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Off topic: Who has the most unusual language combination? Thread poster: Jon O (X)
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Jon O (X) 
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:43
Dutch to English
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A bag of peanuts for the winner.
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Csaba Ban
Hungary
Local time: 13:43
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
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| Kazakh-Zulu... in my dream | Feb 13, 2007 |
I'm just munching away a bag of assorted nuts and raisins...
My language pairs are not unusual, but once, some years ago I had a strange dream. I was in this second hand bookshop in a no-name European city... and I found a very rare language pair for a pocket dictionary, namely Kazakh-Zulu.
In reality, I do go to second hand bookshops a lot, and I collect old/unusual dictionaries, but I've no idea where I got Kazakh and Zulu from in my dream...
Csaba
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Juan Jacob
Mexico
Local time: 05:43
French to Spanish
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| Latin --> Esperanto... | Feb 13, 2007 |
...I guess.
Not me, though.
(Gee, I love peanuts!)
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How about Irish Gaelic to Chinese
A couple of years ago, there was a film here called "Yu Ming is ainm dom" (My name is Yu Ming).
It is about this Chinese guy who decides to move to Ireland. He finds out Irish Gaelic is the first official language of the country so he goes off and learns the language before moving to Dublin only to find that no-one speaks Irish.
Actually, you can see ... See more How about Irish Gaelic to Chinese
A couple of years ago, there was a film here called "Yu Ming is ainm dom" (My name is Yu Ming).
It is about this Chinese guy who decides to move to Ireland. He finds out Irish Gaelic is the first official language of the country so he goes off and learns the language before moving to Dublin only to find that no-one speaks Irish.
Actually, you can see it here, the film is only 13 mins long: http://www.atomfilms.com/film/name_yu_ming.jsp
(it has English subtitles)
So, if I win, can I get some dry-roasted peanuts? Pretty please?
Orla
[Edited at 2007-02-13 23:27] ▲ Collapse
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Will Matter
United States
Local time: 04:43
English
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| I don't know | Feb 14, 2007 |
Are you talking about theoretical combinations or real ProZians? When it comes to me there aren't too many Japanese / Russian / German / Spanish speakers that can read and write Chinese in my neighborhood. I'm sure that some other ProZians are just as unusual when compared to their friends and acquaintances.
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| Spanish/English/Klingon? | Feb 14, 2007 |
Awww, I guess the peanuts are for real-life combinations, not fantasy ones, right? But I actually carried the Klingon dictionary and self-teaching grammar to the bookstore cash register before I got sensible and took them back.
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Jon O (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:43
Dutch to English
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TOPIC STARTER | I like this one, this is currently the front-runner | Feb 14, 2007 |
Orla Ryan wrote: How about Irish Gaelic to Chinese A couple of years ago, there was a film here called "Yu Ming is ainm dom" (My name is Yu Ming). It is about this Chinese guy who decides to move to Ireland. He finds out Irish Gaelic is the first official language of the country so he goes off and learns the language before moving to Dublin only to find that no-one speaks Irish. Actually, you can see it here, the film is only 13 mins long: http://www.atomfilms.com/film/name_yu_ming.jsp (it has English subtitles) So, if I win, can I get some dry-roasted peanuts? Pretty please? Orla [Edited at 2007-02-13 23:27]
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Christine Schmit (X)
Luxembourg
German to French
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| Spanish to Luxembourgish anyone? | Feb 14, 2007 |
Interesting topic!
If we are talking about real combinations, I have 5 rather unusual ones:
Luxembourgish to French
French to Luxembourgish
German to Luxembourgish
English to Luxembourgish
Spanish to Luxembourgish
I would say that among those 5, Spanish to Luxembourgish is the most unusual one (I'm the only one on Proz with that combination), I have never yet had any work in this pair and I am not sure I will ever get some, but you never know.
... See more Interesting topic!
