Let’s „youtranslate” it…

                   As we all know there is a lot of politicians in European Parliament and one very ekhem special one. I’m sure you all know who he is. If not there’s a small tip:

                  Ok. Now. As the very first conference recordings came out, the internet users started preparing memes with Tusk signed as “English with Tusk”. Some of you may say that this kind of “joke” is really bad, but actually it made me laugh. We all know phrases like: ‘thank you from the mountain’, ‘I’ll animal to you’ or ‘time swimming allowed’. Now this kind of phrases took a new level. The imagination of people seems to have no limits. I’ll show you some of them.

WARNING: Do not drink nor eat while watching!

Our FAWORKI are the best! :D

Yes, he doesn't :P

Because it's after birds!

Lost in languages

                  Most of you, my dear readers, are involved in languages. And as a languages lover I fancy words, but mostly the ones that are untranslatable. You may ask what is so interesting about this kind of words. The answer is simple: it’s that feeling of understanding them with no equivalent word in our native language. There are also some words that, basing on dictionaries, are translatable, but as for me not good enough. That’s why I love using original words that, to me, are able to describe my feeling about something like: ‘It freaks me out!’ or ‘That’s creepy’.

                 Now, coming back to the main topic. I love untranslatable words in different languages. They are fascinating me. In this post I want to present you some of my favourites using pictures, so it’ll be a long post, sorry :P But I hope maybe some of you will find a word that is able to describe what you feel, but you have no idea how to say it. So…

(German word: The feeling of being alone in the woods.)

Have you ever felt something like this? I did. 

(Inuit word: The feeling of anticipation that leads you to keep looking outside to see if anyone is coming.) 

Isn't it sad? Mr. Lonely...

(Indonesian word: A joke told so poorly and so unfunny that one cannot help but laugh.) 

It's really popular now... unfortunately.

(Gaelic word:  Refers to the particular itchiness that settles on the upper lip before taking a sip of whiskey.)

 You just have to put it on your TO FEEL BEFORE DIE list :P

(Welsh word: "Blue smile"- the one that is sarcastic or mocking.)

 Do you know any glas wen?

(Japanese word: Leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other unread books) 

Poor books :(

(Swedish word: The indescribable euphoria experienced as you begin to fall in love) 

Aww, this one is so lovely! 

(Japanese word: The sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees.) 

Have you ever experienced it? I did! It's so beautiful!

(Tagalog word: The feeling of butterflies in your stomach, usually when something romantic or cute takes place.)

 Hmmm, right :P

(Swedish word: Gathering together to talk and take a break from everyday routines, usually drinking coffee and eating pastries- either at a cafeor at home- often for houes on end.)

 Ohhh, this word speaks to me :D

(Portuguese word: A vague, constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, a nostalgy longing for someone or something loved and then lost.)

 This one is really sad.

(Italian word: Often taken to mean "heartwarming", but directly relates to a story that moved you to tears.) 

This word have a point!

(Yiddish word: Refers to someone who is a bit of a dreamer and literally means "air person".)

 It decribes me so well. Are you the luftmensch?

(Swedish word: On its own, "tår" means a cup of coffee and patår" is the refill of said coffee. A "tretår" is therefore a second refill, or a "threefill".)

 A tretår please... again :P

(Swedish word: The roadlike reflection of the moon on the water.)

 This is really beautiful view. I really love it. And Finn have also a word for it and it's KUUNSILTA (literally: Moon's bridge)

(Welsh word: a warm, affectionate hug, cuddle or snuggle that gives a feeling of a safe place or home.) 

I love this word. So now, cwtch me cariad ;)

OK, now these are my favourites untranslatable words. I hope you will remember some. And sorry for such a long post. 

               

Under the .... ;)

                Christmas is coming, I can tell. Have you seen the mistletoe yet? If not, you will, especially when you are a student in Novum ;) Ok, but why did I mention the mistletoe? I just thought that you probably don’t know a Norse Myth about a mistletoe and why people kiss under it.

                 Odin, who I’m sure most of you are familiar with, had a son - Baldur. He was the most beloved by other gods so much that they wanted to protect him from the danger, especially if there were signs that he might get killed soon. In that case his mother, Frigg ask whole nature to make a promise that they would never hurt her beloved son. Some time later, at the gathering all creatures wanted Baldur to be tested. It was more a fun than a test. And arrow, stones, flame, ice were all hurled at him. Nothing worked obviously. But there was a god, a  really naughty one called Loki. He tricked Frigg, who had forgotten to ask mistletoe to make a promise of not hurting his son, because it was a tiny, overlooked plant that seemed to be totally harmless. Then, Loki took a part of mistletoe and made and arrow of it. Next, he gave it to Hödur, Baldur’s blind brother, to shoot Baldur with it. Loki helped him aim his arrow, and, after letting it go, it hurt poor Baldur to death. It broke Frigg’s heart that she decreed that mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon and that she would place a kiss on anyone who passed under it. That’s why mistletoe is put above in a well-seen place. So that it would never be overlooked.

