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August 29

Arabic song lyrics

Any help getting the lyrics (with translation) of the following song: Thank you! Mo-Al (talk) 02:46, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

This site had the lyrics to Inta Omri: http://www.arabiclyrics.net/Oum-Kalthoum/Inta-Omry.php There are likely different spellings, success in finding the lyrics may depend on what spelling you look under. μηδείς (talk) 02:02, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, but this doesn't help me. I think the song I'm looking for is called "ana mali fiash" or something like that. Mo-Al (talk) 03:42, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Well, I tried just about every spelling variation search I could in French and English. Your going to have to get an Arab speaker's help. μηδείς (talk) 18:01, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Here are the lyrics (I think) with French translation.--Cam (talk) 05:31, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! Mo-Al (talk) 23:12, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Which language?

Can a reader please tell me which languages the following three poems are written in? Thank you. 1. Doch bald kam sie wieder, Da kniete er nieder... 2. Fólyomentén öreg tölgyfa Nyari zöldös kabat hordja Fal nélkűli karja helyett... 3. Die skape luister, Bome fluister En kriekies sing hul lied....Simonschaim (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 13:30, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

1 is German, 2 is Hungarian and 3 is Afrikaans. --Viennese Waltz 13:33, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Ja, das war eigentlich vielleicht. μηδείς (talk) 23:05, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Das war eigentlich vielleicht was? Angr (talk) 18:15, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Möglicherweise meinte Medeis "sehr leicht" statt "vielleicht". ---Sluzzelin talk 18:22, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Ach, Gott im Himmel.... μηδείς (talk) 17:59, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Following the comments of a Viennese Pommy, a Ruthenian, a Texas German :o) and a Swiss: I still don´t get it. The fragment Doch bald kam sie wieder, Da kniete er nieder... is BTW not part of a poem but a bit of the lyrics of an old "Schlager", composed and sung by Leo Leandros. Schlager were a profoundly vomitorious style of German commercial crap music in the 1950s and early sixties. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 21:02, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. Simonschaim (talk)

August 30

a or an for words starting with h

For typo correction purposes I'm trying to make a complete list of 'h' words which do not always have 'a' as the indefinite article. i.e. all the words starting with h which are the exceptions to the rule. Even those where both a and an could be acceptable.

So far, words with 'an' as the correct indefinite article

~~starting with 'haug' i.e. 'an haughtily'~~ was incorrect

starting with 'haut' i.e. 'an haute couture'

starting with 'heir' i.e. 'an heiress'

starting with 'hones' i.e. 'an honest'

starting with 'hono' i.e. 'an honor'/'an honour'

starting with 'hors ' i.e. 'an hors d'oeuvres', but not horse

starting with 'hour' i.e. 'an hourly'

Words where both 'a' and 'an' seem to be acceptable

starting with 'herb' i.e. 'an herbalist' or 'a herbalist' (an herb in American English, a herb in British English)

starting with 'histor' i.e. 'a historic' is normal but 'an historic' is accepted, not similiar histogram

starting with 'hosp' i.e. 'a hospitable' is normal but 'an hospitable' is accepted

starting with 'hote' i.e. 'a hotel' is normal but 'an hotel' is accepted

starting with 'hallu' i.e. 'a hallucination' is normal but 'an hallucination' is accepted but uncommon in modern use

starting with 'hara' i.e. 'a harassment' is normal but 'an harassment' is accepted but uncommon in modern use

starting with 'hyst' i.e. 'a hysterical' is normal but 'an hysterical' is accepted but uncommon in modern use

+ humble i.e. 'a humble'or 'an humble' see discussion below

+ hypothesis i.e. 'a hypothesis' or 'hypothesis' see discussion below

+ homage ‘Homage’

Anything missing or incorrect? Regards, Sun Creator 14:00, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

As our article a and an says: "The choice of "a" or "an" is determined by phonetic rules rather than by spelling convention". So any rule based on spelling will have to accommodate many specific exceptions. I think "an haughtily" is definitely incorrect, and your "starting with 'hors'" rule works for an hors d'oeurvre, but does not work for a horse. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:14, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Yes, the exceptions are based on phonetic rules. I've adjusted the 'hors' to 'hors ' above, that was an oversight of horse. Regards, Sun Creator 14:23, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

