How is International Translation Day celebrated? Congratulations on the day of the translator in prose International day of the translator motto

How many languages ​​you know - so many times you are a person. Good for those who speak several languages: you can watch movies, read books, communicate without helpers. We know about many polyglot people: for example, Dolph Lundgren, a popular actor, speaks 9 languages; our Leo Tolstoy spoke 6 languages ​​and spoke quite well in several more; Russian linguist Sergei Starostin generally spoke 40 languages.

There are many polyglots, but, firstly, not everyone can be a polyglot, and, secondly, not a single person in the world can perfectly know all existing languages. Therefore, almost without exception, the inhabitants of our planet have to use the fruits of the labor of translators - people whom Pushkin called "the mail horses of enlightenment."

Now there are many electronic translators, but they cannot do what live translators are capable of, because, as Jerome Stridonsky said, when translating from one language to another, it is necessary to transfer not word for word, but thought for thought. Robots do not yet know how to think, and therefore the work of translators in our time is valued no less, and probably even more than in the Enlightenment.

Being a translator is not easy - and it doesn't matter if you have to do written translation or oral, simultaneous translation. In any case, a specialist requires a high level of knowledge, excellent training, ingenuity, intelligence. And even with all these qualities, translators do not stop learning. Study and work, work and study. But there is such a day in the year when translators are simply obliged to forget about study and work and indulge in fun. This day - professional holiday International Translation Day (International Translation Day), which is celebrated annually on September 30th.

How did the holiday International Translator's Day

Celebration " International Translation Day ” was established relatively recently - in 1991. The appearance of this professional holiday is a merit of the International Federation of Translators. It was this federation that established the holiday, choosing a symbolic date for translation activities - September 30th.

The fact is that on September 30, 420, the legendary writer, historian, translator Jerome Stridonsky, who is considered the patron saint of translators, died. Jerome traveled a lot, including making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was a hermit, living in the desert. And all the time he was learning languages. Settling in Bethlehem, he spent many years translating the Bible into Latin. It was his translation, 11 centuries later, that was proclaimed by the Council of Trent as the official text of Holy Scripture in Latin. In honor of this person, the date for the Day of Translators was chosen.

Holiday traditions

International Federation of Translators, which founded Translation Day , annually announces the motto of the holiday. So, in 1992, the holiday was held under the motto "Translations - a living connection between peoples", in 1998 - "The practice of good translation", in 2008 - "Do not kill the messenger!", in 2009 - "Translators of all countries, unite!". In 2010, the holiday will be held under the slogan proposed, by the way, by the Union of Translators of Russia: “Quality Standard for a Variety of Voices” (“Quality Standard in a Multi-voiced World”).

On this day, congresses and conferences of translators are traditionally held, as well as recreational activities. In some cities, festive processions of translators are organized with flags of those countries whose languages ​​are most common in the world. If you need to hold a promotion in honor of the International Translator's Day, you can borrow interesting idea from St. Petersburg translators, who, after the procession, launched several dozen paper boats decorated with flags different countries. Instead of boats, you can run paper airplanes with the symbols of countries or send bundles to the sky balloons on which the word "Peace" is written in many languages. It will turn out interesting, fun, colorful.

How to celebrate International Translation Day?

Of course, on this day there will be festive corporate events and parties in all translation agencies and translation agencies. Freelance translators will also celebrate the holiday. It is also worth organizing an event in honor of the Day of the Translator and for students of schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, especially those in which there is a bias towards learning foreign languages. In children's institutions, in honor of this day, you can stage a small play in a foreign language or organize a KVN for students who, in order to win, will need to use knowledge of foreign languages.

International Translation Day: entertainment for a festive event

This day can be celebrated in different ways: gatherings in a narrow circle of fellow friends, a noisy party with classmates from foreign languages, a major corporate event ... It doesn't matter. The main thing, dear translators, is to remember that this is your day, to feel your importance and have some fun, forgetting about work for the evening. We offer several entertainment games for the festive event in honor of the Translator's Day.

1. Goblin translation. Simultaneous interpreters can demonstrate not only their professionalism, but also their sense of humor. You will need episodes from various foreign films. Participants need to do simultaneous translation into Russian, but this translation should be at least funny. You can change the names of the heroes and translate, as they say, “from the lantern”. Will the translator be able to navigate and “joke” on the topic? Anyone who does an excellent job with the task can be given a comic diploma in the specialty “Goblin Film Translation Specialist”.

2. Sign language translation. Translators are able to translate thought into thought by means of words. Will they cope with the task if they have to translate non-verbally? Several couples are selected to participate. The couples take turns moving. One is put on headphones with music so that he does not hear anything. Another is given a list of ten words. The task is to show the word using only the language of the hands, that is, various gestures and combinations of fingers. There is a countdown. The winner is the pair that takes less time to translate and understand 10 words (each pair is given different lists words, but it is desirable that they correspond to the topic).

3. Electronic translator. You will need well-known fairy tales in different foreign languages ​​(in those languages ​​that the participants speak), the fairy tale is “driven” into an electronic translator, translated into Russian, and the result is again translated into a foreign language. You will get complete rubbish (use the most unsuccessful electronic translator). Distribute the sheets with these texts to the participants, and let them try to quickly figure out what kind of fairy tale it is. It is advisable to use different fairy tales so that everyone has to guess their own text. Each guesser gets a prize.

You can perform some well-known Russian song under karaoke (for example, “Katyusha”) - everyone sings one line, but in the language in which he specializes. Well, then you can remember about interesting translation mistakes, anecdotes and stories on this topic. Here, for example, is one of them:

Americans do not always swear verbatim, but try to use euphemisms: for example, instead of too rude “Suck my dick” (which means a rude call for oral sex), they can say “Sick my duck”, simply rearranging the letters, playing with words. Sergei Shevchenko, a writer from Chicago, in the book “Your mother, sir,” written in collaboration with N. Moskovtsev, tells that in one Russian work of fiction about life abroad, the hero came to a respectable event wearing a T-shirt with such a slogan. (“Sick my duck”). The translator from the publishing house, apparently due to his inherent spontaneity, translated in the footnote "My sick duck." “Well, well,” Shevchenko summed up.

© Article prepared by Xana McPherson with information support Apostille Bureau “Prima Vista”

We wish you a great time on this wonderful day - International Translator's Day! And thank you, dear translators, for opening wide windows to the world for us - to the world of knowledge and entertainment!

International Translation Day is celebrated annually on September 30th. Of course, we all understand who exactly this professional holiday is dedicated to. And this is not strange, because every profession has its own triumph. So, International Translation Day is a great occasion to congratulate all workers of this profession on their identity. And in honor of this holiday, we decided to tell you more about it.

International Translation Day 2017: the history of the holiday

This holiday has been around since 1991. Everything happened thanks to the International Federation of Translators, which proclaimed that from now on the International Translator's Day will be celebrated annually on September 30th. And traditionally, since 1991, this day has been accompanied by a huge number of various events that develop and promote this profession.

