Sometimes I think English is pretty boring. Other languages have some great words that express perfectly a concept that in English is awkward at best and impossible at worst. For example, greetings in English: Hi, Hello, How are you? But consider greetings in other languages: Mambo (Swahili), Bonjour (French), Salaam (Arabic), and Ciao (Italian). Mambo is an extremely versatile word that can mean good, blessing, but usually translated as 'what's up?'
Bonjour of course means good day in French. (have a good day). Salaam in Arabic is as widely defined as the Hebrew 'Shalom'- meaning peace, blessing, health, greeting, God bless, and so many more meanings rolled into one. My favorite, though is Italian Ciao: it comes from the Latin 'I am your servant'.
Imagine greeting someone, instead of with the English grunt 'hi', with 'Peace and blessing to you! I am your servant! Have a good day!' Of course that sounds a little silly to us, but I think it would be cool if when we interacted with each other our words were not neutral, but carried a blessing and an encouragement that set the stage for our conversation.
Other great words: in French one says 'J'ai peur' for 'I am afraid', but it literally means 'I have fear'. It is so much better to identify fear not as who we are, but as something we have that can be dealt with and gotten rid of.
The verb 'to kiss' in French is 'embrasser', but it can also be translated as 'to embrace' or 'to take up/in', which I think is way better than the lame old English 'kiss'. (when do you ever kiss without embracing?) A final great word is the Creole 'Jambalaya' which is a delicious stew with just about everything in it: chicken, sausage, seafood, vegetables, rice, tomatos, pork..... The origin of the word is a little uncertain, but it is likely from a mix of the French word for ham (jambon) and a Creole phrase 'ya-ya' meaning 'everyone's talking at once!' What a great name- a stew in which everybody's talking at once, where all the different ingredients are mixed together in a noisy combination of flavors.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Great words in other languages
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I find that there are certain nautical words that I now use that I find hard to explain what they mean in English, but Navy people understand them. One of my favourite is 'gash' which means garbage, but it can also mean extra, spare, useless, taking up space and a whole range of other meanings around that general concept.
I guess I could have used the 'other' tab....
I think there are some great words in English, but my favourite would be Latin. English has words like egg, indicative, phenomenom, perdition, exemplary, tome, tenuous, and plosive. On the other hand, saying egg might be fun, but saying ouef en Fracais est meilleur et plus amusant. (not to be confused with ouf, which means me...) Another favourite of mine is concombre. Still, Latina reigns sumprema.
If you're driving and you get angry at someone, feel free to yell, "Sona si Latine loqueris!!" which won't get you anywhere but might make you feel better. Some favourite phrases:
Si Hoc Legere Scis Nimium Eruditionis Habes.
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
Quo signo nata es?
The Best Insult?
"Vacca foeda!"
And, as someone said to me recently, "Noli me vocare, ego te vocabo..."
And one you can use all the time...
Hospito, formosum...
I agree with J. R. R. Tolkien who said that the phrase "cellar door" is a combination of words in the English language to have an especially beautiful sound. Just say "cellar door" a few times and you will see what I mean.
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