For me, aside from words that have silent Hs (like "heiress" or "honor" or "honest", as you have listed), I find that I say "an" if the word isn't stressed on the first syllable (so, "a history" but "an historian"). So "haughtily" would never take "an". I imagine the list would be quite different if you accounted for particular dialects/accents. Adam Bishop (talk) 14:17, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

I agree with Gandalf61. "An haughtily" seems wrong (assuming haughtily is the adverb form of haughty). I have not come across the use of an with hallucination, harassment or hysterical before. Note that both "a historic" and "an historic" seem to be commonly accepted, but I don't think anyone says "An history". What about the very common "an hour"? — Cheers, JackLee 14:24, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for hour. I've added it to the options. Regards, Sun Creator 14:28, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

striked 'an haughtily', on additional checking that just seems incorrect. Regards, Sun Creator 14:53, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Keeping a list like this overlooks the simple generalizations:

where the letter h is silent, the allomorph selected is always an
where the letter h is pronounced /h/ and the first syllable of the word is stressed, the allomorph selected is always a
where the letter h is pronounced /h/ and the first syllable of the word is unstressed, either a or an may be used, depending on dialect and personal preference of the writer/speaker.

Generalizations 1 and 2 also depend on the writer/speaker's dialect: people who pronounce words like humble and herb with an initial /h/ sound will also say and write "a humble man" and "a herb"; people who pronounce such words without an initial /h/ sound will say and write "an humble man" and "an herb". (Disclaimer 1: in some nonstandard varieties of English, the allomorph an doesn't exist at all, and a is used even before vowel-initial words. Disclaimer 2: in some nonstandard varieties of English, the sound /h/ is dropped in some positions where the standard language requires it, and added in some positions where the standard language omits it; I don't know the extent to which the selection of a vs. an is affected by this.) Angr (talk) 18:13, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the examples, so 'humble' and 'hypothesis' can be either. I did find 'an humble' used in some recent news media items. Regards, Sun Creator 14:09, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Stress is the key, but Rule 3 is finessed a bit in my dialect: if the word bears primary stress on the second syllable ("hypothesis"), I generally slip into "an"; but if on a later syllable (so that the first syllable is not completely unstressed: "hypothetical"), I stick with "a". -- Elphion (talk) 19:50, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Angr's third rule specifically says it depends on dialect and individual preference - plenty of dialects are going to have more specific rules. I (broadly speaking, an RP speaker) almost always use 'a' if the 'h' isn't silent. The only exception is if the 'h' is only barely pronounced and I'm being a little lazy (I might say "an historian" for instance, but I'm almost dropping the 'h' when I do so - if I'm being careful to enunciate, I would say "a historian" with a definite 'h'). --Tango (talk) 12:33, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

"an historian" is not uncommon. Do you have more? if your being a little lazy would it be 'an habitual'? Regards, Sun Creator 14:09, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

My third rule says "the first syllable of the word is unstressed", not "...does not bear primary stress". Syllables with secondary stress (and tertiary stress, if you believe in it) are not unstressed. Angr (talk) 18:33, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Is it really more complicated than "if the H is pronounced, us "a", and if the H isn't pronounced, use "an"? While many dialects will differ on when the initial H is or isn't pronounced, don't most of them follow the trend of using "a" when it is an "an" when it isn't? --Jayron32 14:17, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
I didn't state it that way because I'm not convinced that everyone who says "an historical event" actually drops the /h/ in "historical". Angr (talk) 18:33, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
- I do. But true, there are many different dialects of English, so like many other issues, I doubt you will get any sort of agreement on this. In my dialect, an is only used for articles before vowel sounds regardless of how the word is spelled. Thus, an historian, an herb, an unforgivable thing, but a hockey stick, a unicycle, etc. But I suspect you won't find perfect, 100% universal agreement on that. Have you looked in any relevent style guides or other language experts as to how this is dealt with in formal writing and speaking, which is codified and much more likely to have some expert agreement on? --Jayron32 18:48, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Is "hieress" an elevated "heiress"? It's "an heir/ess", in any case. Bazza (talk) 18:02, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Good catch 'heiress', Regards, Sun Creator 00:48, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Homage can be both also, from Should you write “a homage” or “an homage”?. Regards, Sun Creator 14:11, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Khud = ?

