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{{Wiktionary|Wiktionary:Information desk}}
{{Wiktionary|Wiktionary:Translation requests}}

{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2012 April 5}}

{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2012 April 6}}

{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2012 April 7}}

= April 8 =

==Learning Yiddish==
I am interested in learning to speak the central (Polish) dialect of Yiddish. Most books for learners focus on "Standard Yiddish," whose pronunciation is based essentially on that of the Lithuanian dialect. In what ways will pronunciation in the central dialect be unpredictable from the standard orthography of the language? 

Also, are there any learning materials that give Central Yiddish significant (or exclusive) coverage right from the beginning? They can be in any well-known European language. [[Special:Contributions/96.46.197.161|96.46.197.161]] ([[User talk:96.46.197.161|talk]]) 08:05, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

:If geolocation is correct:  There is a Jewish Community Centre in Huron Street, London, Ontario.  One of the staff members may be able to suggest a suitable text book for the relevant Eastern Yiddish dialect.  --[[User:Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM|Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM]] ([[User talk:Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM|talk]]) 14:57, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

::As a native speaker of Polish Yiddish, I can assure you that the pronunciation is almost always predictable. In addition, formal ''written'' Yiddish is identical in all dialects, though in informal writing or speech there may be different choices of vocabulary. [[User:Ratzd&#39;mishukribo|Ratzd&#39;mishukribo]] ([[User talk:Ratzd&#39;mishukribo|talk]]) 17:00, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:::Thanks for the information. It's reassuring to know there's basically only one kind of written Yiddish. Since asking the question, I've looked up some more information about pronunciation. My understanding is that, for example, the vowels in the pairs zok/tu:g, betn/beytn, boym/ho:t and git/bi:kh differ in Polish Yiddish but would actually be pronounced identically (as zok/tog, betn/betn, boym/hoyt, gut/bukh) in standard Yiddish. Do you pronounce them the same way or differently? And are the vowels in these pairs spelled differently? [[Special:Contributions/96.46.197.161|96.46.197.161]] ([[User talk:96.46.197.161|talk]]) 03:28, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

::::Gut and Bukh have the same vowel spelling in Weinreich's dictionary (''vav'' without any diacritics: גוט בוך)... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 15:01, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
:::::Thanks. I don't have access to a paper dictionary. Does Weinreich's dictionary indicate the Polish pronunciation of words in some way? If not, do you know of one that does?
:::::Returning to the matter of spelling, [http://www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com/ this online dictionary] spells the words as: זאָק (zok), טאָג (tog/tu:g), בעט (bet), בעטן (betn/beytn), בוים (boym), הויט (hoyt/ho:t), גוט (gut/git), בוך (bukh/bi:kh). At first glance, it would appear difficult to tell which Polish vowel is represented by the vowel letters in these cases. [[Special:Contributions/96.46.197.161|96.46.197.161]] ([[User talk:96.46.197.161|talk]]) 18:09, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

== English in Bollywood ==
{{resolved}}
I've seen two recent Indian movies (''[[Dasvidaniya]]'' and ''[[Om Shanti Om]]'') in which almost a third of the dialogue is in English; I did not detect a pattern in the choice of language for a given sentence.  Is this an affectation of show biz, or an accurate portrayal of some stratum of life there?

A couple of times in the latter movie, I heard "Such?" meaning "Is it really true?".  Is that the English word ''such'' (the semantic drift is not shocking) or a Hindi word that happens to resemble it? —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 21:24, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

:You can start by looking at [[Indian English]]. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 22:42, 8 April 2012 (UTC)
:: Doesn't answer either question, thanks. —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 18:49, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:::Tamfang is right. The article could have made a mention of code-switching, but it's not there. It doesn't even have a reference to [[Hinglish]] which is what Tamfang might be looking for. ''sach'' is a Hindi word pronounced as "such". It is a derivative of the Sanskrit ''[[satya]]'' (truth). [[User:Jay|Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay|talk]]) 17:09, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
:::: Thanks twice! —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 15:41, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

