|
Server : Apache/2.4.62 System : FreeBSD fbsdweb2.web.rcn.net 14.1-RELEASE FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE releng/14.1-n267679-10e31f0946d8 GENERIC amd64 User : www ( 80) PHP Version : 8.3.8 Disable Function : NONE Directory : /domains/markrose/board/messages/ |
Upload File : |
<html><head><title>Languages of Belsha</title></head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<center><h1><!--title-->Languages of Belsha
</h1></center>
<hr size=7 width=75>
<p>Posted by <b><!--poster-->Irgend Jemand</b>
on <!--date-->7:40 12/15/01
<p>In reply to: <a href="287.html">Languages of Belshai</a> posted by Christopher O'Regan</b> on 20:06 12/14/01
<!-- PUT MESSAGE HERE -->
<p>
Ok, this is almost entirely about languages on earth, but then again, you've
started with the topic.
<p>First, since so many place names on Almea are derived from place names on earth,
is there some language in wich the word for Switzerland sounds somehow like
Belshai? With some imagination, one can think that the "shai" in "Belshai" is
derived from Switzerland or Schweiz or Suisse, but where does the "Bel" come
from?
<p>And Chris, I don't really think that simultanous translation between English
and German, or other European languages, is that difficult. After all, spoken
sentences usually don't take more than a few seconds, so even when you have to
wait for the whole sentence to translate it, you shouldn't fall back to much in
time. And longer sentences are usually divided in segments of about that size,
wich can be translated one by one, and than left in the same order. The only
serious problem I could think of is when you've forgotten a word and don't have
the time to look it up in the dictionary.
<p>Perhaps there could be a more serious problem when it comes to Arabic or
Chinese. I think this Sapir-Whorf thing could become a problem then. I know it's
outdated, but I still think it might work the other way around: That <i>language
determines thought</i>. It might be quiet difficult to translate many Western
terms into Chinese while keeping their meaning, and vice versa. For instance,
I've heard somewhere that the Chinese term for "freedom" generally means
something bad in Chinese- that it's associated with chaos and crime or
something- so that, when a leader who speaks one of the European languages says
something like "We must defend our freedom against those who want to take it
from us" in the UN, this automatically means something bad in Chinese, even
without the political tensions. Could something like that happen?
<hr><i>Mark responds:
<p>The name Belshai isn't consciously based on anything, and in fact I
don't yet know what it means!
<p>On translation: one mitigating factor is that contexts can bring in
their own connotations. For instance, Bernard Lewis tells us that
the word <b>malik</b> 'king' had, in general, bad connotations in
Classical Arabic; it was associated with pagan monarchs. Much later,
though, in the 1800s, the pasha of Egypt changed his title to malik,
as an assertion of equality with the kings of Europe.
<p>I think that if there's enough diplomatic contact, problems due to
differing connotations will be smoothed over.
</i>
<hr><center>
<i>To make a reply, or see replies, see <a href="../">the index page</a>.</i>
</center>
<hr>
<!-- For index page:
<li><a href="messages/289.html">Languages of Belsha</a> -
<b>Irgend Jemand</b>
<i>7:40 12/15/01</i>
-->
</body></html>