Even "hacker" isn't a bad candidate, though it does seem to be different in Arabic.
Are any words the same in all languages?
191–200 of 511 posts
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Stealing words" That's a bit harsh. We borrow words (or loan them). We certainly don't steal them - you are welcome to take them back at any time. My favourite borrow word conundrum is "biftek". That is a loan word from French by quite a few languages (not English) - bifteck. Now, bifteck is derived from "beef steak" (English) English is a bit odd due to having several different words for an animal and its flesh via…
> English is a bit odd due to having several different words for an animal and its flesh via the Norse invasion in 1066. Here we have a cow and beef for the flesh. Is it that odd? I've never seen vache on a menu in France. Keema in Hindi (and probably other indic languages) is non-descript mince, it wouldn't be beef in India of course, typically lamb or goat. Carne in many romance languages but in particular Spanish…
Speaking of oddities, Korean gogi (고기) means either "meat" (beef, pork, chicken, etc.) or "fish" the animal, but not the fish on your dish (which is saengseon 생선), because otherwise it would be too confusing.
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#193Perhaps, it would be more useful for students if foreign language courses start with explaining one thing that is well known to linguists, but maybe does not have enough recognition by a wide audience.
Most European languages are at some extent just dialects of the same common language[1].
And most of the words we use in distinct languages are (at some extent) just different pronunciations of the same vocabulary. This happened no just because of the borrowings between cultures, but because centuries ago these nations speak one single common language that has diverge in centuries into different dialects.
More over it is more or less researched how the words and the grammar rules have evolved from the proto-language up to it's modern form. So in fact we can (again, at some extent) translate many modern words to their ancient form, and then translate them back into another modern European language. Of course it is not always that simple process, and there is a lot of exceptions and difficulties, and the true borrowings too. But I think that understanding just some common ideas of linguistics could help in studying of foreign languages (from the same family of languages). At least maybe it will be more fascinating than just a pure memoization.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#194TV? WiFi? Bus?
> TV? WiFi? Bus? At least the first two words are different in German: - TV: [der] Fernseher - WiFi: WLAN (Wi-Fi is rather a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance; in my observation spreading the usage of this trademark was mostly successful in the USA)
I thought too long on this and was just thinking of words that almost everyone would know the definition of.
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#195I've been on the hunt for the equivalent of "preaching to the choir" which, as far as I can tell, only really exists in English. For non-English speakers it translates to: "Attempting to convince a group of people who are already convinced of something" Anyone have an example in another language?
Dutch: preken voor eigen parochie
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Danish belongs in the "Germanic" list; as does the Norwegian "vann" and "vatn" (the latter also Faroese, Icelandic, Norn), and Swedish "vatten". The Romanian and French both comes from the latin aqua, just like the Italian/Spanish.
The Welsh suggests the Ancient Greek "hudor".
That resemblance is coincidental:
hudor derives from Proto-Indo-European *wed-
(as does English water, wet, winter) while dwr derives from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb- "deep" (as does English dip, deep)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Eur...
https://www.etymonline.com/word/*wed-
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#197Cats "meow" (miˈaʊ̯) in all languages. Dogs can woof, blaf, ham, ao, ...
It's called onomatopoeia and they're surprisingly different in many languages.
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not Japanese. They got the word from Portuguese missionaries though.
So.. no but actually yes?
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#199I've been on the hunt for the equivalent of "preaching to the choir" which, as far as I can tell, only really exists in English. For non-English speakers it translates to: "Attempting to convince a group of people who are already convinced of something" Anyone have an example in another language?
Not quite the same but there's "A pig teaching Minerva" https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2020/08/11/a-pig-teaches-mine...
Similarly giving redundant advice but with the added connotation of the advisor being less knowledgable on the matter.
Re: Are any words the same in all languages?
#200Surprised bread wasn't mentioned, seems like there are more than a few languages where the word for bread is 'pan'
Afghans use the word Naan.
AFAIK, naan stands for some kinds of Afghan bread, maybe not all.
E.g.:
https://www.tasteatlas.com/most-popular-breads-in-afghanista...
There is one called bolani.