Help your fluency in a nifty way

[jal]

Amsterdam was echt leuk¹! Ik heb² er een beetje Nederlands gesproken, vooral³ met een oude barvrouw in een bar op⁴ de Wallen (die trouwens gek was⁵). Maar behalve⁶ de Wallen, was Amsterdam heel mooi en heel⁷ levendig (er waren overal zoveel⁸ fietsen!) Het⁹ Rijksmuseum was ongelooflijk (het Van Gogh museum was¹⁰, mijns inziens, overgewaardeerd, en het grooste deel van zijn belangrijkste schilderen van Van Gogh wordt gemisst ontbreekt¹¹). De wachtrijen¹² waren, aan de andere kant, enorm en ik miste het Anne Frank huis¹³ door een rij van 3+ uur¹⁴ om 9_uur 's ochtends¹⁵..._maar we hebben een grachtenrondreis¹⁶ gedaan en die was heel leuk¹⁷, maar ook heel toeristisch.

Ik denk dat ik eigenlijk¹⁸ in Amsterdam zou kunnen wonen als ik de Wallen zou¹⁹ vermijden.

Wow, a long one, and despite all the markings, one of your best ones up till now :) Since I wouldn't have enough marking signs, I'll adopt a numeric style this time:

¹ "echt leuk" sounds a bit... as lacking enthusiasm. Like "Amsterdam was really fine". Try "ontzettend leuk" to match the "really cool"
² present perfect needed
³ though "especially" can be translated with "vooral" in most circumstances, I'd go for "in het bijzonder" in this case. "vooral" signals too much of a recurrence for me.
⁴ there are no hard and fast rules for when to use "op" and when to use "in" (though when in doubt, use "in"). De Wallen get "op".
⁵ you declared the women insane, which wasn't your intention given the "which" in the English translation. I'm not sure what was crazy - the bar, the RLD, the fact that you were talking Dutch? If you mean the RLD, "die trouwens ... waren" is correct (as Wallen is plural). I'm not sure how to translate "crazy". Not with "gek" in this case, that seems to soft.
⁶ I'd avoid "behalve" with NPs, in this case I think "Maar met uitzondering van de Wallen was Amsterdam ..." or "Op de Wallen na was Amsterdam ..."
⁷ Dutch doesn't like repetition, so I'd say "heel mooi en levendig"
⁸ "zo veel" is also correct, no hard and fast rules here (see also here). "vele" is very old fashioned, at least in ND.
⁹ "museum", like other Latin words in -um, is neuter
¹⁰ I'd say "is", as this is still current
¹¹ "gemist worden" means, suprisingly, "to be missed (by someone)". When there's something not there which should be, use "ontbreken"
¹² just "rijen" is not bad per se, but "wachtrijen" is far more clear.
¹³ "huis" is neuter, so gets "het". "z" and "v" become "s" and "f" word finally (as opposed to "d" and "b" which are retained, even though pronounced "t" and "p"). Also, the girl was named "Anne Frank", not "Ann", despite what you Murricans say! :)
¹⁴ "uur" stays singular, like "kwartier" en "jaar" (vijf kwartier, vijf uur, vijf jaar) but unlike "seconde", "minuut", "dag", "eeuw" and "millenium" (vijf seconden, vijf minuten, vijf dagen, vijf eeuwen, vijf millenia); note that "seconde" seems singular in speech in most Dutch dialects/accents as the final "n" is dropped. See also here.
¹⁵ it's short for ancient "des ochtends" (an old genetive), so the apostroph indicating something's missing goes before the "s" (same in "'s middags", "'s avonds", "'s nachts" etc.). Not that you won't see it placed wrongly everywhere, especially with place names (*"s'Gravenhage", *"s'Hertogenbosch")
¹⁶ "rondreis" is more for counties. "tour" or "tocht" is better.
¹⁷ or, "die heel leuk was" with or without "en"
¹⁸ it doesn't show up in the English version, and if you'd wanna translate "I think I could actually live in A'dam", you'd say something like "Ik denk dat ik eigenlijk best in A'dam zou kunnen wonen", with "best" (or just "Ik zou eigenlijk best ..." without "Ik denk dat"). Or even without "eigenlijk", "Ik zou best in A'dam kunnen wonen ...".
¹⁹ Dutch needs the counterfactual in both the protasis and the apdosis. "Als ik zou gaan, dan hoefde ik niet hier te blijven / zou ik niet hier hoeven blijven" (counterfactual - I'm not going) vs. "Als ik ga, dan hoef ik niet hier te blijven" (conditional, whether I go or not is not decided yet). In this case "Als ik de Wallen vermeed" (using the past tense) sounds a bit stilted.

