Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Always

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

It has been there.
From ancient times.

English: sky

French: ciel

Italian: cielo

Spanish: cielo

Japanese: 空(そら) [sora]

Chinese: 天空 [Tiankong]

Korean: 하늘 [hanul]

German: Himmel

Dutch: hemel

Arabic: [sama'a] سماء

Saturday, April 20, 2013

We all live in a ...

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

The color yellow reminds me of ...
A lemon, bananas, pineapples, a dandelion, a sunflower,
a canary, a tennis ball,
Yellow submarine, ambulances in UK, an emergency,
the moon, ripe rice fields, ... ?

English: yellow

Japanese: 黄色(きいろ)[kiiro]

Chinese: 黃色/黄色 [huansu]

Korean: 황색 [huansek]

Italian: giallo

French: jaune

German: gelb

Dutch: geel

Spanish: amarillo

Arabic: [asfar] أصفر

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Red Rouge Rosso

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

The color red reminds me of

a rose, strawberries, an apple, buses in London, fire engines, a passion, anger, blood, ...

English: red

Dutch: rood

German: rot

Spanish: rojo

Italian: rosso

French: rouge

Japanese: 赤 [aka]

Korean: 빨강 [palgan]

Chinese: 红色 [hongsu]

Arabic: [ahmaru] أحمر



Saturday, April 6, 2013

How many vowels?

--To read this post in Japanese, click here.

I started to learn Arabic and found out that
Arabic has only three vowels.

Same goes with Inuit (spoken in Arctic regions),
and the Ryukyuan language  (spoken in Japan).
(There is a dispute whether the Ryukyuan is
an independent language or a dialect of Japanese.)

Ubykh, which is an extinct language spoken near the Black Sea,
had only two vowels.

English: vowel

French: voyelle

Italian: vocale

Spanish: vocal

German: Vokal

Japanese: 母音 [boin]

Korean: 모음 [moum]

Chinese: 元音 [yuanin]

Dutch: klinker

Arabic: [harafalyin] حرف لين