What Is This Word Called In Your Language? - Culture

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What Is This Word Called In Your Language? - Culture - Nairaland

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What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 2:53pm On Dec 05, 2014

for a long time now, I've been tryna figure out what this English word (THE) is called in my language...

I still can't find out. Could it be one of those words that has no translation in our nigerian languages?

Padon my ignorance.
What is it called in your language ?

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 2:55pm On Dec 05, 2014

englishmart:
for a long time now, I've been tryna figure out what this English word (THE) is called in my language...

I still can't find out. Could it be one of those words that has no translation in our nigerian languages?

Padon my ignorance.
What is it called in your language ?

awo

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Fabdedon(m): 2:56pm On Dec 05, 2014

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 2:58pm On Dec 05, 2014

Fabdedon:
ok

wow! Is this what it's called in your language?

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Blayze007(m): 2:59pm On Dec 05, 2014

le , la, les ...

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Fabdedon(m): 3:00pm On Dec 05, 2014

englishmart:
wow! Is this what it's called in your language?

start with yours ''Nwa france''

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by lomprico(m): 3:01pm On Dec 05, 2014

Ahu (igbo), din (hausa) But if u want u use it in any of the 2 languages it comes after what u are reffering it to. E.g the spoon; okute ahu (igbo), dutse din (hausa)

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 3:01pm On Dec 05, 2014

lilmaxfidel:
awo 

what language is this?

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 3:03pm On Dec 05, 2014

lomprico:
Ahu (igbo), din (hausa) But if u want u use it in any of the 2 languages it comes after what u are reffering it to. E.g the spoon; okute ahu (igbo), dutse din (hausa)

dutse din sounds like "that stone"

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 3:05pm On Dec 05, 2014

Fabdedon:
start with yours ''Nwa france''

aburom nwa FRance, mana agaram akukwo na france.

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 3:08pm On Dec 05, 2014

englishmart:
what language is this?

yakurr

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Fabdedon(m): 3:09pm On Dec 05, 2014

englishmart:
aburom nwa FRance, mana agaram akukwo na france.

lol owk ooo
We call it Ihe..dont know if am correct sha

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by lomprico(m): 3:11pm On Dec 05, 2014

englishmart:
dutse din sounds like "that stone"

Yeah it can also serve in this context.

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 3:12pm On Dec 05, 2014

lilmaxfidel:
yakurr 

I mean nigerian language o. Not Zimbabwan language cheesy

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by lomprico(m): 3:12pm On Dec 05, 2014

Fabdedon:
lol owk ooo
We call it Ihe..dont know if am correct sha

Ihe means 'thing'

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Fabdedon(m): 3:28pm On Dec 05, 2014

lomprico:

Ihe means 'thing'

yeah yeah but thats the nearest word for it.. Like now Ihe mere = The reason..

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 3:31pm On Dec 05, 2014

Fabdedon:
lol owk ooo
We call it Ihe..dont know if am correct sha

ihe means thing

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 3:31pm On Dec 05, 2014

**Thinking**

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by lomprico(m): 3:36pm On Dec 05, 2014

Fabdedon:
yeah yeah but thats the nearest word for it.. Like now Ihe mere = The reason..

Nope! Ihe mere is 'what happend'

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Fabdedon(m): 3:41pm On Dec 05, 2014

lomprico:

Nope! Ihe mere is 'what happend'

that is Kedi ihe mere..

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 4:14pm On Dec 05, 2014

Enè

Don't try to pronounce it cos u won't get it cheesy

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 4:17pm On Dec 05, 2014

It's a big mistake to think African languages and English have the same structure. Most African languages do not use (or make little use of)articles (e.g, a/an, the).

Speaking of the language I'm familiar with (Igbo), there are no equivalents for 'the'.

The closest one can get is 'ahu', but it actually means 'that' and not 'the'.

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 4:24pm On Dec 05, 2014

AgapeCharis:
Enè

Don't try to pronounce it cos u won't get it

idoma language?

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by englishmart(m): 4:25pm On Dec 05, 2014

Radoillo:
It's a big mistake to think African languages and English have the same structure. Most African languages do not use (or make little use of)articles (e.g, a/an, the).

Speaking of the language I'm familiar with (Igbo), there are no equivalents for 'the'.

The closest one can get is 'ahu', but it actually means 'that' and not 'the'.

maybe our languages are incomplete

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 4:37pm On Dec 05, 2014

englishmart:
maybe our languages are incomplete

There is nothing like an incomplete language. Because there are certain expressions that a language has that another doesn't have doesn't mean the language without such expressions are incomplete. Chinese language, too, doesn't make use of articles (a/an or the). That doesn't mean Chinese language is incomplete. It only means Chinese language has a different structure from languages that have them.