Ich bin heute ein Bischen krank. Aber doch sitze ich auf meinem Werk.
Today I'm a bit sick. But I'm sitting at work nonetheless.


JAL

[linguoboy]

Heute fühl ich mich ein bisschen krank, aber ich denke nicht, dass ich wirklich krank bin. Es ist nur die Folgenerscheinung von der Zeitverstellung.
I feel a little sick today, but I don't believe I really am. It's just the effects of the shift to DST.

[Qwynegold]

Milloin sinä olet alkanut opiskelemaan suomea?
When have you begun studying Finnish?

Minulla oli useaa luokkaa oppitunti kolme kuukautta sitten, mut minä en opiskele suomea vakavissaanni.
I had some lessons three months ago, but I haven't been studying Finnish for serious.

I can't find a rule for when you should singular and when plural nouns after quantifiers. But here you could say either usea oppitunti or useita oppitunteja. Luokka refers to either the classroom, the people who the class consists of, or like the education that takes place in the classroom. Anyway, you can't use luokka here because you are talking only about Finnish classes, not several different classes. An oppitunti is one instance of a class.

Ahaa, yliopistossa vai jossain muualla?
Ah, at university or some place else?

[Qwynegold]

ありがとう！そうだね、ヴィクトルさんは今どこに住む？オランダ？
Arigatō! Sō da ne, Vikutoru-san wa ima doko ni sumu? Oranda?
Thank you! Oh, where are you living currently? In the Netherlands?

Ik woon in België, in Luik waar de mensen Frans spreken, maar ik leer ook Nederlands (Vlaams) en Duits.
I live in Belgium, in Liège where people speak French, but I'm also learning Dutch (Flemish) and German.

ああ、そうなんだった。頑張って！今教師だったか。
Aa, sō nan datta. Gambatte! Ima kyōshi datta ka?
Ah, that's right. Good luck (lit. do you best)! Were you teaching now also?

[Qwynegold]

久しぶりのリスラさんも関西にいる。勇吾くんがもう帰っちゃった。
Risla is in kansai, but she hasn't been here in a while. Yiuel had to leave already.

へえ、そうなんだ？知らなかった。
Hee, sō nan da? Shiranakatta.
Oh, is that so? I didn't know.

もう一人、クローグリップさんが東京にいるけど、まだ会ってない。
There's one more, Clawgrip, in Tokyo, but we still haven't met.

なるほど。
Naruhodo.
I see.

*んだ requires an attributive verb complement, so you replace だ with なんだ (例えば、"そうなんだ"とか). but this might be better as 留学生だ/です or 留学のため – i feel like the んだ has a bit of a flippant tone.

もう、こんなこと知っているはず…！でも「んだ」は失礼かもしれない、知らなかった。ホント？
Mō, konna koto shitte iru hazu...! Demo "nda" wa shitsurei kamoshirenai, shiranakatta. Honto?
Aw, I'm supposed to know these kind of things... But I didn't know about "nda" possibly being rude. Really?

機会を取れ！
Take the opportunity!

やっぱり行かない。まだ予定がぜんぜんない。 フィンレイさんは来週何かする？
Yappari ikanai. Mada yotei ga zenzen nai. Finrei-san wa raishuu nanika suru?
I'm not going after all. And I still have no plans. Are you doing anything next week?

