HAPPY NEW YEAR (in different languages)

In a recent post, I suggested that Latin-based languages are inherently more longwinded than Nordic-Germanic languages, and that this may have a bearing on differences in the way we use gestures in conversation (HERE).

A comparison of the words used for saying "Happy Christmas" in different languages showed that Latin-based languages took an average of 0.75 more syllables to communicate the same greeting (HERE).

When it comes to wishing someone "Happy New Year", Latin languages have a more decisive lead in the syllable stakes, with an average of twice as many as in English, Danish, Swedish and German:

LANGUAGE

WORDS

SYLLABLES

English

Happy New Year

4

Danish

Godt Nytaar

3

Swedish

Gott nytt år

3

German

Prosit Neujahr

4

Average:

3.00

French

Bonne Année

3

Portuguese

Feliz Ano Novo

6

Italian

Felice Anno Nuovo

8

Spanish

Feliz Ano Nuevo

7

Average:

6.00

Video clips of the year

Looking at other blogs has reminded me that it's the time of year for posting lists of the top 10 this or that, favorite posts of the year, etc.

As an avid student of video, who's managed to inflict an average of 10 clips a month on the blogoshere during 2009, I've picked out twelve that might amuse anyone wondering what to do between now and the arrival of 2010.

Top of the list for me the June entry - because the brevity and straightness of Mr Clarke's one word answer to the question makes it stand out as unique in my collection of interviews with British politicians - and is, alas, quite unlike anything we'll be hearing in the forthcoming general election.

Putin's putrid prose

With the publication of a Russian translation of my book Lend Me Your Ears scheduled for early next year, I'm grateful to my brother for some encouraging news from a friend of his, a native speaker of the language who's been resident in the UK for a number of years.

She thinks there should be a 'healthy demand' for it in Russia, not least because of the unsophisticated language used by the likes of Mr Putin. If that's the good news, there's also some bad news that highlights just how little we know about Russian politics in the post-Soviet era.

According to her, "Russians are still desperate to put behind them politicians like Brezhnev, who could hardly put two words together, and Yeltsin who was a laughing stock."

Apparently there's a big difference between Putin and Medvedev: "The latter makes speeches in a Western style, complete with jokes, and is extremely smooth compared with Putin who, as an unreformed KGB man, speaks extremely crudely."

You can see a specimen of just how crude he can be in the following reply to a question from a French journalist.

He's also been known to make jokes about rape and, if you want to get really depressed about the prospect of his coming back as Russian president once he becomes elegible again, have a look at this:



P.S. Two years later
I've just noticed that the original YouTube video had been removed. Luckily, there are plenty of others of the same thing.