It is worth noting that the International Federation of Translators itself appeared in 1953 in Paris. It included representatives of more than 100 different associations from 60 countries. They met annually to exchange experience and strengthen the translation profession in the world.

By the way, the date international day translators were also chosen not by chance. It is believed that on September 30, in 420, Jerome of Stridon, who was considered one of the fathers of the church, died. Also, he is considered the patron saint of all translators.

International Translation Day 2017: holiday traditions

Of course, such a celebration cannot take place without various events. Therefore, on the International Day of the Translator, great amount various conferences, congresses and seminars. This is only an informative and official part of the program. In addition, you can meet many festivals and concerts, where not only very interesting, but also incredibly fun. It is worth noting that every year the International Day of the Translator has a new slogan that answers contemporary issues and trends. In past years, they were: "The Changing Face of Interpretation and Translation", "Interpretation and Translation: Connecting the Worlds".

A day in the life of a translator

According to legend, once all people spoke the same language. However, after the proud people decided to challenge God, a punishment was sent down to them: they ceased to understand each other. And since the destruction of the famous Tower of Babel, the profession of a translator has become extremely in demand. These are the people who make communication possible. different peoples. Moreover, it is through the efforts of translators that each of us has the opportunity to enjoy the works of world literature and cinema without knowing the languages.

Of course, electronic translators are available to most people today. However, even the smartest machine cannot replace meaningful human translation. After all, it is often not enough just to literally translate words, you need to convey the thoughts and feelings that the narrator or writer puts into the text.

However, despite such a need and importance of the profession, the international day of the translator appeared relatively recently - in 1991. This year for the first time September 30th the professional holiday of people involved in translations was celebrated. The initiator of the announcement of a new holiday date is the International Association that unites people of this profession. This organization was organized in 1953 and over the years of its existence has managed to unite under its auspices more than a hundred professional associations registered in 60 countries of the world.

What is the date selection based on?

It was decided to celebrate the holiday, which unites people who are professionally engaged in translations, on the last day of September by no means by chance. It is on this day that is the day of memory of one of the four founders of the Latin Church - the writer and historian Jerome Stridonsky. He was a highly educated man who was engaged in literature and knew several languages. This man was engaged in the translation into Latin of the books of Holy Scripture, and it is his version of the translated text that is considered the official version of the Bible in Latin.

Thus, the World Translator's Day is celebrated in honor of Saint Jerome, since this saint is considered the heavenly patron of people involved in translations. Despite the fact that the history of the holiday has a little more than two decades, certain rules and traditions have already appeared for celebrating this date.

Traditions and events

The founder of the holiday annually proclaims the phrase, which is the motto of the holiday. For example, in 2010 the celebration was held under the motto, which was presented by the Association of Translators of Russia: "The quality of translation, as facilitating communication in a many-voiced world."

On the last day of September, various symposiums and meetings of scientific societies are often scheduled. And since this is still a holiday, scientific events are necessarily combined with entertainment - concerts and performances.

The Day of the Translator is celebrated with pleasure in Russia, especially since our country is multinational, and its citizens speak several dozen languages. Festive events can be very varied.

So, for example, colorful processions are organized in St. Petersburg, during which people who came to the holiday launch many paper airplanes into the sky, decorated with inscriptions in different languages ​​and images of flags of different countries. Instead of airplanes, you can release balloons into the sky or send them “on a big voyage” along the river paper boats. Thus, the holiday from an official event turns into a colorful and fun event.

How can you celebrate the date?

As a rule, translators celebrate their professional holiday corporate parties. Such events are held in translation companies. However, recently students of specialized “language” schools and lyceums have also been actively involved in the celebrations, because it is in these educational institutions that a young shift of translators is trained. Literary evenings, KVN are held in educational institutions, skits are staged with excerpts from foreign plays in the original language.

Freelancers also celebrate the translator's professional holiday with pleasure. Since there are no corporate events for them, they can independently organize fun party by inviting your colleagues.

Every year on the last day of September, Translator's Day is celebrated - all those who own this very

In itself, the Day of the translator is a rather young holiday. After all, it began to be celebrated only in 1991.

Then the International Federation, which unites more than a hundred associations of interpreters from all over the world, marked it as the International Translator's Day.

This profession has long been considered one of the most sought after and respected. No one knows exactly where and when the first translators appeared. Some believe that, judging by the biblical stories, they appeared when a very angry god decided to destroy which people, having become proud, decided to build up to the sky. It was then that God deprived humanity of the possibility of a single communication. And people who suddenly ceased to understand each other, quarreled and dispersed all over the world.

The day of the translator was appointed on September 30 not by chance: in 420, on this day, the patron saint of earthly translators, one of the Latin fathers of the Holy Church, Jerome of Stridon, died. as he admits, he made an undeniable contribution to the development of translation as a science. It was he, the outstanding genius of his time, historian, writer, who was the first to translate the Bible into Latin - the Vulgate.

The fate of this man is interesting: he traveled all the time, made pilgrimages to the Holy Land, lived for several years as a hermit in the desert of Halkidia, studying Chaldean and Hebrew among “scorpions and wild animals”. As Jerome Stridonsky himself said, he heard the trumpets more than once, foreshadowing the Last Judgment.

Among historians there is an opinion that the first translators appeared in Egypt. Their existence is documented. It is known that Ancient Egypt has always been a great state, which was famous not only for its military campaigns, but also for doctors, philosophers, sailors, etc. The Egyptians drew information from everywhere, collecting it in different lands, from different peoples. And it is quite logical that all this would be just a useless exercise if there were no talented people- translators who could competently translate any valuable manuscript into their native language.

The role of translators was also great in ancient Greece, which at one time had a fairly active trade exchange with the eastern states. Thanks to the Greeks, the world was able to see many editions of the Bible, because a significant part could only be preserved in their translations.

In Ancient Russia translators were called interpreters. Initially, their vocation was to help foreigners who bought goods at the fair. And then, already from the time of the reign of Peter, they were introduced to the staff of the order responsible for relations between states as those who know how to correctly interpret - so that the rest could understand.

Not a single military action could do without an interpreter. On May 21, 1929, the title of “military translator” was established by decree, thereby legitimizing this already very long-standing profession.

And in 2000, on the initiative of graduates of the Institute of Foreign Languages, on May 21, the Day of the Military Translator was established, which today is considered their holiday not only by those who wear shoulder straps, but also by civilian specialists.

The military translator was the first at the front to learn about the actions of the enemy, it was he who was responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the translation of those data on which the lives of so many people could depend in the future.

A. Pushkin considered translators of progress, "after all, their significance in our life, although imperceptible, is very important.

Every year in the world, the Day of the Translator is celebrated under some specific motto, one that is especially relevant in the current year.

