Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

"Frère Jacques" in four languages

I loved this post with "Frère Jacques" in four different languages.
Tags: linguistics, networking
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  • 4 comments
fayanora

fayanora

March 19 2011, 21:25:28 UTC 10 years ago

In Trai'Pahg'Nan'Nog:

Kwee koh morshaun? Kwee koh morshaun?
Buoi Djahn, Buoi Djahn,
Ihndahf hkresh bain grihn-kez, Ihndahf hkresh bain grihn-kez.
Dihng, dahng, dohng, Dihng, dahng, dohng.

The word used there for "brother" is actually a shorter version of "nykohl'buoi," the word for sibling. Since there is only one sex on Traipah, there aren't gendered/sexed words for many things. Until first contact with humans, even the words for male and female were purely scientific jargon used for a few oddball species.

Als, "kwee" simply indicates a question. "[Question] you sleep?" is the literal translation of "Kwee koh morshaun?"
ysabetwordsmith

Wow!

ysabetwordsmith

March 19 2011, 21:56:18 UTC 10 years ago

This is so cool. Thanks everso for sharing!
fayanora

Re: Wow!

fayanora

March 19 2011, 21:57:51 UTC 10 years ago

I had to add a couple new words to the list in order to manage it, but translating things is how I find holes in the language. :-D New words: Ihndahf, hkresh, and grihn.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Wow!

ysabetwordsmith

March 19 2011, 22:12:02 UTC 10 years ago

Yeah, that's why translation is recommended as an advanced exercise in xenolinguistics. It shows you where the holes are in your vocabulary and grammar. I'm hoping to try my hand at translating things into Torn Tongue eventually.