Yes, we all know the song "New York, New York". Then last year I visited Puka Puka, a beautiful small coral atoll in the Northen Cook Islands, absolutely stunning. There is Pago Pago in American Samoa. Then there's those little three wheeled taxis used in various parts of the world but in Central America called a "tuk tuk" - a much beter name than "autorickshaw" of south east asia; the ubiquitous Chelsea tractor as it is known in London, or the 4x4, or "quatre-quatre" or just the "kat-kat" in the Sahara. There's probably more. But they definitely have a musical air to them that makes them very appealing.
Hindi has them too, in abundance! It has a great habit of doubling up words and it sounds fantastic when you hear these double barrels rolling off the tongue - try it with the typical Indian head wobble thrown in for good measure. How about "thola thola" which is about my limit of Hindi at the moment, ie a little. "Dhirie dhirie" which means slowly, a great expression, much needed when trying to learn a language and most helpful in getting native speakers to slow down. Near doubles are "sadi-suda" for married, "bhir-bhar" for a crowd, "thik-thak" for fine and "garbar-sharbar" for confusion. There's definitely something memorable about them.And I am clearly getting more into the rhythm of the language. I tried my ear at listening to Hindi radio yesterday. Although I couldn't understand anything about what was being talked about – normal speed is far too quick and the language too complex as yet , but I did hear words I recognised! Progress!
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
The pervasiveness of irregular numbers
How important are numbers in everyday life? For telling the time - it is 2:30. For shopping - it is £5.45. For location - he lives at number 7. The post code is 765001 etc etc
In English, you need to learn 0-12, the 13-19 have their own pattern, thereafter learn the 10s, and the 21, 22, 33,34,45,46 etc fall into place. Learn 100, 1000, 1million and you are probably done. French, Spanish also have an esssentially similar pattern. Each have little irregularities whcich you just have to learn, but the others basically follow a pattern and if you don't know what 357 is, but you do know what 3 is, what 100 is what 50 and 7 are, you'll probably work it out. And anyway you can always ask the shop vendor to wrie it down!
The only other language I know my numbers in is Tamashek and again that's fairly regular
dien, sin, sarath, coz, smose, sadix, sa, tam, tarza, marou for 1-10, then
marou dien, marou cin etc for 11, 12 etc. So learn your 10s, what 100 and 1000 are and you are away.
This morning I've been learning how to ask the time in Hindi . So naturally numbers start to become real important.
What time is it? = kitna baj raha hai??
It is two o'clock = do baje hai.
When do you want to eat lunch? = ap kab dopahar ka khana khana cahate hai?
At one o'clock - ek baje
As I expected you just have to learn 1-10, so 1-10: ek, do, tin, car, pac, chah, sat, ath, nau, das
But regularity thereafter? Oh no, not yet.11-20: gyarah, barah, terah, caudah, pandrah, solah, satrah, atharah, unnis, bis
Lets keep going, 21-30: ikkis, bais, teis, caubis, paccis, chabbis, sattais, atthais, untis, tis
Ok I can see the similarity between 4, 14, 24 and 5, 15, 25 etc. So what might I think 34 is? Cautis? Yes!
So I ought to be set for 31-40. But no, not quite. Just when it loooked semi-promising, it all turns differen again ;(
31-40: ikattis, batttis, taitis, cautis, paitis, chattis, saitis, artis, untalis, calis
And so it goes on,
41-50: iktalis, bayalis, taitalis, cavalis, paitalis, chiyalis, saitalis, artalis, uncas, pacas
51-60: ikyanvan, bavan, tirpan, cauvan, pacpan, chappan, sattavan, attavan, unsath, sath
61-70: iksatath, basath, tirsath, causath, paisath, chiyasath, sarsath, arsath, unhattar, sattar
71-80: ik'hattar, bahattar, tihattar, cauhattar, pac'hattar, chihattar, sat'hattar, athhattar, unyasi, assi
81-90: ikyasi, bayasi, tirasi, cauasi, acasi, chiyasi, sattasi, atthasi, navasi, nabbe
91-100: ikyanve, banve, tiranve, cauranve, pacanv, chiyanve, sattanve, atthanve, innyanve, sau
1000 is hazar
100,000 is lakh
10,000,000 is karor
Then there are more irregularities!
1.5 is derh
2.5 is dhai
and so 150 becomes derh sau, 250 dhai sau, 1500 derh hazar, 2500 dhai hazar, 150,000 derh lakh, 250,000 dhai lakh. Ok that maybe wasn't quite so confusing after the first two.
Oh and of course, Hindi writes numbers differently to us, so no use asking someone to write down the price.
My conclusion: I shall have to learn these in chunks. If anyone can see any way to help grasp these I'd really appreciate it. Candy, any hints from your experiences here? I'm thinking about learning 21, 31, 41, 51 etc together, what do you think?
In English, you need to learn 0-12, the 13-19 have their own pattern, thereafter learn the 10s, and the 21, 22, 33,34,45,46 etc fall into place. Learn 100, 1000, 1million and you are probably done. French, Spanish also have an esssentially similar pattern. Each have little irregularities whcich you just have to learn, but the others basically follow a pattern and if you don't know what 357 is, but you do know what 3 is, what 100 is what 50 and 7 are, you'll probably work it out. And anyway you can always ask the shop vendor to wrie it down!
