3 ms·

I think that for languages that didn't get adapted into english, the 'similar word' effect is essentially missing - it really only works for romance languages a

I think that for languages that didn't get adapted into english, the 'similar word' effect is essentially missing - it really only works for romance languages and maybe the odd germanic word. However, if I had a dictionary or something, that article would be much easier to translate than, say, Japanese (or Mandarin, or really any language where writing involves a large number of symbols). I'm not sure that that applies very well to cyrillic vs latin though. IIRC cyrillic is still under ~50 unique characters, so a dictionary would essentially need an index to tell you what the alphabetic ordering is, and then I think you'd be set (as well as you can be with just a dictionary, at least).

emodendroket 8y ago
That's my point here -- Latin script doesn't offer that many benefits over Cyrillic script, which makes it pretty questionable, in my mind, whether the upheaval is worth it.
btilly 8y ago
I studied Russian enough to know that you are wrong. Technical words, recent inventions, sports and brand names tend to be straightforward transliterations. Plus more are borrowed. Take Russian words like диносавр, Макдоналдс, киоск, and гамбургер. You probably have no idea what they mean, but the direct transliterations are dinosavr, Makdonalds, kiosk, and gamburger are a little easier to guess? Not every word by any means. For example refrigerator is холодильник (roughly xolodinьik though the initial sound is not in English). Which literally translates as "cold making thing". But enough to be helpful more often than you'd guess.
- Fins 8y ago
  To a point of pedantry, it's диноЗавр. Also, холодильник would be transliterated something like kholodeelnik. But you always have to be aware of "false friends". Russian магазин (magazin) does not mean what one might think it does.
  - tomsmeding 8y ago
    Knowing French, though, and thinking that "magazin" will probably sound more like "magasin" than "magasine", the meaning wasn't entirely unexpected.
    - Fins 8y ago
      Yes. Russian did borrow quite a few words from French. Just goes to show that even between English and French, same alphabet or not, just because a word looks familiar it does not mean that one can guess the meaning correctly.
- shard 8y ago
  I don't know the exact details for Russian, but it's not so easy in Korean, even though about a quarter of the words are of English origin. First the transliteration sounds could be quite off, as it could be based on the spelling rather than pronunciation (e.g. quinine is ki-ni-neh). Second, for short words you're not really sure whether it's native Korean words or not. Third, the meaning could be different than what you expect (e.g. cunning means cheating, like on an exam, and glamour means a voluptuous body). From this experience I would be weary of any words that sound similar to English in a foreign language.

emodendroket 8y ago

That's my point here -- Latin script doesn't offer that many benefits over Cyrillic script, which makes it pretty questionable, in my mind, whether the upheaval is worth it.

btilly 8y ago

I studied Russian enough to know that you are wrong. Technical words, recent inventions, sports and brand names tend to be straightforward transliterations. Plus more are borrowed. Take Russian words like диносавр, Макдоналдс, киоск, and гамбургер. You probably have no idea what they mean, but the direct transliterations are dinosavr, Makdonalds, kiosk, and gamburger are a little easier to guess? Not every word by any means. For example refrigerator is холодильник (roughly xolodinьik though the initial sound is not in English). Which literally translates as "cold making thing". But enough to be helpful more often than you'd guess.

Fins 8y ago
To a point of pedantry, it's диноЗавр. Also, холодильник would be transliterated something like kholodeelnik. But you always have to be aware of "false friends". Russian магазин (magazin) does not mean what one might think it does.
- tomsmeding 8y ago
  Knowing French, though, and thinking that "magazin" will probably sound more like "magasin" than "magasine", the meaning wasn't entirely unexpected.
  - Fins 8y ago
    Yes. Russian did borrow quite a few words from French. Just goes to show that even between English and French, same alphabet or not, just because a word looks familiar it does not mean that one can guess the meaning correctly.
shard 8y ago
I don't know the exact details for Russian, but it's not so easy in Korean, even though about a quarter of the words are of English origin. First the transliteration sounds could be quite off, as it could be based on the spelling rather than pronunciation (e.g. quinine is ki-ni-neh). Second, for short words you're not really sure whether it's native Korean words or not. Third, the meaning could be different than what you expect (e.g. cunning means cheating, like on an exam, and glamour means a voluptuous body). From this experience I would be weary of any words that sound similar to English in a foreign language.