Hello learned linguists ! Ernest Hemingway uses (twice) in his short story Cross Country Snow (written about 1925) a word khud , meaning I think hillock : "his skis started slipping... ...and he went up and down the billowing khuds". What about that word I didn't find in any dic. ? Thanks a lot beforehand for your answer. Arapaima (talk) 16:25, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

I searched for "khud skiing" and got http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/khud Hindi: "Ravine, precipice" μηδείς (talk) 16:29, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

I went straight to Wiktionary and found wikt:khud. Angr (talk) 18:03, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks a lot μηδείς & Angr. Actually, I was perplexed, since Hemingway describes skiing on small snow bulges, not over rifts (which any way are absent some miles above Montreux...) Arapaima (talk) 08:03, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Small bulges are called moguls in skiing. StuRat (talk) 07:57, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Funny, a friend who's been on casting couches has told me that, in Hollywood, moguls usually have small bulges. μηδείς (talk) 16:13, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Translation: German to English

A discussion at User talk:Jimbo Wales#Leistungsschutzrecht (version of 17:25, 30 August 2012) has an external link to an article at Leistungsschutzrecht: Misplaced Pages bald ohne Links? » t3n News. (The discussion is destined to be archived to User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 113#Leistungsschutzrecht or User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 114#Leistungsschutzrecht.) Can someone who is fluent in German please translate the external article into English, and post the translation here and also at User talk:Jimbo Wales#Leistungsschutzrecht?
—Wavelength (talk) 18:56, 30 August 2012 (UTC) and 18:57, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

Does Google Translate not give you a satisfactory result? I just tried it, and although I don't understand the article that's because of the subject matter, not the language - I understand what it's saying just fine. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:08, 30 August 2012 (UTC) Nevermind. I just read your comment chez Jimbo - I see why you want an accurate translation. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:11, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

I don't speak German natively, but I've studied it for three years, visited Germany and Austria at least once per year, and read German-language comics. So I'm fairly sure I can do a better job at translating it than Google Translate. But if I'm going to do it, it's going to take me at least one day. JIP | Talk 19:14, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

"Ni" vs "du" in Swedish

What is the situation with saying ni vs. du in Swedish? I read in a Swedish Donald Duck pocket book that the CEO of a factory owned by Scrooge McDuck addressed Scrooge as du, despite Scrooge being the chief owner and Chairman of the Board of the entire factory. My sister, who spent a year living in Sweden, said that in Sweden, no one says ni to anyone any more, not even to the King. But she's a Finn, and her mother tongue is Finnish. She just happened to spend a year in Sweden. In Finnish, saying te instead of sinä is mostly used for formal address, such as news reporters addressing politicians. (Although I've heard that in the army, everyone says te to everyone, to make it clear they are addressing fellow soldiers and not personal friends.) In German, you basically say Sie instead of du to everyone you aren't personal friends with. In English, the whole point is moot, because no one has said thou to anyone in several centuries. But what is the situation in Swedish? JIP | Talk 19:10, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

I hear people say tha and thee most days. Thou isn't archaic everywhere. Warofdreams talk 12:24, 5 September 2012 (UTC)

Your sister's right. No one says 'ni' any more, not even to the king. Incidentally, though, having spoken to 'kungen', I can confirm that you don't say 'du' to him either; you refer to him as 'your majesty' ('ers majestät'): "Vill ers majestät ägg till frukost?" (this is actually what I said to him...) - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:17, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

And did he? - Ka renjc 21:57, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

He did. He got one, too. By the way, the article Rallette refers to below has reminded me of the correct protocol - I referred to the king as 'your majesty' since I was meeting him for the first time, and offering him service. My colleague, who was with him over a period of a few days and giving him a tour of the event we were at, was able to call him 'the king', as in 'would the king follow me please?'

