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How to use repetition (2017)

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Re: How to use repetition (2017)

#3
I wonder if this kind of thing is found in other languages. for example i can't think of any in French (i am French) even "it is what it is" which I would translate by " C'est comme ça" (it is like this)

Re: How to use repetition (2017)

#4
A bit unrelated since the article is more about stylistic repetition, but I had a hard time using repetition in my writings after decades of school drilling into my that it was a bad thing.

Yet in teaching, repetition is not just acceptable, it's necessary.

You need to say the same thing over and over again for it to stick.

And still, you'll note people will have missed half of it.

So it turns out repetition is like everything: whether it's good or bad is highly contextual.

The hard part is making repetition not boring.

Re: How to use repetition (2017)

#5
post #3

I wonder if this kind of thing is found in other languages. for example i can't think of any in French (i am French) even "it is what it is" which I would translate by " C'est comme ça" (it is like this)

I can think of the following sentence used in Maghrebi Arabic dialect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghrebi_Arabic):

إِلِّي صَارْ صَارْ

Which translates to: "Whatever happened, happened."

Re: How to use repetition (2017)

#9
post #3

I wonder if this kind of thing is found in other languages. for example i can't think of any in French (i am French) even "it is what it is" which I would translate by " C'est comme ça" (it is like this)

In Russian, you do hear people say «что будет, то будет» — literally ”what will be will be”.

The formal rules of the language discourage tautology though. It's considered ineloquent, so it's not very common.

Re: How to use repetition (2017)

#10
post #3

I wonder if this kind of thing is found in other languages. for example i can't think of any in French (i am French) even "it is what it is" which I would translate by " C'est comme ça" (it is like this)

The last in TFA with the "drink drink" is definitely done all the time in french too.

Something like the following repetition is ultra common:

"C'etait bien ?" (What is good?)

"Oui c'etait bien. Enfin, pas 'bien bien' mais... Bien". (Yes, it was good. Well, not "good good" but... Good).

The "x is x" is ultra common too, say to a kid, when it really needs to go to bed:

"J'avais dit dodo et dodo c'est dodo!" (even if it's not proper french, it's a typical way to talk to kids: "I said bedtime and bedtime is bedtime").

Even with french "verlan": *"Il etait relou. Pas relou-relou mais quand meme un peu relou!".

Also I'm sure I hear this one all the time: "Quand faut y aller, faut y aller!".

It's everywhere in french.

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