If we are talking about real combinations, I have 5 rather unusual ones:
Luxembourgish to French
French to Luxembourgish
German to Luxembourgish
English to Luxembourgish
Spanish to Luxembourgish
I would say that among those 5, Spanish to Luxembourgish is the most unusual one (I'm the only one on Proz with that combination), I have never yet had any work in this pair and I am not sure I will ever get some, but you never know.
If we are talking about dream combinations, I would love to learn Nahuatl or Maya just for fun, I actually have a Maya-Spanish dictionary. Maya into Luxembourgish just sounds great, doesn't it?
Another question: when you do a directory search and look at all the languages on the list, am I the only one to think that there are a lot of languages I never knew they even existed? It would be really interesting to have statistics about the language pairs offered by Prozians!
Christine ▲ Collapse
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Jon O (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:43
Dutch to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Let's keep it to actual combinations, I think.. | Feb 14, 2007 |
Luxembourgish-Spanish is not bad, but I don't think two European national languages can win the peanuts.
I want something ridiculous, like Faroese>Ndebele
Irish>Chinese still in the lead I think
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| Amharic - Xhosa | Feb 14, 2007 |
or Tigrinian to Xhosa
I travelled both in Ethiopia and South Arica, and all three languages are just impossible for Europeans, at least IMO.
In Xhosa the clicking sound - just unfeasible for me
cheers Ewa
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| I can't compete , but I didn't know... | Feb 14, 2007 |
A couple of years ago, there was a film here called "Yu Ming is ainm dom" (My name is Yu Ming).
It is about this Chinese guy who decides to move to Ireland. He finds out Irish Gaelic is the first official language of the country so he goes off and learns the language before moving to Dublin only to find that no-one speaks Irish.
[...]
Wow! I thought it was an urban legend: a frien told me this story as a joke! I'll download the film and see it!!
... See more A couple of years ago, there was a film here called "Yu Ming is ainm dom" (My name is Yu Ming).
It is about this Chinese guy who decides to move to Ireland. He finds out Irish Gaelic is the first official language of the country so he goes off and learns the language before moving to Dublin only to find that no-one speaks Irish.
[...]
Wow! I thought it was an urban legend: a frien told me this story as a joke! I'll download the film and see it!!
Thanks Orla!
Nice thread, BTW. I just have unexciting combinations though (ENG < > ITA, GER < > ITA).
Once I read that there is no living person that could "translate" in some particular combinations (like Faroese>Ndebele, I suppose: I am always surprised when scrolling language combinations in ProZ list...)
Chiara
[Edited at 2007-02-14 13:22] ▲ Collapse
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| Those peanuts are MINE! ;-) | Feb 14, 2007 |
Jon Orman wrote:
Irish>Chinese still in the lead I think
*lol* cool! Have you had a chance to look at the film yet?
The actor who plays Fr. Jack Hackett in "Fr. Ted" is in it.
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| Latin - Russian | Feb 14, 2007 |
When I was at Uni we had a chance to study two languages in any combination; the most popular were English, German, Italian and French. But one friend of mine had chosen to study Russian and Latin.
Eventually she dropped out after first year, switched to law and nowadays she is a successful lawyer.
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Kirill Semenov
Ukraine
Local time: 14:43
Member (2004)
English to Russian
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| Latin<>Russian - not that rare | Feb 14, 2007 |
Kemal Mustajbegovic wrote:
But one friend of mine had chosen to study Russian and Latin.
In fact, it's not that rare for Russian natives, but not very popularm that's true. As far as I know, for example, all Russian priests of Eastern Orthodox Church learn Ancient Greek and Latin, as well as Church Slavonic, so there are a lot of language specialists in this pair, although a few are here, at proZ.
By the way, the grammatical structure of Latin & Russian are closer than, say, for Latin & English.
[Edited at 2007-02-14 12:58]
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| Unusual language combinations | Feb 14, 2007 |
Do they have to be combinations that you currently offer services in?
If not, here is one. When I first started translating I used to offer Sranang Tongo to English (UK and US).
That was prior to Proz and all the Internet portals.
Btw, Sranang Tongo is a dialect spoken and written in Suriname, South America.
This is a fun topic; thanks for starting it.
Lucinda
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