International Translation Day (Journée mondiale de la traduction, International Translation Day) is a professional holiday for translators and interpreters. It is celebrated on September 30, on the day of the death in 419 or 420 of one of the four Latin fathers of the Church of St. Jerome of Stridon, who carried out a complete translation of the Bible into Latin (which resulted in the appearance of the so-called "Vulgate") in connection with which it is traditionally considered a saint patron of translators. By the way, Jerome Stridonsky gave a fairly precise definition of the work of a translator: “In translation, I do not convey word for word, but thought for thought.” The holiday, whose popularity is growing every year, was officially established by the International Federation of Translators (FIT) in 1991.

FIT itself (Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs) was founded in 1953 in Paris by Pierre-Francois Caille and today brings together representatives of more than 100 associations of translators from more than 60 countries around the world to exchange experiences, useful information and strengthening links between national organizations for the benefit of their translators, as well as to promote translation as a profession and an art.

• In 2004, the holiday was celebrated under the motto: “Translation is the basis of multilingualism and cultural diversity” (IPP). “Translators are always at the very center of the communication process. As external vehicles for ideas and actions, they partly shape the world we live in. Translation is thus a factor that determines multilingual communication, and at the same time symbolizes openness to people and the development of democracy.” (from IPP press release 2004).
• In 2005, the holiday was celebrated under the motto: "Responsibility of the translator to the profession and society" (FIP).
• In 2006, it was celebrated under the motto: "Many languages ​​- one profession."
• In 2007, it was celebrated under the motto: "Don't shoot the messenger."
• In 2008 it was celebrated under the motto: "Terminology: words matter".
• In 2009, the International Translator's Day was celebrated under the motto: "Working Together".
• In 2010, the International Translator's Day was celebrated under the motto proposed by the Russian Union of Translators: "Quality Standard for a Variety of Voices".
• In 2011, this day was celebrated under the motto "Building bridges between cultures" (Eng. Bridging Cultures).
• In 2012, it was celebrated under the motto "Translation as an intercultural connection".
• In 2013, this day is celebrated under the motto "Beyond Linguistic Barriers - A United World".
• In 2014, this day is celebrated under the motto "Language Rights: Essential to All Human Rights".
• In 2015, this holiday is celebrated under the motto "The changing face of translation and interpretation".

A.S. Pushkin in Chinese...

But without translators, many works of literature and cinema, the achievements of science and technology would be inaccessible, people from different countries would not be able to communicate with each other. Just think: today there are about 6-7 thousand languages ​​in the world! However, some of them are under threat, as 96% of languages ​​are used by only 4% of the world's population...

The first translator mentioned in the history of the development of the Wild West was the Indian Sacagawea (English - Saсagawea, hidatsa - tsakáka wía, Bird Woman). During an exploratory expedition up the Missouri River, she actively participated in diplomatic and trade negotiations, which were carried out along a chain through several intermediaries and dragged on until late at night: the expedition leaders Lewis and Clark turned to assistant Lebish in English, who translated into French for Sacagawea's husband, who passed on to his wife what was said in Hidatsa, and then she addressed the Shoshone in their language. She was an interpreter in negotiations with the Shoshone. However, the main thing for the expedition was simply her presence, as this indicated the peaceful intentions of the detachment. W. Clark wrote: “An Indian woman serves as a testimony to these people about our friendly intentions, since in these parts a woman never accompanies a combat detachment of Indians” and “the wife of Charbonneau, our translator, reconciles all Indians, since the presence of a woman is in our friendly intentions with a detachment of men serves as a symbol of peace. The image of Sacagawea has been minted on a one-dollar commemorative coin since 2000 to the present, which is also called the “good luck dollar”, given the role of the translator in the outcome of the expedition. On the obverse, Sacagavea is depicted with her newborn son Jean-Baptiste; the reverse of the coin has six design options. By the way, in the Mohawk language there is a consonant word "sakowennakarahtats" (translator), which means a person who is able to transplant something from one soil to another. Sacagawea has featured in several novels and movies, including the films Night at the Museum, Night at the Museum 2, Night at the Museum 3, The Simpsons in episodes of Margical History Tour and Treehouse of Horror.

A patent for equipment for simultaneous translation was received in 1926 by an engineer at the IBM company, Gordon Finlay. But this method of interpreting did not take root immediately. They preferred "more noble", providing maximum accuracy sequential. Aces of consecutive translation never interrupted the speaker, writing down what he said with the help of notes and cursive writing, and then, sometimes after twenty or thirty minutes of speech, reproduced exactly what was said. The record is claimed to belong to one of the famous Kaminker brothers, Andre, who at one of the conferences translated the speech of a French diplomat who spoke without interruption for two and a half hours.

Since the middle of the 20th century, scientists and programmers around the world have taken up the development of various automatic translation programs using computers (electronic computers). However, until now, these programs leave much to be desired, since “The spirit of the language is most clearly expressed in untranslatable words” (Maria Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian writer), i.e. any language contains many stable turns of speech, ambiguous words, words used in a figurative sense, while the machine itself cannot catch the shades of meaning. For technical documentation, automatic translation is still quite acceptable, as a quick "draft" translation. But for the translation of literary texts, professional translators are needed who master not only their profession, but also literary talent, with its ability to “translate thought into thought”. Indeed, when translating, the most important thing is to find a correspondence not to words, but to thoughts.

In 1618 Petlin's mission to China, the first Russian mission to this country. The journey was made on the initiative of the Tobolsk voivode, Prince I. S. Kurakin. The mission included 12 people, and was headed by its teacher Ivan Petlin, who spoke several languages, and A. Madov, Tomsk Cossacks. Due to the lack of gifts, Petlin was not received by Emperor Zhu Yijun (Wanli), but received his official letter addressed to the Russian Tsar with permission for the Russians to send embassies again and trade in China. As for diplomatic relations, it was proposed to conduct them by correspondence. The letter remained untranslated for decades, which was the reason for the emergence of the now widespread Russian idiom - “Chinese letter”. The expression “Chinese writing” corresponds to the English idiom ‘It is Greek to me’. There are similar expressions in other languages, often with different standards of difficulty. For example, a German expression refers to Spanish, Romanian to Turkish, Turkish to French, and Chinese to bird language.

One of the "enemies" of the translator is enantiosemy, i.e. a situation where one word has two opposite meanings. Since ancient times, the witty saying of Cicero “tollendum esse Octavium” has been known, that is, it is not clear whether “Octavius ​​should be exalted” or “Octavius ​​should be eliminated.” In the phrase "listen to a lecture" the verb " listen” can be understood as “to perceive” and “to be distracted and not hear”, “ priceless” can mean both “having no price” and “having a very high price”, and “ blissful”- this is both “extremely happy” (in a blissful state), and “stupid”, “unhappy”. There is also interlingual enantiosemy, which is quite often manifested in the Slavic languages. Polish uroda means "beauty", woń - "smell, aroma", zapominać - "to forget"; in Czech, čerstvý means “fresh”, potraviny means “products”, ovoce means “fruit”, pozor! - "attention!", úžasný - "delightful"; Serbian "harmful" is translated as "value", and "diarrhea" - "pride".