:I have encountered Indians who, in conversation with family members or close friends, switch between English and some Indian language seemingly at random. [[Special:Contributions/86.181.173.112|86.181.173.112]] ([[User talk:86.181.173.112|talk]]) 00:09, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:: Thank you. —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 18:49, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

:It's called [[code-switching]]; happens in many polygot communities. --[[User:Orangemike|<font color="darkorange">Orange Mike</font>]] &#x007C; [[User talk:Orangemike|<font color="orange">Talk</font>]] 01:23, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:: I'm aware of the word, and heard bilingual conversations often enough when I lived in a polyglot city, but such switching as I've witnessed in person usually seemed to be governed by subject-matter (the speaker might lack domain vocabulary in one language). —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 18:49, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:::English is often used in Bollywood movies to make a point. There are certain characters that tend to get more English lines than others, to denote social/economic status or faked social/economic status. Usage of English often gets a sarcastic overtone. The usage of English in movies is not exactly the same as in real life, but often a parody of the code-switching of upper class Indians and/or the young and hip. --[[User:Soman|Soman]] ([[User talk:Soman|talk]]) 19:48, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:::: Thank you. —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 15:32, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

= April 9 =

== Massacre ==

Is "massa-cree" a common pronunciation of "massacre" in the United States? [[Special:Contributions/87.113.94.245|87.113.94.245]] ([[User talk:87.113.94.245|talk]]) 15:00, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:I've never heard it, and I can't find it any American dictionaries. If I did hear it, I'd probably think the person pronouncing it that way either was joking or had never heard it pronounced and was taking a stab at a [[spelling pronunciation]]. [[User:Angr|Angr]] ([[User talk:Angr|talk]]) 15:40, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
::The only place I've heard it is "[[Alice's Restaurant]]", where it is clearly meant to be humorous. [[User:Marco polo|Marco polo]] ([[User talk:Marco polo|talk]]) 16:47, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:::Actually, I have now found it in ''Webster's Third New International'', where it is marked "substandard" (which is pretty strong language for them). So it's not nonexistent, but I don't think one could call it a ''common'' pronunciation in the U.S.&emsp;[[User:Angr|Angr]] ([[User talk:Angr|talk]]) 17:00, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:This site has several alleged examples of that usage.[http://www.wordnik.com/words/massacree] It's certainly not commonly used. It's probably used by the folks who pronounce champion as "champeen" - only less so. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 22:10, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

:: I'm thinking of vittles, varmints, ornery critters, Yosemite Sam, ''The Beverly Hillbillies'', and Lloyd Bridges in ''High Noon''.  --  ♬ [[User:JackofOz|<font face="Papyrus">Jack of Oz</font>]] ♬ [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<font face="Papyrus"><sup>[your turn]</sup></font>]] 22:23, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:::For some reason, it makes me think of [[Walter Brennan]]. I'm pretty sure that he used the pronunciation in question in some films. And you're right, I seem to recall that that Yosemite Sam (and even Bugs Bunny himself) used it as well. [[User:Deor|Deor]] ([[User talk:Deor|talk]]) 22:40, 9 April 2012 (UTC)
:::: Walter Brennan, of course.  --  ♬ [[User:JackofOz|<font face="Papyrus">Jack of Oz</font>]] ♬ [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<font face="Papyrus"><sup>[your turn]</sup></font>]] 09:11, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

==Chinese help==
[[Charlie Soong]]'s original name was Han Jiaozhun: 韓教準. The reading of the first character is Hán and the third character is zhǔn. But the second character can be Jiào, jiāo, or jiào - which is it?
Thanks
[[User:WhisperToMe|WhisperToMe]] ([[User talk:WhisperToMe|talk]]) 16:38, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

Also at [[Soong Ai-ling]] the children were called Kǒng Ling(?)-something (孔令?) - What is the reading of "ling" while used in a name? [[User:WhisperToMe|WhisperToMe]] ([[User talk:WhisperToMe|talk]]) 18:08, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

