News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Reasons some languages are harder to learn.

Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by kaiwen1 on Sunday May 16, 2021 @07:17PM (#27178127)
Most languages also have examples of single words that convey concepts requiring many words to express in English. Always fun to discover these gems. Here's one that I learned yesterday in Visayan: "Manginhas ta". This means "Let's go the beach at low tide and turn over stones and collect small shrimp and other edibles."
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by randomraccoon on Sunday May 16, 2021 @07:42PM (#27178363)
Less descriptive, but I would think "Let's forage for food at low tide" would convey much the same meaning more succinctly. Still cool, thanks for sharing!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by tape_measure on Sunday May 16, 2021 @11:30PM (#27179818)
Let's go tidepooling!

Almost the same, but it doesn't imply collection, just observation.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by xenadu02 on Monday May 17, 2021 @02:11AM (#27180506)
What are examples of the opposite? English words that convey concepts that require lots of words in other languages?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Reasons some languages are harder to learn by onorton on Monday May 17, 2021 @05:13AM (#27181463)
Not quite the same but the word "run" in English can express a lot of different concepts.[0]

[0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/run

[ Parent | on HN ]