Serbian, Cyrillic, etc.

[Weyland]

I find this very interesting, Riot. I have worked in a Translation Centre, doing technical support, and character sets were a big part of the job. Never encountered Serbian per se, but I know that the very best translators there -- and there were a lorralorra translators from all over Europe -- were Croats and Czechs.

Anyway, I found this dictionary, but it doesn't help with Cyrillic. At least I can't make it work in Cyrillic. Can you?

But perhaps this bit of self-description on the home page indicates that its owners are not all that bothered about attention to detail: "This Serbian-English Dictionary is described as "Most extensive online dictionary" of Serbian, Laughborough University, UK."

Laughborough! I thought me pants would never dry.

[riotgrrl]

D'oh d'oh doh (me I mean.)

Sprska must mean Serbian, the adjective. The Serbian Republic, etc.

Whereas Srbija is Serbia, the country, like on the stamps I posted. The noun.

D'oh, d'oh, d'oh.

In my defence, I haven't started learning the language proper yet . . I'm just getting to grips with the Cyrllic alphabet.

[riotgrrl]

I can't even get the dictionary page to load Weyland.

[swl]

And the nomination for Special Interest Niche Thread on an Internet Message Board goes to .................

[Weyland]

Mar 15, 2010 13:13:03 GMT @riotgrrl said:

I can't even get the dictionary page to load Weyland.

Perhaps Adolf has used his influence.

Here's the link again. This is what I get:



Interestingly, Serbia seems to be the only country on Google Maps which doesn't have its name displayed in its native alphabet. Place names, yes; country name, no.



(Belarus and Russia both also have their names shown in Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.)

[revisedartlily]

In Serbian they have no article. Poor things.

[Weyland]

Mar 28, 2010 12:00:10 GMT revisedartlily said:

In Serbian they have no article. Poor things.

So I believe. Neither has Russian, or Latin. And I think there's some doubt about Swedish in the article department.

I watched an episode of the original Swedish version of Wallander yesterday. Subtitled. Much better than the British concoction -- Branagh's good, but he's not yer actual Wallander.

Listening to the Swedish is very interesting for a Geordie. A lot of it confirms the link between Geordies and Vikings. I can understand quite a bit of it. The word for police is the same -- polis.

It was "Danish" Vikings that invaded northern England, but nowadays spoken Swedish is closer to Geordie than is Danish, on account of the Danes having abandoned the relationship between written and spoken language. Much the same thing happened in SE England long ago, of course, but not in Sweden or Tyneside.

[Weyland]

My son brought me several boxes of slides he had stashed away unbeknownst to me. Some of them are of a great holiday I had in Yugoslavia -- mostly Croatia -- in 1968. You might like this one, Riot . . .



I saw The Hollies. They were sublime.

[everso]

Yeah, I used to like The Hollies. But not as much as The Kinks

[Weyland]

Apr 16, 2010 16:58:22 GMT everso said:

Yeah, I used to like The Hollies. But not as much as The Kinks

Goes without saying, Ev. Your taste is impeccable. But The Kinks weren't on in Split that week.

Talking of which, here's me in 1968 cooking in the rain somewhere near Zagreb. Note my mate Dick on the right preparing one of our five-a-day. Batchelors Quick-Dried Onion Slices, to be exact.

We -- six college pals -- had planned to live out of catering packs provided by Dick's mother, for three weeks, including Instant Tea. Don't ask. Needless to say, we ate out most of the time. This time must've been an emergency brought on by being skint on the way home.

[Weyland]

And here we are enjoying some health food at a late-night macrobiotic emporium in Šibenik. Four Geordies, a Scotsman, and three Germans.

That's me with the stylish Van Dyke and the exquisite blue shirt.