:The native Mandarin speaker sitting across the table from me says Han Jiaozhun's 教 is ''probably'' pronounced "jiào", and the 令 in Soong Ai-ling's children's names is definitely pronounced "lìng". Note that this is Hanyu Pinyin transcription, '''not''' IPA, which would write the pronunciations differently. [[User:Evzob|Evzob]] ([[User talk:Evzob|talk]]) 13:50, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

= April 10 =

== The role of nouns ==

Hi,
I wondered when I saw some pharses like"company houses" and "Norway islands" what is the role of "norway" and "company.
I mean they are not adjective,

And another thing, I have noticed that in some dialogs you are able to speak correctly wihout using the Definiteness "some", when you are speaking about plural and it is not specific thing.
[[User:Exx8|Exx8]] ([[User talk:Exx8|talk]])  <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|undated]] comment added 00:11, 10 April 2012 (UTC).</span><!--Template:Undated--> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:The term "company houses" is common in my country, Australia, particularly in mining communities, to describe those houses owned by the mining company for use by their own staff. Haven't come across "Norway islands". I don't quite understand your other point. Can you give an example? [[User:HiLo48|HiLo48]] ([[User talk:HiLo48|talk]]) 00:29, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

:Can be called a [[Noun adjunct]] or Attributive noun (first element of noun-noun compound).  However, "Norway islands" isn't really conventional standard English... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 01:05, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

This is a confusion over the term "adjective", as either the role a word plays, or as a specific part of speech. Under the first use of the word, 'company' and 'Norway' are "adjectives" because they modify a noun. Under the second use of the word, they are simply nouns, albeit nouns in an attributive role. The word "attributive" is also used for adjectives: in 'the red house', 'red' is an attributive adjective; in 'the house is red', 'red' is a predicative adjective. In 'the company house', 'company' is an attributive noun; in 'the house is company' ... well, you can't say that, which is one of the reasons nouns and adjectives are considered different parts of speech to begin with.

Very often when technical terms don't make sense, it's because they have multiple uses, and people mix up those uses without clarifying which they mean. — [[User:Kwamikagami|kwami]] ([[User talk:Kwamikagami|talk]]) 02:32, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

:To tackle your second question: the question is not very clear, but I think you are asking whether "some" is compulsory for indefinite plurals? If that is the question, the answer is no, not usually. If you use a plural (or uncountable) noun without any article or quantifier it tends to be a general statement, about all the things, or the typical one. So "children like ice cream" is a statement about children in general: not absolutely every single child there is, but most children, or a typical child. "Some children like ice cream" is more limited and implies that there is a significant proportion of children who don't like it. --[[User:ColinFine|ColinFine]] ([[User talk:ColinFine|talk]]) 18:17, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

== He remarried to ==

I saw this usage "He remarried to Martha ..." in [[Samuel P. Bush#Early life]], and found the use of ''"to"'' odd. I would have expected "He remarried Martha ..." or "He was remarried to Martha ..." or a comma before ''"to"''. I searched the archives and came across [[Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 February 2#Remarrying]], which touches upon the subject but doesn't say if it's right or wrong. Is this a old world usage? [[User:Jay|Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay|talk]]) 00:43, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

:However, "He remarried Martha" might imply that this was his second marriage to the same woman, while "He remarried to Martha" makes it clearer that the second wife was probably a different woman than the first wife... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 00:57, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

::Agreed, but the 'to' is still jarring, and doesn't sound like English to me. I'd go with either the passive or the comma, as Jay suggested. — [[User:Kwamikagami|kwami]] ([[User talk:Kwamikagami|talk]]) 02:36, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

