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 Languages

Ask questions or just talk about different languages. Since BrainKing is an international game site supporting many languages, this board can be kind of useful.

Since we will be dealing with pronunciation of words rather than their spelling, I think it's useful to have a link to The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet.


To see translations of some frequently used phrases and sentences in other languages see Languages


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29. June 2009, 20:55:43
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
gogul: On Google Maps names are usually represented in their native language. Check China, for instance
As far as I can remember, it has always been like that...

29. November 2007, 02:41:29
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
Puckish: If you hover the flag with your mouse you'll see the name of the language in the status bar of your browser. Most browsers will also display a small hint if you stay still for long enough...

29. November 2007, 02:10:18
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
Puckish: http://brainking.com/pt/Languages (scroll down). You can find this page on the left menu, under Languages

28. April 2007, 08:56:15
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: What does this mean?
Tigger: Probably "Vendola's Tournament"? But I'm no expert

24. November 2006, 14:33:28
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
"IceCold": Check this. You can comment on it if you wish ;)

19. September 2006, 13:23:36
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
King Reza: Another shot at it from a non-native:

1. Probably it'll rain and It's likely to rain. are similar, I believe, and indicate a very strong possibility that it will rain. The sky is probably very cloudy as you say that.
2. It may rain., Perhaps it'll rain. and Maybe it'll rain. indicate that you believe that is some possibility for rain. Maybe in a decreased degree of confidence in that probability, though I'd say they may be used interchangeably.
3. It might rain. a bit like the previous one. But may also indicate a wish, like "I wish it would rain, the plants are thirsty and rain would help".
4. It'll possibly rain. doesn't sound right to me, especially with that contraction. But I'd say it accounts for a strong possibility too...

14. September 2006, 09:31:38
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: Other national / international FLAGS
Mystery Man: Those flags represent language, not nacionality. When you click in one of them you are taken to the version of BrainKing translated to that language.

Do you know someone willing to translate the site to Korean? If so have him/her contact Fencer to start working on it ;)

13. September 2006, 19:56:20
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
King Reza: ... or, in this case, "by mistake".

29. August 2006, 22:29:08
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
King Reza: I'd say "at the end" is more fisical, means location:
  • at the end of the corridor there was a door
  • I'm at the end of the line to buy tickets
    </ul>
    "in the end" refers to time or objective, not location:

    • In the end there can be only one
    • All was fine in the end
      </ul>

      But this is just the opinion of a non-native speaker...

15. July 2006, 20:42:00
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
King Reza: yeah, whole doesn't sound all that good in the sentence you wrote...
Especially since a T-shirt that was torn, has a hole, but you may still have a whole t-shirt if no cloth got detached :)

15. July 2006, 18:20:41
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
King Reza: If it's not torn, then it's intact or whole.

Or are you referring to when a shirt was torn but it's not anymore? In that case it probably was mended.

In farsi, do you use the sentence "my shirt is not torn" often? I think it's one of those words that you only use for the positive - if it's torn you say it's torn; if not then it's probably something else but I don't hear people describing a shirt as not being torn very often - unless something is said about it you assume it's not :)

10. July 2006, 18:03:30
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: Player's Dictionary
Mr. Shumway: the German translators should take care of it. They have the tools to do it. Either diogenes, Caissus or gogul...

10. July 2006, 14:20:10
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: Player's Dictionary
yoyudax: Top left corner, under the flags in the "(more about languages)" link.

10. July 2006, 12:18:11
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: Player's Dictionary
Fencer: I still think that my suggestion in the Features Request board would look nicer. But if you really want to stick to the table layouts then maybe alternating background colors could help ("Good Luck" in white, "Thank you" in grey, "Enjoy the game" in white, etc)

10. July 2006, 12:07:23
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: Player's Dictionary
Another suggestions:

  • I don't really speak this language.. I think this may come in handy when someone replies to you in the language you used and you don't know what they're saying.
  • Going on holidays. Won't play for a while.
  • Could you please make a move on game abc?

10. July 2006, 11:46:41
pauloaguia 
Subject: Player's Dictionary
Looks like Fencer already took care of it.

Efficient, as allways *135*

17. May 2006, 23:39:28
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
gogul: the ^ is just the first symbol in the tables in the link that reza posted. they stand for the sound in cup or luck.

reza: Why not post that link in the description of this board. It's a usefull resource that is needed many times around here ;)

23. April 2006, 09:27:19
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: Saw II
Walter Montego: I never made the connection until right now that it might be in part because of movies. Is it not something to wonder why so many of the movies in the world that are worldwide known are made in the United States?

Movies, TV shows, etc... Here in Portugal, most of the programs that are shown on TV or in the cinema are subtitled. In Brasil and Spain, for instance they are dubbed. I've always thought that it could be a very strong reason to the fact that, overall, the portuguese have a better understanding and accent of the english language than some other people do - you get to listen it everytime on tv and cinema and you end up making connections from certain words or expressions from what is written in the subtitles to what the actors say.
That's also why, most people will feel more familiar with the american accent rather than the british one - most of the stuff that shows up on TV that comes from abroad, comes from the USA.

22. April 2006, 19:31:54
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: adverbs and movies
رضا: So I guess now you know why that adverb, loosely, has been used. I think the speaker on that T.V. means that being and informant i snot really a job and a person who does that, doesn't actually live a normal life, but a low-level life. So he calls it a loose life. Of course that's what I get from that sentence.

Interesting. My interpretation (a portuguese speaker, not an english native speaker) was not that it was a loose life but that it could hardly be called a "life". So, to call it a "life" the speaker has to give a very loose interpretation to the word so it could be used in the sentence. It's a figure of speach, a way for the speaker to say that the character's way of life is not worthy of being called so.

...

I think that what applies to your sentence is the <h ref="http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/past-pa
rticiple.html">Contional Perfect. But I'm no english schollar so I wouldn't know how to evolve from that page :P

20. April 2006, 16:40:04
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
Jason: It's spanish for "what happened?"

10. April 2006, 15:50:56
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
Pedro Martínez: we had the same idea at the same time...
You know what they say - Great minds think alike

10. April 2006, 15:49:45
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
pauloaguia: Then again, googling on the subject I found both versions. Though the word prohibited shows up in 90% of the cases vs about 10% for forbidden

10. April 2006, 15:45:24
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
Pedro Martínez: I won't rebate it, after all my English comes mostly from the movies ;). My answer just sounds better to me that's all.
Or maybe it's just another one of those british/american things and Smoking is prohibited in London and forbidden in New York?

10. April 2006, 12:44:23
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re:
Lamby: I'd agree with you in all but the second. My first intinct would be that Smoking is strictly forbidden on underground trains in London.
But then again, I'm not an expert in proper english grammar ;)

10. April 2006, 12:42:18
pauloaguia 
Subject: Re: Trip, Travel, Journey, Voyage, Excursion
Hrqls: the only real reason i can think of would be to study ancient texts in their original language
Or to better understand how a certain language evolved.

For instance, if you study latin, you may have an easier task finding similarities between french, spanish, italian and portuguese and understand them easier, since you'll know a strong common root between them.
(It doesn't mean you'll know how to speak them well. Linguists in so many languages are rare - but you'll understand them fair enough)

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