Slightly OT (was: Re: Another cosmetic improvement proposal forversion 2.6b7)

[Wilhelm Sanke]

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004, Klaus Major <klaus at major-k.de> wrote:

> (snip)
> >> Tschüs and serdeczne pozdrowienia,
>
>
> Well, if i should ever find out what that means i'll surely come over
> to Kassel and ...
> (snip)
>
> Ciao ragazzo
>
> Klaus Major


Hallo Klaus,

Consider yourself invited to Kassel for any time you choose. O.K., I owe 
you some guidance to understand the phrase:

This was only an attempt to mimic your versatility with languages 
(Japanese, Spanish, Italian etc.) and to enhance it. "Serdeczne 
pozdrowienia" is  like "kind regards", but somewhat more emotional or 
dedicated. The literal translation of this Polish phrase is the German 
"Herzliche Gruesse", which however sounds a bit more formal than 
"serdeczne pozdrowienia".

I am roughly familiar with this kind of Slavonic language from frequent 
engagements as a visiting scholar at Polish institutions, and I think it 
is the most melodious of the Slavonic languages. The equivalent for 
Germanic languages .- in terms of the degree of melodiousness - would be 
Swedish IMO and for languages of Latin origin Portuguese. The Portuguese 
language might indeed be called a Polish version of Spanish because of 
the many palatal  (sh, j etc.) sounds, but it was in fact the Germanic 
tribe from Swabia - "die Schwaben" - that ruled the Portuguese territory 
for some time beginning in the fifth century A.C. and transformed the 
Latin-Spanish dialect to Portuguese.

So much for the wider context and the enhancement of your education.

Kaikkea hyvää!
(search in North-Eastern direction),

Wilhelm Sanke