Re: Bilingual McGuffey Readers now available!

On Wed, Mar 09, 2005 at 04:13:57PM -0500, Sally Caves wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...>
>
> >san huna.
>
> Vyko
How is that pronounced, in IPA?

The Tatari Faran greeting is pronounced [san "huna].


> >By popular demand, The Editors hereby publish another edition of the
> >McGuffey Readers, the Bilingual McGuffey Primer in Tatari Faran and
> >English, in line with their ongoing commitment to accessibility,
> >equality, and non-discrimination against the Tatari Faran challenged.
>
> Ha ha ha ha haaah!  I just saw this after posting my reply to your previous
> reply, and I laughed out loud.  I had suggested a Tatari Faran for Dummies,
> but this beats that.
Hehe, OK. I'm not sure if it will actually be instructive beyond
visual word-matching, though. For one, I had to translate the same
English word in the original into different words in the Tatari Faran
simply because TF verbs don't work the same way as in English.

For example, although the verb "to have" can generally be rendered
_kuini ... dakat_, the TF verb refers to *ownership* in the legal
sense. It doesn't work in situations like "I have two arms" or "the
dog has the ball".  For the latter, you can't use a generic verb at
all, but have to use a verb such as "to hold", "to retrieve", etc..

I also had to rephrase things that simply don't make sense literally
in TF. For example, although you can "run to" somewhere (_pamra asu_),
you can't "run at" something. For the latter, you have to "chase" it
(_aipam inui_). And you can't be "on" a horse unless you were dead and
happened to fall on top of it; rather, you *ride* or *steer* a horse
(_uente' pupun_).


[...]
> >Newsflash: TOP SEKRIT, HOT, INSIDER INFO UPDATE.
> >
> >Rumor has it that The Editors are working on a brand new Tatari Faran
> >book, which will aid the illiter^H^H^H^H^H^H Tatari Faran challenged,
> >folks learn the language.
>
> More HA HA HA!  I'm scaring the cat.
kauhi atan. :-S


[...]
> >From what we can see in the draft, the book covers basic principles of
> >grammar in a way that lowers the learning curve, promotes speedy word
> >acquisition, enhances comprehension, solves world hunger, and cures
> >acne.
>
> Now acne I've got under control.  Can it improve attention de^H^H^H^H
> ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H little lapses in concentration?
[...]

Unfortunately, The Editors cannot provide any guarantee that the book
will do anything beyond solving world hunger and curing acne. In
particular, they cannot promise that attention-related disorders will
improve. In fact, it has been reported that attention-related
disorders such as ADD (Acquired Immune Defic^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H I mean,
Attention Deficit Disorder) will in fact be exacerbated by perusing
such obsession-inducing literature. However, this discove^H^H^H^H^H
allegation has not yet been villif^H^H^H^H^Hverified by The Editors,
and is therefore untrue.

Nevertheless, The Editors hereby disclaim any responsibility, whether
moral, monetary, or otherwise, for any damages, incidental or
otherwise, whether said damages are psychological, physiological,
coincidental, or imaginary, that may or may not arise directly or
indirectly with any activity whatsoever that may or may not be related
to the use of this book, including such activities as laughing out
loud at the cat.


[...]
> >All men are mortal. Socrates is mortal. Therefore all men are Socrates.
>
> SNARK!  I'm in a jolly mood today.  Saw House M.D. last night on television.
Funny, I thought that particular quote must be really old by now. I
guess jokes don't age until you know them. :-P


> "Occam's Razor."  House at his most obnoxious, mangling logic right and
> left.  Helps me endure the rest of the week.
No joke. Just today I saw the headlines for a recent discovery that
laughter helps prevent cardiovascular disease... :-P


T

--
Not all rumours are as misleading as this one.

Reply