The Very Basic Guide to Mongolian

 

Mongolian is spoken in Mongolia and still in what is called Inner Mongolia in the People's Republic of China. China once has been ruled my Mongolians (Yuan Dynasty). Mongolian isn't an easy language. However, as any language, one can learn Mongolian, too. Mongolian uses the  Cyrillic alphabet, but there are more scripts for Mongolian, which had been or are still in use [1]. It is a good idea to learn the Cyrillic alphabet if only to read direction signs. In the transcription double vowels are long vowels, as you might remember from your studies in Finnish.

Thank you –  баярлалаа (bayarlalaa)
Yes – тийм (tiim)
No – үгүй (ugui)
Do you speak English? – Та англиар ярьдаг уу? (Ta angliar yaridag uu?)
I can't speak Mongolian. – Би монголоор ярьж чадахгүй. (Bi mongoloor yarij chadakhgüi.)
I don't understand. – Би ойлгохгүй байна. (Bi oilgokhgüi baina.)
Please – Гуйя (Guiya)
Excuse me / Sorry – уучлаарай (uuchlaara)
Good morning – өглөөний мэнд (öglöönii mend)
Good evening – оройн мэнд (oroin mend)
Good night – сайхан амраарай (saikhan amraarai)
Hello – сайн байна уу (sain baina oo)
Goodbye – баяртай (bayartai)
How are you? – Юу байна? (Yuu baina?)
Fine –  сайн сайн (sain sain)
I would like ...  –  Би хүсч байна ... (Bi khüsch baina ...)
How much is it? – Энэ ямар үнэтэй вэ? (Ene yamar ünetei ve?)
Please write it down! – Үүнийг бичнэ үү! (Üüniig bichne üü!)
Where is ... – Хаана байна ... (Khaana baina ...)
Where's the nearest ...  – Хамгийн ойрын газар хаана байна ... (Khamgiin oiryn gazar khaana baina ...)
Where is the toilet? – Бие засах газар хаана байдаг вэ?  (Biy zasakh gazar haan baidag ve?) I advise you to learn this phrase thoroughly because otherwise you won't make it to the toilet.
I'm lost. – Би төөрчихлөө. (Bi töörchikhlöö.)
What is your name? –  Таны нэр хэн бэ? (Tany ner khen be?)
My name is ... – Миний нэрийг Лотар  гэдэг. (Minii neriig ... gedeg.)
Left – зүүн (züün)
Right – зөв (zöv)
I need a doctor. – Надад эмч хэрэгтэй. (Nadad emch kheregtei.)
Please call a doctor quickly! – Эмчийг яаралтай дуудаарай!
(Emchiig yaaraltai duudaarai!)

Mistakes are all mine.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Mongolia – Different Writing System on Banknotes https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2022/10/mongolia-different-writing-system-on.html
[2] I also used two German-Mongolian books:
Paul Metzler, Enkhzaya: Eldevdorj: Kleiner Mongolisch-Kurs. Engelsdorfer, Leipzig 2012. ISBN: 978-3-86268-618-6.
and:
Arno Günther: Reise Know-How Sprachführer Mongolisch - Wort für Wort: Kauderwelsch-Band 68. Peter Rump Verlag, Bielefeld 2017. ISBN: 978-3-8317-6499-0.

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The Very Basic Guide to Farsi (Persian)

Farsi (فارسی) or Persian is spoken in Iran, but also in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, and Azerbaijan. The language belongs to the Indo-European languages. Farsi is written in the Arabic script, but needed some extra letters and adjustments. Persian added: Pe (پ), Che (چ), Zhe (ژ) und Gaaf (گ). Persian changed: Kaaf (ك) into (ک) and Ye (ي) into (ی). Some Arabic letter could have been omitted, but are still used in loan words though they don’t have a different sound.

You're welcome to look at these very basic words and expressions. I hope you’ll have a great time in Iran.

