X2-Demigod 0 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 This post isn't anything important, I am just amazed at all the people here from all over the world...Norway,France...etc...all speak or type rather perfect English. Us lazy Americans are taught only one...lol Link to comment
locolagarto 15 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 This post isn't anything important, I am just amazed at all the people here from all over the world...Norway,France...etc...all speak or type rather perfect English. Us lazy Americans are taught only one...lol I make this observation everyday. and I am in awe as much as you. my hat's off to anybody that has mastered multiple languages. Something I just don't know if I have the aptitude to do. Link to comment
chattius 2,512 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 (edited) The english teacher (a brit from birmingham) of my daughter said that american can not speak a single language, since they can't even speak a proper english. There was a mathematician from Hungary, think it was one of the Varga's, who said: The reason that so many good mathematicians per million are from finland. hungary and a lesser degree from germany is, that the languages of these counties have a more complex grammar teaching logic to babies and kids without having them notice it. So I know the reason that I am not a famous mathematician. I grew up at a place in germany which had a non german dialect: Manisch. So I still use many of the words from this language. I never had english at school, started with latin and language history. We moved a lot, from french border where english could only be done as a second foreign language, to central germany where english was only possible as a first, ... So I always came to a school who said 'You can't' when I asked which modern (not dead as latin) language I could sign in as a newbie in english. But english was easy, having latin and language history. Grimm's law and mathematics helped: understanding sound shifts like b->f/v, t->s, c/k ->h.... german Rabe -> english raven, german Weib -> english wife, haben->have, lieben->love, ... I could guess a lot of words when reading english, to some degree this works even for swedish and norwegian. But don't ask me to speak something. Speaking needs training and feedback Edited April 22, 2010 by chattius Link to comment
Dragon Brother 619 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 But english was easy, having latin and language history. Grimm's law and mathematics helped:understanding sound shifts like b->f/v, t->s, c/k ->h.... german Rabe -> english raven, german Weib -> english wife, haben->have, lieben->love, ... I could guess a lot of words when reading english, to some degree this works even for swedish and norwegian. But don't ask me to speak something. Speaking needs training and feedback Having learnt german through high school I have to agree with you there. Reading German was made easier by the fact that a large proportion of the words are similar...speaking it though was insane, along with writing it...wrapping my head around the grammar was the hardest part. Link to comment
dreeft 9 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 I work for an College that specialises in English language courses. Watching how quickly people pick up English makes me feel incredibly lazy. I am slowly starting to learn some Spanish, but I think my brain is stuck in it's ways now.. I am only really getting the swear words Link to comment
X2-Demigod 0 Posted April 22, 2010 Author Share Posted April 22, 2010 The english teacher (a brit from birmingham) of my daughter said that american can not speak a single language, since they can't even speak a proper english. It's too bad other countries think of us this way, but for the most part this assessment is correct. Link to comment
chattius 2,512 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 Well I think the english teacher was referring to the fact that my oldest learnt english on the street and not at school. When I was still at army and my wife studying we were living close to the living area of a big US garnison in germany. So she grew up with american kids and a ton of slang expressions. And she had to learn that most of the words she used were slang and not english, hard and frustrating job for the teacher. Link to comment
locolagarto 15 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 Well I think the english teacher was referring to the fact that my oldest learnt english on the street and not at school. When I was still at army and my wife studying we were living close to the living area of a big US garnison in germany. So she grew up with american kids and a ton of slang expressions.And she had to learn that most of the words she used were slang and not english, hard and frustrating job for the teacher. Unfortunately American English is full of slang language. and Geographically across American and English Canada the accents and local dialect make is very dynamic. But In England there are old word usages that perplex us as well. Who would have thought that "bangers" was a sausage. Link to comment
chattius 2,512 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 (edited) When I read about bangers: seems the name is because the british can't fry/roast/bake even a sausage? Bangers get their name from the sausage’s predilection toward bursting or “banging” open during high frying temperatures. In fact, to avoid losing some of the sausage, bangers may be boiled first, and sliced lengthwise prior to frying or grilling We call them Bratwurst. I normally take the pre-cooked variant with rough and not fine hacked meat. I serve them with mashed potatoes and either red cabbage, Sauerkraut or baked onions. Raw, not pre-cooked, sausages are tricky. You have to use them up the same day you buy them, so not the best for a sunday meal. And the inside may be still raw while the outside is already black. When I was at army I learned a trick from a soldier from Thurengia how to spray them with beer while having them in the pan. So the outside was cooled but not the inside. Edited April 22, 2010 by chattius Link to comment
Dragon Brother 619 Posted April 22, 2010 Share Posted April 22, 2010 Well I think the english teacher was referring to the fact that my oldest learnt english on the street and not at school. When I was still at army and my wife studying we were living close to the living area of a big US garnison in germany. So she grew up with american kids and a ton of slang expressions.And she had to learn that most of the words she used were slang and not english, hard and frustrating job for the teacher. Unfortunately American English is full of slang language. and Geographically across American and English Canada the accents and local dialect make is very dynamic. But In England there are old word usages that perplex us as well. Who would have thought that "bangers" was a sausage. Yep! Bangers and mash! lol we call them snags in australia instead of sausages. Link to comment
lios 0 Posted April 24, 2010 Share Posted April 24, 2010 Well I can only speak for my self, but over here in holland, most things (entertainment wise ) are in English. Take a random movie on television and it english... turn on the radio and you have english songs. Most game are only availble in english, german, french or spanish. Take a job interview and the discriptions are full of enlish terms that have bin intergraded in dutch. (allthou there are more tipycal dutch words for it) Ow and the slang we have... even for socalled sofisticated peeps is mostly in english... Link to comment
Barristan 14 Posted April 24, 2010 Share Posted April 24, 2010 Heya, I have always liked english more than my native Dutch. Don't get me wrong ... but I tend to read books in english rather then in Dutch. Guess I started with Lord of the rings and Sandstorms of Dune before I even really had English class. Having learnt Greek and Latin also helped a great deal. It is incredible how much words you can translate with that without ever having seen them before. So, besides lots of entertainment here being English, we also have to pick, or start, with multiple foreign languages. First year/grade I had: Latin, French and English. Second year/grade I had the same, but we got Greek and German too. After that year, you could drop one... and sorry to say Chattius but German was first on my list Not all in all because I did not like it all that much, but more because it is so very similar to Dutch. I guess we could almost understand eachother without having had lessons . Doesn't mean that I cannot speak and write German tho... that we did have to learn... a lot I never did mind learning languages.... tis someting I liked to do, and came easy too. Now... Mathematics... never been my favorite. Greetz Link to comment
D-molisher 9 Posted April 25, 2010 Share Posted April 25, 2010 (edited) In 1981 I got the first d&d rule books, in english. So I had to teach myself to read em. Speaking english, well I got from satelite TV - so whoever say TV is bad are wrong. I met little language barrier in Sacred 2- was more in old s1. Anyway back to DDO ... Edited April 25, 2010 by D-molisher Link to comment
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