*never heard ryou for dormitory but if that's what you call it go ahead

教科書は「寮」って教えた。辞書によると、「ホステル」という意味もある…大学はこれを「セミナーハウス」と呼ぶ。
Kyōkashu wa "ryō"tte oshieta. Jisho ni yoruto, "hosuteru" to iu imi mo aru... Daigaku wa kore wo "seminaa-hausu" to yobu.
The textbook taught us this word. According to the dictionary, it also means "hostel"... The university calls this a "seminar house".

*don't usually hear bitch as a loanword – it's more one they'd use to accommodate me – so you might as well replace it with mendokusai hito or baka yarou or something (also this gets around the misogynist undertones)

「面倒くさい人」というのは迷惑の人という意味がない？そして「ばかやろう」はあほという意味がない？私の目標は何だか冷たい人という意味だった。
"Mendōkusai hito" to iu no wa meiwaku no hito to iu imi ga nai? Soshite "baka-yarō" wa aho to iu imi ga nai? Watashi no mokuhyō wa nan da ka tsumetai hito to iu imi datta.
Doesn't "mendōkusai hito" mean like "a bothersome person"? And doesn't "baka-yarō" mean like idiot? I was aiming for something like "a cold person".

で、もう一つ〜
one more

ヴィクトルさんは今どこに住んでいる？

doko sumu would be where you gonna live

ああ！またこんな間違い！宿題でもいつもこんな間違いをするよ。
Aa! Mata konna machigai! Shukudai demo itsumo konna machigai wo suru yo.
Aagh! Again a mistake like this! I make these kinds of mistakes in my homework too.

[Qwynegold]

Ik ga binnenkort naar Amsterdam met mijn man en een vriendin en nu dat we alles georganiseerd hebben moet ik zeggen, verdomme is Amsterdam deur! Amsterdam is de deurest stad dat ik besuche en ik heb Kopenhagen besucht. Er zijn geen hotels, geen kamers onder 150€/nacht en dit is in maart, laagseizoen! Alle toeristische attracties zoals de Rijksmuseum, enz. zijn ook heel deur! Ik hoop dat Amsterdam de kost waard is.

I'm going to Amsterdam soon with my husband and a friend and now that we've organized everything I must say, damn Amsterdam is expensive! Amsterdam is the most expensive city I've visited and I went to Copenhagen. There are no hotels, no rooms under 150€/night and this is in March, off-season. All the tourist attractions like the Rijksmuseum, etc. are also very expensive! I hope that Amsterdam is worth the expense!

ハスバンド？えええ！結婚した？
Hasubando? Eee! Kekkon shita?
Husband? Whuuut! You got married?

[Qwynegold]

ブス

えっ！ジェンダー差別！
Eh! Jendaa-sabetsu!
Wut! There are misogynist undertones here!

[Qwynegold]

だいたい2週間咳があってのどが痛い。でも、入院したくない（筋違い自慢あるので）。しかし昨日、耳も痛くなって、医者に行かないといけなくなった。だから今日、近い耳鼻咽喉科に行ってた。今は、薬あるので、早くよくなると期待するのだ。その後、新しい住まいの鍵をもらって行ってきて、市役所で住民を変わって、郵便局で転送を申し込んで、警察署で免許証の書いてある住所も変わってた。長かったけど、やったこともうあるからよく知ってて、大丈夫だった。でもやっぱり疲れた〜〜
I've had a sore throat and cough for about two weeks. But I didn't want to go to hospital (out of a misplaced sense of pride). But yesterday, my ear started hurting, so I had to go, and today I (swallowing my pride, but I don't know how to write this in Japanese lol) went to a nearby ENT doctor. Now I have medicine, so hopefully I'll get better soon. After that, I went to get the keys for my new apartment, and then I went to the city office to change my address, then the post office to set up mail forwarding, then the police office to change the address on my driving license. It was long, but I've done it before, so I know what I'm doing and it was okay. But yeah, tirrrrred.

入院？私はこの言葉が正しく習ったかな。ずいぶん重そうだ。とにかく、早く良くなってください。
Nyūin? Watashi wa kono kotoba ga tadashiku naratta ka na. Zuibun omo-sō da. Tonikaku, hayaku yoku natte kudasai.
Hospitalization? I wonder if I've learned this word right. It sounds very dire. Anyhow, get well soon!

