Yeah, it's a Celtic language, so it'll be similar to Irish and Scots Gaelic... and I suppose one of the reason's why it's so hard to learn is that it's simply fallen out of use... Nobody to teach it, nobody to practise on, novody to converse with in it... so people have just forgotten about it...
Originally posted by howabe For the Happy New Year part, the standard idiom seems to be 'guten Rutsch', to which you could probably add (ins neue Jahr)..
Literally meaning a happy slide (into the new year)
Actually, in German there is a slight difference between "Guten Rutsch" & "glﾃｼckliches neues Jahr" (= "happy new year"). The 'Rutsch' is used before the new year actually starts & means something like "have a good time while celebrating on New Year's Eve" or "have a good start into the new year".
At midnight of New Year's Eve people clink glasses (with sparkling wine usually) & say "Frohes Neujahr" or "Glﾃｼckliches neues Jahr", the same expressions can be used when meeting someone for the first time in the new year.
That's so interesting, Bossel! You know, my last name is "Fritz," so I have a lot of German in me. My family even traced our history, including the Fritz Coat of Arms. It was really interesting! Wish I knew the language, though.
"God jul och gott nytt ﾃ･r" is correct. It means "Merry Christmas and a happy new year". However, the "S Rozhdestvom Kristovym" part makes no sense. It's definitely not Swedish.
How many languages do you know, Elizabeth? You seem so knowledgeable about so many different languages (as well as other things). I'm just curious how many you know. It's very impressive!
lol I'm envious I can speak English (to an extent) German and French to an almost intelligable degree, fragments of Japanese... and I've studied Latin for 6 years, although it's hardly the kind of language you converse in... but I take a great interest in languages, etymology etc, and I'd like to learn as many as possible really lol... although that isn't very likely to happen...
well, seeing as it;s an alphabetical list, it could be Swiss German, but it doesn't look like Swiss, and I think that was already listed under Romansch. It could be Tagalog... but doesn't seem like that either (from the one Tagalog phrase I know lol)
But it does certainly look Russian-esque...
Originally posted by howabe well, seeing as it;s an alphabetical list, it could be Swiss German, but it doesn't look like Swiss, and I think that was already listed under Romansch. It could be Tagalog... but doesn't seem like that either (from the one Tagalog phrase I know lol)
But it does certainly look Russian-esque...
I just scanned up the list a little ways and noticed the similarity between Rozhdestvom and Rozhdestva along with the oyvm endings, but haven't checked it out formally or anything.
I think some of these buggy lists must be machine generated by Google and site producers, though, which explains how mistakes get replicated hundreds of times over.
For Satori's list, it is strange that in some language there is only the "merry Xmas" part, while most also have the "Happy New Year" translation.
The Italian is mistaken, and it seems to me as it was translated by a robot on the net.
Funnily enough, nobody has mentionned Japanese. In the 3 list (Satori, Hidden_Wisdom and Elisabeth's) they say "shinnen omedetou, kurisumasu omedetou". First the order is wrong as they start with new year, then xmas, but on top of that Japanese don't really say "shinnen omedetou" (direct translation from Chinese, isn't it). The last time you see someone before the New Year, people say "yoi o-toshi woﾂ ﾂ（o-mukae kudasaiﾂ）" 窶氾??堋｢窶堋ｨ窶扼窶堙ｰ窶堋ｨ(ﾅ筑窶堋ｦ窶堋ｭ窶堋ｾ窶堋ｳ窶堋｢), but from the 1st of January, it becomes "akemashite omedeou (gozaimasu)" 窶督ｾ窶堋ｯ窶堙懌?堋ｵ窶堙??堋ｨ窶堙溪?堙??堙??堋､窶堋ｲ窶堋ｴ窶堋｢窶堙懌?堋ｷ. However, on the nengajou (new year's card) and other wrtten signs on house's doors, in shops or temples, you will see "gantan" ﾅ陳ｳ窶儷, which means New Year's Day and refers to the first rays of the sun of the year. It is only a written "greeting".
i'm sorry I lost my head somewhere back there and I know with all that stuff you guys wrote i'm never going to find it.
I'll just pretend to have a clue!!!
In the 3 list given above, about half the languages are European, including lots of dialects. Have a look at the similarities between Romance languages :
Portuguese (& Brazilian) Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo
Galician: Bo Nada
Spanish (including Argentine, Chile...): Feliz Navidad
Spanish (Columbia): Feliz Navidad y Prﾃｳspero Aﾃｱo Nuevo
Spanish (Peru): Feliz Navidad y un Venturoso Aﾃｱo Nuevo
Papiamento - Bon Pasco y un Feliz Aﾃｱa Nobo
Catalan: Bon Nadal i un Bon Any Nou!
Occitan: Pulit nadal e bona annado
Monegasque (Monaco) - Festusu Natale e Bona ana noeva
Corsican - Bon Natale e Bon capu d' annu
Sardinian - Felize Nadale e Bonu Cabuannu // Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou
Italian Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo
Latin: Natale hilare et Annum Nuovo
Friulian - Bon Nadﾃ｢l e Bon An Gnﾃｻf
Ladin - Bon Nadel y Bon Ann Nuef
Romanche: (sursilvan dialect): Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn
French Joyeux Noﾂ・ et Bonne Annﾃｩe
Jèrriais (Jersey = Norman French) : Bouan Noué et Bouanne Année
Romanian - Hristos s-a Nascut si Anul Nou Fericit
It's even more similar when you know that a word like "felice/feliz/..." (happy), "buono/bueno/bon /..." (good) and "prospero/prosperu/..." (prosperous) are interchangeable in some languages.
Xmas is Natale, Nadale, Nadal, Nada, Noel, Nascut... and "New Year" in Italian is either "Anno Nuovo" or "Capo d'anno" (the latter is used in the Sardinian, Corsican and other dialects).
Now let's take a look at the Germanic languages (roughly from North to South to see the progressive change):
Icelandic - Gle?ileg Jﾃｳl og Farsaelt Komandi ﾃ｡r!
Norwegian -God Jul og Godt Nyttﾃ･r
Swedish - God Jul och Gott Nytt ﾃ?
Danish - Glﾃｦdelig Jul og godt nytﾃ･r
Frisian : Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Afrikaans - Geseende Kerfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar
Dutch : Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!
Flemish : Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar
Low Saxon -Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar
German - Frohliche Weihnachten und ein glﾂ・kliches Neues Jahr!
Luxemburgish - Schﾃｩi Krﾂ・chtdeeg an e Schﾃｩint Nﾃｩi Joer
Pennsylvania German - En frehlicher Grischtdaag unen hallich Nei Yaahr!
Once again words like "froeliche/vrolijk/frehlicher/glaedig/zalig/hallich/heughliche..." (happy, glad), "gesunde/geseende/..." (healthy), "gut/goeie/god/..." (good), "schoene/schei/moi/..." (beautiful) are just different adjectives to express the same feeling.
The pattern for "New Year" is basically the same for all languages : Neues Jahr, Nieuw Jaar, Nijaar, Nije Jier, Nei Joer, Nei Yaahr, Nytar...
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I can speak English (to an extent) German and French to an almost intelligable degree, fragments of Japanese... and I've studied Latin for 6 years, although it's hardly the kind of language you converse in... but I take a great interest in languages, etymology etc, and I'd like to learn as many as possible really lol... although that isn't very likely to happen...