The term "enantiosemy" itself was first introduced into scientific use at the end of the 19th century. Russian linguist V. I. Shertslem. By enantiosemy, he understood "the phenomenon where the same word contains two directly opposite meanings to each other." Around the same time, the work of the German linguist K. Abel was published, in which he studies “counter-sense” (Gegensinn) [Scherzl 1883: 1].

In relation to words belonging to the same parts of speech, linguistics often distinguishes between homonymy and polysemy. Homonymy is a random coincidence of words, while polysemy is the presence of different historically related meanings for a word. For example, the words "boron" in the meaning of "pine forest" and "boron" in the meaning of "chemical element" are homonyms, since the first word is of Slavic origin, and the second arose from the Persian "bur" - the name of one of the boron compounds. At the same time, for example, the words "ether" in the sense of organic matter and "ether" in the sense of "broadcasting and television" are called by linguists the meanings of one word, that is, polysemy, since both come from other Greek. αἰθήρ - mountain air. However, another part of linguists draws the line between polysemy and homonymy in a different way. Namely, if most people see in two coinciding words a common shade of meaning (as linguists say, “a common semantic element”), then this is polysemy, and if they do not see it, then this is homonymy, even if the words have a common origin. For example, in the words "braid" (tool) and "braid" (hairstyle), the common semantic element that most people notice is "something long and thin". Finally, some linguists consider all separate meanings of polysemantic words to be homonyms. In this case, polysemy is a special case of homonymy. Coinciding words related to different parts of speech, all or almost all Russian linguists unconditionally refer to homonyms. An example of such homonyms are the verb "to flow" (to flow) and the noun "to flow" (to flow).

Homophones, phonetic ambiguity, phonetic homonyms (Greek ὁμός - the same + φωνή - sound) in linguistics - words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

• the phenomenon of stunning consonants at the end of words and before another consonant,
• vowel reduction in unstressed position.

IN English homophones arose as a result of the historically established different designation in the letter of the same consonant or vowel sound, for example: whole - hole, knew - new; dear - deer, bear - bare.

In French In the language, there are a whole series of homophones, consisting of three to six words, one of the reasons for which is that many final letters are not read in French: ver - verre - vers - vert. In French, the words are consonant: grenade. This is not a coincidence. Back in the 16th century, when this weapon appeared in the French army, the military drew a parallel with the fruit, firstly, because of the shape of the projectile, and secondly, because the grenade burst resembled an opened multi-seeded fruit.
IN Chinese language . A poem in Classical Chinese written as a joke by the famous Chinese linguist Zhao Yuanren (赵元任). All 92 syllables of the poem read as shi in one of the four tones. The text, written in classical Chinese, is understandable to most educated readers, but rather in hieroglyphic form, and not by ear. Over 2,500 years of pronunciation changes have resulted in a high degree of homophony in Classical Chinese, making it completely unintelligible when spoken aloud in Beijing or written in a phonetic system.
IN Church Slavonic the language widely uses artificial differentiation of spellings to distinguish between grammatical forms (and / s (after hissing), e / є, o / ѡ)

Homonymous forms of words- words that coincide in their sound only in separate forms (the same part of speech or different parts of speech). For example, "three" is the nominative and accusative form of the numeral 3 and the imperative form of the verb "rub"; "glass" is a noun in the nominative singular and the verb "to drain" in the past tense of the neuter gender.

Root paronyms have different roots, the external similarity of which is purely accidental: Rus. excavator - escalator; English live-leave; German fordern - fördern; port. cínico-sinico; comprimento-comprimento; concerto - concerto. Such paronyms are not united by a common motivation and a common semantic connection.

Affixal paronyms are united by a common motivation and a common semantic connection. They have a common root, but different, albeit similar, derivational affixes: Rus. subscription - subscriber, economic - economical - economical; bloody - bloody - bloody; icy - ice - icy - arctic; English historic-historical; German original - originell; port. descriminar - discriminate; port. deferir - diferir; port. eminente - iminente. Suffixal paronymy is widespread in medical and chemical terminology, where not only roots, but also suffixes have a terminological meaning. So, for example, the suffix -id in chemical terminology denotes a salt whose molecules do not contain oxygen atoms (chloride, sulfide, and so on), and -it, -at - salts containing oxygen atoms (sulfite, chlorate, carbonate, and so on) .

Etymological paronyms are the same word borrowed by the language in different ways several times (through the mediation different languages) and in different meanings: Rus. project (learned directly from Latin) - project (learned through the mediation French); English concert (from French) - concerto (from Italian). Borrowings from closely related languages ​​(Russian - Polish - Church Slavonic) or from ancestral languages ​​(French - Latin, Hindi - Sanskrit) can cause etymological paronymy if the borrowed word is similar to an already existing native word in this language: Rus. gunpowder (originally Russian word with East Slavic fullness) - dust (Church Slavonic word, South Slavic in origin); Spanish plano-llano; port. tráfego - tráfico; port. feitiço (native Portuguese word) - fetiche (Gallicism, originating from feitiço). Sometimes the original borrowing and the borrowing subjected to contamination under the influence of folk etymology can be used in parallel: Rus. ordinary - single; port. inoportuno - importuno.

If the confusion of paronyms is a gross lexical error, then the deliberate use of two paronymic words in one sentence is a stylistic figure called "paronomasia" (from the Greek near, about + I call). Paronomasia is called a binary figure of stylistics, since both paronyms take part in it. This figure is widespread, and in short it can be called binary.

And a little bit historical anecdotes(in terms of stories)

In one of his works, Karl Marx called the Teutons " Reitershunde”, that is, horse rabble. The word was inaccurately translated as “knight dogs”, and this term, especially after its appearance in the film “Alexander Nevsky”, was fixed in Russian for the soldiers of the Teutonic and Livonian orders, although there were no dog attributes in their appearance and ammunition.

In 1877, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli discovered a network of lines on Mars, which he called the word "canali". In Italian, it can mean both natural channels and artificially created channels, but in the translation of his works into English, the term "canals" was used, which applies only to man-made objects. This provoked the emergence of many theories and literary works about a highly developed civilization on the Red Planet. Later it was proved that these channels were just an optical illusion caused by the imperfection of the telescopes of that time.

In 2008, Sheikh Mansour's investment company from the UAE bought the English football club Manchester City. In one of the telephone conversations with the executive director of the club, the sheikh said: “It's all getting messy” (“Everything is getting complicated”). The director misheard and understood this phrase as an indication to buy Lionel Messi from Barcelona, ​​but the Spanish club rejected the offer at 30 million pounds for their leader.In the spring of the following year, Manchester City made a new attempt to buy Messi and were ready to pay four times more, but were again refused.

