Transcription of nouns
In general, Mundeze strives to maintain the most accurate pronunciation possible in relation to the language from which the word originates.
Borrowed words
It is tolerated to omit the grammatical ending for some international words (casino, ski, sushi…).
We then try to transcribe them phonetically as accurately as possible, importing them as radicals (the tonic emphasis falls on the last syllable). For example, the word “pizza” does not become “pitse” but pitsae, which can be pronounced “pitsa” (implying the ending in -e), but all derivatives follow the rules of the language: it is then necessary to add the grammatical ending after the radical.
Examples
katana (katana) ➜ katanai (wielding katana)
djembe (djembé) ➜ djembei (play the djembe)
sovyet (soviet, the noun) ➜ sovyeta (soviet, the adjective)
taksi (taxi) ➜ taksii (take a taxi)
salsa (salsa) ➜ salsai (Salsa dance)
Names
The names of persons must remain written in their original language, followed by a transcript as accurate as possible in square brackets. Names that are originally written in an alphabet different from the Latin alphabet are directly transcribed phonetically.
Examples
Friedrich Engels ➜ Friedrich Engels [fhithic engels]
Albert Einstein ➜ Albert Einstein [albeht aynctayn]
Rosa Luxemburg ➜ Rosa Luxemburg [roza luksembuhk]
Michael Jackson ➜ Michael Jackson [maykel djakson]
Che Guevara ➜ Che Guevara [tce gebara]
Ivlivs Caesar (Julius Caesar) ➜ Iulius Caesar [yulyus kaesar]
Ἀριστοτέλης (Aristotle) ➜ aristoteles
Лев Троцкий (Leon Trotsky) ➜ lyev trotski
جمال عبد الناصر حسين (Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein) ➜ gemel abdel naser hoseyn
孔子 (Confucius) ➜ khong tsw
ᠴᠢᠩᠭᠢᠰᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ (Genghis Khan) ➜ tcingis han
Countries and demonyms
For country names and their demonym, it is sufficient to transcribe the name of the country as it is named locally, adding the nominal ending -e. If the name of the country is derived from the name of the people who live there, any part of the word with the meaning of “country” (-land, -stan…) must be removed.
Once the word is “mundezized” according to this rule, it refers to both the country and the demonym.
Example: franse = France, Frenchman
If you want to distinguish one or the other meaning, you can add to the name of the country the suffix -ike (land, country), and to the demonym the suffix -ane (inhabitant).
Example: fransike = France; fransane = Frenchman
Some country names are, by force, adapted to the name of the inhabitants who live there. For example, Madagascar (which is locally called Madagasikara) is translated by malagasike to conform to the demonym Malagasy.
➜ See the translation of all countries
Cities
The transcription of the names of cities follows roughly the same rule as those of borrowed foreign words (Reminder: importing roots in the form as faithful as possible to the local pronunciation, and deriving them by adding a grammatical ending), with the exception that these roots are adaptable in relation to the demonym (inhabitants). The demonym is formed by adding the suffix –ane (person, -er) after the name of the city.
For example, “Paris” would normally be transcribed as pari, but it is translated as pariz to conform to the demonym “Parisian”. Paris, Parisian is therefore said pariz, parizane.
Examples ➜ City, demonym
Khartoum, Khartoumese ➜ hartum, hartumane
Moscow, Muscovite ➜ moskwa, moskwaane
Brussels, Brussels ➜ brusel, bruselane
New York, New Yorker ➜ nuyork, nuyorkane
Beijing, Beijingese ➜ peytcin, peytcinane
Languages
Languages, whose name derives from the name of the country, are translated by the root of the country + the word “eze” (language, dialect).
Languages or dialects whose name derives from a region or a people are translated by the root + the word “eze“.
Other languages or dialects that have their own root are translated by this one.
Examples
French ➜ franseze
Chinese ➜ tcunkeze
Russian ➜ ruseze
Hungarian ➜ mayareze
English ➜ engleze
Catalan ➜ kataleze
Basque ➜ euskareze
Cantonese ➜ kwantoneze
Ainu➜ aynueze
Kurdish ➜ kurdeze
Persian ➜ parseze
Wolof ➜ wolofeze
Swahili ➜ swahili
Hindi ➜ hindi
Urdu ➜ urdu
Lingala ➜ lingala
I speak English ➜ me inglezi (or me inglo ezi)
I speak English, French and Swahili ➜ me ezi engle, franse ni swahili
What language do you speak? ➜ kie tu ezi?