website statistics
Jump to content
  • Register/Login on Totallympics!

    Sign up to Totallympics to get full access to our website.

     

    Registration is free and allows you to participate in our community. You will then be able to reply to threads and access all pages.

     

    If you encounter any issues in the registration process, please send us a message in the Contact Us page.

     

    We are excited to see you on Totallympics, the home of Olympic Sports!

     

[OFF TOPIC] Language Thread


Olympian1010

Recommended Posts

On 28/12/2019 at 07:57, Olympian1010 said:

While doing research on Switzerland for the 2020 YOG, I came across Romansch. This has to be one of the most unique European languages I’ve seen. It’s really weird. It looks semi-German, but it also has a lot in common with the Romance languages. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll need to use any of it in our coverage since Lausanne is in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Maybe @Ustatsch can give me some more background on Romansch? (I already notice a similarity there :p)

 

Romansh is a romance language influenced by Swiss-German dialects. There are not a lot of Romansh speakers and it is only used in the canton (= state) of Graubünden. There are still some TV and radio stations that use it, but it is a dying language as in that region German or Italian and in the world English is a lot more useful.

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-265462
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Ustatsch said:

 

Romansh is a romance language influenced by Swiss-German dialects. There are not a lot of Romansh speakers and it is only used in the canton (= state) of Graubünden. There are still some TV and radio stations that use it, but it is a dying language as in that region German or Italian and in the world English is a lot more useful.

The government is trying to protect the language right? I also read that the community of speakers are undertaking efforts to protect it.

 

What’s Graubünden famous for by the way? I recognize that name, but I can’t figure out why. Oh wait, they had a failed Olympic bid for 2026 right?

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair” - Nelson Mandela

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-265465
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

The government is trying to protect the language right? I also read that the community of speakers are undertaking efforts to protect it.

 

What’s Graubünden famous for by the way? I recognize that name, but I can’t figure out why. Oh wait, they had a failed Olympic bid for 2026 right?

 

There are efforts to protecting it, and I think there are even some schools or at least kindergartens that are only in Romansh at the beginning.

 

Graubünden is the largest canton by area. It's also the only canton with three languages (German, Italian and Romansh). Since it's almost entiery in the Alps, it's mostly famous for it's ski resorts. St. Mortitz, Arosa and Davos are some of the most famous ones. And yes, they did hold a vote on the Olympic bid, however the people voted against it.

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-265492
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, Ustatsch said:

 

There are efforts to protecting it, and I think there are even some schools or at least kindergartens that are only in Romansh at the beginning.

 

Graubünden is the largest canton by area. It's also the only canton with three languages (German, Italian and Romansh). Since it's almost entiery in the Alps, it's mostly famous for it's ski resorts. St. Mortitz, Arosa and Davos are some of the most famous ones. And yes, they did hold a vote on the Olympic bid, however the people voted against it.

Oh cool, I didn’t know St.Mortiz was in Graubünden. I always forget how important Cantons are in Swiss politics (arguably one of the weirdest political systems) 

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair” - Nelson Mandela

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-265494
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
49 minutes ago, AlFHg said:

Do you know any internet tool that may help learning French?

 

You can use free mobile apps like Duolingo (I'm currently learning Italian :p and practicing my German)

Edited by Bohemia

 

 

 

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-276291
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Bohemia said:

 

You can use free mobile apps like Duolingo (I'm currently learning Italian :p and practicing my German)

Duolingo all the way indeed. 

.

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-276310
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, AlFHg said:

Do you know any internet tool that may help learning French?

I concur with the majority. Duolingo is great! You can also learn High Valerian while you’re on there :p

 

Just as a helpful tip to everyone (and not just AIFHg), Duolingo is a great place to practice your English if you feel a bit uncomfortable with it.

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair” - Nelson Mandela

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-276311
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I concur with the majority. Duolingo is great! You can also learn High Valerian while you’re on there :p

 

Just as a helpful tip to everyone (and not just AIFHg), Duolingo is a great place to practice your English if you feel a bit uncomfortable with it.

I tried Italian with Duolingo - it was extremely boring for me and showed very few of a grammar, so I gave up quite early. With all my talent to languages, I simply cannot learn any without a teacher - not an electronic one, but with a person to explain me what I need to understand or give some other tips than just a book. That's why I am so poor with Italian that seems to be one of the easiest languages of the world (but I am some way able to communicate in Italian in writing with a help of Google Translate).

