In chemistry they talk about moles. Which I found funny young as I originally kept associating the unit to the animals and thinking of a mole of moles.
Which is a lot : 6.02214076×1023
Which is a lot : 6.02214076×1023
I must admit that I never had this association ... So, thank you for now.
The benefit of speaking Norwegian!!!!
pibbuR som aldri forveksler en mol og en muldvarp.
Mole in German is Maulwurf, Maul = Mouth, Wurf = Throw
An animal that is throwing/pushing soil with his mouth.
An animal that is throwing/pushing soil with his mouth.
I just learnt that in Old German Molte means soil, earth.
So historically it just means earth thrower.
In Elder Scrolls Online (which I'm playing ATM) there is a place called "Hei-Halai". Now , where does that name come from?
The Norwegian word for "Hi" is "Hei". In the Bergen dialect (mine), we often use the word "Halai" or "Halaien" which means the same in stead.
So it's tempting to say that the name of this particular location derives from those words. There are already things in Bethesda games related to the Nordic countries, like the Nords in Skyrim and the Norwegian (even Norwegian speaking) ghouls in FO4., so it's not entirely far-fetched (still wishful thinking).
Could be a coincidence, of course.
pibbuR who assumes he will never know, and therefore hates things like that.
The Norwegian word for "Hi" is "Hei". In the Bergen dialect (mine), we often use the word "Halai" or "Halaien" which means the same in stead.
So it's tempting to say that the name of this particular location derives from those words. There are already things in Bethesda games related to the Nordic countries, like the Nords in Skyrim and the Norwegian (even Norwegian speaking) ghouls in FO4., so it's not entirely far-fetched (still wishful thinking).
Could be a coincidence, of course.
pibbuR who assumes he will never know, and therefore hates things like that.
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Looks to me like an easter egg to me.
Interesting article.
The entire Witcher franchise only exists because of a single missing Polish word
Author Andrzej Sapkowski created a new word to fill the gapwww.gamesradar.com
But yes, we have a similar problem with German language. "Hexe" = "Witch" is feminine. "Hexer" as a masculine does exist as a word, but is very much absent from "traditional" German-language fantasy literature, as far as I know.
Because witches are traditionally bound to be feminine, and masculinism is so much against men adopting that, the "Hexer" remains to be 2the odd man out", so to say.
The opposite goes with the word "mage" or "magician, the masculine form "Zauberer" is so much more often to be found than the feminine form of that, which would be "Zauberin".
Interestingly, "magician" is mainly meant o be "head work" -> intelligence in (A)D&D ,
meanwhile "witching" is more meant to be into the direction of emotions -> Sorceror -> charisma in (A)D&D.
In Genshin Impact, the English version is "mage" for female magic users, not "witch" !
The German-language translattion, however, uses "Hexe" again.
Sir Terry Pratchett wrote a very good novel on that, with the title of "Equal Rites".
I think I'll put my reply into the language thread, too.
This summer there's been several heatwaves in southern Europe. Here in Norway we've avoided those. Currently temperature outside is a healthy 17 C.
pibbuR who hopes it stays that way. 7-9-13.
PS.
Huh?
7-9-13
wtf?
Sorry, slipped into some Danish there.
WT...?
Here's the thing. The other day I was watching a program with Danish subtitles. Up came this particular phrase. I distinctly (even <<'ed a bit) heard what weas being said was "knock on wood". And it turns out that whenever the world (at least Norway and the UK) says something which translates to "knock on wood" (Norwegian "bank i bordet"), the Danish say "7-9-13". If there is a suitable piece of wood close by, they will knock on that. If not - who cares?
According to my sources (Danish wikipedia), the first documented use of the term stems from a newspaper article in the early 20th century. And the Danish are the only ones using it.
Which begs the question: why? Nobody knows for sure. It may have something to do with the symbolic nature of 7 and 13. And for 9, maybe the fact that 9 is the only positive perfect power that is one more than another positive perfect power, since the square of 3 is one more than the cube of 2. But really, as said, nobody knows for sure.
DS.
PPS. If some of you Danish watchers find errors in what I just wrote, by all means, please shut up. DS
PPPS. In Norway, independent of there being wood available or not, we tend to knock on the head (our own, not the listeners'). DS
pibbuR who hopes it stays that way. 7-9-13.
PS.
Huh?
7-9-13
wtf?
Sorry, slipped into some Danish there.
WT...?
Here's the thing. The other day I was watching a program with Danish subtitles. Up came this particular phrase. I distinctly (even <<'ed a bit) heard what weas being said was "knock on wood". And it turns out that whenever the world (at least Norway and the UK) says something which translates to "knock on wood" (Norwegian "bank i bordet"), the Danish say "7-9-13". If there is a suitable piece of wood close by, they will knock on that. If not - who cares?
According to my sources (Danish wikipedia), the first documented use of the term stems from a newspaper article in the early 20th century. And the Danish are the only ones using it.
Which begs the question: why? Nobody knows for sure. It may have something to do with the symbolic nature of 7 and 13. And for 9, maybe the fact that 9 is the only positive perfect power that is one more than another positive perfect power, since the square of 3 is one more than the cube of 2. But really, as said, nobody knows for sure.
DS.
PPS. If some of you Danish watchers find errors in what I just wrote, by all means, please shut up. DS
PPPS. In Norway, independent of there being wood available or not, we tend to knock on the head (our own, not the listeners'). DS
That's a very mysterious expression.
We do almost the same in Belgium, but since we say 'Let's touch wood' instead of something about knocking it, we just touch our heads with the tip of our fingers. It must be a matter of bone resilience and self-preservation (also, since most of the wood here comes from IKEA, we're being gentle with it).
