not sure about the 'dashboard' or 'speedometer' or 'odometer' le tableau de bord avec le compteur (de vitesse) et l'odomètre
3. La clé d'ignition
la clé/clef de contact (of course it would be different...)
4. L'accelérateur I missed an accent l'accélérateur
5. Le frein
6. I've learned this word a hundred times but never manage to remember it l'embrayage
7. La ceinture de sécurité
8. Le frein d'urgence? le frein à main (we can also say handbrake in English but I say emergency brake)
9. I'm not sure about "gearstick/shifter" but 'gears' are les vitesses of course it was just le levier de vitesse
10. Le radiateur probably for the system, but embarrassingly I don't know what a 'vent' is a vent is la bouche apparently
11. La siège le siège (when I wrote this I knew I had a 50/50 chance of getting the gender right)
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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Vijay »

There aren't words for any of those things in Malayalam. :D We just use the English ones.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by jal »

English:
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1. steering wheel
2. odometer
3. ignition key
4. accelarator
5. break
6. clutch
7. safety belt
8. manual break?
9. ?
10. air vent?
Dutch, in case you're curious Vik:
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1. stuur
2. snelheidsmeter
3. (auto)sleutel
4. gaspedaal
5. rem
6. koppeling
7. (veiligheids)gordel, -riem
8. handrem
9. versnellingspook
10. luchtrooster
11. stoel

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by clawgrip »

vijay, no words for any of them? Not even seat? And wouldn't that mean that the language does have those words, but that they're just borrowed from English?

Japanese:
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1. ハンドル handoru the handle. This one bugs me a bit.
2. 速度計 sokudokei
3. 鍵 kagi ? (evidently this can also just be イグニッションキー igunisshon kī...)
4. アクセル akuseru
5. ブレーキ burēki
6. ? (クラッチ kuratchi...should have guessed)
7. シートベルト shītoberuto
8. ハンドブレーキ handoburēki? (evidently this is right, but パーキングブレーキ pākingu burēki and 駐車ブレーキ chūsha burēki are also possible)
9. ? (変速レバー hensoku rebā or チェンジレバー chenji rebā...change lever, an example of the more annoying type of Japanese made-up English)
10. ベント bento? (I still don't know. I don't know how to look this up to confirm what it is)
11. 運転席 untenseki
Jal:
More: show
1. steering wheel
2. odometer - speedometer; odometer measures distance travelled
3. ignition key
4. accelarator - accelerator
5. break - brake
6. clutch
7. safety belt - also "seat belt"
8. manual break? - parking brake, emergency brake, hand brake
9. ? - gearshift, gear stick, gear lever
10. air vent?

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by jal »

clawgrip wrote:Jal:
Thanks. Yeah, speedometer. *slaps forehead* Oh, brake, duh!. *slaps forehead again* Seat belt - of course. I passively knew gear*, would probably have understood if someone mentioned it. I see I forget 11. Here you go.



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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Viktor77 »

Dutch was interesting. I wish I could tell you that I knew any of those words in Dutch before but I can't.

BTW I don't think anyone says "safety belt." It's exclusively a "seatbelt" isn't? "Safety belt" sounds like a very understandable almost correct but ultimately incorrect guess.

Also I had to giggle at "gaspedaal." We say that in English too, "gas pedal." I always love these Dutch words which are basically one letter different from the English translation.
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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by jal »

Viktor77 wrote:Dutch was interesting. I wish I could tell you that I knew any of those words in Dutch before but I can't.
Not even "stoel"? Shame on you! :)
BTW I don't think anyone says "safety belt." It's exclusively a "seatbelt" isn't? "Safety belt" sounds like a very understandable almost correct but ultimately incorrect guess.
Well, Google has indeed infinitly more mentions of "seat belt", but Wikipedia mentions "safety belt" as well, and Merriam Webster also has en entry for it.
Also I had to giggle at "gaspedaal." We say that in English too, "gas pedal." I always love these Dutch words which are basically one letter different from the English translation.
One letter difference, but a lot of different phonemes (and stress) :).


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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Viktor77 »

Ah I stand corrected on "safety belt."

Oh yea I know "stoel" I just forgot that it was in the list. And I knew "sleutal" but not "autosleutal." :P
Last edited by Viktor77 on Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:51 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by alynnidalar »

#9 could also be
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shifter
I generally forget to say, so if it's relevant and I don't mention it--I'm from Southern Michigan and speak Inland North American English. Yes, I have the Northern Cities Vowel Shift; no, I don't have the cot-caught merger; and it is called pop.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by jal »

Viktor77 wrote:And I knew "sleutel" but not "autosleutel." :P
Well, it's *is* in an auto :).


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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by linguoboy »

I am fighting the temptation to label all of these in mock German.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Vijay »

clawgrip wrote:vijay, no words for any of them?
Nope.
Not even seat?
Nope. (Even 'chair' is borrowed from Portuguese, lol).
And wouldn't that mean that the language does have those words, but that they're just borrowed from English?
Yep. :D

EDIT: Actually, I think it's tricky because cars are expensive, and middle-class people all over India tend to code-switch between English and their native languages all the time anyway, which makes it hard to make a clear distinction between loanwords and instances of code-switching. So it's possible that it really doesn't have any such words - at least, none that any of these people would actually recognize. Then again, middle-class people probably wouldn't be the ones driving the cars...but still. I feel it's hard to say definitively that they're loanwords per se.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by clawgrip »

Who drives the cars? Lower-class people? If so, surely they have words for the tools of their trade.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by clawgrip »

clawgrip wrote:Who drives the cars? Lower-class people? If so, surely they have words for the tools of their trade.
Also, Wikipedia has an article on ക്ലച്ച്, (clutch), so I think we can say that it's a real Malayalam word borrowed from English and not just code-switching. Also, messing around with Google translate and looking at image results, സീറ്റ് ബെൽറ്റ് (seat belt) seems to be fairly established.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Vijay »

Yeah, but just because those are established words, does that necessarily mean they have become part of the language for good? I mean, what are the criteria for distinguishing between lexical adoption and code-switching?

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by clawgrip »

Vijay wrote:Yeah, but just because those are established words, does that necessarily mean they have become part of the language for good? I mean, what are the criteria for distinguishing between lexical adoption and code-switching?
I meant to edit my post, not quote it...oh well.

I would say that if it's a single word in an otherwise non-English sentence, and if it functions as a native word (case marking, articles, incorporation in verbs, what have you), and if the speaker is not fluent in the origin language, then it is a loanword, not code switching.
Last edited by clawgrip on Sat Mar 19, 2016 2:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by Vijay »

OK, maybe they're loanwords then.

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Re: Test your vocab knowledge in a foreign language

Post by clawgrip »

Another thing is, if these words are generally expected to be understood by people not fluent in the source language, then they are probably loanwords. Like, if I talk to you about how both samurai and sumo wrestlers wear fundoshi, you will perhaps be confused by "fundoshi" but not samurai or sumo. This suggests that fundoshi is probably not a loanword, especially since if I showed you a picture of a fundoshi, you would probably call it a loincloth. But samurai and sumo are fine, so they are probably loanwords.

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