Link to comment
https://totallympics.com/forums/topic/2043-off-topic-language-thread/page/15/#findComment-276316
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Posts around Totallympics

    • Final Standing   Nation P W(OTW) L(OTL) GF GA +/- Pt. Norway 5 5(1) 0(0) 37 11 +26 14 Kazakhstan 5 3(1) 2(1) 27 26 +1 9 Austria 5 3(0) 2(0) 25 18 +7 9 Slovenia 5 2(1) 3(1) 17 26 -9 6 Ukraine 5 2(1) 3(1) 12 19 -7 6  France 5 0(0) 5(1) 16 34 -18 1   The following Nations have qualified for the Men's Ice Hockey IIHF Under 20 World Championship 2026 Norway   The following Nations have qualified for the Men's Ice Hockey IIHF Under 20 Division I Group A World Championship 2026 Austria Kazakhstan Slovenia Ukraine   The following Nation has been relegated to the Men's Ice Hockey IIHF Under 20 Division I Group B World Championship 2026 France
    • Saturday December 13th, 2025 - Round-Robin Last Day Results (GMT +1)   12:30   France  2 - 3  Ukraine 16:00   Kazakhstan  5 - 4  Austria  19:30   Norway  9 - 2  Slovenia
    • And first ever  podium in this sports at the WC level!
    • December 2025 International break   13.12.2025   EURO HOCKEY TOUR Swiss Hockey Games   -   2-4 -   3-5   1. CZE 6 2. SWE 5 3. SUI 1 4. FIN 0   EURO HOCKEY TOUR Standing After Matchday 5/12   1. SWE 14 2. CZE 9 3. SUI 4 4. FIN 3   -------------------------------------------------   EUROPEAN NATIONS LEAGUE   Division B   -   2-4  -   2-5   Standing After Day 2: 1. POL 5 2. FRA 4 3. ITA 3 4. HUN 0   -------------------------------------------------   Division C   -   4-5 After OT   Final Standing: 1. UKR 8 2. ROU 1
    • Big Air WC Steamboat   Women Gold-  Naomi Urness (156.25) Silver-  Kateryna Kotsar (152.50) Bronze-  Ruiyi Yang (148.50)    First WC win and third podium for Urness in her 3rd career WC!  (although if I may nitpick, her second score isn’t normally enough for a win…)   Men Gold-  Troy Podmilsak (182.50) Silver-  Konnor Ralph (179.50) Bronze-  Luca Harrington (172.25)   Full Results
    • The Italian team's form is currently disastrous, especially after their excellent performance at the World Championships in March in Hamar. The miss of qualifications for the women's team is just one of bad news. The second is that Lollibrigida is completely out of form and Ghiotto has her worst results in 4 years at the World Cup. The Italian women's distance team should have been built around Lollibrigida 4 years ago, but with her gone, there's practically no one competing. Peveri and Marletti were there a few years ago, and where are they now? Another huge missed opportunity with the Olympics at home. But of course we are not as lucky as the Czech Republic to have another phenomenon after Sablikova, even though there is not even 1 professional track in the entire country!!! If someone like that appeared among us... Before Paris 2024, Marchand appeared in France in swimming and won several gold medals. No one else appeared in our country and 90% of our medal hopefuls are well over 30 years and already won medals in 2022 and 2018. This is the biggest problem for us. 
    • Women´s World Championship 2025 (Brno, Ostrava  )   DAY 8 - 13.12.2025     Semifinals   -   1-0 -   3-6      5th-8th Places Semifinals   -   4-3 -   4-3 After OT
    • Sooooo, after day 2 :     No change. To clarify, Thorup confirmed she was not going to the Games. But she still collected three quota for  that can be used by any other athlete. Still, Lindenskov has not achieved any minimum qualification time so she's not eligible.    Braun just had to finish the race. She could have started and bailed out like a couple of skaters did in the 500m. But she went all the way and got DQed  So only one Polish skater and Smedding is in (she would have received an additional quota anyways).   Horikawa was given the huge edge of starting in A division thanks to a couple of Dutch skips. Despite running 3s slower than Yang she still retrieved a comfortable amount of points to secure her spot. Yang benefited from the quartets but things could have gone to the wire if they ran in the same division.    Italy not starting. Failing to qualify while they only had to be top 12 (with 14 teams competing) is a huge blow.    Nope Nope Nope   It was tense. Before last pair Semirunniy Lorello and Snellink (in that order with the tie breaker rule) were tied with 110 points, ahead of Henriksen. Meaning that Semirunniy was in and Snellink in too but only in the SOQT ranking, thus depriving the Netherlands of their 9th man. But Eitrem, ranking 0.07 ahead of Semirunniy, and a few seconds later Dawson, 0.10 ahead of Lorello, reshuffled the rankings completely, saving both countryman Henriksen and Dutch matrix selectors.    So Semirunniy, as the world leader in the 10k (not the same event indeed) and 4th of one of the three WC qualifying races is not going to race in Milano. I guess the easy answer is to put that on him. But Sasaki, with 6'21, 13'30 and 6'21 is qualified, because he managed to be a tad faster in the first race of the season on the fastest track in the world. Semirunniy mismanaged his efforts in a flawed system that allows time quota in a World Cup circuit with huge track discrepancies, which works with unfair divisions rewarding way too much already established athletes. Like, look at those injured skaters not even going a hundred meters banking more points than 95% of B division, and yet still taking a spot next week. Erin Jackson could pull this till the end of the season and remain top 16.
    • for the first time ever made it to the final beating  which for the first time ever will not play the final   It is already an absolute shock   but the thing which is happening right now in the other semifinal is literally unbelievable    is currently 1-5 down after 2 periods against     Sweden never lost a match in all history of the WCh so far
×
×
  • Create New...