The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

[Deinonysus]

You can absolutely type in the Rashi script on any program or word processor that supports custom fonts. It isn't a different alphabet, just a different typeface. I would compare it to Fraktur vs. Roman font for the Latin alphabet. If you download a Rashi font to your computer then you can type Hebrew letters with the Rashi script. I copy-pasted Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Ladino (from Omniglot) and here's how it looks in Word in Arial, and then with a Rashi font.

Rashi.png

The font that I used is Mekorot-Rashi which I downloaded from this site: https://opensiddur.org/help/fonts/

You could type with a Rashi font on this forum in theory. It looks like there is a BBCode font command where you could type something like [font=Mekorot-Rashi]בוינוס דייאס[/font] and anyone who had that font installed would see it in Rashi script, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work on this site. I have no idea how involved it might be to implement or if the feature has been considered but vetoed.

[iguanamon]

Reineke, it's good to have you back! Deionysus, thanks, but downloading a font is one thing, how to make it work is another! My computer skills are probably above average but fall far short of a programmer.

Old English
I'm enjoying the Holiday jaunt through my ancestors ancient tongue from that sceptered isle we know as Blighty. Having the TY audio available makes the somewhat incomprehensible jibberish of the Old English script easier to decipher. No wonder English is such a difficult language to spell! Thanks to Iron Mike for starting this. Don't know how many chapters I can make it through but I'm on Chapter 3 now.

Christmas In The Caribbean
I'm going to forego my usual language recap and talk a little bit about what Christmas is like in the Caribbean. The Virgin Islands are a Caribbean melting pot of cultures- Afro-Caribbean- both "down-island" and native VI; Hispanic- Puerto Rican and Dominican; Creole- Haitian, St Lucian, Dominica; "Continentals"- mainland US from every state in the Union and somebody from a lot of somewhere in the world. We all come together at Christmas to celebrate.

It's my favorite time of year here. The weather is warm but not oppressively hot like it is for the other eight and half months of the year. The air is clear of Sahara dust and the 9,000% humidity- so the other islands come into view more regularly. The breezes are pleasant and the low temperatures at night drop into the low 70's (21, 22 C)- blanket weather! Hurricane season is a distant memory and sailing season is full on!!! Christmas day is spent at the beach or out back with food, drink (Guavaberry Rum; Coquito {-VI Eggnog equivalent}; Dark Rum and a Lime or an ice cold Presidente Cervesa). Most of us who were not "bahn yah" (born here) become like family to one another and we all have a nice mix of those who were "bahn yah" in our circles. What's not to like?!

Before Christmas, we have a boat parade around the harbor with Sailboats, motor boats and sometimes even a kayak, decorated with lights and playing our local Christmas music followed by a fireworks show over the harbor. It seems like the whole island is packed on to the boardwalk to watch.



And it just ain't Christmas, mehson, without "Stanley and the 10 Sleepless Knights". Stanley and his band are the best known Quelbe artists in the VI. "Quelbe" is local "scratch band" Caribbean music indigenous to the northeast Caribbean and the Virgin Islands in particular. Stanley, took the name "Sleepless Knights/Nights" literally. I remember one night about a dozen years ago I was in bed asleep and was awoken at 3:30 in the morning to the sound of "Mama Bake Those Johnny Cakes" wafting (actually "blasting" is a more apt description- we all sleep with our windows open pretty much all year long- no a/c)) into my bedroom. Stanley and his 10 Sleepless "Knights" band were serenading the island on the back of a flat bed truck with two big loudspeakers.

This is a tradition that goes way back in Crucian history. Before flat bed trucks, a scratch band would go down the road and stop to play for people and they would come out of their homes and dance behind the band and stop for drinks and food along the way that people would hand out. Stanley would go everywhere around the island leading up to Christmas. It was a really sweet tradition that I sorely miss but I was glad to have had several opportunities to enjoy it in my time here. There is talk of reviving the serenades. Christmas just goes on and on here. We may be the only place in the US that celebrates Boxing Day (which we call "Christmas Second Day" here). The season doesn't end until our Christmas Three Kings Day Carnival in January- and most of you want to keep having your polyglot gatherings in Central Europe... What's up with that!

