English Language - Page 2

Bugs ****ing Bunny · January 15, 2003, 18:47

That must be a great boon to the charmless.

Ozz · January 15, 2003, 20:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul Hanson

Maybe. Soon I'll have them walking around the house wearing socks too (I was just told by an Italian that I was clearly English because I don't wear shoes in the house

).

Northern peoples don't (snow, sleet, mud and muck)

Sten Sture · January 15, 2003, 20:41

Quote:

Originally posted by Ozz

(snow, sleet, mud and muck)

What are those?

I have been astonished by the quality of English on these boards - though I assume that anyone that isn't a lazy American like me is fluent in about 12 languages.

I tip my hat...

Jaakko · January 15, 2003, 20:50

Juu aar partli korekt Siikr. Vii Fins kan tsenrli rait inklis preti vel, pat auör pronaunssieissön oftn niids impruuvment.*

* You are partly correct Seeker. We Finns can generally write English pretty well, but our pronunciation often needs improvement

Buck Birdseed · January 15, 2003, 22:40

It always amuses me how finns cant pronounce the "sh" sound.

Dr Strangelove · January 16, 2003, 00:49

Quote:

Originally posted by Provost Harrison

I should bleeding hope so as I am English and of English descent

Anyway, I don't know whether I should feel honoured being mentioned as my English being 'good' or insulted as my English is 'good for a foreigner'

Well you're not an American, so what were we supposed to think?

Dis · January 16, 2003, 01:11

How about my English? How is it?

aaglo · January 16, 2003, 02:07

Quote:

It always amuses me how finns cant pronounce the "sh" sound

And swedes cannot pronounce "j" (for example: just)

Seeker · January 16, 2003, 07:29

We teach all ages and levels at EHWA 'American' Language School .... oddly named because we have ONE token USian. Apparently NZ, AUS, CAN, IRE, are all considered 'America' here.

I myself teach mainly Middle School students, some HS, one college, 4-6 kinder, and 2 adults.

Dry · January 16, 2003, 08:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Rogan Josh
In fact, my main difficulty in learning French is that I don't have enough opportunity to speak it - even though I live in France!

To learn french, try - what I do for english - french forums.

Traianvs · January 16, 2003, 08:15

imagine learning chinese or japanese etc... that is so ****ing incredibly difficult...

i have trouble pronouncing the english r

as i usually use the french or dutch r... i still can't seem to get that r right

it sounds like a hugely molested american r or even worse

Seeker · January 16, 2003, 08:15

You WANT to learn French?

I've spent 8 years of my life studiously trying to ignore French lessons.

Wraith · January 16, 2003, 09:38

--"imagine learning chinese or japanese etc... that is so ****ing incredibly difficult..."

Actually, speaking Japanese isn't that difficult. The main problem is getting the proper level of politeness into the speach, which doesn't have anything to do with the pronunciation.
All the basic sounds used in Japanese are in English as well (although the "tsu" - つ - is rare enough to give people trouble for a while) with only some slight variation. It's also not really a tonal language; only two tone (high and low) are used and they don't impact the meaning of the sentence (just make you sound funny if you get them wrong).

Wraith
"Yoroshiku, Baby"
-- Risky ("Risky/Saftey")

SpencerH · January 16, 2003, 09:52

Swedes also have trouble with ch so chair becomes share.

One of the things that may be a factor is dubbing movies as compared to subtitles. I've noticed that the english is better in scandinavia where the movies and english (speaking) tv is subtitled compared to Germany where its mostly dubbed.

ThePantaloonDog · January 16, 2003, 10:09

I have a good friend who's Croatian and in many ways his English is better than mine. I often use slang, incorrect grammer ( 'got' instead of 'have') and poor pronounciation (Baltimore=Balmer, water=wooter, Norton=Nor'in.) He sometimes gets the pronounciations wrong but for the most part is grammar is right on. Another interesting thing is when we met a couple of Polish girls down in New Jersey. I couldn't understand a thing they were saying in English but my Croatian friend did a great job as a translator.

Dry · January 16, 2003, 10:18

Quote:

Originally posted by SpencerH
One of the things that may be a factor is dubbing movies as compared to subtitles. I've noticed that the english is better in scandinavia where the movies and english (speaking) tv is subtitled compared to Germany where its mostly dubbed.

True.
In Belgium, french-speaking belgians have more problems then flemish-speaking belgians.
Films are dubbed for french, subtitled for Flemish.

And not only films. Flemish radios let people talk in their own language and translate afterwards, while on french speaking radios the translation comes over the speaking person (although it slowly start to change, esp. on radio for younger people).

alva · January 16, 2003, 10:48

And the fact that the south doesn't even want to try

Zkribbler · January 16, 2003, 13:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Starchild
The english barely speak english properly.

Hey! It's we Americans would take pride in our inability to speak English...or any other language for that matter. Just look at our President.

TCO · January 16, 2003, 13:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Seeker
The more I teach English the more I respect how good some our non-English posters English is.

They are surprisingly Coca-colonised. But their written English tends to be much more adroit than their spoken.

Quote:

Provost Harrison is very good,

Yeah the Brits have decent English. I think they study it pretty early in school.

TCO · January 16, 2003, 13:21

Quote:

Originally posted by aaglo
Me like who the goodier talk and read. I now nothing the respect from you

I miss Ottok. But I think he was a little screwed in the brain.

Paul Hanson · January 16, 2003, 13:22

A lot of us starter even earlier than that.

TCO · January 16, 2003, 13:28

Quote:

Originally posted by Dry

To learn french, try - what I do for english - french forums.

Or a French girldfriend. Even if you don't learn anything, the loving is nice.

Ozz · January 16, 2003, 13:29

Quote:

Originally posted by Zkribbler

Hey! It's we Americans would take pride in our inability to speak English...or any other language for that matter. Just look at our President.

Our Prime Minister has you beat, he can't speak eithier
French or English properly.

TCO · January 16, 2003, 13:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Dry

True.
In Belgium, french-speaking belgians have more problems then flemish-speaking belgians.
Films are dubbed for french, subtitled for Flemish.

And not only films. Flemish radios let people talk in their own language and translate afterwards, while on french speaking radios the translation comes over the speaking person (although it slowly start to change, esp. on radio for younger people).

Dutch (ooops...I mean Flemish) is pretty close to English in vocabulary. Like German.