Please help me with my school project about the origin of language

[Omáčka]

My name is Daniel Friedrich and I'm a Czech high student. I'm working on a project about the origin of language and I'd like to conduct my own experiment on the word symbolism (how do the words resemble their meaning). For that, I need random people to guess the meanings of words in a different language, which is why I'm here

Could you please take your 5 minutes to fill in my survey?

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn0KZ5GZyGwFyNtMJgex5rAlvTyHjWwKMq_DN__wACCtV_yA/viewform

Thank you very much

Edited February 20, 2017 by Omáčka

[Lord Antares]

Two things:

 

1) According to the rules, we should be able to respond to your post without having to click at external links. Could you just copy and paste the text so we can answer?

 

2) Shouldn't you ask us about what language we speak as well? Because, I am pretty certain that Slavs would be able to guess much more correctly, while I don't think English speaking folk would be able to guess at all. (well, it depends on the word, I guess)

 

I myself speak Croatian which has some similarities to Czech, so I can understand some words and even sentences. Similarly, I can guess some meanings in Russian, Polish, Romanian etc. So would providing our first language be helpful?

Edited February 20, 2017 by Lord Antares

[Strange]

My name is Daniel Friedrich and I'm a Czech high student. I'm working on a project about the origin of language and I'd like to conduct my own experiment on the word symbolism (how do the words resemble their meaning). For that, I need random people to guess the meanings of words in a different language, which is why I'm here

 

Could you please take your 5 minutes to fill in my survey?

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScn0KZ5GZyGwFyNtMJgex5rAlvTyHjWwKMq_DN__wACCtV_yA/viewform

 

Thank you very much

 

 

I will have a go later when I have time.

 

I think you should provide an "I don't know" option because for some of them, I don't have any idea (or maybe I can leave some questions unanswered?)

Two things:

 

1) According to the rules, we should be able to respond to your post without having to click at external links. Could you just copy and paste the text so we can answer?

 

I think things like this are OK, as there is a description of what the link is.

 

 

 

2) Shouldn't you ask us about what language we speak as well?

 

Question 1.

[Lord Antares]

Question 1.

 

Sorry. I didn't want to click on that because I'm at work. I certainly couldn't listen to the pronunciations. Not that they would make a difference.

 

Anyway, I did go throught the link and the first thing I noticed is Czech seems suspiciously unfamiliar. Then I realized these are questions about Indonesian.

I can tell with a certain degree of certainty that Europeans and Americans wouldn't be able to guess this. I have no clue what a single one of those could mean.

Some of the questions give only 2 or 3 possible answers, which yields a considerable chance of guessing correctly due to luck.

 

So if I, for example, click randomly on all of those and get a result of about 40%, that doesn't mean there is any correlation between Croatian and Indonesian. That's why I don't think this is the best way to research this.

Edited February 20, 2017 by Lord Antares

[Strange]

So if I, for example, click randomly on all of those and get a result of about 40%, that doesn't mean there is any correlation between Croatian and Indonesian. That's why I don't think this is the best way to research this.

 

 

I guess he chose Indonesian because it doesn't (shouldn't) have any correlation to the languages spoken by those taking the survey.

[Function]

Done. If you're interested: my native language is Dutch, I speak English quite fluently, have a good command in French and basic command in German.

 

I can tell with a certain degree of certainty that Europeans and Americans wouldn't be able to guess this. I have no clue what a single one of those could mean.

 

Indeed. It felt like an exam I totally forgot about.

[Strange]

Could you please take your 5 minutes to fill in my survey?

 

Done it.

 

For human/pantai two of your choices are "see" and "wold".

 

I think the first should be "sea".

 

And the second is a really obscure word. I doubt most English speakers know what it means. (I guessed and got it half right!)

[Delta1212]

 

Done it.

 

For human/pantai two of your choices are "see" and "wold".

 

I think the first should be "sea".

 

And the second is a really obscure word. I doubt most English speakers know what it means. (I guessed and got it half right!)

You can see how obscure it was because I re-read your post twice and went back and re-read all of the questions and then re-read your post again before noticing that the word in question wasn't "World."

[Strange]

You can see how obscure it was because I re-read your post twice and went back and re-read all of the questions and then re-read your post again before noticing that the word in question wasn't "World."

 

 

Ah, maybe it was meant to be world. That sounds more likely.

[Omáčka]

 

 

Ah, maybe it was meant to be world. That sounds more likely.

No, I meant wold, sorry for the "sea" confusion.

 

 

 

2) Shouldn't you ask us about what language we speak as well? Because, I am pretty certain that Slavs would be able to guess much more correctly, while I don't think English speaking folk would be able to guess at all. (well, it depends on the word, I guess)

 

I have been choosing only basic words so I think it's save to say you'll not be able to guess the meaning of the words if you don't speak an Austronesian language

 

 

I guess he chose Indonesian because it doesn't (shouldn't) have any correlation to the languages spoken by those taking the survey.

 

Yes, I have chosen the farest language from the Western languages you can still find some resources on.

 

Thank you, everyone.

[Strange]

No, I meant wold

 

 

Then I would suggest changing it. Maybe to hill or heath or moor.

[Omáčka]

 

Then I would suggest changing it. Maybe to hill or heath or moor.

That's not what I meant to say and the actual meaning is important because I have given a survey with the same words to Czechs and Indonesians. How would you describe this landscape?:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romanija,_horsk%C3%A1_pl%C3%A1%C5%88.jpg

 

Thank you for your suggestions

[Strange]

How would you describe this landscape?:

 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Romanija,_horsk%C3%A1_pl%C3%A1%C5%88.jpg

 

Thank you for your suggestions

 

 

Tricky. Wold is probably the ideal word. If it weren't so obscure!

 

I would partly say "rolling [green] countryside"

 

Anyone got any better suggestions?

[dimreepr]

Anyone got any better suggestions?

 

Dale, maybe.

[Delta1212]

 

 

Tricky. Wold is probably the ideal word. If it weren't so obscure!

 

I would partly say "rolling [green] countryside"

 

Anyone got any better suggestions?

Yeah, I'm with you on this. I'd describe it as rolling hills or countryside or something along those lines. That is, apparently, the definition of "wold" but as I have never heard that word used before, it doesn't communicate that meaning to me.

 

Dale, maybe.

A dale would be more of a small valley in that sort of terrain, though, wouldn't it?

[dimreepr]

A dale would be more of a small valley in that sort of terrain, though, wouldn't it?

 

Not a small valley, more an open/wide valley (Airedale for instance) that seems very similar to a wold like the Cotswold's.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_(place_name_element)

Edited February 20, 2017 by dimreepr

[Omáčka]

Not a small valley, more an open/wide valley (Airedale for instance) that seems very similar to a wold like the Cotswold's.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_(place_name_element)

Ok, thank you, that seems to fit for me.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Omáčka