Bilingual?
Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.
Consider the following sentence:
>> My pen is in my hand. <<
Name the two languages where the meaning and spelling of ALL the words in the above sentence are exactly the same in both languages. Just the pronunciation is different.
Answer
English and Afrikaans.
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa and Namibia. The name Afrikaans comes from the Dutch word for "African." It was originally used by the Dutch settlers and indentured workers brought to the Cape area in southwestern South Africa by the Dutch East India Company between 1652 and 1705. Most of the settlers were from the Netherlands, but there were also settlers from Germany, France, Scotland, and other countries. The indentured workers and slaves were Malays and the indigenous workers were Khoi and San. Afrikaans was considered a Dutch dialect until the early 20th century. In 1925, it was officially proclaimed to be a distinct language from Dutch. Afrikaans is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa.
Hide
Comments
safire2191   
Nov 25, 2006
| What are the different pronunciations? |
kman613
Nov 27, 2006
| too hard to figure out, w/o knowing obscure (or at least not commonly used) languages (i.e. english, spanish, chinese, etc.)... |
seanlandrews
Nov 27, 2006
| Interesting information. What is the pronuciation in Afrikaans? |
xsagirl
Nov 27, 2006
| For the most part the consonants are pronounced more or less the same as in English, but the vowels have a shorter sound than in English.
My: y - as ay in play.
pen: e - as e in hen (same as in English).
is: i - as e in angel.
in: i - as e in angel.
my: y - as ay in play.
hand: a - as u in cup. |
taraskat
Nov 29, 2006
| I thought maybe it was English and American Sign Language, but I guess you don't technically pronounce anything in sign language. That was a good, tough brain teaser! |
cuteandditzy
Nov 29, 2006
| I have never even heard of Afrikaan. You learn something new every day. Good job.  |
Back to Top
| |
|