There are expressions that my grandmother uses and many proverbs and idioms in my dialect which are untranslatable into English. Does this mean English is incomplete because it is incapable of successfully conveying the meanings behind these local expressions?

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Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Fulaman198(m): 4:37pm On Dec 05, 2014

In Fulfulde/Pular, there are so many articles

E.g.

The song or this song - 'gimol ngol'
The horse or this horse - 'puchu ngu'
The woman or this woman - 'debbo do'

1 Like

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by lomprico(m): 4:41pm On Dec 05, 2014

Fabdedon:
that is Kedi ihe mere..

Not the question o! Ihe mere! Can be 'what happened' or something happened.

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 4:51pm On Dec 05, 2014

Fulaman198:
In Fulfulde/Pular, there are so many articles

E.g.

The song or this song - 'gimol ngol'
The horse or this horse - 'puchu ngu'
The woman or this woman - 'debbo do'

I don't speak Fulfude, so I can't argue this. The fact that in your examples the same word means both 'the' and 'this' makes me suspicious though. 'This' is not an article. Is it possible that you (and modern Fulfude speakers) are beginning to extend a word that originally meant 'this' (a non-article) to also mean 'the' (an article)?

My language also has a word for 'this'.

ulo a - this house

onye a - this person

ndi a - these people

I have a feeling that the words in your examples also refer to 'this' and not 'the'. But of course, I do not speak Fulfude, so...

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Nobody: 5:07pm On Dec 05, 2014

englishmart:
for a long time now, I've been tryna figure out what this English word (THE) is called in my language...

I still can't find out. Could it be one of those words that has no translation in our nigerian languages?

Padon my ignorance.
What is it called in your language ?

For Bantu languages, "the" will be part of the many prefixes that form part of word referencing things by the languages: M, Chi, E, Ki, Ji, Chyi, O, depending on the object of reference, and the dialect.
This means some English sentences can be interpreted by one Bantu word.

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by Fulaman198(m): 5:12pm On Dec 05, 2014

Radoillo:

I don't speak Fulfude, so I can't argue this. The fact that in your examples the same word means both 'the' and 'this' makes me suspicious though. 'This' is not an article. Is it possible that you (and modern Fulfude speakers) are beginning to extend a word that originally meant 'this' (a non-article) to also mean 'the' (an article)?

My language also has a word for 'this'.

ulo a - this house

onye a - this person

ndi a - these people

I have a feeling that the words in your examples also refer to 'this' and not 'the'. But of course, I do not speak Fulfude, so...

I understand what you mean and it is more of the context in which it's being used

E.g.

Bernde nde - the heart or a heart
Jokkere nde - the arm or an arm

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by ArtanK(m): 5:34pm On Dec 05, 2014

It's not just Nigerian languages. In Somali, we add 'ta', 'da', 'ka', 'ha', 'ga' or just 'a' at the end of the word.

Examples:

Tree - geed
The tree - geedka

Flower- ubax
The flower - ubaxa

Car - gaari
The car - gaariga

1 Like

Re: What Is This Word Called In Your Language? by bigfrancis21: 5:50pm On Dec 05, 2014

lomprico:
Ahu (igbo), din (hausa) But if u want u use it in any of the 2 languages it comes after what u are reffering it to. E.g the spoon; okute ahu (igbo), dutse din (hausa)

'ahu'/'afu'/'anwa' is actually 'that' in English. Butelu m ite afu...get me that pot.

a) The
'The' in Igbo is 'nwa'/'nwanu'/o'.

For example,

Kee ebe uno nwanu di? Where is the house located?

A furokwa m nwoke nwanu I si na m ga-afu n'afia. I did not see the man you said I will see in the market.

Olee nga ihe o I tuga aka no. Where is the thing you're pointing at located?

Olee ihe o m si gi gotere m? Where is the thing I asked you to buy for me?

'O' is more frequently used in Southern Igbo and 'nwa' in Northern Igbo.

b) This

This in Igbo is 'a'/'anunwa' or an extension of the vowel ending letter of the word. For example,

Nke a/Nke anunwa - this one.
Lesi m akwa nke a m na-atu aka - sell me this dress i'm pointing at.
Ke e ka m choro - I want this one. (SCI. Notice the extension of the last letter 'e')
Ugbu u ka ha biara - they just came now.(SCI. Notice its deviation from 'ugbu a' in Igbo Izugbe)
Ulo o nwe kpa o ri - there's how this house is.

c) That

Afu/anwa/ahu/nnii. For example,

Nna m anoro ebe anunwa. Jee ebe anwa, n'ukwu osisi afu, na I ya-afu ya ebe anwa.
Nke afu/nke ahu/nke anwa - That thing.
'Nnii'(Onitsha) is used more in emphasis or when pointing. 'Jee ebe nnii a na-ele ife, si Emeka na m na-akpo ya.'

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