Now I will present some of my personal Stanley Christmas favorites starting with "Mama Bake Those Johnnycakes"


The Crucian 12 Days of Christmas


And some down-island Soca "How Will Santa Get Here?" from King Obstinate (Antigua)


So, pour a glass of Coquito or just have some rum and cookies. I hope all of you around the world who celebrate Christmas have a very Merry Christmas and that Santa on "me neighbor donkey" brings you tidings of great joy! Merry Christmas all!

[iguanamon]

Wow, I can't believe a month has passed since I last updated. I spent a couple of weeks in Puerto Rico over New Years and got more than I bargained for while I was there. The northeast Caribbean is not only threatened by hurricanes but is also quite seismically active at times.

We were staying in the southwest of the island near Lajas/La Parguera. I felt the first earthquake sitting on the beach while my travel partner was swimming. She didn't feel a thing. We visited friends in Guánica and headed back to San Juan for our short flight home to the VI. That's when things started to go wrong.

Due to recent international events involving the US military and another country, the security line at the San Juan airport was as slow as a glacier used to be before climate change. The plane took off without us and we were screwed. We decided to stay another week rather than buy two new exorbitantly priced tickets- there's just no humanity in the corporate airline world. Then a 6.4 magnitude Día de los Reyes earthquake hit where we just were in the southwest while we were in San Juan. The electricity went out across the whole island and there are 3.5 million people living there. Not a traffic light was working. Gas/Petrol lines were an hour and a half. Few stores were open and we had booked a condo on the 16th floor without a functioning elevator- carrying bags and groceries and ice all the way up at least 3 trips. I've done my fitness challenge, Iron Mike!

Fortunately, we got power back the next day. Having lived without electricity and wired internet for months after Hurricane Maria a couple of years ago, the quake brought it all back for me and for the Puerto Ricans as well. We are all still suffering from PTSD. Where we had been staying, there was a lot of damage. Many people lost their homes. So, we were blessed not to have suffered anything more than inconvenience. We made it home and all's well.

Many people, even in the US itself, don't realize that Puerto Rico is a part of the US and Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Some of these people hold high office in the federal government. It's been an ongoing issue for a long time that we won't get into here.

Spanish
Obviously, spending so much time in Puerto Rico, I had loads of opportunities to speak, despite traveling with a monolingual English-speaker. I got her Earworms Rapid Spanish, which she has been going through. Obviously I have everything she needs to learn, but we all know that you can lead a horse to water but ...

I read a great interview with Rubén Blades, the legendary Panamanian salsa singer and actor. The interviewer was Cuban author Leonardo Padura Veinte años después, y siempre, la vida te da sorpresas: Leonardo Padura entrevista a Rubén Blades. I've posted about Rubén in the log before. I've been listening to his music for a long time. Blades is not the average salsa singer. His lyrics are often profound and thought provoking, always representing Latin America and justice- which is often lacking.

Some of my favorite works of Blades are "Pedro Navaja"; "Decisiones"; the bittersweet ode, "El Padre Antonio y su Monaguillo Andrés" to Archbishop Oscar Romero, the Salvadoran priest mercilessly gunned down for his advocacy of human rights in San Salvador, y la canción que siempre me hace sentir el cariño en el fondo de mi alma- "Patria". En esta versión, canta con Wynton Marsalis en el Lincoln Center. "Patria" es un sentimiento


On the same site, there is an impressive guide to the 100 best books of women writers in the past 100 years in Spanish (and one in Portuguese). It sounds better in Spanish. Cien años, cien libros de escritoras en español Vale la pena leerlo, les aseguro. Yá he descubierto aún mas libros para leer. ¡¿Qué estoy pensando?!

Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol
My Bible reading in Rashi is on pause at the moment, since I ran out of narrative after 2 Kings. Still, I am reading a new (fro me) novel in Rashi "La ija del lavandero". I found several interesting little gems via twitter. After finishing "Robinson Crusoe" in Rashi, I came across an article that talks about the translations of the book into several Jewish languages Robinson Crusoe in the Languages of the Jews- How the classic English novel spread throughout the Jewish world and its many languages for anyone interested. I thought it was very timely having just finished the book in Ladino and Rashi script.


If anyone is interested in trying their hand at reading some short works in Ladino, the Alliance Israélite Universelle library catalog of 1930's novellas is online in "Turkified" Latin script. The books are free and legal to download in pdf. Bibliothèque de l'alliance israélite universelle. Just click on an author's name to see the book.

Portuguese
I still keep up with my Portuguese. I speak and write about once a week. I've just finished watching Season 1 of "Friends" in Portuguese dub and have enjoyed the nostalgia trip. I had recommended that Bex watch the series in Spanish and that's what got me to thinking about re-watching it myself in Portuguese. Joey is still Joey, Rachel is still Rachel and Ross, of course, can't escape being Ross even with Portuguese coming out of his mouth.


Haitian Creole
M ap woule toulejou. M ap li liv 1 Kwonik la nan Bib la ak m ap koute episòd la nan Atravè Labib osi.

Catalan
Moltes gràcies to Tractor, and in a round about way- Iron Mike, I now have Teach Yourself Catalan from the 1970's which is a veritable goldmine of Catalan grammar. This will help me to consolidate what I've already read and listened to in the real world.

Old English
It was Iron Mike who got me into this via his holiday OE TY challenge. I'd never really done any Teach Yourself courses before and I really like the new TY Old English book. I made it to chapter 5 before life (and earthquakes) got in the way. I will try to get through the rest of this book at my leisure.

Mèsi anpil pou li tou sa. M a wè nou pita. Orevwa pou kounye a.

[Iversen]

I have read the first couple of pages of La Mujer Pasenzyosa, and I'm actually surprised that it isn't harder to understand. OK, I may have misunderstood some things here and there, but by and large I can follow the text.

Some years ago I read a number of texts in another socalled dialect of the language or rather dialect bundle called Romantsch (or Rhätoromanisch), and it was bristling with diphtongs - and also somewhat harder to read than the patient lady here. It could be have been Upper or Lower Engadin, I don't remember. Besides I have heard a lecture on a third dialect, maybe Friulean, at one of the gatherings, and it was also quite different. And I have read some Sardinian (in one of the five or so variants of this languages) not long ago. By the way, I also heard and read some vits of Haitian Creole when I visited the country a few years ago, but it is hard to remember the details of such a language form when you never hear or see it where you live. But it clearly had some of the same tone as Caribbean English - maybe there actually could be something like a Caribbean 'Sprachbund' there, I don't know..

I have run into other small forgotten pockets of Romance dialects or languages from different places in Europa, and I am happy that there are people who do something to save the last remnants of them before they disappear. At least I now have a sample on my own PC in case I ever should want to have a peek at Ladino again.

[iguanamon]

Mersi muncho/Thanks for stopping by, Iversen. I am not surprised that with your background (they do call the language Djudeo-espanyol) in Romance languages that you can read a lot of Ladino, even in this "Turkified" Latin script rendering. Today, the language follows the Aki Yerushalayim (a now defunct magazine) standardization for writing/transcription in Latin script. The standard makes more sense when you come to the Latin script of Ladino from the Rashi Hebrew script perspective. In Rashi there are no accent marks, the letters "o" and "u", "i" and "e" are the same and have to be determined through context. There's no "ñ", so "ny" mostly serves for that sound.

