#linguistics things

[mkyujji]

Huh... didn’t know it did that...

Since I’ve taken classes for both Korean and Mandarin, my computer is set up so that I can type in English, Korean, and both Simplified and Traditional Pinyin just so that I can do my homework and read the assigned websites.

I had absolutely no idea that the set up included adding them to my computer’s dictionary/thesaurus so that whenever I look up words (sometimes accidentally due to mystical shortcut keys), it not only brings up the English version of the entry, but also the Korean and Mandarin versions.  Including sentence examples!  I really wish I’d noticed during Mandarin 101.  

[avalonarchive]

*starts reading YA fantasy book with killer mermaids*

OK I just spent the past 15 minutes:

Figuring out which native Alaskan / Canadian language the characters in the book speak (it’s Haida, btw)

Realizing that the author only created a Fantasy Conlang that just looks similar to Haida

There’s an online dictionary for this language! The author could’ve pulled a few phrases from it and asked for help conjugating things correctly. Argh!

[disregardcanon]

I’m a little sad that the middle aged to young folks in my area lost our intrusive r. As a linguistics enthusiast the flattening of regional accents just makes me sad

[avalonarchive]

*continues reading YA sci-fi book with parallel worlds*

Well this got kinda interesting: Protagonist leaps into Soviet Russia Still Exists!Earth and discovers she’s deaf.

This gives me a chance to look into Russian Sign Language. This should be fun.

[avalonarchive]

*continues reading YA fantasy book with POC mermaids*

Screw you, book.

I just spent the past 30 minutes trying to figure out which Inuit language one of your fantastic place names was derived from.

Eventually I narrowed it down to Yu’pik ... and learned that the word was misspelled in the book.

Also ... “snow on the ground” is a rather odd name for a giant whirlpool.

(Foreign Language Count so far: 13. Maybe 14 if I count French and Louisiana French as two separate languages.)

[avalonarchive]

*continues reading YA book with reincarnated archangels*

Um ... if Alexander the Great was Greek, why is he speaking in Latin in an Epic Flashback of his conquest of Persepolis?

[avalonarchive]

*continues reading YA fantasy book with POC mermaids*

“Nitrogen” isn’t a very threatening name for a goblin military leader.

(It probably sounded more bad-ass in German.)

[avalonarchive]

*continues reading YA fantasy book with POC mermaids*

You know you’re in a bad place when it’s called “skag heap” in German, and it’s populated by the “sea devils”.

I’m expecting the Doctor to show up any minute now.