Wiktionary:Babel
en This user is a native speaker of English.
fr-2 Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau moyen en français.
de-2 Dieser Benutzer hat fortgeschrittene Deutschkenntnisse.
es-2 Este usuario puede contribuir con un nivel intermedio de español.
it-2 Questo utente può contribuire con un livello intermedio di italiano.
la-2 Hic usuarius lingua latina mediae difficultatis conferre potest.
eo-2 Ĉi tiu uzanto povas komuniki per meza nivelo de Esperanto.
ang-1 Þes nēotend cann hine seolf mid grundlicgendre mǣþe Englisces ferian.
ar-1 هذا المستخدم يعرف مبادئ العربية.
cy-1 Fe all y defnyddiwr 'ma gyfrannu ar lefel syml yn y Gymraeg.
el-1 Αυτός ο χρήστης μπορεί να συνεισφέρει σε βασικού επιπέδου Ελληνικά.
eu-1 Erabiltzaile honek oinarrizko mailan lagun dezake euskaraz.
fi-1 Tämä käyttäjä puhuu vähän suomea.
grc-1 Ὅδε ἐγκυκλοπαιδειουργὸς ὀλίγον ἀρχαίως Ἑλληνιστὶ γράφειν οἷός τ’ ἐστίν.
id-1 Pengguna ini mampu bersumbangsih dengan bahasa Indonesia tingkat dasar.
pl-1 Ten użytkownik posługuje się językiem polskim na poziomie podstawowym.
pt-1 Este usuário pode contribuir com um nível básico de português.
sw-1 Mtumiaji huyu aweza kushiriki kwa Kiswahili cha kiwango cha msingi.
A
Latn
This user's native script is the Latin alphabet.
/ʑ/
IPA-3
This user has an advanced understanding of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Ω
Grek-3
This user has an advanced understanding of the Greek alphabet.
ض
Arab-3
This user has an advanced understanding of the Arabic script.
Я
Cyrl-2
This user has an intermediate understanding of the Cyrillic alphabet.
ש
Hebr-2
This user has an intermediate understanding of the Hebrew script.

Geor-1
This user has a basic understanding of the Georgian alphabet.

Hira-1
This user has a basic understanding of Hiragana.
{{t}}-1 This user knows the basics of how to use wiki templates in entries.
Search user languages or scripts

Linguist. So I study lots of languages, and the Babel list over there is pretty arbitrary. I'd prefer to lower some of those higher numbers down half a point just to be on the safe side, with fr-2.5 a bit above the others, but the 3-2-1 division roughly reflects something. Also ja-1 but only in romanization.

After a recent house move I got rid of lots of books on languages I knew I would never get anywhere with. So now I have books (in almost all cases more than one) on:

  • Old English, Middle English, English, German, Dutch, Old Norse, Icelandic, Swedish
  • Latin, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
  • Ancient Greek, Modern Greek
  • Czech, Polish, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian
  • Welsh; Albanian; Persian
  • (Standard) Arabic, (Biblical) Hebrew, Ancient Egyptian, Somali
  • Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian
  • Basque; Georgian; Turkish; Sumerian; Japanese; Chinese; Malay/Indonesian; Swahili; Bidyara
  • British Sign Language
  • Esperanto

Etymology edit

From Basque hiztegilari (lexicographer) < hiztegi (dictionary) + -lari ((agent suffix))

I have no particular expertise in Basque (or any other of these languages), but I do own Larry Trask's history of it and the Croom Helm reference grammar, among others, and did evening classes with a native speaker. I haven't created an entry for the word hiztegilari because I don't know whether it's in live use or just a dictionary word.

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /is̻tegiʎaɾi/ replace g with ɡ, invalid IPA characters (g) (in proper Basque)
  • IPA(key): /ɪsˌtegiˈlɑːri/ replace g with ɡ, invalid IPA characters (g) (in running English)

Let me use this space to record the IPA symbols for the apical sibilant s [s̺] (with an upended dental sign) and the laminal sibilant z [s̻] (with a box). I got these from the word mesedez, which conveniently had them the wrong way round. So I've fixed that. Further note to self: when copying, start at left and arrow two places right, or you only get the s.

Subpages edit

Favourites edit

  • Favourite combination of senses: かむろ (bobbed hair; baldness; young girl attendant of a high-class prostitute) Runners-up: ǀxâã (dance; revere; menstruate for the first time; turn round and round (causing giddiness), hover (as a bird), swing) and -GHAAZH (make bubbles; shout; be sleeping)
  • Favourite local custom: წაწლობა (c̣ac̣loba, An obsolete, sexual practice in Pshavi according to which a young boy and girl would sleep together without actually having sex, which was strictly prohibited.) Runner-up: qhamuluṭéeli (woman who secretly bakes ash cakes)
  • Favourite proof that Dutch is a fake language invented to mock English-speakers: broodrooster (toaster)
  • Favourite category: Category:got:Commelinids. (Ulfilas did tend to bang on a bit about strelitzias, kangaroo paws, bananas, and cardamom.) Close runners-up: Category:Chinese_terms_borrowed_from_Somali ("zebra", to save you looking) and Category:hy:Armadillos (just contains the Armenian for "armadillo" ... so far)
  • I just like the fact that a language has a word for this meaning: ёӈӈшэ "to consider something rich of lingonberries"
  • Favourite list: Appendix:Numerals_in_various_languages

Idle thoughts edit

  • Why is it that every user renaming you see invariably moves to a worse username?
  • I really like the way Javanese script crawls all over the other scripts like wisteria, and I want someone to get Manchu/Mongol to do that.