[Astraios]

I came back to Israel today after three days in Istanbul with friends. We stayed in a hostel in the Beyoğlu neighborhood, which is a pretty fun area on the European side, north of the old city. I really liked seeing the old-fashioned streetcars on İstiklal Avenue, as well as all the carts selling simit ("Turkish bagels") and roasted chestnuts. My friend thinks that all the chestnut sellers are part of some money laundering scheme, because you never see anyone actually buying anything from them. In the Old City we saw all the must-sees—the Grand Bazaar, the Egyptian Bazaar/Spice Market, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, and Topkapı Palace. Afterwards we did a short cruise on the Bosphorus and saw every part of the city from the water. What I liked the most was the Turkish bath, which is something I'd never experienced before.

من هم می‌خوام برم ترکیه. اما زبون ترکی نمی‌دونم تنها کردی… به من دستور ورود به کشور نمی‌دند. فقط در اینجا می‌مونم تا اینکه ترکی هم بیاموزم. اما نفهمیده‌ام، سمید و شاه‌بلوط‌فروشان به چه روشی از کار خود پول بشورند؟ (سبب پرسش این است که من هم پول سریع می‌جوام.)

Man ham mixām beram Torkiye, ammā zabune torki nemidunam, tanhā kordi… Be man dasture vorud be kešvar nemidand. Faqat dar injā mimunam tā inke torkiam biāmuzam. Ammā nafahmidam, semid o šāhbolutforušān be ce raveši az kāre xod pul bešurand? Sababe porseš in ast ke man ham pule sari’ mixāham.

Ez jî dixwazim biçim Tirkiyeyê, lê ez zimanê tirkî nizanim, tenê yê kurdî… Ew dê ji min re destûra têketina welat nedin. Ezê tenê li vir bimînim ta ku fêrî tirkî jî bibim. Lê min fam nekir, simît û şabilotfiroş bi çi awayî ji îşê xwe dirav paqij bikin? (Sebeba pirsê ew e ku ez jî diravê zû dixwazim.)

I want to go to Turkey too, but I don’t know Turkish, only Kurdish… They won’t let me enter the country. I’ll just stay here until I learn Turkish as well. But I don’t get it, how would the simit- and chestnut-sellers launder money from their work? (I’m asking because I’d like some quick money too.)

[Viktor77]

Nogmaals bedankt, Jal.
Amsterdam was ontzettend leuk! Ik heb er een beetje Nederlands gesproken, in het bijzonder met een oude barvrouw in een bar op de Wallen (die trouwens bizar waren). Maar met uitzondering van de Wallen, was Amsterdam heel mooi en levendig (er waren overal zoveel fietsen!) Het Rijksmuseum was ongelooflijk (het Van Gogh museum is, mijns inziens, overgewaardeerd, en het grooste deel van zijn belangrijkste schilderen ontbreekt). De wachtrijen waren, aan de andere kant, enorm en ik miste het Anne Frank huis door een wachtrij van 3+ uur om 9 uur ’s ochtends maar we hebben een grachtenrondreis gedaan en die was heel leuk, maar ook heel toeristisch.

Ik denk dat ik eigenlijk best in Amsterdam zou kunnen wonen als ik de Wallen zou vermijden.

ハスバンド？えええ！結婚した？
Hasubando? Eee! Kekkon shita?
Husband? Whuuut! You got married?

Oui. Je me suis marié en juin. On habite maintenant ensemble en Belgique.
Yes. I got married in June. We live together now in Belgium.

ああ、そうなんだった。頑張って！今教師だったか。
Aa, sō nan datta. Gambatte! Ima kyōshi datta ka?
Ah, that's right. Good luck (lit. do you best)! Were you teaching now also?

Merci! Oui, je donne plusieurs cours: deux cours de conversation anglaise BAC 1 et 2 et deux cours de traduction de français vers l'anglais.
Thanks! Yes, I'm teaching several classes: two BAC 1 and 2 English conversation classes and two French to English translation classes.

