“Hey everyone, it’s Xochitl back again with another Nahuatl lesson.” The sparkles emoji pops up with text saying “Happy Mother Language Day”.
“It’s international Mother Language Day, so what better to celebrate by paying tribute to my and probably your mother language, Nahuatl.”
Greenscreen opens up to map. “So many words we know today come from Nahuatl.”
“Nahuatl is the most widely spoken Indigenous language in North America. It belogs to the Uto-Aztecan family of language. It’s related to the Huichol language of Nayarit, the Yaqui and Tarahumara of Chihuahua, the Hopi of Arizona, and the Shoshone Indigenous language of Wyoming.”
“The Nahuatl language experienced it’s Golden Era in the 15th and early 16th century. During this time, the Nahautl language spread from Western Mexico to the Gulf Coast and even parts of Central America.”
Picture in background changes to a art recreation of a Nahuatl city, with the three names of the greatest cities, Tenochtitlan, Tetzcohco, and Tlacopan.
“These theee cities right here are the greatest empires of the Mexica People.”
New picture pops up of an ideogram of Nahuatl language.
“This right here is pictographics script, which is how the Mexica People used to communicate and write down their Nahuatl language. To this day, along with written manuscripts in Spanish, that’s how we preserve the Nahuatl classical language.”
In Urdu we don’t say “I won’t give you what you want” if that person went out of line and then asked for a favour, we informally say “تیرے باپ کا راج چل رہا ہے؟ (Teray baap ka raaj chal raha hai ? [“ch” as in “chair”])” which roughly translates to “Is this your father’s kingdom?” and I think that’s beautiful.
In Norwegian, we have this saying “Ta en spansk en” which translates to “Take a Spanish one” which we use if we want to take a rough turn or do something a little wild.
In Finnish, we don’t “I’ll go out even if it rained cats and dogs”, we rarely use the old saying “Menen ulos vaikka sataisi ämmiä äkeet selässä” which literally means “I’ll go out even if it rained bitches/hags with harrows on their backs”.
In Romanian we don’t say “Mind your own business”, we say “Nu-ți băga nasul unde nu-ți fierbe oala” which roughly translates to “Don’t stick your nose where your pot ain’t boiling” and I find it so funny.
In French, we don’t say “thong” to refer to the clothing item, we say “(le) string [(\lə\) \stʁiŋ\]”. But in European French, we also have the word “(la) tong [(\la\) \tɔ̃ɡ\]” that translates to the beach slippers/sandals commonly known as “Flip-flops” and I always found it confusing.
In Sylheti Bengali, there’s a sweet dish called “ফিদা (phida)” and it sounds like the word for “punch/hit” which is also “ফিদা (fida)”. So as a joke, cousins and siblings would ask “ফিদা খাইটা নি ? (Fidā khā'iṭā ni ?)” which means “Do you want ‘fida’ ?” and if you say yes they might punch you playfully because after all you agreed to a punch (fida), not a sweet dish (phida).
In Mandarin Chinese we say “再见 (zài jiàn)” as “goodbye” or “farewell”, which roughly translates to “see (见) you again (再)” and I think that’s beautiful, because that means there is no true goodbye in the Mandarin Chinese language, and we only ever part ways for the time being.
In Danish, when the wind is really strong we can say “Det stormer/blæser en halv pelikan”, it directly translates to “It’s storming/blowing half a pelican” and I have absolutely zero idea why. It is an older saying though, so not everyone will know it.
In German we don’t say “killing time”, we say “Zeit totschlagen ” which literally means “beating the time up to death” and I think that’s beautiful
I didn’t tell you the whole truth: The verb “totschlagen” belongs to the noun “Totschlag”. “Totschlag” and “Mord” (murder) are two types of crime where someone committed homicide. “Mord” on the one hand was a mostly planned or at least intendet murder yand is more severe than “Totschlag” - killing someone in the heat of the moment, out of a sudden urge or emotion.
“umgangssprachlich; Der Begriff ”Zeitvertreib" ist erst eine Erfindung des 18. Jahrhunderts, aber den Reichen und Adligen war Sport, Spiel und Unterhaltung auch vorher natürlich nicht unbekannt. Das redensartliche Bild meint, dass man die "Person Zeit“ vertreiben oder gar töten kann, damit sie einen nicht länger durch ihre Anwesenheit belästigt.”
“colloquial; The term “Zeitvertreib” has only been invented in the 18th century, although prior, sports, games and entertainment (as a pastime) weren’t unfamiliar to the rich and nobles. The idiomatic picture indicates that one dispels or even ‘murders’ (see above explanation) the personified “time” so it would no longer disturb oneself through its presence.“
In German we don’t say “killing time”, we say “Zeit totschlagen ” which literally means “beating the time up to death” and I think that’s beautiful
I didn’t tell you the whole truth: The verb “totschlagen” belongs to the noun “Totschlag”. “Totschlag” and “Mord” (murder) are two types of crime where someone committed homicide. “Mord” on the one hand was a mostly planned or at least intendet murder yand is more severe than “Totschlag” - killing someone in the heat of the moment, out of a sudden urge or emotion.
“umgangssprachlich; Der Begriff ”Zeitvertreib" ist erst eine Erfindung des 18. Jahrhunderts, aber den Reichen und Adligen war Sport, Spiel und Unterhaltung auch vorher natürlich nicht unbekannt. Das redensartliche Bild meint, dass man die "Person Zeit“ vertreiben oder gar töten kann, damit sie einen nicht länger durch ihre Anwesenheit belästigt.”
“colloquial; The term "Zeitvertreib” has only been invented in the 18th century, although prior, sports, games and entertainment (as a pastime) weren’t unfamiliar to the rich and nobles. The idiomatic picture indicates that one dispels or even ‘murders’ (see above explanation) the personified “time” so it would no longer disturb oneself through its presence.“
Translation: In Germany, we don’t say “Hello, could you turn down the music ?”, we say “Yes, hello, Code Enforcement/Department of Order ? The neighbour still has loud music turned on at 10:01 pm*.
Yes, with emergency vehicle lighting*, please.”
*According to German law, a curfew is applied past 10 o’clock pm. (a law loved and appreciated by Germans :))
*lit. “blue light” - any sort of emergency/operational vehicle uses blue light to signal the urgency of the situation; here we would talk about the municipal-level law enforcement agency
Translation: “IN GERMANY, THE OBLIGATION TO DRIVE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD PREVAILS ! You idiot* with your (Opel) Corsa better scoot off the left lane now !”
*lit. “evolutionary brake” - meaning somebody who represents an obstacle to evolution (very colloquial use)
In Brazilian Portuguese, we don’t say someone “does crazy and weird things”, we say they are “porra louca*” which literally translates to “crazy semen” and I love those weird quirks in languages.
![IN [LANGUAGE] WE DON'T SAY ...](https://64.media.tumblr.com/avatar_84ac7e4b41dc_30.png){kind=avatar}