::: If "remarried" takes a direct object, it can only be the person he was previously married to (and presumably divorced).  This is not rocket science, but the way the English language works.  If you're cooking and you reheat a dish, it can only be a dish you previously cooked or heated; it can't be some entirely new dish you haven't touched yet.  Same principle with marriages. If it's anybody other than his previous wife he's now marrying, it can't be expressed as "He remarried Mary" because that misleads the reader into believing he was previously married to Mary, when he wasn't.  
::::<small>I agree with your conclusion but not your argument, which is about logic and therefore tells us very little about language. Next you'll be telling us that in order to redouble your effort you must already have doubled it. --[[User:ColinFine|ColinFine]] ([[User talk:ColinFine|talk]]) 18:21, 10 April 2012 (UTC)</small>

::: Also, we never say "He married to Jane", so why would we say "He remarried to Jane"?  Now, we do say "He ''got'' married to Jane", but we still can't say "He got ''remarried'' to Jane" unless he was previously divorced from Jane.  Some things simply cannot go together; you cannot merge "He remarried" with "He married Jane" into "He remarried Jane" or "He remarried to Jane".  The first fails on the grounds of accuracy (except in the special case where two people who were previously married to each other are remarrying each other), and the second fails on the grounds of being non-English.  You have to find some other solution.  --  ♬ [[User:JackofOz|<font face="Papyrus">Jack of Oz</font>]] ♬ [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<font face="Papyrus"><sup>[your turn]</sup></font>]] 03:03, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
::::<s>He remarried, to Martha.</s> Nah, that doesn't sound right either. [[User:Clarityfiend|Clarityfiend]] ([[User talk:Clarityfiend|talk]]) 03:56, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

:P.S. I think "remarried to" is more likely to be genealogists' jargon than "old world usage"... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 08:57, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

::The confusion is fed by the fact that "married" has 2 meanings: (a) being in the state of marriage during a period of time, which could be 50 or more years; and (b) participating in a marriage or wedding ceremony, which occurs on a specific day.  In meaning (a), we can say ''"For 35 years he was married to Isabel"''.  The only way we can use the word "to" in meaning (b) is like ''"On 8 May 1972 he got married to Isabel"''.  If you don't use "got", you've also got to dispense with the "to": ''"On 8 May 1972 he married Isabel"'', which would be more likely the construction used in good writing.  So, barring the "got married to" construction, the word "to" is used only with meaning (a), but if you're simply stating that he married for a second (or later) time on a certain date and to a certain person, that's using meaning (b), which doesn't use the word "to".  --  ♬ [[User:JackofOz|<font face="Papyrus">Jack of Oz</font>]] ♬ [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<font face="Papyrus"><sup>[your turn]</sup></font>]] 09:09, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

:I've changed it to "He later married Martha". [[User:Angr|Angr]] ([[User talk:Angr|talk]]) 09:31, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
::A wikipedia search of "remarried to" (within quotes) shows 804 results, of which I'm sure a good portion will be this genealogist usage. [[User:Jay|Jay]] ([[User talk:Jay|talk]]) 17:18, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

== French R ==

Does Standard French use the fricative or approximant? They have the same IPA symbol, so I can't tell which it's supposed to be. --[[Special:Contributions/108.206.4.199|108.206.4.199]] ([[User talk:108.206.4.199|talk]]) 03:27, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
:The French "R" is almost always a "trilled R", see [[Trill consonant]], I believe that standard Parisien French uses the [[Uvular trill]], though some varieties (notably Quebec French and the varieties spoken in New England that I grew up hearing) use the [[Alveolar trill]] or "rolled R" more commonly associated with Spanish, and others still use the more Germanic sounding "gutteral R".  The article [[French phonology]] covers this and more, some of these forms are interchangable to the "French ear", i.e. in [[free variation]].  Free variation roughly means that exact pronounciation of "R" will change depending on which sounds surround it in speech, and these different forms are recognized by native speakers as the same [[phoneme]].  --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 04:45, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
::The uvular trill is considered a bit old-fashioned nowadays in French, it certainly isn't the most common one (and the alveolar trill would be considered a very strong regional marker, either of the south or Canadian). To answer your question: the fricative and the approximant both occur, but I have no idea which one is more common (and those two are hard to tell apart anyway). Have a look at [[Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2012_February_19#IPA|this thread]] too. By the way, Jayron32's definition for "free variation" seems more like the definition for allophony. Free variation means that you can use either sound in any word, irregardless of the surrounding sounds (i.e. you can pronounce ''rouge'' as [ʁuʒ],[ʀuʒ],[ruʒ],[ɾuʒ] etc without it sounding strange). An example of allophony would be that the uvular-r is devoiced in French when it follows a voiceless consonant as in ''trois'' [tχwa]. --[[User:Terfili|Terfili]] ([[User talk:Terfili|talk]]) 10:23, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
:::The devoicing suggests it's a fricative. It's always sounded like a fricative to me, but that doesn't mean much. — [[User:Kwamikagami|kwami]] ([[User talk:Kwamikagami|talk]]) 22:06, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

