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Mon 9 Aug, 2004 11:07 am
I was reading a while back that playing word games in a foreign language was one of the best ways to acquire vocabulary without pain. So, I thought that I should start a word association thread consisting of foreign words or phrases.
All you have to do is link the predecessing non-English word to a new one. It doesn't matter whether both words are from the same language, or from different ones; use what you want.
To give an example:
If the predecessing word were 'corazón' (Spanish for heart,) then you might link that to 'lieben,' (German for 'to love,) and so on and so on. It gets you thinking about your vocabulary. Native speakers, feel free to join in too! Any language is welcome.
Should we start? OK, the first word (to be followed in any language)
война (voyna:) War (in Russian)
very good idea.
pace : peace (in Italian)
craven or a mod: please featured this thread.
Thanks, Thok!
'Se questo è un uomo' - If this be a man
A work by Primo Levi which shows the need for peace and the destruction of war.
"vernietigingskamp" : extermination camp (in Dutch).
I read a lot about Primo Levi, his hardships in Auschwitz, so I thought this would be "appropriate" in a sort of strange way.
Boer (Afrikaans for farmer)
The Boer war was the first time that concentration camps were used.
cosecha (Spanish for crop)
Agricoltura (Italian for... agriculture)
talous (Finnish for economy)
(die) Börse (German for stock exchange)
(une) société anonyme / SA (incorporated company I guess, at least in America)
En malas compañías (Spanish -- 'in bad company.')
Mho sik - bad tasting in Cantonese
Froussard - yellow-bellied.
wong sik - yellow (meaning lewd, of films) - Cantonese
(That's interesting, Clary)
Amarillismo -- (Spanish for) Sensationalist journalism-- literally Yellowism.
bon de goût - good taste (French)
oops, too slow, how 'bout le Jersey jaune (yellow jersey in French)
jerseyais, the French dialect spoken in Jersey
Joisy, the dialect spoken in New Jersey
Joi gin, goodbye in Cantonese
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