When the Ladino books in the 1930's that I linked to where published, it was during a time when Kemal Ataturk had banned the Arabic script in Turkish (and basically all other non-Latin scripts). The Turkish Jews based their spellings on the Turkish alphabet- which gives us "ç" for the "ch" sound in Djudeo-espanyol where the same Rashi letter can mean either "dj" or "ch". Ironically, now that there seems to be a Ladino revival coming out of Israel, I think writing the language in Rashi or Modern Hebrew script would be of more help for the younger diaspora in Israel who wish to learn the language.

I also heard and read some bits of Haitian Creole when I visited the country a few years ago, but it is hard to remember the details of such a language form when you never hear or see it where you live. But it clearly had some of the same tone as Caribbean English - maybe there actually could be something like a Caribbean 'Sprachbund' there

Yes, there is indeed a connection between Haitian Creole and the fading Creole-Englishes of the Caribbean. The connection comes from West Africa, from where the slaves where brought to the Caribbean. The grammar I hear here in Caribbean English is similar in some ways to what I hear in Haitian Creole. The use of "yo" (eux- FR) for the plural of words in HC corresponds to "dem" for plurals used often in Carribean English. The phrase "M byen" in HC corresponds to the construction "I ok" (leaving out the verb form of "to be") in Caribbean English for "I'm fine". My familiarity with these grammatical concepts in Caribbean English certainly helped me a lot when I was learning Haitian Creole. The "sprachbund" goes even farther with Haitian Creole being to a large extent mutually intelligible with the French Creole languages of Louisiana and St Lucia, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Trinidad in the Lesser Antilles... almost along the lines of the Scandinavian languages, though there are some big differences.

[iguanamon]

We are a forum composed of many levels of language-learners. We have new members, old members, members who post a lot, members who post sparingly, members who don't post at all, members "emeritus", members who have graduated and "moved on", members who are in between what they were and what they may be.

Sometimes, I feel like I have "graduated" but I haven't moved on quite yet. I am probably in between where I've been and where I will be. For me, this means I get to enjoy what I've worked on so hard to achieve by indulging in the languages I've learned so far.

Spanish
I've been getting back into Spanish a lot lately. There are 252 episodes of the old Cuban radio comedy, La Tremenda Corte. English background is here. The show is from pre-revolutionary Cuba and, after 60-70 years, is still broadcast in reruns on the radio. There is an app available at google play with all the episodes up in alphabetical order. I'm sure it's available on apple too, but I am not an apple person. The app even has the old Mexican post-Cuban Revolution television series- not as good. The radio episodes are 12-15 minutes long. The cast of characters is the same and each episode is a "trial" with the case being "something-icidio": alcaldecidio, españolicidio, etc. I'd like to see if I can get through all 252 radio episodes. It's doable.

As an American, I've never really been in to Soccer/Fútbol. I know it's the world sport, but I didn't grow up with it and never saw it played until I was an adult. I grew up with baseball. Some people from elsewhere in the world may think of baseball as being a strictly American game, but it has a worldwide reach from Japan, Australia, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Canada, even Europe and Israel. It is especially strong in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean- Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic. Baseball will be an Olympic sport in the Tokyo Olympics.

The Caribbean Series is going on right now in San Juan, Puerto Rico. While Spring training has yet to start in the States, where Winter is still going on, here the weather is perfect. The Series includes teams from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, the Dominican Republic and, unfortunately (for political reasons) not Cuba. The teams are not all-stars but the teams who have won their league in their individual countries. For Puerto Rico its los "Cangrejeros de Santurce"- the "Santurce Crabbers". I've had the games on while I work at home. I've been watching on ESPN Deportes and it makes for late nights with last night's game between arch rivals PR and DR going to midnight with the DR holding on to win 5-4. Tonight, they'll face off again in the semifinals.