The words "castle" (meaning a building) and "castle" (meaning a device) are homonyms in Russian for a reason. These words came to us through Polish and Czech by lexical tracing from German, where both “castle” and “castle” are pronounced the same - “Schloß”. The German word, in turn, is derived from the Latin "clūsa". This homonymy arose due to the fact that the castle in a key geographical point, as it were, "locks" the passage of enemy troops deep into its territory.

- They say that for the Ukrainian policemen, who did not master English by Euro 2012, they bought 5 million electronic translators.
- And in vain. If our cop can still master the translator, then the translator ...

Hello, is this the International Monetary Fund? We asked for money transfer.
- Okay, we're translating. Money is money.

By the way, there are many real funny stories about translators of books and films.

After the 1917 revolution, foreign words flooded into the Russian language. And often without any need. In addition, since the general culture fell sharply, foreign words began to be used illiterately. The head of Soviet Russia, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, was concerned about this problem: “We are spoiling the Russian language. We use foreign words unnecessarily. We use them incorrectly. Why say "defects" when you can say shortcomings or shortcomings or gaps? Is it time for us to declare war on the use of foreign words unnecessarily? Isn't it time to declare war on the distortion of the Russian language? How long, how short, but Perestroika came with a consensus, and after it the 90s. Then the foreign "invasion" began again in the Russian language. Familiar Russian names were replaced by English ones. I myself saw a door with the inscription "Cleaning Manager" in one institution. Yes, the word "manager" for some reason especially fell in love with our businessmen. You will not meet a simple seller today. It's all sales managers, who are supervised by a supervisor, whom the merchandiser helps to correctly lay out the goods on the shelves. This is from the realm of the ridiculous, of course, but there are also not so harmless borrowings when they want to hide something criminal behind a foreign word. Take, for example, the word "killer". Sounds like the name of some profession. But in fact, it's just a "hired killer." Or here's a racket. In Russian, this is extortion with a threat of violence, but they called it a foreign word, and it seems that it does not sound so scary. I remember the phrase from the cartoon “The Secret of the Third Planet”: “We are not robbers. We are noble pirates."

In the dystopian A Clockwork Orange (written in 1962 and based on the 1971 film of the same name by Stanley Kubrick), Anthony Burgess put into the mouths of teenage characters a jargon he made up called Nadsat. Most of the words nadsata were of Russian origin (shortly before writing the novel, the writer visited Soviet Russia) - for example, droog (friend), litso (face), viddy (to see). The word Nadsat itself is formed from the ending of Russian numerals from 11 to 19, its meaning is the same as that of the word teenager (“teen-ager”). The translators of the novel into Russian faced the difficulty of how to adequately convey this slang. In one version of the translation, such words were replaced by English words written in Cyrillic (men, face, etc.). In another version, the jargon words were left in their original form in Latin letters.
Above the fiery constellations
Brother, make a cruel feast,
Kill all who are weak and sir,
All in the face - that's retribution!
Kick the stinky world in the ass!

• Severus Snape- Villainous Snape (also Severus Snape)
• Neville Longbottom- Neville Longbottom (also found Longbottom)
• Gilderoy Lockhart- Sverkarol Charuald (also Zlatopust Lokons)
• Horace Slughorn- Horace Slughorn or Divanguard, respectively.
• butter beer- sweet, which is still better than "butter beer" in the translation of ROSMEN, since the name is a reference to "butterscotch", which means "taffy" or "burnt sugar".
• apparate / disapparate- in the translation of Rosmen suddenly turned into the Strugatsky "transgress". Although these are not witch terms: “appear” is just “appear”, disappear, respectively, “disappear”.

Why is a trailer called an advertisement for a movie? The term was first used in 1912. At that time, trailers were shown not at the beginning, but at the end of film screenings (verb in English"trail" translates as "follow"). After a while, the distributors realized that this method was completely ineffective, since many viewers did not even sit up to the end of the credits. They changed to airing pre-movie announcements, but that didn't stop the word "trailer" from gaining a foothold in the language.

Found the most honest translator.

And the translator warned them!

• General Motors, trying to launch its Chevrolet Nova car in Latin America, suffered a crushing defeat. Why? No va means "cannot move" in spanish. Failure awaited General Electric in France, where in 1988 they decided to enter into a partnership under the name GPT, which became a scandal, since in French GPT it is “ J'ai pete”, which means: “I farted.” They never made any money and their reputation was ruined.



• The slogan of the Coors beer company “Turn It Loose!”, which means “Become free”, also failed. However, when literally translated into Spanish, the slogan sounded like “Suffer from diarrhea!”



• Many problems also arose during the withdrawal of American goods to Asia. For example, Pepsi's "Come Alive With Pepsi Generation" slogan in Chinese was perceived as "Pepsi will make your ancestors rise from their graves."



• When Coca-Cola entered the Chinese market in 1928, the name of the product was not translated into Chinese. However, some Chinese merchants did it on their own, accurately conveying the sounds of “ko-ka-ko-la” in hieroglyphs. At the same time, they did not think about the meaning of the inscriptions; as a result, names like “Bite the wax tadpole” were born. Coca-Cola marketers went through 200 (according to some sources, even more than 40 thousand) different hieroglyphs, but could not compose a beautiful phrase. As a result, they had to change the sounds to “ko-ku-ko-le”, which means “Mouth full of happiness”.



• By the way, Japanese university applicants take Kit Kat chocolates with them to the exam as a talisman. This is due to the consonance of the name of the chocolate bar and the Japanese expression "kitto katsu" ("definitely win").



• The perfume company Clairol introduced its dry deodorants in Germany using the slogan Mist Stick (approximately meaning "Misty deodorant"). In Germany, it turned out that the word Mist ("fog") in German slang means "dung".



• Colgate-Palmolive has launched its new toothpaste cue. A little later, the Americans learned that this is the name of a popular French porn magazine.



• The Frank Purdue chicken company in the United States uses the slogan It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken. strong man"). Translated into Spanish, this phrase took on a slightly different meaning: "It takes a strong guy to light a chicken."



• KFC's "Fingers lickin' good" slogan, which is an idiom, has been an exceptional fiasco in the Chinese market. This phrase in Chinese means "We will eat your fingers."



• The green vegetable vendors from "Jolly Green Giant" (Cheerful Green Giant), did not take into account that when translated into Arabic it would sound "Frightening Green Giant".



• Schweppes? Yeah... SHVEPS! Schweppes employees embarrassed themselves in front of the Italians by making a mistake in the word tonic water, (tonic water), which the Italians became Eau de toilette.



• Stationery manufacturer Parker also tried to translate its slogan into Spanish. Her pen ad in English reads: It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you (rough translation: "It will never leak in your pocket and cause you inconvenience"). The translator made a mistake and confused two Spanish words. As a result, Parker's Mexican advertising campaign ran under the slogan "It will never leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."