== captions ==

how di find archive movies with captions  <small><span class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Dancigcing|Dancigcing]] ([[User talk:Dancigcing|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Dancigcing|contribs]]) 04:21, 10 April 2012 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:Any particular "archive movies" you are looking for ?  I'd try a Google search with the title of the movie, the year, and the language you want for your captions.  Or you could search particular movie databases, like [[IMDB]] or [[Netflix]].  Note that captions are far easier to get if you view movies on DVD/Blu-Ray than they are on streaming video.  With streaming, you often get no captions or it's set to one language, with no choice, while DVDs often have several choices for captioning. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 04:31, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

== I need help in understanding these sentences.  ==

What the meaning of "up and down" in these sentences? sent.#1.The bicycle uses a neuro-headset, commercially-available, and the headset does not know human ideas of “up” and “down.” sent. #2 A person has to train with the system of his own “up” and “down” thoughts, readable to the bike. 
What's the meaning of this sentence? "Miller was thinking of a reproducible pattern as he said, “I found the thing that works best for me is: I actually envision arrows, almost.” Thank you in advance.  <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/203.240.243.100|203.240.243.100]] ([[User talk:203.240.243.100|talk]]) 06:31, 10 April 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:It's hard to answer this without seeing the full article.  It probably refers to controlling some aspect of the bike's functionality, e.g. speed up or down. --[[User:Colapeninsula|Colapeninsula]] ([[User talk:Colapeninsula|talk]]) 08:35, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
::"Up" and "down" simply mean "up" and "down", e.g. the concepts. The device in question (neuro-headset) reads your brain but since every person's brainwaves are different when they think of the concepts "up" and "down" the machine will have to be trained to recognize each user's unique brain-pattern. You put on that headset, and ''intensely'' imagine "up", and then you tell the headset  ''"whatever it is you are reading right now, that's my way of thinking of 'up'; so next you read the same brainwaves, the intended command is 'up'."'' This Miller advises people to imagine arrows; it would just as well work with imagining trees, clouds, lizards, or toasters, as long as you teach the machine that "toaster" means "up" and you manage to think of exactly the same toaster next time (>"reproducible pattern"). [[User:Seb az86556|Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556]] <sup>[[User_talk:Seb_az86556|> haneʼ]]</sup> 08:44, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

== Sindhi and Gujarati language similarities ==

Is there similarities between Sindhi and Gujarati languages like vocabulary or are they completely different because Mohd. Ali Jinnah of Pakistan spoke Gujarati with Gandhi and yet he was Sindhi? I am confused about these two languages. Please help me understand.  <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/174.89.43.51|174.89.43.51]] ([[User talk:174.89.43.51|talk]]) 20:29, 10 April 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:(The OP was advised to ask this here, but it has already been answered at the [[WP:RD/Humanities#Sindhi and Gujarati language similarities|Humanities desk]]. --[[User:ColinFine|ColinFine]] ([[User talk:ColinFine|talk]]) 21:01, 10 April 2012 (UTC))