                 So don’t miss the mistletoe, it could be dangerous! ;)

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**All about the light**

             And then the 13th of December… Saint Lucia Day. One of my favourites in December celebrated in Scandinavia, Hungary, Italy, but mostly in Sweden.

             It involved the oldest daughter to wake up early in the morning wearing white dress with red belt and some candles on her head waking her family, singing at the same time a song entitled Sankta Lucia and serve them breakfast and coffee. This tradition is attached to the day that people used to believe it was the darkest day of the year. As we all know, Nordic countries have little sunlight during the whole year, especially in the winter time, so they gave this day to St Lucia protection to have from this day on more light. Moreover, darkness was connected with bad spirits, demons and ghost that in this special time were able to make people some pranks or bad things by the possibility of their outside activity.

              Nowadays, this very special holiday is celebrated as a Lucia procession in which one girl- “Lucia”- is leading boys, called “star boys” and girls, all wearing white robes with red belts carrying the candles and singing St Lucia’s songs and others referring to December and, getting closer, Christmas time. To me this holiday is really beautiful and worth seeing, especially in Sweden during this long, dark and cold night when the candle light, songs and gathering make this moments so warm and beautiful.

Sankta Lucia's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz9frZQHuyg

Happy Birthday to...

My last post gave you some information on Romanian event, so now I’d like to inform you about the second one on December the 6th. And no, it’s not the Santa Claus’ Day, but it has something in common. As many of you already know Santa Claus lives in Rovaniemi in Finland, and his homeland celebrates every year its Independence Day which is Suomen Itsenäisyyspäivä in Finnish. Actually, the 6th December 1917 gave us a new, beautiful and fascinating country with really complicated language, but as much it’s complicated as far it’s really interesting. So Hyvää Itsenäisyyspäivää, Suomi! Happy Independence Day, Finland! Now, put some candles onto your window and go to the ball due to this day, as real Finns! Here’s the real ball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq7ZJ09XPtk

Something about DECEMBER time... 

So.. I hope everyone succeed with  my little quiz. It wasn’t so bad after all, huh? Ok, here’s the answer:

Congrats! J

And here you have the source of this text, the Ruthwell Cross:

Now, December starts next week, which is my favourite month of the year, full of happy moments. I want to present you the first one. Let’s go back to 1918…

December the 1st is known in Romania as Ziua națională a României or Ziua Marii Uniri (the Great Union Day). This day was established after the Romanian Revolution in 1989. It gave unification of all Romanian parts as Transylvania, Banat, Bessarabia, Bucovina and the Romanian Kingdom. 

I won’t tell you much about it, because I’m pretty sure most of you hate history, so I’d like to show you how it is officially celebrated in Romania. Here’s the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGo4FghGFgE

English baby photos... some words on 

Old English ;)

Let me tell you something about our lovely English language. It was different from the one we know today. Duh! But have you ever wondered how the old one sounded or what it looked like? I have. I googled it, obviously, searched through youtube any videos with Old English lessons. And there, there was- a description of the Battle of Brunanburh, composed in the 10th century and found in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. It was read by some native speaker man, trying to give back an old pronunciation, which we can hear. We have no records of, for instance, Middle Ages English so we can only guess the pronunciation of it, basing on the comparison with other similar languages or the old linguistic books from 15th century. For me, it is really cool, that I can guess the ‘nowadays form’ from the old one. But sometimes it is hard… for real, because, even though the word did not change its form much, it could change the meaning, just like…  

DANGER- power od a lord or master, jurisdiction, dominion, power to dispose of, or to hurt or harm
DIZZY- foolish, stupid
LADY- one who kneads bread
PEN- a feather of a bird, a plume
READ- to have an idea; to think or suppose that, etc.

As much I’d like you to know some basic phrases, just the way they apparently sounded.

At the end I have a small ‘quiz’ for you. Here’s the runic system, that was used in Britain. Firstly I give you a tip (the runic alphabet):

Ok. So now try to read this text:

English transcription (also the key for that quiz) I’ll give you in my next post ;)

(*source: From Old English to Standard English by Dennis Freeborn)