Serpent has probably made the best use of her passion for sports (football/soccer in particular) here on the forum. She watches her favorite teams with commentary and reporting in various languages. For Americans, or baseball fans from anywhere, baseball and basketball are almost our only two national sports that can be followed in other languages. I encourage learners who like baseball to follow their favorite teams in Spanish and get into Winter baseball in Latin America. If you like baseball anyway, why not make it a part of your life in Spanish?!

Las Mayores/The Major Leagues en Español is probably the best place to follow baseball in Spanish. Many major league baseball teams have broadcasts and websites in Spanish available.

Some Spanish Baseball Vocabulary links: Anexo: Glosario de Béisbol
La beisbolista: Glosario de términos
Quizlet: Vocabulario de Béisbol/Baseball Flashcards

Games during the MLB season in the states are broadcast on ESPN Deportes on Sunday nights in Spanish as the Game of the Week. I'm sure that there are also baseball sites in Korean and Japanese too.

I'm also reading a book in Spanish about one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Roberto Clemente. Clemente was from Puerto Rico and played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's. He won several gold gloves for his fielding and had 3,000 career hits. He was also a humanitarian who was killed when his plane carrying supplies for the earthquake victims in Managua, Nicaragua tragically crashed in the waters just north of the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport in 1972.
Clemente: La passión y carisma del último héroe del béisbol
Resumen Puerto Rico vs República Dominicana

Portuguese
Finished series 1 of "Friends", going through Series 2 now. Reading Reuters Brasil and BBC Brasil everyday plus, speaking, writing, listening and reading around.

Haitian Creole
Back to 1 Chronicles in the Bible.

Catalan
On hiatus but still reading and listening.

Aranés/Occitan
I get daily exposure via twitter and have several resources collected. Probably should wait until after Catalan is solid.

Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol
At the end of the year, I said I was thinking about starting a challenge, or really just an introduction, to Ladino for Spanish-speakers- L1 or high level L2, with reading Ladino in Rashi characters. I've made a test page of parallel text with Rashi and Latin text of "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift in Ladino adaptation- calling it a translation would be generous. Those who are interested can copy the image location: https://i.postimg.cc/d0V9zNQL/Guliver-R ... n-pg-1.jpg and zoom in to see if this would be something they would be interested in doing. I've copied and pasted the Rashi from the original and did the best I could. I would upload the whole 30-40 pages along with a Rashi letter guide for download. The objective would be to be able to read in Rashi without the help of the Latin text. Those who are interested can let me know. If there's interest, I will make the complete text. I'll also provide an English translation or a glossary.

[SCMT]

I am probably in between where I've been and where I will be.

I'm not sure if the above quote represents some deep philosophical profundity or a fortune cookie, but I like it.

[reineke]

Our friend is one of the few remaining dinosaurs but he's not quite ready to evolve. We're lucky to have him around.

[DaveAgain]

I follow Caetano Veloso on twitter. He's got some concerts coming up soon all over the world. I'd love to see him sing. He's an amazing talent.

I just came across a cover of one of his songs: Cucurrucucú Paloma (Arranged by Caetano Veloso). The singer is Eva Holbrook, she's the lead singer/composer from an american band called Shel.

[iguanamon]

Well, I can see it's been a while since I've posted. The last time was in the before times, before Covid19. The virus is here but it's mostly an imported illness. We do not have community spread. With the cruise ships gone, and the tourists all at home (our governor shut down all hotels and airbnb), it's been easier to control infections here in such a small population. The real test will come when/if the tourists come back. There are good and bad aspects to living in an isolated community far from the hustle and bustle of urban life, but this is one of those times when I am quite glad to be here instead of being back in the world.

I haven't really been doing much, apart from reading and listening in my languages. CNN Brasil has brought me a new source of podcasts and video in Portuguese. I've been keeping up with what's going on in Portugal too, via Público, which is one of the biggest newspapers in Portugal. And of course A Verdade keeps me abreast of what's going on in Moçambique. RTVE, El País, WPAB Ponce and my twitter feed keep me up to date with the Spanish-speaking world. Haiti is in even more of a mess now than it was before Covid19. So the news out of the island is even less pleasant to keep up with these days. At least I have my books and Creole poetry to keep me away from the ever increasing litany of bad news coming from Ayiti Toma. Ladino/Djudeo-espanyol is still fun to read and explore in Rashi script on my tablet.