= April 11 =

== Chinese names for places in North Korea? ==

[[Kim Chaek University of Technology]] gives what appear to me to be Chinese versions of the names of certain places at the university.  Is it common for Chinese characters to be used for names of places in North Korea?  I understand that Korean was formerly written in Chinese characters, but the university is far newer than the [[Hangul]], so I'm guessing that these aren't old names.  [[User:Nyttend|Nyttend]] ([[User talk:Nyttend|talk]]) 02:05, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
:They are not Chinese version. They are Korean names written in [[hanja]] and the pronunciation of those names is different from Chinese. I don't think the names in hanja are used in North Korea today as NK abandoned the general use of hanja soon after independence. See also [[Korean mixed script]], [[Sino-Korean vocabulary]], and [[Sino-Xenic]]. The names in hangul should be needed in the article, but at the same time, the hanja names are correct. [[User:Oda Mari|Oda Mari]] <small>([[User talk:Oda Mari|talk]])</small> 05:23, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

:Nyttend -- before the late 19th century, Hangul generally had only somewhat niche uses, and the great majority of writing in Korea was done in Chinese characters.  "Seoul" is infamously one of the few significant Korean place names which does not have a traditional Chinese-character counterpart.  However, Chinese characters are relegated to a strictly-historical role only in writing the Korean language in North Korea, and they are more decorative than truly functional in current South Korean practices... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 05:40, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

== Question about punctuation (again) ==

Can someone tell me if the punctuation is correct in the sentence below? I know (—) are supposed to be used for an interrupting train of thought, but I'm not too sure how to handle them when it comes to commas:

{{quote|This emphasis on Manjusri’s scholarly abilities is not only based on his position as the Bodhisattva of Wisdom—derived from his mention in the ''Perfection of Wisdom Sutra'' (c. 100 BCE),  but his appearance in the ''Vimalakirti Sutra'' (c. 100).}}

Or, should it be...

{{quote|... Bodhisattva of Wisdom—derived from his mention in the ''Perfection of Wisdom Sutra'' (c. 100 BCE)—but his appearance in the ''Vimalakirti Sutra'' (c. 100).}}

Thanks. --[[User:Ghostexorcist|Ghostexorcist]] ([[User talk:Ghostexorcist|talk]]) 03:50, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
:It's the second one.  You wouldn't switch from the dash to the comma, you need a pair of dashes. The comma is kind of redundant here since its purpose, to provide a break in the sentence, is served by the second dash. --[[User:Viennese Waltz|Viennese Waltz]] 04:40, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

::Thanks. --[[User:Ghostexorcist|Ghostexorcist]] ([[User talk:Ghostexorcist|talk]]) 04:42, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

== German ''sein'' in the past tense ==

I'm confused as to the difference between the German verb ''sein'' (to be) in the preterite ("Ich war") and perfect ("Ich bin gewesen") tenses.  [[Preterite#German]] is not much help. Could someone explain the difference, and give me an example of a sentence in which each would be used? Many thanks. --[[User:Viennese Waltz|Viennese Waltz]] 11:25, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
:I think most of the time they're interchangeable - and not just for ''sein'' but for all verbs. In the southern part of the German language area, the simple preterite is used very little, but it's fairly common in the northern part. Thus in explaining why one was absent from work or school, someone from Berlin or Hamburg will be more likely to say "Ich war krank", while someone from Vienna, Munich, or Stuttgart will be more likely to say "Ich bin krank gewesen". I would strongly disagree with what [[Preterite#German]] says, "Use in speech is regarded as snobbish and thus very uncommon." That may be true in the south, but here in Berlin, the preterite is quite common in everyday speech and isn't snobbish at all. But it is true that in the northern varieties (and the standard written language), the perfect is used when you want to emphasize the consequences that a past action or state has on the present. So in the north, a speaker might distinguish between ''Ich war krank'' ("I was sick, and it's over now and no longer has an effect on my life") and ''Ich bin krank gewesen'' ("I've been sick, and even though I'm not any more [if I were, I would have said ''Ich bin krank'' in the present], it's still having ramifications"). Certainly any time you'd use the perfect in English, you use the perfect in German, but you also use the perfect in German sometimes when you'd use the simple past in English. But since you live in Vienna, you needn't worry about it too much. You can always use the perfect when you speak; you only need to passively recognize the preterite when you encounter it in writing. [[User:Angr|Angr]] ([[User talk:Angr|talk]]) 12:58, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
::Great, thanks Angr.  --[[User:Viennese Waltz|Viennese Waltz]] 13:02, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