• American Airlines installed leather seats on its planes and decided to inform Mexican consumers about it. In English, the slogan sounded great: Fly in Leather (“Fly in the skin!”) In a literal translation, this expression took on a different meaning: “Fly naked!”



• Manufacturer of products for children Gerber began to sell children food in Africa. On the box was a picture of a smiling baby. Later, Gerber marketers were surprised to learn that due to the fact that there are a lot of illiterates in Africa, it is customary to depict their contents on the packaging of local products. For example, the image of porridge is placed on the package oatmeal. Illiterate Africans were disoriented, what they thought about porridge is still a mystery. However, if they had bought "Tyoma", they would have been even more amazed - the picture with the baby on Gerber products, incomparably, takes up less space than Tyoma.



• In 1989, Nike pulled a sneaker ad featuring Kenyans from the Samburu people. The video shows the traditional dances of the tribe in bright clothes, and at the end a young man speaks a phrase in his own language and the traditional slogan appears on the screen: "Just Do It". When an American anthropologist saw the advertisement, he told the media that the African was actually saying, “I don't want these. Give me big shoes." After that, Nike admitted that the film crew could not achieve an accurate translation of the slogan into the language of the tribe and recorded an improvisation, thinking that no one would understand these words anyway.
• Scandinavian appliance manufacturer Electrolux brought its vacuum cleaners to the US market using the slogan Nothing Sucks Like an Electrolux - "No one sucks like an Electrolux."



• Mineral water "Blue water" was pushed to the Ukrainian market. In the commercial, against the background of a glass with this same water and birds on it, the girl in a languid voice repeated the name in English several times: "Bluvota", which means "vomit" in Ukrainian.



• Women's tights appeared in the USSR in the 1950s. They were delivered from Czechoslovakia with the inscription "punchokhove kalgots", and among the people the name of tights for this garment quickly replaced the official "stocking leggings". Moreover, there was a mistake when borrowing, because in Czech “kalgots” are pants in a general sense, and “punchohache” is specifically tights. Another incident happened to Soviet tourists who asked for them in Czech stores, since “tights” in Czech are women's panties.



• The export name of the Lada Kalina car for Finland is Lada 119, since in Finnish kalina means crackling, rattling, rattling and knocking.



• August Horch, an engineer and founder of the Horch automobile company, was forced to leave in 1909 due to disagreements with shareholders. Horch immediately organized another enterprise, but the court forbade him to use his last name for the name. Then the son of his partner simply translated the German word "höre", which is consonant with her, which means "listen", into Latin - and it turned out "audi". And in 1932, Audi merged with Horch, and with two more factories, to form the Auto Union concern. This merger was the motive for the well-known four-ring emblem, which after the war became the logo of only the Audi brand.



• One American company's canned meats were called "Spiced Ham" (or "SPAM"). There were too many of them left after the First World War, and in order to sell them before they spoiled, the company ran a powerful advertising campaign that turned out to be so annoying that it was remembered in 1986 after one Dave Rhodes at the Usenet conference sent out a huge the number of identical messages advertising the next financial pyramid. After someone equated Dave's mailing list with an annoying canned food advertisement, the word "spam" took on a new meaning.

cat meows
In Russia - meow.
In Denmark - miav (miav).
In Holland - miau (miauw).
In England - myo (meow).
In Finland - miau-miau (miau).
In France - miaou (miaou).
In Germany - miao (miaou).
In Greece miau (miau).
In Hungary - miau (miau).
In Italy - miaou (miaou).
In Japan - nyan-nyan or niaa-niaa (nyan nyan / nyaa nyaa).
In Spain - miao (miao).
In Sweden - myan-myan (mjan mjan).
In Turkey - miyav (miyav).
In Latvia - nau-nau

The cat purrs
In Russia - mrr.
In Denmark - pierre (pierr).
In Holland - prrr (prrr).
In England - purr (purr).
In Finland - xrr (hrr).
In France - ronron (ronron).
In Germany - cf (sr).
In Hungary - doromb (doromb).
In Italy - purr (purr).
In Japan, goro goro.
In Spain - rrr (rrr).

Cow mooing (for someone like us - muu - I won’t talk about those)
In Russia - muu.
In Holland - moe / boe (moe / boe).
In Finland - amuu (ammuu).
In France - meu (meuh).
In Germany - mmuuh (mmuuh).
In Japan - Mau Mau (mau mau).

Donkey
In Russia, ia-ia.
In England - hee haw / eeyore (hee haw / eeyore).
In France - ian (hihan).

In Italy - yo-yo (ioh ioh).
In Turkey - ai-ai (a-iiii a-iiii).

Goat
In Russia - mee.
In Denmark, May (mæh).
In Holland - me-me (mè mè).
In England - naa (naa).
In Finland - maa (mää).
In Germany - maeh-maeh (maehh maehh).
In Greece - maehehe (maehehe).
In Hungary - me-me (meh meh).
In Italy - mek-mek (mek-mek).

Sheep
In Russia - bee.
In Denmark, May (mæh-mæh).
In England - baa (baa).
In Finland - ma (mäh).
In Germany, bae-bae (baehh baehh).
In Greece - May-ee (mae-ee).

Pig
In Russia - oink-oink.
In Holland - knor-kron (knor knor).
In England - oink (oink).
In France - groin groin (groin groin).
In Germany - grunz (grunz).
In Japan - boo-boo (boo boo).

Rooster cries
In Russia - crow.
In Denmark, kykyliky.
In Holland - kukeleku (kukeleku).
In England - cock-a-doodle-doo cock-a-doodle-doo.
In Finland - kukko kyeku (kukko kiekuu).
In France - cocorico (cocorico).
In Germany - kikeriki (kikeriki).
In Greece - kikiriku / kikiriki (kikiriku / kikiriki).
In Hungary - kukuriku.
In Italy - chikchirichi (chicchirichi).
In Japan - ko-ke-kok-ko-o (ko-ke-kok-ko-o).
In Spain - quiquiriquí / kikiriki.
In Sweden - kuckeliku.
In Turkey - kuk-kurri-kuu, oo-oore-oo (kuk-kurri-kuuu, u uru uuu (pron: oo-oore-oo)).

chickens they squeak everywhere about the same pee-pee, or beep-beep. And the Japanese distinguished themselves, their chickens squeak piyo-piyo (piyo piyo).

Chicken
In Russia, ko-ko-ko.
In Holland - current-current (tok tok).
In England - clack clack (cluck cluck).
In Finland and Hungary - cat-cat (kot-kot).
In France, cotcotcode.
In Germany - current-current (tock tock).
In Greece - ko-ko-ko or ka-ka-ka (ko ko ko / ka ka ka).
In Italy, cocode.
In Japan, ku-ku-ku-ku / ko-ko-ko-ko (ku-ku-ku-ku / ko-ko-ko-ko).
In Spain - cocoa-raca / coco-roco (caca-racá / cocorocó /).
In Sweden - ok-ok (ock-ock).
In Turkey - gat gdgdak (gut gut gdak).