Hello – Dorud (درود), but even better and also used as any greeting is: Salaam (سلام)

Thank you – Mérci (مرسی)

You’re welcome – Khohesh mikonam (جواهش میکنم)

Yes – Aaré (آره) or bale (بله)

No – Na (نه)

Do you speak English? – Engelisi yaad daari? (انگلیسی یاد داری؟)

Please – Lotfan (لصفا)

Excuse me – Bebakhshit (ببجشیت)

Sorry – Bebakhshit (ببجشیت)

Good morning – Sobh bekheir (صبح بجیر)

Good evening – Asr bekheir (عصر بجیر)

Good night – Shab bekheir (شب بجیر)

Goodbye – Khoda negahdaar (خدانگهدار)

How are you? [plural, informal] - Khubid? (خوبید؟)

How are you? [singular, informal] - Khubi? (خوبی؟)

Fine, thank you - Khubam, sepaas (خوبم٫ سپاس)

Nice to meet you - Khoshvaghtam (خوشوقتم)

Help!  -Komak! (کُمَک)

Look out! - Bepaa! (!بپا)

How much is it? – … chand ast? (...چند است؟)

I don’t know – Nemidanam (نمی دانم)

I don’t understand – Nemifahmam (نمی فهمم)

Please speak more slowly – khohesh mikonam ahesteh tar sohbat konid (جواهش میکنم آهسته تر صحبت کنیت؟)

Where is – kojast? (کجاست؟)

Where is the toilet? – Dastshuyi kojast? (دستشویی کجاست؟)

Toilet – Dastshuyi (دستشویی)

Men – Mard (مرد)

Women – Zan (زن)

I'm lost – Gom shodeam (گم ششدهام)

What is your name? – Esmet Chie? (اسمت چیه؟)

My name is– My name is - (اسمی من - است)

Left – Chap (چث)

Right – Raast (راست)

I need a doctor – Be doktor ehtiyaaj daaram

(به دکتر احتیاج دارم)

I'm a vegetarian - Giaahkhaar hastam (گیاهجوار هستم) or: Man giaah kharam (من گیاهجوارم)

Please blame any mistakes on me.

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_language

https://wikitravel.org/en/Persian_phrasebook

https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/persian.php

http://www.jahanshiri.ir/fa/en/vocab-common-phrases   

https://app2brain.com/learn-languages/persian/conversations/

Links for more Basic Guides:

The Very Basic Guide to Esperanto http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2017/02/the-very-basic-guide-to-esperanto.html

The Very Basic Guide to Yiddish http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2016/12/the-very-basic-guide-to-yiddish.html

The Very Basic Guide to Portuguese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-portuguese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Italian   http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-italian.html

The Very Basic Guide to Afrikaans http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-afrikaans.html

The Very Basic Guide to Turkmenian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-languages-of.html

The Very Basic Guide to French http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-french.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html

The Very Basic Guide to Japanese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/the-very-basic-guide-to-japanese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Mandarin Chinese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-mandarin-chinese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Spanish http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-spanish.html

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The Very Basic Guide to Catalan

Catalan or Català is a Romance language, which is spoken in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and other regions as for instance Andorra [1]. In Barcelona the regional government is promoting the language. One will find a lot of similarities to Occitan, which is understandable because of the proximity of the two languages. For Sardinian or Campadinese it’s less understandable. Of course there are overlapping words to Spanish, but also disparities as colgar means to hang in Spanish and to bury in Catalan – you might think, Spanish concerns with the act of hanging and Catalan with the result of hanging. OT: I’m against capital punishment.

Wikipedia lists about 9.5 million speakers of Catalan.

Thank you – Gràcies! Or: Mercès!

You’re welcome – De res

Yes – Sí

No – No

Do you speak English? – Parla anglès? (formal) Parlas anglès?

Please – Sisplau

Excuse me – Perdoni! Or: Dispensi!

Sorry – Perdó!

Welcome – Benvigut

Good morning – Bon dia

Good day – Bon dia

Good afternoon – Bona trade

Good evening – Bona nit

Good night – Bona nit

Hello – Hola

Goodbye – Adéu

See you tomorrow – Fins demà

Everything is all right - Tot va bé.

How are you? – Com está? (formal) Com estás? (informal)

How much is this? – Què val això?

I don’t know – No sé

I don’t understand – No ho entenc

Please say it again – M’ho pot repetir, sisplau?

Where – On

When – Quan

How much – Quant

Where is the toilet? – On és el lavabo?

(Where is the bathroom? – On és la cambra de bany?)

What is your name? – Com es diu? Com et dius? (informal)

My name is LMK – Em dic LMK

Where are you from? - D’on és vostè? (formal)

I’m from Germany – Som d’Alemanya

Left – Esquerre

Right – Dreta

I need a doctor – Necessit un metge.

Help – Ajut

Help! – Auxili! Or: Socors!

Stop! – Alto!

Please blame any mistakes on me.

You might like to listen [4].

