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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 December 5

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December 5

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Danish-language resources for the Climate Change Conference

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The article Languages of Denmark says: "A large majority of Danes also speak English as a second language." Probably, a large part of the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 will be conducted in English. However, visitors to Copenhagen may wish to practice some Danish-language expressions related to tourism and some related to climate change. What are some useful resources and what general advice can other respondents here provide? -- Wavelength (talk) 01:02, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The first ghit I got for "dansk for turister" was this one, which has sound clips with pronunciations (a must). For climate-related concepts, you can of course use inter-wiki links to get Danish translations, e.g. "Global warming" = "Global opvarmning". "Greenhouse effect" links to the article "Menneskeskabt drivhuseffekt", which translates to "greenhouse effect created by humans". No pronunciations in those articles, and the pronunciations suggested by this speech synthesis program were terrible. Danish has a lot of different vowel and diphtong sounds, which you need to get right in order to be understood. For a speaker of a language that is virtually identical to Danish in writing, this is a rather frustrating fact. --NorwegianBlue talk 12:32, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. The article on Danish phonology shows its complexity. -- Wavelength (talk) 17:40, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have been doing some searching and have found these links.
Radio stations:
Useful phrases:
Newspapers:
-- Wavelength (talk) 17:53, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
More info on the complexities of Danish phonology here ;-) --NorwegianBlue talk 18:05, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have been doing some more searching and have found these other links.
-- Wavelength (talk) 20:17, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There is a multilingual environmental glossary at Environmental Terminology Discovery Service — EEA.
-- Wavelength (talk) 01:33, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The official website, Home - COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference Copenhagen 2009, has information in Danish and in the six official languages of the United Nations. Links in the upper right-hand corner of the home page include a link to a dictionary ("ordbog" in Danish). -- Wavelength (talk) 05:51, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Names for Russia in Estonian and Latvian

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Recently I saw an Estonian movie and noticed that the Estonian word for Russia is “Venemaa”. Checking Wikipedia, I found that the Finnish word is similar (“Venäjä”). Other languages that I checked use a word for Russia similar to the Russian word (at least in that it begins with an R sound and has an S or SH sound somewhere inside) except for Latvian, which uses the word “Krievija”. So out of curiosity, what is the etymology of the Estonian and Latvian words for Russia? —Mathew5000 (talk) 21:35, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly, the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden is Ruotsi/Rootsi, which is derived from the Roslagen coastal area - from which the Rus are believed to have originated (according to the most commonly-held theory), and in turn also the name Russia/Rossiya. (again, by the most common theory) Whereas the source of the name for Russia are the Wends, who were the Slavic folks living on the Baltic coasts at the time, in other words, not quite the same folks as Russians. Confusing! --Pykk (talk) 14:04, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Have the Russians ever minded that some of their Baltic neighbours refer to them by names etymologically unrelated to their own word for themselves? In particular, when Estonia and Latvia were in the USSR, was any attempt ever made to change the Estonian and Latvian words for Russia? —Mathew5000 (talk) 03:38, 9 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think so, besides that ingrained names are hard to change. It's a very common thing really. The Finns themselves have to live with being referred to by their Swedish name in almost every language! --130.237.179.182 (talk) 12:01, 9 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

practice vs practise

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The American use that I have always seen is "practice", however apparently in British English it is "practise". Is it ever normally spelled and used this later way in America?--64.138.237.101 (talk) 23:04, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The "s" spelling is standard for the verb only in British, Canadian and Australian English. Americans always use the "c" form and usually consider the "s" form to be a misspelling, rather than a "Britishism" like "colour". See also wikt:practice#Usage notes. Xenon54 / talk / 23:10, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Mnemonic: practICE - "ice" is a noun; practISe - "is" is a verb. Mitch Ames (talk) 03:13, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks.--64.138.237.101 (talk) 23:13, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Don't be so quick to lump Canada in with Britain there. In Canada both "practice" and "practise" are commonly used for the verb, and these Google search counts I just ran show "practice" as the more common form:
  "to OR can OR may OR might OR did practice" site:ca   547,000
  "to OR can OR may OR might OR did practise" site:ca   213,000

  practiced site:ca                                     256,000
  practised site:ca                                     122,000

  practicing site:ca                                    409,000
  practising site:ca                                    156,000
--Anonymous, 04:52 UTC, December 6, 2009
What would be the letter initials to analyze the United States and Great Britian for the same idea as above?
In other words what are the initials for USA and Great Britian that would be used instead of "ca" (as for Canada)?
I'll look up in Google, IF I knew the initials. Tried several, with no luck. Thanks.--64.138.237.101 (talk) 18:40, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For the UK you can use "site:co.uk". For the US it's not so easy; there is a .us suffix, but it's not very widely used. Best thing would probably be to use "site:.edu OR site:.gov", since these are for specifically American educational and governmental institutions respectively. --Richardrj talk email 18:46, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
(ec)Thanks for showing us how you did that, Anonymous. I like to learn! Mr/Ms 64.138, the USA is the only country without one specific ending to its websites, because it more or less invented the internet; the UK ends in .uk (but British postal stamps do not state their country, because Britain more or less invented the stamp. [NB Using "uk" will give you a wider range than "co.uk".] BrainyBabe (talk) 18:57, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
site:uk is probably better? - Jarry1250 [Humorous? Discuss.] 18:51, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  practice site:edu                                47,200,000  
  practise site:edu                                   156,000            —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.138.237.101 (talk) 20:37, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply] 

  practiced site:edu                                1,270,000 
  practised site:edu                                   59,200   —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.138.237.101 (talk) 20:16, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply] 

  practicing site:edu                               2,120,000 
  practising site:edu                                  50,000 

  practiced site:gov                                  592,000 
  practised site:gov                                   13,300 

  practicing site:gov                               1,020,000 
  practising site:gov                                   8,670

  practised site:uk                                 1,850,000 
  practiced site:uk                                   241,000   

  practising site:uk                                2,120,000 
  practicing site:uk                                  359,000
Works great, thanks. Above is the results I got.--64.138.237.101 (talk) 20:10, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
.mil will also get you only U.S. sites, specifically those of the U.S. military. My results:
  practicing site:mil                                  29,300
  practising site:mil                                     647

  practiced site:mil                                   63,600
  practised site:mil                                    1,210
+Angr 13:17, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Same deal applies to "licence" vs. "license". It's always the "c" spelling in the US; but elsewhere it's "c" or "s" depending on whether it's being used as a noun or a verb. That's the theory anyway, but these days anything goes, I've notised.  :) -- JackofOz (talk) 23:38, 5 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I've hardly ever seen "licence" here in the States. I have always spelled it "license", and I'm fairly certain it's standard to spell it that way in the U.S. -Karonaway 16:44, 8 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, you're right. Jack got it backwards. The American spelling is license for both the noun and the verb. I remember how odd the movie posters for Licence to Kill looked to me when I saw them in Europe in 1989. +Angr 17:00, 8 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'll practise until I get it rite.--64.138.237.101 (talk) 00:30, 6 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'd advise you best, and my best advice would be, to write well until you're well-practised. —— Shakescene (talk) 12:38, 7 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]
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