The only other language I know my numbers in is Tamashek and again that's fairly regular
dien, sin, sarath, coz, smose, sadix, sa, tam, tarza, marou for 1-10, then
marou dien, marou cin etc for 11, 12 etc. So learn your 10s, what 100 and 1000 are and you are away.
This morning I've been learning how to ask the time in Hindi . So naturally numbers start to become real important.
What time is it? = kitna baj raha hai??
It is two o'clock = do baje hai.
When do you want to eat lunch? = ap kab dopahar ka khana khana cahate hai?
At one o'clock - ek baje
As I expected you just have to learn 1-10, so 1-10: ek, do, tin, car, pac, chah, sat, ath, nau, das
But regularity thereafter? Oh no, not yet.11-20: gyarah, barah, terah, caudah, pandrah, solah, satrah, atharah, unnis, bis
Lets keep going, 21-30: ikkis, bais, teis, caubis, paccis, chabbis, sattais, atthais, untis, tis
Ok I can see the similarity between 4, 14, 24 and 5, 15, 25 etc. So what might I think 34 is? Cautis? Yes!
So I ought to be set for 31-40. But no, not quite. Just when it loooked semi-promising, it all turns differen again ;(
31-40: ikattis, batttis, taitis, cautis, paitis, chattis, saitis, artis, untalis, calis
And so it goes on,
41-50: iktalis, bayalis, taitalis, cavalis, paitalis, chiyalis, saitalis, artalis, uncas, pacas
51-60: ikyanvan, bavan, tirpan, cauvan, pacpan, chappan, sattavan, attavan, unsath, sath
61-70: iksatath, basath, tirsath, causath, paisath, chiyasath, sarsath, arsath, unhattar, sattar
71-80: ik'hattar, bahattar, tihattar, cauhattar, pac'hattar, chihattar, sat'hattar, athhattar, unyasi, assi
81-90: ikyasi, bayasi, tirasi, cauasi, acasi, chiyasi, sattasi, atthasi, navasi, nabbe
91-100: ikyanve, banve, tiranve, cauranve, pacanv, chiyanve, sattanve, atthanve, innyanve, sau
1000 is hazar
100,000 is lakh
10,000,000 is karor
Then there are more irregularities!
1.5 is derh
2.5 is dhai
and so 150 becomes derh sau, 250 dhai sau, 1500 derh hazar, 2500 dhai hazar, 150,000 derh lakh, 250,000 dhai lakh. Ok that maybe wasn't quite so confusing after the first two.
Oh and of course, Hindi writes numbers differently to us, so no use asking someone to write down the price.
My conclusion: I shall have to learn these in chunks. If anyone can see any way to help grasp these I'd really appreciate it. Candy, any hints from your experiences here? I'm thinking about learning 21, 31, 41, 51 etc together, what do you think?
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
An intermittent rambling about food - Number 3
I'm feeling quite chuffed with myself this evening. I believe recipe books are for inspiration and once I find something I basically like I generally mix and match, adapt and work outwards from that basic recipe hopefully creating something new and nearer to my tastes. Tonight I played around with a variation on the spicy green beans theme, which came originally from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery. It worked really well and I feel created my first Indian inspired recipe - Roasted Butternust squash with green beens. The amounts are my usual guestimate style.
Ingredients
Green beans, chopped into 1in pieces ( I'sd estimate a handful of uncut beans per person)
Several pieces of roasted Buttternut squash ( I'd estimate about 1/4 squash per person)
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 in ginger, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/2 green chilli, finely diced
Salt to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime
150 ml chicken stock
Handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves
Heat the oil on a high heat.
Put in the mustard seeds. These will pop in a very short time.
Add the ginger. Stir util they start to brown.
Put in the green beans. Toss well.
Add cumin, turmeric, salt and chilli. Toss around again so the beans are covered in the spices.
Add the roasted butternut squash. Toss again.
Add lime juice and stock. Simmer with lid on until beans are tender - I'd estimate about 6-8 minutes of so. (I'd roasted my squash for another reason, so it was still hot and did not need much cooking.)
Add the coriander leaves
Remove the lid and raise the heat to reduce the stock a bit.
Taste-talk: I have to say I am immensly pleased with this. It is a delicious dish, a slightly sweet curry, not hot at all. A nice Jasmine tea followed.
Ingredients
Green beans, chopped into 1in pieces ( I'sd estimate a handful of uncut beans per person)
Several pieces of roasted Buttternut squash ( I'd estimate about 1/4 squash per person)
2 tablespoons oil1/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 in ginger, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
1/2 green chilli, finely diced
Salt to taste
Juice of 1/2 lime
150 ml chicken stock
Handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves
Heat the oil on a high heat.
Put in the mustard seeds. These will pop in a very short time.
Add the ginger. Stir util they start to brown.
Put in the green beans. Toss well.
Add cumin, turmeric, salt and chilli. Toss around again so the beans are covered in the spices.
Add the roasted butternut squash. Toss again.
Add lime juice and stock. Simmer with lid on until beans are tender - I'd estimate about 6-8 minutes of so. (I'd roasted my squash for another reason, so it was still hot and did not need much cooking.)
Add the coriander leaves
Remove the lid and raise the heat to reduce the stock a bit.
Taste-talk: I have to say I am immensly pleased with this. It is a delicious dish, a slightly sweet curry, not hot at all. A nice Jasmine tea followed.
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