"Knock on wood" is also a song title, isn't it ?
en.wikipedia.org
Knock on Wood (Eddie Floyd song) - Wikipedia
I remember back in highschool a teacher brought a few of us to Australia for a summer trip. It was a fun trip but using common words from the US were different.
We had to say knock us up in the morning instead of please give us a wake up call.
We had to say knock us up in the morning instead of please give us a wake up call.
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That sounds like the same level of difference as French between Canada and Europe.
I sometimes wonder why people in the U.S. give their children "tell-tale" first names. We don't have that here in Germany.
Sure, we use names, but only very few people know where they come from, or what they actually mean.
It would be impossible here to call a child "Hunter" as a first name. Here, a hunter is rather some kind of profession than a word useable as a first name. It would be to me as if I'd call my child "Carpenter" as a first name, or "Smith".
Second names are an entirely different thing, though. But - people hardly ever have understandable (read : "tell-tale") second names here as well, like "Trump".
By the way ... in Bavaria, there exist people with the second name of "Trump". Makes we wonder whether the Trmps had Bavarian origins ...
And we had a minister named Bidenkopf (which would literally be "Bidenhead", with "biden" probably meaning "two", I guess, in the pen & paper roleplaying system of TDE there exists a kind of sword called "Bidenhänder", meaning it is used with two hands.)
Sure, we use names, but only very few people know where they come from, or what they actually mean.
It would be impossible here to call a child "Hunter" as a first name. Here, a hunter is rather some kind of profession than a word useable as a first name. It would be to me as if I'd call my child "Carpenter" as a first name, or "Smith".
Second names are an entirely different thing, though. But - people hardly ever have understandable (read : "tell-tale") second names here as well, like "Trump".
By the way ... in Bavaria, there exist people with the second name of "Trump". Makes we wonder whether the Trmps had Bavarian origins ...
And we had a minister named Bidenkopf (which would literally be "Bidenhead", with "biden" probably meaning "two", I guess, in the pen & paper roleplaying system of TDE there exists a kind of sword called "Bidenhänder", meaning it is used with two hands.)
One particular difficult aspect of learning new languages is the use of idioms. They cannot always be translated directly.
A few examples from Norwegian:
When something moves very fast, in Norwegian we often say: "det går som hakka møkk" - "it runs like mashed manure". Don't know where that comes from.
If we criticise someone we may say that we "leser ham teksten" - "read him the text". Or "forteller hvor David kjøpte ølet" - "tell him where David bought the beer". No doubt these phrases have some biblical origin, but the David reference is a bit weird.
When someone is really ugly we might say "han ligner ikke grisen" - "he doesn't look like the pig". No, it's not a compliment. And neither is "han ligner en gris" - "he looks like a pig".
Phrases I assume makes sense in other languages:
"svarte penger" - "black money". Money obtained illegally.
"svart arbeid" - "black work". Income from work not reported to the tax authorities.
pibbuR who knows the English phrase for "svartmetall".
A few examples from Norwegian:
When something moves very fast, in Norwegian we often say: "det går som hakka møkk" - "it runs like mashed manure". Don't know where that comes from.
If we criticise someone we may say that we "leser ham teksten" - "read him the text". Or "forteller hvor David kjøpte ølet" - "tell him where David bought the beer". No doubt these phrases have some biblical origin, but the David reference is a bit weird.
When someone is really ugly we might say "han ligner ikke grisen" - "he doesn't look like the pig". No, it's not a compliment. And neither is "han ligner en gris" - "he looks like a pig".
Phrases I assume makes sense in other languages:
"svarte penger" - "black money". Money obtained illegally.
"svart arbeid" - "black work". Income from work not reported to the tax authorities.
pibbuR who knows the English phrase for "svartmetall".
I suppose they could use templates to associate idioms from the source to the destination language? I asked to translate an idiom to ChatGPT, once, and it came up with a series of OK replacements in French. Some were a little weird, however.
But indeed, inserting them into a context to match a theme (a play on words) must be complex. Sometimes, authors change a word in an idiom, so an automated tool would have to be quite smart to detect it. For the same reason, translating jokes and puns is very difficult for translators and interpreters.
But indeed, inserting them into a context to match a theme (a play on words) must be complex. Sometimes, authors change a word in an idiom, so an automated tool would have to be quite smart to detect it. For the same reason, translating jokes and puns is very difficult for translators and interpreters.
Oh, Idioms ! The bane of every translator !
I once tried to translate some into English ... Well, I found out that I would have to live years in an English-speaking country to actually know them !
I once tried to translate some into English ... Well, I found out that I would have to live years in an English-speaking country to actually know them !
One day, my parents brought a music CD from Croatia, from their vacation, home.
I've been digging it out, and now I wonder : What does all this mean what's printed in the package ?
So, I ask around here : Is here anyone able to translate this for me ?
I've been digging it out, and now I wonder : What does all this mean what's printed in the package ?
So, I ask around here : Is here anyone able to translate this for me ?
Not me, I can speak English. And you are asking to translate Croatian? lol, yea right! Other languages are very hard for me to understand. That said, I appreciate French as the most sound pleasing and elegant language in the world, and Spanish is pretty good to hear be spoken too. On the other hand, German sounds very harsh to me, and just yuck (too many silly long words and number of letters they use!). And the Chinese and Asian languages don't sound good either, to be honest. Good luck in finding someone who can speak Croatian! lol
Isn't that Croatian? Anyway, I don't speak it either.