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Kien vi volas?

by acdibble, August 14, 2012

Messages: 21

Language: English

erinja (User's profile) August 14, 2012, 11:27:53 PM

sudanglo:You could be even more economical. If one Esperantist passed another in the street hurrying in the opposite direction he might call out Kien vi? To which the reply might come 'Al la kongesejo. Kaj vi?
I would even go so far as to say that "Kien vi?" would be much more common than "Kien vi volas?"; I hear (and use) the equivalent of "Kien vi?" frequently, but not "Kien vi volas?"

Vestitor (User's profile) August 14, 2012, 11:58:46 PM

Any chance of confusion in that Kien vi? could be taken to mean either 'Where are you?' or 'Where do you want to (go)?'
Not that minor misunderstanding is absent from colloquially unfinished sentences in any language.

Hyperboreus (User's profile) August 15, 2012, 12:23:38 AM

Forigite

Vestitor (User's profile) August 15, 2012, 12:33:32 AM

This is why I'm a novice.

hebda999 (User's profile) August 16, 2012, 5:44:26 AM

erinja:
I would even go so far as to say that "Kien vi?" would be much more common than "Kien vi volas?"; I hear (and use) the equivalent of "Kien vi?" frequently, but not "Kien vi volas?"
Strangely enough: in Polish we have:
"ty dokąd?" or "ty gdzie?" = "vi kien?" = "you where to?"
but it is considered to be a bit parental or rude. Nevertheless esperanto variant might be quite ok.

tommjames (User's profile) August 16, 2012, 10:08:25 AM

Apparently this implied "go" exists in Russian too. My girlfriend today told me in English "I want to Russia!" (she's looking forward to her coming holidays there). So I asked "you want what to Russia?", and the reply was "to go, of course!". So if I ever succeed in converting her to Esperanto she'll probably use phrases like "Kien vi volas?" too ridulo.gif

hebda999 (User's profile) August 17, 2012, 5:13:28 AM

tommjames:Apparently this implied "go" exists in Russian too. My girlfriend today told me in English "I want to Russia!" (she's looking forward to her coming holidays there). ...
It seems to be the feature of most Slavic languages:

Polish: chcę do Polski = mi volas (reveni, veturi) al Polujo = I want to Poland

chcę = mi volas = I want
do = al = to
Polski = Polujo = Poland

same:

chcę do mamy = mi volas al panjo
chcę do domu = mi volas hejmen
...

acdibble (User's profile) August 17, 2012, 5:47:44 AM

Hmm. I guess I'll start saying, "Whither want you?" to popularize this usage in the English language.

EldanarLambetur (User's profile) August 17, 2012, 10:20:09 AM

acdibble:Hmm. I guess I'll start saying, "Whither want you?" to popularize this usage in the English language.
I approve! ridego.gif

erinja (User's profile) August 17, 2012, 11:33:21 AM

Just make sure that the person answers "thither!"

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