Duck
In Russia - quack-quack.
In Denmark - rap-rap (rap-rap).

In England - quack quack (quack quack).
In Finland - kvak (kvak).
In France - coin-coin (coin coin).
In Germany - quack quack (quack quack).
In Greece - pa-pa-pa (pa-pa-pa).
In Hungary - hap-hap (háp-háp).
In Italy - kua-kua (qua qua).
In Japan - ha-ha (ga ga).
In Spain - cua cua.
In Sweden - kwak-kwak (kvack-kvack).
In Turkey - vak-vak (vak vak).

goose
In Russia - eider.
In Holland and Germany - gak-gak (gak gak).
In England - onk-onk (honk).

Birds are different
Like dogs, their sounds are divided into small and large.
In Russia - chik-chirik, fyut (more often indicated by a whistle).
Denmark seems to be full of ornithologists. Judge for yourself, there these sounds - apparently invisible. A small bird in Denmark screams simply, but with the taste of pip-pip (pip-pip). Medium in size is perverted as dit, kari, jay, sige, lige, sa, tit, son, ox (dit kari jay sige lige sa tit son vol) can.
In Holland - tjiep (tjiep).
In England baby birds "talk" in a different way chip / chirp / chirrup / peep (cheep / chirp / chirrup / peep). Medium - chip-chiip / tweet (cheep cheep / tweet). Big ones and do say something unimaginable - squawk (squawk).
In Finland - piip (piip), medium teal / piip (tsirk / piip), large ones - you won’t believe it! kvak (kvak).
In Germany - sum-sums (summ summ).
In Greece - small and medium squeak tsiou-tsiou (tsiou tsiou). And big kra-kra (kra kra).
In Italy - small, medium and large say chip (chip). And the big ones still sometimes giggle - giggles
(hihihi).
In Japan, nothing special - pii pii (pee pee / pii pii).
In Spain - pio pio (pío pío).
In Sweden - pip-pip (pip-pip).
In Turkey - juik-juik (juyk juyk).

Crow
In Russia (Hungary, Japan) car-car.
In Denmark and Holland, Greece and Italy, Sweden and Germany - kra-kra.
In England - kaak / kau (kaak / caw).
In Finland - kraa / vaak (kraa / vaak).

In Spain - ah-ah (ah ah).
In Turkey - gaak-gaak (gaak gaak).

Cuckoo
Basically, like ours - cuckoo.
In Holland - koekoek (koekoek).
In Hungary - kakukk.
In Japan, kakko-kakko (kakko-kakko). And the cuckoo squeaks at all: tokyo-kyoka-kyoku (tokkyo-kyoka-kyoku).

Parrot
In Russia - "ass fool".
In Holland - lorre / Laura Lora (lorre / Lora Lora).
In England - Pretty Polly.
In France - coco (coco).
In Germany - Laura Lora (Lora Lora).
In Greece - guri (gyuri).
In Hungary - drinking (pityu).
In Italy - Portobello.
In Japan - good morning- ohayo (=good morning).
In Spain - lorito lorito (lorito lorito).
In Sweden - vakra klara.
In Turkey - naaber naaber / nasilin nasilin / muzhuk muzhuk (naaber naaber / nasilin nasilin / mucuk mucuk (pron: mujuk)

Frog
In Russia - kva-kva, bre-ke-cake-quaraks.
In Denmark - kvaek-kvaek (kvæk-kvæk).
In Holland - kwak-kwak (kwak kwak).
In England - croak (croak).
In the USA - ribbit (ribbit).
In Finland - kvaak (kvaak).
In France - croa-croa (croa croa).
In Germany - kuaak-kuaak (quaak quaak).
In Hungary - bre-ke-ke/kuty kurutti/kurutch (bre-ke-ke/kuty kurutty/kurutch).
In Italy - kra-kra (cra cra).
In Japan - kero-kero (kero kero).
In Sweden - ko-ak-ak-ak (ko ack ack ack).
In Turkey - vrak-vrak (vrak vrak).

Bee
In Russia, buzz.
The most common variant is bzzz (bzzz), as they say in Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Spain.
In Holland - buzz (buzz).
In England, two variants of buzz and bzzz (buzz / bzzz) are used.
In Germany - h umm- h umm (summ summ).
In Greece - zoom-zoom (zoum zoom).
In Italy - zzzz (zzzz).
In Japan - bun-bun (boon boon).
In Sweden - buzz buzz (buzz buzz).
In Turkey - vizz (vizzz).

But with kys-kys, in general, everything is complicated:
AZERBAIJAN "pshit-pshit-pshit" or "pish-pish-pish"
ENGLAND "pus-pus-pus", "pussy-pussy", "mew-mew"
ARGENTINA "mouse-bear"
AFGHANISTAN "pish-pish-pish"
BULGARIA "mats-mats-mats" (from "matse, matska" - cat, kitty)
HUNGARY "kik-kik", "tsits-tsits-tsits" (cat - "machka", kitten - "tsits")
GERMANY "mitz-mitz", "mitz-mitz"
HOLLAND "push-push", "poes poes", "ps ps ps"
GREECE "ps-ps-ps"
GEORGIA "peace-peace"
DENMARK "kissar kissar"
ISRAEL "ps-ps-ps"
SPAIN "misu-misu"
ITALY "michu michu michu", "vieni ricio"
CHINA "mi-mi-mi"
LATVIA "minka-minka-minka", "mitsi-mitsi-mitsi"
LITHUANIA "kats-kats-kats"
MOLDOVA "pis-pis-pis".
RUSSIA "kis-kis-kis", "kis-kis-kis", "kis-kis-kis"
SERBIA "mats-mats-mats"
USA "kitty kitty kitty" CALIFORNIA "kiri-kiri-kiri"
TATARS "pesh-pesh-pesh"
TURKEY "pissy pissy"
UKRAINE "kyts-kyts-kyts", "kytsyu-kytsyu-kytsyu"
FINLAND "kiss-kiss"
FRANCE "min-min-min", "bee biss"
CZECH "chi-chi-chi"
SWEDEN "kiss-kiss"
ESTONIA "kisyu-kisyu-kisyu"
JAPAN "shu-shu-shu"

