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Date: 2006-12-01 15:18:45
April / May 2006 Newsletter
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NEWSLETTER #5 - LANGUAGE MATTERS
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| Updates on the world of languages from LingoStar |
APRIL/MAY 2006
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Welcome to another
issue on the HOW, WHAT, WHERE, and WHEN of languages. Find out HOW much you know about Canadian etymology,
WHAT other names were considered for
"Canada" and WHERE the nickname "Canuck" comes from. Also,
discover what happens WHEN
animals speak different languages.
Please note that I
will be out of the office from May
15 to May 29 for a translation conference in Europe. During this time
our services are still available, but with a slower turnaround time of about a
week. Excuses for any inconvenience!
Lenka de
Graafova, Managing Director
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How Much Do you Know About Canadian Etymology ? |
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Take
our quiz and find out! See if
you can answer these four questions about etymology.... Then find the answers
below. But remember, no cheating!
1.
What is etymology? a) the study of
insects with six eyes b) the study of the origin of words c) the study of
bilingual countries d) the study of small barnyard animals
2.
Where did the City of Vancouver
get its name? a) Ms. Ophelia
Vancouver, first woman to sail the west coast b) Captain George Vancouver, the
18th century Explorer c) a Dutch word meaning "very beautiful place"
3.
What is the origin of the Vancouver
family name? a) it evolved from
the village name "Coevorden" (meaning "cowford" or the place where cows cross a
river) b) from the city Vancouver,
Belgium c) it was made up
by Mr. Scott John Vancouver, who was on the run from the law
4.Why
is Canada
called Canada? a) the name comes
from the Mohawk word kanata, meaning "green
and fertile" b) the name comes from the Huron word kanata, meaning
"beaver" c) the name comes from
the Iroquois word kanata, meaning "village"
Answers:
1.b) 2.b) 3.a) 4.c) Source: Wikipedia
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More Fun Name Facts |
Here
are some other names that were, briefly, considered instead of
"Canada":
- Albionoria -
"Albion
(England) of the north"
- Efisga - an acronym
of "English, French, Irish, Scottish, German, Aboriginal"
- Mesopelagia - "land
between the seas"
- Tuponia - derived
from 'The United Provinces of North
America'
- Ursalia - "place of
bears"
Imagine
that Ursalia had been chosen - we
wouldn't have the RCMP but the RUMP!!!!
ALSO - rumors exist that
Spanish explorers reached our shores first, but, not finding them to their
liking, sailed off again, writing "acá
nada" ("nothing here")
across the northern part of their maps, giving us the basis for the name
"Canada".
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Good
Question!
Some say that the
nickname comes from a cross between
"Canada" and "Chinook" and was first used to describe
the native peoples who lived in the Columbia
River region in the
1800s.
The
Iroquois had a word "kanuschsa"
meaning "one who lives in a
kanata,
or village".
It is possible that this had been adapted to "Canucks" being "those who live in
Canada".
Either way, the
nickname was put to good use in 1941 when cartoonist Leo Bachle created the
character "Johnny Canuck", a
Captain in the Allied air Forces, who used his super powers to fight Nazi
oppression and the evil Hitler in his various comic book escapades.
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Fun with
foreign animals
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Have
you ever noticed that no matter where you go in the world, the sound a pig makes
is always the same?
You wouldn't get
that impression from the range of ways that we represent that sound in different
languages. Judging solely on popular kids
songs in different languages like "Old
MacDonald had a farm" and its foreign equivalents you would think
that animals too speak different languages depending on their
nationality.
Animal
sounds are written differently in different languages as
well. A cow, for
example, goes "moo" in English,
"muuu" in Spanish, and "meuh" in French. Go figure!
If you have a group
of friends of different nationalities and languages, a fun exercise is to get
them all together (preferably at the pub on
a Saturday night) and to compare animals noises in each language.
It will not only entertain you and your
friends, but also everyone within earshot in the pub!
Check
out the following websites that detail the different noises in different
languages, and let you listen to them as well!
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LingoStar Language Services Inc. | Vancouver, B.C. Canada
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