A bit more du/Ni info: I remember my Swedish teacher saying that when growing up he had to address his grandmother with 'Ni'. He was in his 70s, so his grandmother was probably born in the 19th century. (She (the grandmother) also pronounced the third-person plural 'de' as it's written, rather than 'dom' in the accepted modern way. Apparently there is a polite address form of 'du' used in official letters and the like; I'm told that letters from such bodies as Skatteverket address the recipient as 'Du' - capitals obviously being more respectful! - Cucumber Mike (talk) 08:52, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Looking at the 'your Majesty' form, there - aren't you implicitly using the 'ni' form by using 'ers' for 'your'? AlexTiefling (talk) 09:13, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Maybe. But it's archaic, so I'd say it's in the same vein as one's implying the familiar form when telling God 'thine is the glory: most people nowadays don't remember the difference - in fact if anything 'thou' and 'thine' seem the more formal forms. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 09:40, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, so when they want a shrubbery, what do they do, then? --Trovatore (talk) 22:11, 30 August 2012 (UTC)

They waylay the nearest bunch of knights on a quest of course. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:31, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Of course, we have an article on the subject. My experience is that in Finland, Swedish speakers can fairly often be heard addressing strangers as ni. But that is OR.--Rallette (talk) 07:38, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

The debate about du vs. ni in Swedish was quite hot in the 60's and 70's. Rather than me summarizing, I suggest you read You-reform. /Coffeeshivers (talk) 21:18, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

See tutear, which address many languages. I don't use tú with someone unless I would address him by his first name. I find the use of it in Spanish advertising quite disturbing. I am used to it enough in person that I simply reciprocate when others address me as tú, which is quite common. μηδείς (talk) 22:15, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

In Italian advertising tu is almost universal, unless the product is specifically aiming for snob appeal. I think the idea is that the advertiser is your "generic friend". Not a friend you actually know, of course, but a stand-in for the generic element of the class of your friends. --Trovatore (talk) 22:47, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

(I should qualify that a little — some ads do use voi. But I think those ads are notionally addressing multiple persons, not using the dated-or-regional formal singular voi.) --Trovatore (talk) 22:52, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

August 31

synchronic differences in basic word order

Do dialect continua exist that include dialects that differ in their basic word order? If so, what's the transition zone like? —Tamfang (talk) 08:54, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

I think that sprachbunds of unrelated or not-closely-related languages very often show word-order harmonization, and a dialect continuum is effectively a sprachbund among closely-related languages, so I'm not sure how that situation would be at all probable... AnonMoos (talk) 14:39, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

And yet changes of word order over time are known to have occurred, e.g. between early and late Biblical Hebrew (if I understand right), so there must have been a transitional phase. I'm hoping a spatial transition can help me understand the temporal transition. —Tamfang (talk) 09:48, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

I think the situation in Welsh might be a bit like that. At least, the informal language uses VSO constructions more than the standard language does, or that's my understanding as a beginning learner. There are also north Wales /South Wales dialect differences, which might also relate to the frequency of the VSO forms. As another example, in French, the SV inversion for questions is less frequent in informal speech. So I think that what the border would look like is having more than one form in possible use, with the frequency of forms varying along the continuum. Itsmejudith (talk) 17:01, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Hiberno-English and Yiddish-influenced NYC English have distinctive Yoda-like word-order constructions. Can't find any good material on this in wikipedia though. μηδείς (talk) 22:09, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

But isn't that (at least in Yiddish-English) a marked (emphatic) form rather than a basic order? —Tamfang (talk) 09:48, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Can't speak directly to Yiddish, but the default word order in English influenced by Pennsylvania Dutch often differs from standard English. ("Throw the horse over the fence some hay.") -- Elphion (talk) 16:32, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

(ec) Yes, if you are going to limit the question to simple unmarked sentences. Word order is very conservative, so I cannot imagine finding two side by side dialects that vary only from SOV to SVO. If you had a language with free word order, I could imagine a slight preference for different default order in neighboring dialects. I can't think of any examples, though. Wouldn't at all be surprised if second-language speakers of Latin tend to use their mother tongue's word order when they use Latin, as with Elphion's example in Amish English. μηδείς (talk) 16:35, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

"simple unmarked sentences" are implied by the phrase "basic word order". —Tamfang (talk) 21:18, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

I recognize your right to mean what you want without having to argue it. I thought my starting that sentence with yes indicated that.μηδείς (talk) 16:11, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Newfoundland English has similar word order sometimes, surely adopted from Hiberno-English. Also, for Latin, yes, at least in medieval Latin writing the word order was often affected by the author's native language. Adam Bishop (talk) 07:48, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

How can a sign language have local accents?

Hello to many people. Please excuse my poor English, I'm a Frenchy. In an episode of the American series "Bones", they have to speak with a deaf person using the American Sign Language (ASL) but later they realise that this person has a local accent from a peculiar State, this fact is important for the rest of the episode. This leads to some questions.