Links: 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language

[2] https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/catalan.php has been very helpful

[3] http://weib.caib.es/recursos/abast/paginas/alabast-eng.html

[4] http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/catalan.shtml

Links for more Basic Guides:

The Very Basic Guide to German

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2017/02/the-very-basic-guide-to-german.html

The Very Basic Guide to Esperanto 

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2017/02/the-very-basic-guide-to-esperanto.html

The Very Basic Guide to Yiddish  

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2016/12/the-very-basic-guide-to-yiddish.html

The Very Basic Guide to Portuguese  

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-portuguese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Italian   

 http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-italian.html

The Very Basic Guide to Afrikaans 

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-afrikaans.html

The Very Basic Guide to Turkmenian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-languages-of.html

The Very Basic Guide to French 

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-french.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian 

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html

The Very Basic Guide to Japanese  

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/the-very-basic-guide-to-japanese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Mandarin Chinese 

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-mandarin-chinese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Spanish 

http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-spanish.html

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The Very Basic Guide to German

Yesterday I’ve looked at the links to other very basic guides and thought, something is missing. And then it dawned to me: I’ve never written a very basic guide to German. German is easy, let’s say easier than Russian. It only has four cases and not 6 or more. It is spoken as it is written unlike English or French. Yes, the umlauts and the H/CH are difficult and grammar is tricky. Nevertheless, you don’t need much grammar to be able to speak a couple of phrases.

German (Deutsch) is mainly spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, but also in Italy (South Tyrol), Belgium, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. And you will find clusters in South America (like Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay), South Africa, (South Africa and Namibia) as well as the United States of America and Israel.

German uses the 26 standard letters, the umlauts ä, ö and ü, and the eszett (sharp s), ß. And German has the /x/ sound, like the Scottish loch, it also is written ch and appears after dark vowels or diphthongs like a, au, o, u. Loch, German for hole or cavity, is pronounced identically to the Scottish Loch, whereas Licht (light) sounds light and not like K. I hope you are at least a little bit confused. The international phonetic alphabet gives the ch sound in ich (I), Licht (light), nicht (not) as ç. Th is tricky as German doesn’t have the English digraph th, sometimes it comes from a Greek loan word and is pronounced like t, if it is an English loan word, you’ll hear both th and s.

Thank you – Danke

You’re welcome – Nichts zu danken

Yes – Ja

No – Nein

Do you speak English? – Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Please – Bitte

Excuse me – Entschuldigung

Sorry – Entschuldigung (sorry is also often used)

Good morning – Guten Morgen

Good day – Guten Tag

Good evening – Guten Abend

Good night – Guten Nacht

Hello – Hallo

Goodbye – Auf Wiedersehen

All right / O.K. - gut

How are you? – Wie geht es Ihnen? Wie geht es Dir? (informal)

I’m well! – Mir geht es gut

I would like to buy ... – ich möchte ... kaufen

How much is it? – Wieviel kostet es?

I don’t know – ich weiß es nicht

I don’t understand – ich verstehe nicht

Where is – Wo ist

Where is the toilet? – Wo sind die Toiletten?

I'm lost – Ich habe mich verirrt

What is your name? – Wie heißen Sie? Wie heißt Du? (informal)

My name is LMK – Mein Name ist LMK

Mr, Mrs, Ms – Herr, Frau, Fräulein [hardly being in use anymore]

Left – links

Right – rechts

I need a doctor – Ich benötige einen Arzt

Please blame any mistakes on me.

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language

Links for more Basic Guides:

The Very Basic Guide to Esperanto http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2017/02/the-very-basic-guide-to-esperanto.html

The Very Basic Guide to Yiddish http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2016/12/the-very-basic-guide-to-yiddish.html

The Very Basic Guide to Portuguese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-portuguese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Italian   http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-italian.html

The Very Basic Guide to Afrikaans http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2015/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-afrikaans.html

The Very Basic Guide to Turkmenian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-languages-of.html

The Very Basic Guide to French http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2014/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-french.html

The Very Basic Guide to Russian http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2012/10/the-very-basic-guide-to-russian.html

The Very Basic Guide to Japanese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/03/the-very-basic-guide-to-japanese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Mandarin Chinese http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/04/the-very-basic-guide-to-mandarin-chinese.html

The Very Basic Guide to Spanish http://rheumatologe.blogspot.de/2013/05/the-very-basic-guide-to-spanish.html

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