English-French? English-Japanese? Japanese-Chinese?
Russian-Spanish? Spanish-German? English-German? or any other pair?
Russian-Spanish? Spanish-German? English-German? or any other pair?
Which language pair do you think translates most easily?
Esperanto-Japanese-
Esperanto-Chinese
NO WAY!
Maybe Esperanto- a latin language or an indo-European language but I'm not sure
Esperanto-Chinese
NO WAY!
Maybe Esperanto- a latin language or an indo-European language but I'm not sure
Two similar languages are sometimes very difficult to translate. All syntax and vocabolary may be mixed up. So the question is a bit senseless
Linguist: «Esperanto-Japanese-
Esperanto-Chinese
NO WAY!
Maybe Esperanto- a latin language or an indo-European language but I'm not sure»
No way?
OK.
Prove it then.
Esperanto is flexible like almost no other language in the world, allowing to create sentences and even words very close to the original.
- Japanese is said to be complicated because of its being agglutinative. You can form a complex word that convey a lot of information where English would use several words.
On the NationMaster's website, they give the example of a single word meaning "I did not want to eat": 食べたくなかった. Well, I don't speak Japanese, and I'm not even that good in Esperanto, but I know how I would translate that in Esperanto: Mi nemanĝvolis. Two words, OK, but pretty close to just one. Negation, to eat, to want, past tense all combined in one single word. Only «I» is kept separated.
- Japanese also use the SOV (Subect-Object-Verbs) word order. In Esperanto the word order doesn't matter and thus the Japanese one can be imitated if necessary.
Here's an SOV example from NationMaster: 私は箱を開けます (watashi wa hako wo akemasu). Meaning I open a/the box(es). Litterally: «I [topic-marking word "wa"] box [object-marking word "wo"] open».
In Esperanto it could be «Mi malfermas skatolon» if I use the SVO word order. But I could just as well have it like the Japanese and make it «Mi skatolon malfermas».
- As for Chinese, I won't get into details because It's getting late but let's just say that this language and Esperanto have an important feature in common: all words are derived from regular roots following a 100% predictable pattern. Claude Piron used to give the example of how the word "foreigner" is formed in Chinese and Esperanto:
In Chinese: Waiguoren -> Wai-guo-ren -> Outside-land-human
In Esperanto: Eksterlando -> Ekster-land-ano -> Outside-land-human
Claude Piron also used to say that both languages are so regular that if you know how to say "one" you don't need to learn how to say "first", you form it yourself. Same thing with "ox", "cow", "calf" and "bull" wich in Chinese and Esperanto are all formed from a single root.
Esperanto-Chinese
NO WAY!
Maybe Esperanto- a latin language or an indo-European language but I'm not sure»
No way?
OK.
Prove it then.
Esperanto is flexible like almost no other language in the world, allowing to create sentences and even words very close to the original.
- Japanese is said to be complicated because of its being agglutinative. You can form a complex word that convey a lot of information where English would use several words.
On the NationMaster's website, they give the example of a single word meaning "I did not want to eat": 食べたくなかった. Well, I don't speak Japanese, and I'm not even that good in Esperanto, but I know how I would translate that in Esperanto: Mi nemanĝvolis. Two words, OK, but pretty close to just one. Negation, to eat, to want, past tense all combined in one single word. Only «I» is kept separated.
- Japanese also use the SOV (Subect-Object-Verbs) word order. In Esperanto the word order doesn't matter and thus the Japanese one can be imitated if necessary.
Here's an SOV example from NationMaster: 私は箱を開けます (watashi wa hako wo akemasu). Meaning I open a/the box(es). Litterally: «I [topic-marking word "wa"] box [object-marking word "wo"] open».
In Esperanto it could be «Mi malfermas skatolon» if I use the SVO word order. But I could just as well have it like the Japanese and make it «Mi skatolon malfermas».
- As for Chinese, I won't get into details because It's getting late but let's just say that this language and Esperanto have an important feature in common: all words are derived from regular roots following a 100% predictable pattern. Claude Piron used to give the example of how the word "foreigner" is formed in Chinese and Esperanto:
In Chinese: Waiguoren -> Wai-guo-ren -> Outside-land-human
In Esperanto: Eksterlando -> Ekster-land-ano -> Outside-land-human
Claude Piron also used to say that both languages are so regular that if you know how to say "one" you don't need to learn how to say "first", you form it yourself. Same thing with "ox", "cow", "calf" and "bull" wich in Chinese and Esperanto are all formed from a single root.
in my experience Czech-Slovak. Vocabs are about 85% same or very close, and orthography is very similar. The one thing Czech speakers need to remember is that H in Czech is often G in other Slavic languages.
in my experience Czech-Slovak. Vocabs are about 85% same or very close, and orthography is very similar. The one thing Czech speakers need to remember is that H in Czech is often G in other Slavic languages.
Esperanto is based on the Indo-European languages. Esperanto grammar may be quite hard for a Chinese
It depends highly on what you're translating. If you're translating a normal book with normal language then any languages can be translated. If you're translating a book with a lot of idiomatic or language based humour then the task could be arduous, and you're more likely to have success with closely related languages.