[finlay]

もう、こんなこと知っているはず…！でも「んだ」は失礼かもしれない、知らなかった。ホント？
Mō, konna koto shitte iru hazu...! Demo "nda" wa shitsurei kamoshirenai, shiranakatta. Honto?
Aw, I'm supposed to know these kind of things... But I didn't know about "nda" possibly being rude. Really?
やっぱり行かない。まだ予定がぜんぜんない。 フィンレイさんは来週何かする？
Yappari ikanai. Mada yotei ga zenzen nai. Finrei-san wa raishuu nanika suru?
I'm not going after all. And I still have no plans. Are you doing anything next week?
教科書は「寮」って教えた。辞書によると、「ホステル」という意味もある…大学はこれを「セミナーハウス」と呼ぶ。
Kyōkashu wa "ryō"tte oshieta. Jisho ni yoruto, "hosuteru" to iu imi mo aru... Daigaku wa kore wo "seminaa-hausu" to yobu.
The textbook taught us this word. According to the dictionary, it also means "hostel"... The university calls this a "seminar house".
「面倒くさい人」というのは迷惑の人という意味がない？そして「ばかやろう」はあほという意味がない？私の目標は何だか冷たい人という意味だった。
"Mendōkusai hito" to iu no wa meiwaku no hito to iu imi ga nai? Soshite "baka-yarō" wa aho to iu imi ga nai? Watashi no mokuhyō wa nan da ka tsumetai hito to iu imi datta.
Doesn't "mendōkusai hito" mean like "a bothersome person"? And doesn't "baka-yarō" mean like idiot? I was aiming for something like "a cold person".

イヤア、いっぱい書いてたんだ。じゃあ、一つごとに、
＊めんどうくさいって、それより強い感じだよ。馬鹿野郎は、もともとそんな意味だけど、ニュアンスが多い。でも、似合うと思ったら、英語と同じく、冷たい人もいうのだ
＊教科書の言葉は、だいたい誰も使わない。だから、ハウスっていうのもいいと思うよ
＊んだって、ちょっと難しいね。「もう質問を聞かないでください」というニュアンスがあるかもしれないんだから。でも「なるほど」のニュアンスもあるんだ。「それは実だよ」というニュアンスもあると思う。私は、自然に習った感じで使うので、教えるのは難しい。
＊最後で、来週はね、予定ないけど、もしかしたら彼と会いたいから、群馬県へ行っちゃうかもしれない

you wrote so much! ok, one at a time,
* mendokusai is stronger than that. baka yarou originally has that meaning but has many nuances. but if you think it's better you can just say "tsumetai hito" (literally, cold person - it's the same as English)
* usually people don't use the words you find in textbooks. so i think "house" is also ok
* nda is kinda difficult. it's got nuances like "don't ask more questions", but also "i see" or "this is the truth!". i kind of learned it and use it naturally by listening, so i find it hard to explain.
* and lastly, i don't have a plan next week, but i'm probably going to see my boyfriend, which requires going two hours out of tokyo~~

今週は、引っ越さなければならないわ。なのに、馬鹿の私は、午前4時に起きてる。イケアさんが明日午前中でベッドを配送する予定があるから、早く新しい住まいに行かなきゃ。それから、他の荷物はどうやって移動するのがわからないんだ。遠くないのに、多分カーシェアに決める。
This week I have to move house. But it's 4 in the morning and like an idiot i'm still awake. Ikea's delivering my bed tomorrow morning, so I have to go to my new house early. After that, I don't know how I'm gonna move the rest of my stuff - it's not far, but I'm probably gonna do car sharing. (like renting a car but it's a membership thing that I can reserve on my smartphone)

(mendokusai hito is a way my bf described someone, btw, that he wouldn't want to hang out with because they complain all the time and things like that - it seemed what you were describing. but cold person works too, and conveniently the metaphor is the same in japanese)

oh yeah and nyuin isn't as strong as hospitalization - either that or i'm using it wrong too. partly i'm going by my students' persistent inability to actively distinguish hospitals and clinics - they often say (in english) they went to hospital when they mean they went to see a doctor in a local clinic, and pick up a prescription.

