Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2014 April 26

= April 26 =

Persian help: What is the Persian in this image?
In File:Mike Spann Memorial.JPG What is the Persian (Dari) in this image? I want to annotate this image

Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 11:15, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Isn't that the English translation right below it ? StuRat (talk) 14:29, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * (Just to remove any doubt:) Yes, exactly. Omidinist (talk) 19:13, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
 * I think (on the basis of previous requests) that what WhisperToMe wants is a transcription, not a translation, of the text. Deor (talk) 19:36, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * The name is مايك سپن (the easy part)... AnonMoos (talk) 22:07, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * WhisperToMe, please clarify if you need the transcription. Omidinist (talk) 03:12, 27 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, I would like a transcription, please WhisperToMe (talk) 07:31, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

به یادبود /مایک سپن (1348 - 1380) /قهرمانی که زندگی خود را /در راه آزادی /در راه افغانستان /و در راه ایالات متحده امریکا /ایثار کرد /جرئت و فداکاری او هرگز فراموش نخواهد شد .رحمت و بخشایش ایزدی بر او باد

Read right to left, please. Slashes separate lines. Omidinist (talk) 08:56, 27 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I added the transcription to File:Mike_Spann_Memorial.JPG, with the Persian numbers put it. I still have the slashes inside WhisperToMe (talk) 09:25, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Translating and pronouncing a Russian sentence
Hello. I have no knowledge of how to speak Russian, and I am trying to translate a certain phrase - "You are probably the only person here who can understand this" for a line in a play. I have run it through Google translate, which comes up with the following phrase: "Вы, вероятно, единственный человек здесь, кто может понять это" - which, when run back through Google translate again, comes out as "You're probably the only person here who can understand it", which would be acceptable apart from the final word - it needs to refer to "this" as in the Russian sentence itself.

Firstly, does anyone know a more appropriate phrasing?

Secondly, my main issue is that the actor reading the line would be unlikely to be able to read or pronounce the cyrillic characters - what would the appropriate pronounciation of such a phrase be, in a manner that could be written down and understood by an actor?

Thank you,

Horatio Snickers (talk) 14:52, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
 * In Russian there is only one word for "it" and "this". I'd say Вы, вероятно, единственный здесь человек, который может это понять.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 16:57, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * For a complete beginner, I'd suggest the following pronunciation: Vee, veh-ra-YAT-na, ye-DINST-ven-ee zd-YES che-lav-YEK, ka-TAW-ree MAW-zhət E-ta pun-YAT. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:52, 26 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Actually, Google Translate has pronunciation mode (click on "Listen" icon in the bottom right of the edit box), which does a decent job. Only the last syllable is odd: I hear /pɐnʲetʲ/ instead of /pɐnʲatʲ/. No such user (talk) 21:33, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Cool, I had no idea of that feature. It also seems to say veh-ra-YET-na (вероeтно).  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:45, 26 April 2014 (UTC)
 * I hear the standard [æ] in both the cases.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 22:22, 26 April 2014 (UTC)