- Forum >
- Topic: Hindi >
- "एक किताब और एक सेब"
39 Comments
Me, in my head: I'll practice my hindi at the local indian restaurant.
Waiter: what can i get you today sir?
Me: एक किताब और एक सेब।
Waiter:
An apple, I think it's possible in a restaurant, but a book, is it the menu?
So, "and" in hindi is "or"... hmm... that's going to give some headaches. Btw, thanks for the Hindi course! :)
You should have seen my face when I realised that! I'm a native speaker so it just always seemed natural to me. (It's like native French speakers not realising how it's weird to say 4*20+10+9 instead of 99.)
Actually, not all native French speakers say 4*20+10+9 for 99. In Belgium and Switzerland, they have a word for 90 that isn't used in France (nonante). Thus they say 90+9 for 99 (nonante-neuf). The same goes with 70 (septante instead of 60+10 soixante-dix).
I'm from France, so you can imagine how I felt the first time I heard those words and realized I had always said 60+10 for 70 and 4*20+10 for 90 ;-)
In France too, in some areas, it's used. It's no more the official way taught in schools to say it, that's all.
The "quatre-vingt" is the Parisian way, and it becomes the only national way, I guess with the national TV broadcast and newspapers. And the "octante", "nonante" was the old way to tell it, in non Parisian areas. My grand-mother always said "nonante", and she was 100% French.
It's the opposite for me. My grandparents always taught me "nonante", "septante", and at school I had to learn a new way. But when you are a little girl, you don't care about "nonante" being more logical than "quatre-vingt-dix", you only learn it for 90, and that's all. You become to think about the language and its etymology far later in your life.
Hahaha... XD I only hope that "or in hindi won't be "अन्द" or something with a similar pronuntiation ;)
It's not "or", it's "aur". So no more headache when you write it down on your notebook.
"o" and "au" are different o, one is the close o, and the other the open o.
I just want to tell to the team that set up this Hindi course: excellent job!!! I'm having a lot of fun.
Yes, they made a great job. :) The sad point is that the Hindi course only has 32 levels (very short compared to other Duo languages). But they have the possibility of increasing it (like in the Dutch course, or the Esperanto course).
If और is pronounced almost exactly like English "or", I wonder how much confusion or comedy this leads to in Hinglish? :D
Surprisingly it doesn't really create any confusion in day to day Hinglish speech.
The only place where it became a headache was the computer class in High school with the and/or/not bridges of computer logic. The teachers generally speak Hinglish and there was total confusion about what he meant when he said Or.
We resolved it by a mutual understanding that all technical terms would be assumed to be in English only.
You have to forget the "o" in the English "or".
You have to think the IPA way, to write the sounds as they are, and not the letters.
You are already level 11 in French, and French will help you a lot with this matter.
In IPA, there are 2 kind of "o". The closed o, and the open o.
The closed o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close-mid_vowel
High pitched "o", a real, pure o sound.
Closest in English: no, soap.
In French: tôt, atome, gros, mot...
--
The open "o" noted here "au" (and in French too)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-mid_back_rounded_vowel
In English: law, caught, all, halt, talk
Official English IPA: lɔː, kɔːt, ɔːl, hɔːlt, tɔːk
I know it depends on your English dialect, but it's a lower pitch "o".
In French: in "bol", "bonne", "Paul".
Listen to them:
o (closed): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Close-mid_back_rounded_vowel.ogg
au (open): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PR-open-mid_back_rounded_vowel.ogg
I typed "A book and an apple" and it said alternate translation: "A book and an apple".....