:Simplified:
:The preterite (''ich ging'' …) describes an action which is completed.
:The perfect (''ich bin … gegangen'') describes an action which started in the past and is still continuing OR it describes a past (and completed) action when the phrase is used as a preamble to some present consequences.
:In colloquial German the perfect is rarely used (this applies to Austro-Bavarian, but not to Northern German usage;  as Angr has mentioned).  In all informal communications, the perfect is used in place of the preterite, at least in Vienna.
:The perfect can also be used as a future tense (but maybe we skip that for the advanced thread :)  --[[User:Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM|Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM]] ([[User talk:Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM|talk]]) 13:10, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
::I think you mean "In colloquial German the preterite is rarely used", it's the perfect that's rarely used. [[User:Angr|Angr]] ([[User talk:Angr|talk]]) 13:34, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
:::I'm not sure whether Cockatoo accidentally mixed up perfect and preterite in his reply, but since the original question was about the verb "sein", it should be mentioned that in colloquial German (at least round where I live - Southern Germany), you practically never use the perfect form of "sein" although you almost exclusively use the perfect forms of all other verbs. Thus:
:::*You always say "Ich bin nach Hamburg gegangen" and almost never "Ich ging nach Hamburg"
:::*But you always say "Ich war in Hamburg" and almost never "Ich bin in Hamburg gewesen" (it's a bit more complicated than that because there are situations where you have to say "Ich bin...gewesen" - the meaning is subtly different. But that's something for the advanced course, too - as a rule of thumb, always say "Ich war [something/somewhere]", and you'll pretty much always be correct).
:::The distinction between "sein" and all other verbs isn't exactly logical, it's just a quirk of spoken everyday German you have to get used to. -- [[User:Ferkelparade|Ferkelparade]] [[User_talk:Ferkelparade|&pi;]] 14:15, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

:It's identical to the distinction in English between "I was" and "I have been". [[User:Looie496|Looie496]] ([[User talk:Looie496|talk]]) 00:27, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

== Spanish Speaking wikipedia check out a table for me... ==

Hi all,  I'm looking for a spannish speaker who might be able to tell me if the table at [[Down_syndrome#Signs_and_symptoms]], is relatively accurately source (helpfully the source is on google books preview at [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=19loysBjm1UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=S%C3%ADndrome+de+Down:+Aspectos+médicos+actuales.&hl=en&sa=X&ei=19CFT86nCsmM8gOfvLjNBw&ved=0CDgQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=S%C3%ADndrome%20de%20Down%3A%20Aspectos%20médicos%20actuales.&f=false])? Thanking you in advance… [[User:Fayedizard|Fayedizard]] ([[User talk:Fayedizard|talk]]) 18:45, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

== Prepositions ==

Is it okay to end a sentence with a preposition? --[[Special:Contributions/108.206.4.199|108.206.4.199]] ([[User talk:108.206.4.199|talk]]) 22:11, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
:Yes, when doing so makes the sentence less awkward. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 22:22, 11 April 2012 (UTC)
::[[Preposition_stranding#Preposition_stranding_in_English]] has a bit of info (and suggests it's ok) but it's not a great article. --[[User:Colapeninsula|Colapeninsula]] ([[User talk:Colapeninsula|talk]]) 22:40, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

:Winston Churchill is claimed to have said of the rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, "this is the kind of tedious nonsense up with which I will not put". [[User:Looie496|Looie496]] ([[User talk:Looie496|talk]]) 00:25, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

= April 12 =

== Ejective consonants ==

How can I say ejective consonants? --[[Special:Contributions/108.206.4.199|108.206.4.199]] ([[User talk:108.206.4.199|talk]]) 00:47, 12 April 2012 (UTC)