Q1) Is it known that there are different accents in the AFL ?

Q2) Main question: how a sign language can have different accents?

Q3) I see here that the AFL is used in many countries so if there are accents inside the USA, I guess that there could be huger differences with other countries. Right or wrong? Thank you for helping.--Joël DESHAIES (talk) 13:00, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Sign language is a real language, in the sense that, like all languages, it follows certain expected patterns of change and growth. Just like two populations which speak the same language can be seperated, and their languages diverge in different ways over time, until dialects and accents develop, the exact same process can go on in sign language. Different dialects can use different signs for the same concept, or perhaps the exact manner in which the sign is made can vary from place to place. The signs are formed in very exacting ways, so I don't think it is all that hard to imagine that a particular sign is made one way in California and a slightly different way in New York, and that one could recognize the difference. Wouldn't that pretty much qualify as an accent? The article and section Sign_language#Linguistics_of_sign covers the ways in which sign language parallels the way in which spoken languages work, and even has some examples of Sign Language families, whereby there is a parent sign language which has evolved, over time, into distinct languages: Pretty much exactly the way that Latin evolved into French, American Sign Language evolved from French Sign Language. In order for a language to evolve into another, there would be a time period where the differences were small; such small differences are what we could call "accents". --Jayron32 13:14, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Apparently Auslan (Australian Sign Language) has wide dialectal variation. The article has some good information about the causes and effects of such variation. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 15:12, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, what a quick and useful answer, I hardly had time to read some articles about sign languages in the fr.wikipedia, I'm going to read the articles you suggested--Joël DESHAIES (talk) 13:33, 31 August 2012 (UTC)

September 1

A "displaced state"

In Mood (psychology) there is a sentence saying:"Good mood is usually considered a displaced state; people cannot pinpoint exactly why they are in a good mood." I wonder about the expression displaced state. What does it mean exactly? Lova Falk talk 07:54, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

The term is defined by the clause that follows it. Displaced means without location (and can be used figuratively). State means a manner of being. So a displaced state means a manner of being without a location; that is it is a manner of being that exists without a known reason. --Jayron32 14:27, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

As I understand by your answer and by the absence of others who answer, this expression "displaced state" is not a common expression for a manner of being. I'm thinking of removing it... Lova Falk talk 15:01, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

I don't know that that is a great idea. The statement can be true without the phrase "displaced state" being official jargon. It is a fine phrase whose meaning is clear. --Jayron32 15:03, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Because, when reading it, I started wondering if "displaced state" was a concept within psychology for a state that I was not familiar with yet. But it is not! Lova Falk talk 15:16, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, but if I say "Pete was a tall man" it doesn't mean that "tall man" needs to be a concept within anything to be a valid descriptor of Pete. --Jayron32 15:19, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

I would call "displaced state" jargon; it conveys nothing to this native speaker. -- Elphion (talk) 16:36, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

It's more like the article said "Pete was an extended man; a man of unusual height compared to the average height for men in the area where he lived." (That semicolon should be a colon really, since it introduces a description.) Card Zero (talk) 16:56, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

No it doesn't. It means "moved": wikt:displace. There is the implication that something has moved it out of its proper place, but a good mood has no proper place, and there was nothing that moved it, so in the article the word is being used figuratively to mean "not having a place", where the idea of "place", as you say, is also being used figuratively, to mean "identified cause". This is what I would describe figuratively as "bananas". Since English seems to lack a word for "locationless" - not exactly a common concept - and since the idea of location is misleading in this context, I suggest editing "displaced state" into the phrase "a state without an identified cause", and then deleting it for redundancy. It does sound a lot like jargon, mainly because an odd pithy phrase has apparently been clarified with a definition following it, but also because it's redolent of jargon terms like displacement activity and referred pain. Card Zero (talk) 16:45, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

I followed the first of your suggestions. Thank you! Lova Falk talk 18:01, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

There is a proper phrase for this idea. Most emotions are about something, one is angry about being cut off in traffic. Moods aren't "about" anything, although we may be aware of what brought them on. Probably find something in Descartes' Error or another work by Antonio Damasio. μηδείς (talk) 17:25, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Chinese help

I took some photos of some buildings. But what are the Chinese characters appearing in the following?

Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 21:32, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

File:ChinatownPrintingHoustonTX.JPG is 同连印制公司
File:MTTradingCorp.JPG is 美中貿易公司
File:AFWholesale.JPG 亞美食品批發公司.

rʨanaɢ (talk) 22:50, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you so much! Also, in the film Infernal Affairs there is a character 徐偉強 (Tsui Wai-keung) - What is the Mandarin reading of the name? For "Del Piero" (迪比亞路) what are the Mandarin and Cantonese names? WhisperToMe (talk) 23:31, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

The first one should be Xu Weiqiang. 109.99.71.97 (talk) 08:58, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

強 has qiáng and qiǎng - Which one is it? WhisperToMe (talk) 16:16, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Another one: Yit Ing Ho has Chinese characters, but which ones are they? Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 16:16, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

It is qiáng, and the characters are 一定好酒家 ('Definitely Good' Restaurant, which sounds just as ridiculous in Chinese as it does in English). 24.92.74.238 (talk) 19:05, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! For the Cantonese name of the character, is 強 a koeng4 or a koeng5 ? WhisperToMe (talk) 21:42, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Another Mandarin question: In File:Chinatown2.JPG What is the Chinese for "Southwest Heart Clinic"? And would one be able to tell the characters for "Lucky Pot" from that distance? On the door of Suite 150 (next to the "老地方") there are some more Chinese characters. What are those characters? WhisperToMe (talk) 23:50, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

September 2

Cheers??

The problem for us not native speakers are the nuances. Let's say I have had a discussion with another editor, and I might have been a bit more edgy than I should be, but we have continued our discussion and all is well again, and I would like to express my appreciation for the editor in my greetings, when we finish the discussion. "A hug to you" feels too personal, but what could I say instead? Cheers?? Lova Falk talk 13:50, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Why not! --TammyMoet (talk) 15:38, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

I have read a lot of sarcastic cheerses from people. So I'd be more explicit if I really wanted to make sure someone understood I was trying to be friendly. One thing I have noticed is that a lot of people, once you have had any conflict with them, will see all future communication in light of that conflict. Even though you think you are being entirely friendly, and hold no "grudge", what you say may be interpreted in the worst possible way. That's harder to deal with, because you don't want to preface all your communications with: "I know I said your point was bollocks and your judgment flawed when discussing party balloons last Spring, please don't interpret my comment now as a continuation of that exchange..." Not much you can do, since if it were face-to-face you would see they are uncomfortable, and they would see you were friendly. Just be aware of it as a possible reason for "off" reactions. μηδείς (talk) 16:07, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

"Cheers" is indeed often used sarcastically, and should probably be avoided unless you're already on good terms and have been for some time. If you were previously conflicted and things are good now, you don't need to do anything special, just keep staying on good terms. If things have been rough, sometimes you can defuse it by simply treating the other editor neutrally, and you may eventually warm up. And some editors are going to persist in holding a grudge, and will never warm up, so just avoid them and they will eventually go away. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 16:34, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

What I always say in that situation is "Regards". Looie496 (talk) 17:22, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

No more Cheers. I'll probably say "friendly regards" even though I think it sounds a bit too formal... Lova Falk talk 17:34, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

I find "I am glad we agree" or "are able to agree" on some point is simple and natural and puts the focus on the issue at hand, implying the friendly feelings without making them the central point. μηδείς (talk) 17:40, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

I'm a strong advocate of being formal in fraught situations. People in a dispute with you often see informality as disrespect. It may be counter-intuitive, but my experience is that formality works better. Looie496 (talk) 17:56, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

September 3

translation from Moroccan Arabic

I'm trying to figure out the translation of this Moroccan song into English:

‎أنا ما لي فياش اش عليا مني نقنط من رزقي لاش و الخالق يرزقني
‎أنا عبد ربي له قدرة يهون بها كل أمر عسير
‎فان كنت عبدا ضعيف القوى فربي على كل شيء قدير
‎مني آش عليا وأنا عبد مملوك و الأشيا مقضية ما في التحقيق شكوك
‎ربي نظر فيا و أنا نظري متروك في الأرحام و الأحشا من نطفة صورني
‎يقول لما شاء كن فيكون و يبدىء سبحانه و يعيد
‎و يحكم في خلقه ما يشا و يفعل في ملكه ما يريد
‎في ظلمة الأرحام صورني من نطفة و بدا لي بالانعام نعمة من كل صنفة
‎و خلق لي ما و طعام و نعايم مختلفة و نزلت من غير قميص غطاني و سترني
‎مني آش عليا وأنا عبد مملوك و الأشيا مقضية ما في التحقيق شكوك
‎ربي نظر فيا و أنا نظري متروك في الأرحام و الأحشا من نطفة صورني
‎أنا ما لي فياش اش عليا مني نقنط من رزقي لاش و الخالق يرزقني

