Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 July 15

= July 15 =

John Smith in Chinese
What is the Mandarin language equivalent of John Smith, or say, John Q. Public, Mr. Everyman, etc.

Thanks

Duomillia (talk) 01:13, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Technically, there's no "equivalent". There's no literal translation, so you might want to ask for something that sounds somewhat similar. IceUnshattered (talk) 01:41, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I had a friend in China called 张磊 (Zhang Lei, or in Taiwan, Chang Lei), who said his name was one of the most common names. See Chinese name for more. Steewi (talk) 01:41, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

The rough equivalent would be the expression 張三李四 Aas217 (talk) 01:48, 15 July 2008 (UTC) (talk) 01:47, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Not sure about John Smith, but the Chinese equivalent of "Junior" would be 小宝 or 宝宝 (xiao bao or bao bao).  bibliomaniac 1  5  01:51, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * The John Doe article lists equivalents in numerous languages, including several Chinese ones. (I can't vouch for any.) jnestorius(talk) 08:18, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * John the Baptist is 聖若翰洗者, don't know about smith. english names are not usually translated though, but you'll find John its biblica.MY♥IN chile 02:16, 19 July 2008 (UTC)


 * 王涛(wang tao, masculine) and 王红(wang hong, feminine) are quite common. Also, 小明(xiao ming) is a common boy's name used by primary school students when they are asked to write a story.--Faizaguo 08:57, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Latin vs. Ancient Greek
What are the similarities and differences between the two languages? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.168.2.59 (talk) 01:37, 15 July 2008 (UTC)


 * For starters, there's the alphabet. They each use different characters. ··· 日本穣 ? · Talk to Nihonjoe 02:06, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Other than the facts that they're both Indo-European languages, with the consequent similarities (along with differences) in roots and inflections, and that some Greek words were adopted into Latin, there's not a whole lot of similarities. Deor (talk) 02:57, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Thank you -- is there anything else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.168.2.59 (talk) 19:51, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Do you speak/read any lnaguage of India?
If you do, please help me find out the translation of the english word hoopoe in the indian language you speak/read (Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Malayalam, Assamese, etc.). In english alphabet please. Thank you in advance. Eliko (talk) 16:12, 15 July 2008 (UTC)
 * As that page shows the bird's range includes India, you'd do well to contact an ornithological association there, or perhaps a university zoological department. These folks seem to have a handle on international birding; perhaps contact them for advice? -- Deborahjay (talk) 01:49, 16 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I think zoologists are not supposed to have that kind of information I'm looking for, so I should probably contact people who speak/read indian languages. Anyways, thank you for your effort. I'm still looking for indian language speakers who may help me. Eliko (talk) 11:40, 16 July 2008 (UTC)


 * this page seems to think it's called "hudhud". ··· 日本穣 ? · Talk to Nihonjoe 02:07, 16 July 2008 (UTC)


 * hudhud is the arabic word, and Haryana inhabitants seem to have been influenced by Arabic, whereas I'm looking for original indian languages. Anyways, thank you for your effort. I'm still looking for indian language speakers who may help me. Eliko (talk) 11:40, 16 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi User:Eliko; if you don't get enough response here, you could try looking through Category:Wikipedians by language for active users who speak the languages you are interested in and contact them directly. It's slower, but at least you'll get someone who knows the language!  -- tiny plastic Grey Knight &#x2296; 13:50, 16 July 2008 (UTC)


 * It's really much slower and exceedingly exhaustive, what a pity! Anyway, thank you for your new advice. Eliko (talk) 21:04, 16 July 2008 (UTC)