Lingo Lango, Jingy Jong Jango

I cannot imagine anybody who reads this blog not enjoying Gaston Dorren’s book Lingo: Around Europe in 60 Languages. Yes, sixty languages are a lot to cover, but each one is discussed quite briefly, making only one or two points about the language before moving on. The text takes less than 300 pages, so each language gets the equivalent of a blog post’s worth of discussion. You won’t learn Basque this way, but you will learn that Basque does not have subjects and objects (although speakers can still distinguish between the doer and the doee). The book is full of interesting nuggets doled out in witty prose. Most of the chapters end with an example of a word the language has given English speakers: e.g, avalanche comes (via France) from the only language native to Switzerland, Romansh. There are also sample words from the languages, reminding all readers of the richness of tongues. For instance, the German Gönnen means “the exact opposite of envy,” giving English speakers a word to wish for, while the Portuguese have a term, pesamenteira, for a person who comes to a funeral for the free food. Random facts about language and history are salted throughout the text. It turns out that not all languages have a verb to have. Languages in the Finno-Ugric family (mostly Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian) say something like It is on me when they want to say I have it. Similarly, on the island of Manx between Britain and Ireland, folks say something that translates (roughly)...
Source: Babel's Dawn - Category: Speech Therapy Authors: Source Type: blogs