In another amazing and amusing study, Professor Derek Abbott of the University of Adelaide in Australia was able to significantly expand our knowledge on this topic by compiling animal onomatopoeia in different languages ​​into one table. His research focused on what form animal sounds take on paper. According to Abbott, scientists have not yet been able to fully explain why the sounds of animals in different languages ​​sound different. But despite big variety, we can also talk about a significant similarity of onomatopoeia, which is no less interesting. This is a zone of "academic neglect," says Abbott, which points to the fact that "formal dictionaries traditionally don't include these kinds of words"—perhaps because these words are considered too childish and unimportant to be studied in a serious setting. research. MEANWHILE, THE COMBINATION OF HOMOGENEITY AND VARIATION IN THESE IMITATIONS is an excellent occasion for scientific analysis. Abbott's research is still at an early stage, but he is already discovering interesting patterns. Most of all, he found differences in how speakers of different languages ​​imitate bumblebees. In all languages, the sound "z" or "s" is necessarily attributed to them - except for Japanese, where the sound of a bumblebee is reproduced as "bun". For Abbott, this was the most surprising find. “It is surprising that in this onomatopoeic word there is no “z” sound at all. Of all the onomatopoeias that I was able to collect, this struck me the most, ”admits Abbott. In his opinion, the difference in onomatopoeia often indicates cultural rather than purely linguistic differences. "In the English language there is more words for dog sounds than any other language, as English-speaking countries have the highest percentage of pet dogs per capita." In addition, one can see clear differences in how the words of the same language are modified in different geographical locations and in different environments. “In Australia, camels first appeared first in sparsely populated areas, so we have the word “gram”. Not surprisingly, in the United States and the United Kingdom, I did not find a single word that would indicate the sounds made by a camel. Compare also the sounds that a turkey makes: in Spain it’s “clow-clow”, and in Mexico it’s “go-go-go”,” Abbott explained.

Another study, conducted by researchers at the University of Karlstad in Sweden, looked at how these onomatopoeias sometimes move away from the sounds made by animals and take on some kind of symbolic meaning. Scientists believe that words that convey the sounds of small, light animals include predominantly vowels from the beginning of the alphabet, thus symbolizing higher tones (for example, the sounds made by small birds in English sound like “chip-chip” or "tweet", in Swedish - "pip-pip", and in Hebrew - "tsiff-tsiff"). Meanwhile, larger and clumsier animals make sounds dominated by vowels from the second half of the alphabet, while symbolizing lower tones (a large dog barks "woof-woof" in English, "how-how" in Turkish and "bow-bow"). " in Urdu). In general, onomatopoeia in different languages ​​says much more about people than about animals. Just think about it: animals say the same thing, but we hear different things. This shows how different the perception of speakers of different languages ​​is. Although we perceive onomatopoeia as something "childish", in us adults it should arouse interest in a hitherto unresolved linguistic riddle.

What is good for Russian...

And further, a little about words...

• One of the most capacious and difficult to translate is the word ‘mamihlapinatapai’ from the Yaghan language. It roughly means "to look at each other in the hope that one of the two will offer to do what both parties want, not disposed to do it." Interestingly, today in Chile, where Yaghan was in use, only one native speaker survived.
• According to the publication of the British company Today’s Translations, in the African language Luba there is the most difficult word in the world to translate - ilunga, which means: "a person who is ready to forgive any evil the first time, endure it the second time, but not forgive the third time."
• The Japanese did not see the difference between blue and green flowers, therefore, only one word was used to denote both words - aoi. It wasn't until the mid-20th century that textbooks began to separate these colors, but even in modern Japan, the term "aoi" is often used to refer to any color of vegetation. By the way, in other Asian languages, if there are certain words for the above colors, foliage, for example, can be indicated by blue.



• The word "snow" mother tongue Eskimo has about 20 synonyms. For the first time, such an idea was voiced by Franz Boas, when describing the influence of languages ​​on the perception of the world of their speakers in the introduction to the "Guide to American Indian Languages" (1911): " If we turn again to the English language, we find that the concept of WATER is expressed in a huge variety of forms: one word is used to express LIQUID water; another - accumulations of a large amount of water (LAKE); others, for example, the current large (RIVER) or small (STROKE) volume of water; several terms express water as RAIN, DEW, WAVE and FOAM. It is easy to imagine that such a set of meanings, each of which is expressed by a separate term in English, can be expressed in other languages ​​by forms of one word. Another example of this kind is the Eskimo word for SNOW. Here we see one word, aput, expressing SNOWING; the other - qana - FALLING SNOW; the third - piqsirpoq - MOVING SNOW, DRYING; fourth - qimuqsuq - blizzard".
  "Eskimo names for snow" is often used as a cliché to illustrate this concept. In a popular 1940 article, Whorf referred to the Eskimo names for snow: " We English speakers have one word for falling snow, lying snow, compacted snow, melted snow, windblown snow - in any situation. For an Eskimo, such a common word is almost unthinkable. Later authors, Roger Brown in "Words and Things" and Carol Eastman in "Aspects of Language and Culture", inflated the number of words: by 1978 the number of "words for snow" had reached 50, and on February 9, 1984, an unsigned editorial in The New York Times spoke of 100. However, the Eskimo-Aleut languages ​​use about the same number of roots for the solid state of water (snow and ice) as English, although the morphology of the Eskimo-Aleut languages ​​allows for a freer word formation When counting words, it is very important to define the terms “word” and “word root”.
  The first study of the truth of the above statement was carried out in 1986 by linguist Laura Martin; she studied its history and came to the conclusion that the question of the number of words for snow only diverted attention from serious scientific work on the hypothesis of linguistic relativity. Then came a polemical, humorous essay by Jeffrey Pullem], which later had a great influence on the study of the "snow" question. It repeated Martin's criticism, and the myth itself is called there "the great Eskimo vocabulary trick" (Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax). Pullem argued that the similarity in the number of roots of words meaning snow in Eskimo and English proves that there is no difference in the amount of vocabulary with the meaning of snow.
  Other Eskimo scholars defend the conclusions of Boas's work and his fieldwork on the Inuit of Baffin Land. In the languages ​​of the Inuit and Yup'ik groups, concepts expressed in English and many other languages ​​by whole sentences are often denoted by a single word with big amount affixes. From any root you can create very a large number of words, and when translated into other languages, these words will turn into phrases. In general, we can say that it makes no sense to compare the number of words in languages ​​with such different word-formation strategies. People living in environments where snow or, for example, grass plays an important role, better distinguish between their varieties and describe them more accurately. However, it does not follow that in languages ​​of other cultures, where people see snow or grass just as often, but use different vocabulary, there are fewer words to describe snow or grass if the same concepts can be expressed in phrases instead of adding morphemes. In other words, native English speakers living in Alaska will be able to identify and name just as many types of snow as natives.
  By the way, there are 7 most common English words for the solid state of water - snow(snow), hail(deg), sleet(croup, rain and snow), ice(ice), icicle(icicle), slush(slush, sleet with ice) and snowflake(Snowflake). In addition, there is a related word glacier(glacier) and four common ski terms: pack(snow cover), powder(powder, freshly fallen even snow), crud(“plowed”, driven snow), crust(snow covered with a crust of crust). Accordingly, there are at least 12 words for snow in English.
• The word "mother" in almost all world languages ​​\u200b\u200bbegins with the letter "m".