[Viktor77]

In mijn cursus Nederlands I leer ik heel nuttige woorden zoals: "ongeneeslijk," "ontstaking," "behandeling," "versoepelen," en "ondaagelijk." Deze woorden zullen zo nuttig zijn.*

*Ja, deze woorden zijn belangrijk maar, mijns inziens, niet voor Nederlands I.

In my Dutch I class I'm learning very useful words like: "incurable", "inflammation", "treatment," "to make more supple (for muscles)", and "insupportable." These words will be so useful...*

*Yes, these words are important but, in my opinion, not for Dutch I.

[jal]

In mijn cursus Nederlands I leer ik heel* nuttige woorden zoals: "ongeneeslijk," "ontsteking**," "behandeling," "versoepelen," en "ondraagelijk***." Deze woorden zullen+ zo nuttig zijn

*At least in ND, you'd always say "hele". But in formal writing, it's perhaps better to use "heel".
**"ontstaking" would either be a "destriking" (from "staken" - "to strike") or a "removal of wooden stakes" :)
***the "e" is pronounced, but not written. If it were, there would be no double "aa".
+Avoid "zullen" for the future tense (at least in ND). Either leave it out entirely ("Deze woorden zijn zo nuttig"). Or rephrase ("Ik ga zoveel nut hebben van deze woorden" or the like).

Ja, deze woorden zijn belangrijk maar, mijns inziens, niet voor Nederlands I.

I agree with you on "versoepelen" (I've never heard of it in medical terms, perhaps a BD thing), but all the others are pretty regular medical words, that a doctor could use. I can imagine this course also being used for immigrants, in which case some medical terminology is important.

In my Dutch I class I'm learning very useful words like: "incurable", "inflammation", "treatment," "to make more supple (for muscles)", and "insupportable." These words will be so useful

"ondraaglijk" means "unbearable" as in "ondraaglijke lijden", "unbearable suffering".

Verdammt, mein Kopf schmerzt wieder! :(
Damn, my head hurts again! :(


JAL

[Viktor77]

"ondraaglijk" means "unbearable" as in "ondraaglijke lijden", "unbearable suffering".

I was being dumb. I wrote "insupportable" in French and had a brainfart and wrote "insupportable" in English even though the phrase was exactly that, "de vrouw lijdt aan ondraaglijk pijn."

Verdammt, mein Kopf schmerzt wieder!
Damn, my head hurts again!

Mijn hoofd doet pijn ook. En ik heb al twee aspirn genomen....
My head hurts too. And I already took two aspirin.

[Pole, the]

Ahaa, yliopistossa vai jossain muualla?
Ah, at university or some place else?

Korkeakoulussa. Se oli osa minun opiskelijavaihdon.
At the polytechnic. It was a part of my exchange.

[jal]

even though the phrase was exactly that, "de vrouw lijdt aan ondraaglijke pijn."

Mijn hoofd doet ook pijn. En ik heb al twee aspirines genomen....

Ich erwäge, auch zwei Paracetamol zu nehmen.
I'm considering to take two Paracetamol as well.


JAL

[Viktor77]

I'm considering taking two Paracetamol as well.

Kan ik je Engels corrigeren?
Can I correct your English?

[jal]

Kan ik je Engels corrigeren?

Though I don't think anyone would blink an eye ,"kunnen" is typically used for capabilities, not as much to ask a request. "Mogen" is better, so "Mag ik je Engels corrigeren?" would be better. More idiomatic however, would be something like "Vind je het goed als ik je Engels corrigeer?".

Ja bitte! Selbstverständlich ist Englisch für mich eine Fremdsprache, und deshalb darfst du mich korrigieren :)
Yes please! Of course English is a foreign language for me, so you are allowed to correct me :)


JAL

[Viktor77]

Though I don't think anyone would blink an eye ,"kunnen" is typically used for capabilities, not as much to ask a request. "Mogen" is better, so "Mag ik je Engels corrigeren?" would be better. More idiomatic however, would be something like "Vind je het goed als ik je Engels corrigeer?".

Ah, we hebben het hetzelfd onderscheid in het Engels dus ik was gewoon lui.
Ah, we have the same distinction in English so I was just lazy.