My Kindle4 gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. Time for a next one. It's my own fault. The battery was going out on it and I decided to replace it. Looked simple enough at youtube but, in practice... the little clip that holds the battery cable in place with the circuit board broke and I can't get it to work again. I despise planned obsolescence and the disposable device culture. I can't believe I've been done in by a battery!

The situation with Covid19 has been demotivating as well. Even if I wasn't traveling before, I knew I could if I wanted to, and this fact seems to make a difference in my mind. The irony is that having more time on my hands has not lead to more engagement with languages for me but rather, the opposite. After I check the morning news in my languages, and I am spending more time with my native English nowadays than I usually do, it's time to get to work (sooo lucky to still have a job) and I just don't feel like doing much more than relaxing at home with my partner and watching a movie with her after dinner. This situation here now with staying at home is like post hurricane life except we have electricity and internet.

Still, I feel the need to get back to learning Catalan. I'm just unsatisfied with being able to understand it and read it. I want to be able to write it and speak it too. Besides, if I don't get Catalan down, how am I going to move onto Aranés, which is similar (yet different enough) in many ways to Catalan! Yeah, I know, I could study them all at the same time but that's just not my thing. When the world opens back up, I can see myself going back to Spain, hanging out in Catalunya, hiking in the Val d'Aran- and I don't want to have to resort to speaking Spanish with people. So, onward I go. I leave you with the beautiful voice of Alidé Sans singing a haunting cover in Aranés of Eddie Vedder's "Society" which she recorded in quarantine. Seems to be appropriate now. Lyrics in Aranés and original English follow.

Aranés

SOCIETAT Un mistèri ei entà jo, tanta ambicion damb çò qu’ei convengut. Cres qu’as de voler mès que çò qu’as de besonh, enquia que non ac auràs tot non seràs liure. Oh! Societat, raça dement, non sigues soleta sense jo. Quan vòs mès que çò qu’as cres qu’as besonhs, quan penses mès de lo que vòs, es pensaments trèn sang. «Aurè de trobar un lòc mès gran» que quan as mès de lo que penses te manque lòc. Oh! Societat, raça dement, non sigues soleta sense jo. Oh! Societat, abissau e lhòca, non sigues soleta sense jo. I a qui ei mès o mens d’acòrd damb que mens ei mès, però se mens ei mès, ditz-me coma hès es compdes? Se per cada punt que guanhes baishes de nivèu, com se comencèsse des de naut. Non pòs hèr açò... Oh! Societat, raça dement, non sigues soleta sense jo. Oh! Societat, abissau e lhòca, non sigues soleta sense jo. Oh! Societat, ages pietat de jo, e non t’enfades se non i sò d’acòrd. Oh! Societat, raça dement, non sigues soleta sense jo.

SOCIETY Oh, it's a mystery to me We have a greed, with which we have agreed And you think you have to want more than you need Until you have it all you won't be free Society, you're a crazy breed I hope you're not lonely without me When you want more than you have You think you need And when you think more than you want Your thoughts begin to bleed I think I need to find a bigger place 'Cause when you have more than you think You need more space Society, you're a crazy breed I hope you're not lonely without me Society, crazy indeed I hope you're not lonely without me There's those thinking, more or less, less is more But if less is more, how you keeping score? Means for every point you make, your level drops Kinda like you're starting from the top You can't do that Society, you're a crazy breed I hope you're not lonely without me Society, crazy indeed I hope you're not lonely without me Society, have mercy on me I hope you're not angry if I disagree Society, crazy indeed I hope you're not lonely Without me

M ale, mezanmim yo!