Thank you, Mo-Al (talk) 00:51, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

I put it into Google Translate, just for fun, and this is what it came up with:

I me فياش Ashe Graduate me Nqnt of Rizki Lash and creator Irozkni

I Abdel Lord his ability trivialize each command Asir

Weak, you're a slave forces Frba on all things

Me Ashe graduate and I slave and Wallachia Mqdah doubts in the investigation

Lord consider my true and I left in the womb and the Alahha sperm Sorne

Say what 'Be willing and Abdye Almighty and restores

And governs the creation Yesha and do his property what he wants

In the darkness of the womb Sorne of sperm and it seemed to me Palanaam blessing of all classified

And create me what food and Naim different and I got out of the shirt غطاني Sturna

Me Ashe graduate and I slave and Wallachia Mqdah doubts in the investigation

Lord consider my true and I left in the womb and the Alahha sperm Sorne

I me فياش Ashe Graduate me Nqnt of Rizki Lash and creator Irozkni

That may or may not be of much help. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 13:52, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

...this is a good demonstration that Google translate does not work for Moroccan Arabic. Mo-Al (talk) 01:38, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Spoken Moroccan colloquial Arabic is strongly divergent from Classical or literary standard Arabic in a number of respects, and can't be written adequately with the unmodified Classical Arabic alphabet... AnonMoos (talk) 03:13, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Transcription

Is there a word for "transcribing" characters (for example in Chinese) to a computer from an image (as in the question above) so that they can be manipulated? 70.162.10.166 (talk) 03:48, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

When a computer does it (and usually from a scanned image), it's called Optical character recognition. Lesgles (talk) 03:52, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

September 4

The <a person's name>s of the worlds_of_the_world-September_4-2012-09-04T12:14:00.000Z">

Translating Daniel H. Wilson's Amped, I've found the sentence as follows:

It's the Joseph Vaughns of the world who have given regular people license to act like this.

Joseph Vaughn is an agitator who incites people to the act in this novel. What does 'the <a person's name>s of the world' mean? --Analphil (talk) 12:14, 4 September 2012 (UTC)s_of_the_world"> s_of_the_world">

It means that person and other people like him. In this case, it means basically "It's the agitators of the world". Angr (talk) 12:21, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

[In the present version, the heading of this section appears on my watchlist as The s of the world. I suggest replacing the less-than and greater-than signs with parentheses.

—Wavelength (talk) 15:42, 4 September 2012 (UTC)]

I changed to an "<", which should fix most of the problems... AnonMoos (talk) 15:50, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Pronunciation of a Danish name

How is the name Tycho Brahe usually pronounced in English? I'd also like to know the Danish pronunciation. Thanks, Bielle (talk) 17:40, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

On Cosmos I believe Carl Sagan said /'taɪkoʊ 'bra:heɪ/, which is how I say it. I am sure the long e sound at the end is wrong in Danish. μηδείς (talk) 18:00, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

The german article offers an ogg file of the pronunciation (which I assume is meant to be the Danish one): http://de.wikipedia.org/Tycho_Brahe It sounds like /'tyko bra:/ to me. μηδείς (talk) 18:07, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Tycho Brahe#cite note-0.—Emil J. 18:08, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

That note seems definitive, and not inconsistent with the German ogg. μηδείς (talk) 18:54, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Arabic to English translation of the word "Aghrāḍ"

Hello! How would you translate the word "aghrāḍ" (اغراض?), when talking about "traditional aghrāḍ in Arabic poetry"? Is it closer to "genres" or "themes"? or something else? Thank you for your help! Bryan P. C. C. (talk) 18:59, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

How long would it take for someone to learn the french language with no high school degree?

How long would it take for someone to learn the french language with no high school degree? Neptunekh2 (talk) 19:37, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

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