De meestgezochte terrorist van Europa was vandaag in Brussel opgepakt en dus is dat goede neuws.

The most sought after terrorist in Europe was captured today in Brussels so that's good news.

[Imralu]

Weiß jemand, warum es in Berlin so viele Straßennamen gibt, die offenbar mit Absicht falsch buchstabiert wurden? Ich kenne Manteuffelstraße (statt Mannteufelstraße), Schwartzkopffstraße, und Mierendorffplatz.
Does anyone know why there are so many street names in Berlin which have apparently been incorrectly spelled on purpose? I know of Manteuffelstraße (instead of Mannteufelstraße "man devil street"), Schwartzkopffstraße, and Mierendorffplatz, which have random unnecessary double letters thrown in.

[Vijay]

ഇവിടെ കുറെ പേർക്ക് മറുപടി എഴുതാനായിരുന്നു എന്റെ പദ്ധതി പക്ഷെ ഇവിടെ എന്തെങ്കിലും എഴുതിയിട്ട് ഒത്തിരിനാളായതുകൊണ്ട് സുല്ലിട്ടു (sp?). അല്ലാതെ എന്ത് ചെയ്ക?
It was my plan to write a response to a few people here, but I gave up because it's been a long time since I last wrote anything here. What else could I do?

ഞാൻ മലയാളത്തിലെ ഒരുപാട് വാക്കുകൾ ഒരു ലിസ്റ്റിനകത്ത് എഴുതിയായിരുന്നു. അയ്യോ! എത്രയോ വാക്കുകളാണ് അതിനകത്തുള്ളത്! അതിനകത്തിൽനിന്ന് കുറെ വാക്കുകൾ ഉപയോഗിച്ചു ഒരു ചെറുക്കഥ എഴുതി നോക്കാം.
I had written a lot of words in Malayalam in a list. Oh dear! How many words there are in it! I'll try to use some words out of it to write a short story.

ആ പന്നഗത്തിൽ ഇരിക്കുന്ന ജീവി അപാരംതന്നെയായിരുന്നു. മാടക്കടയിൽനിന്ന് ഇയ്യിടെയായി മേടിച്ച മൂരിയിറച്ചി സ്പർദ്ധിച്ചു. പശ്ചാതലത്തിലെ ജല്പനം ഒരു അഗാഠ്യമായ സംഭാഷണമാണെന്ന് തോന്നിയതുപോലെ കേട്ടുകൊണ്ടിരുന്നു.
The animal remaining in that cage was simply unparalleled. It turned its nose up at the beef recently bought from the small shop. It kept listening to the babbling in the background as if it were a profound conversation.

അത്രേയുള്ളൂ. ചെറുക്കഥ അവസാനിച്ചെന്ന് തോന്നി.
That's it. I think the short story's over.

[jmcd]

Es scheint mir, dass diese Namen schon da vor der Einführung einer Rechtschreibung waren.
It seems to me that these names were laready there before the adoption of an orthography.

[Sglod]

Ma petit soeur a une correspandante en Sri Lanka qui écrire en cinghalais. J'ai essayé de traduire ses lettres avec une dictionnaire en ligne, mais c'est trop difficil... Ces sont traduit par l'entreprise qui organiser les lettres, mais c'est encore amusant les traduire moi-même.

My sister has a penfriend in Sri Lanka who writes to us in Sinhalese. I've tryed to translate her letters with an online dictionary, but it's too difficult... They're translated by the company that organise the letters, but it's still fun to translate them myself...

[Viktor77]

Ma petite soeur a une correspandante au Sri Lanka qui écrit en cinghalais. J'ai essayé de traduire ses lettres avec une dictionnaire en ligne, mais c'est trop difficile... Ces sont traduites par l'entreprise qui organiser les lettres, mais c'est encore amusant de les traduire moi-même.

My sister has a penfriend in Sri Lanka who writes to us in Sinhalese. I've tryed to translate her letters with an online dictionary, but it's too difficult... They're translated by the company that organise the letters, but it's still fun to translate them myself...

Ik ben dronken.
I'm drunk.

[Vijay]

Ma petite sœur a une correspondante