OT: I'd just like to say...

N

Nick C

Charter Member
I'd just like to say how impressed I am that there are so many members of SOH who speak (type) very good English, despite it not being their first language. In fact, they write a lot clearer than many who do speak it as their first language! Makes me feel ashamed that I never learnt more than the basics of foreign languages.
 
Nick C said:
I'd just like to say how impressed I am that there are so many members of SOH who speak (type) very good English, despite it not being their first language. In fact, they write a lot clearer than many who do speak it as their first language! Makes me feel ashamed that I never learnt more than the basics of foreign languages.
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Well you see, when I learn new language, my teacher always teaches to speak it 'right'. That means that I don't necessarily understand normal spoken language and that I speak (type) linguistically language, which is very different than how normal Englishman speaks.

But I've been around here, so I'm learning how to speak unclearly :costumes:
 
Nick C said:
I'd just like to say how impressed I am that there are so many members of SOH who speak (type) very good English, despite it not being their first language. In fact, they write a lot clearer than many who do speak it as their first language! Makes me feel ashamed that I never learnt more than the basics of foreign languages.
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Merci Nick, Me, I am glad dat you done did see us coonas..I mean Cajuns done did spoke mo better english dan you fancy fedora wearing Englishmen. We on da bayou wish mo peoples is smart like you and see how gooda we talk.

Dem damnyankee reporters done make fun at us. Dey say we don't talk no gooda english. Ha! Me, I like to see dem damnyankee reporter survuve in de marsh. Dem allygators loves dem damnyankee reporter meat. Course, de allygator he drag the danmyankee reporter under de water for a week before he eat him. Gotta wash off all dat damnyankee perferme he did wear. Qui dat be true, I garanotee!

:costumes:

For those of you who are not familar with the Cajuns of South Louisiana that is my impersonation of the sterotypical Cajun, as seen by the news media. Many Cajuns of my parents generation grew up speaking French long before they learned English.

Even today you are likely to hear an older cajus switch between French and english as he speaks. His English is often spoken with French tenses and structure, so it does sound funny.

But me, I don't did care, chere!
 
warbird861 said:
Well you see, when I learn new language, my teacher always teaches to speak it 'right'. That means that I don't necessarily understand normal spoken language and that I speak (type) linguistically language, which is very different than how normal Englishman speaks.

But I've been around here, so I'm learning how to speak unclearly :costumes:
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Ha, I think every non anglo-saxon who learned their language at school and gets his first real contact to a native english speaker is shocked that he can't understand a single word. One comes to understand that the "empire" consists of more than Oxford. :costumes:
 
It's getting to be that the worst English language "typers" are Americans, I'm sad to say. And I lay that directly at the feet of our totally failed government run education system. :banghead::banghead::banghead:

I applaud the ability of those to whom English is a second, or even third language for their abilities.:applause::applause::applause: Sometimes embarrases us (US) in our arrogance. :redf:
 
May I suggest a little spelling improvement to some of my english speaking friends?
Avoid writing GUAGES, but write GAUGES, as this is the correct word (reported in the Webster's Dictionary). :173go1:

Ezio
 
And to think at one time I was "Chief of Publishing" at an Air Force Base responsible for publishing all base regulations. Makes you wonder! Don't it?:costumes:

David
 
Don't thank me, thank my tenth and eleventh grade english teacher who would have made an awesome Navy Seals drill instructor. :costumes:


Si mon français seulement était aussi bien que mon anglais... :redf:
 
jmig said:
But me, I don't did care, chere!
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LOL... :costumes: My dad talked like that. Great to listen to.

Another one was 'I done did'. :d


A big phrase here in the USA is 'If you wish to continue this call in English, please press 1'.


They say that for people who speak other languages, such as German, French, Italian, etc, that English is a very difficult language to learn. Why, you ask? Because English is a composite language made from all the other 'pure' languages. Its part French, German, etc. So people learning it, need to learn spelling and pronounciations that vary from German to French, to Italian. Letters that are silent on certain words, arent on other words.

Personally, I found French to be massively difficult. :isadizzy: :kilroy:
 
There's really no such thing as a "pure language" any longer except for Latin (or any other "dead" language). Every spoken language these days is "mongrelized," having quite a few borrowed words from other languages... :icon_lol:
 
I agree...It is reather impressive that all our out of towners have such a good grasph of our language....

I am amazed by it daily and its one of the things about SOH that I really enjoy....It just simply is so cool to have so much diversity here,but language is not a barrier......


I too took Spanish for two years,found it impossible to learn...:banghead:

But I can tear it up at Taco Bell......LOL



And being a retired Chef I know much about food in languages such as French,Spanish,German,and Italian........But the speach eludes me mostly.....
 
I remember my dear old grandmother, whose first language was French, asking me (in English) if I would like "strangled" eggs for breakfast...
 
Nick, you are only 37 years old, time enough to learn an other language! Living in Cumbria you must be bi-lingual; Scottish and English ;)

Huub
 
I try to ignore the Scottish and Welsh language Hubb, but when I lived in the Lake District, I did learn to speak a few words of the old "Westmorland", which let me tell you is a very odd language.
 
Every time I write a post here, or on other English forums I wonder, will they understand what I'm talking about, and how many mistakes I did :173go1:
 
If you have ever wondered why English speakers never bothered too much about foreign languages, then perhaps a study of Mark Twain's discourse on the German language will enlighten you. He once tried to learn German - well the results of his efforts can be read here. An interesting read.

English is such a lazy language, it is even bad at maths - one third Greek, one third Latin, one third French and one third Anglo Saxon and a dozen more fractions of good words from many other languages in the Empire. But English is an easy to learn and easy to use language. Which is probably why everyone else is better at speaking the language than a native English speaker...

...and of course, there has been a long running debate as to who really talks the talk better. The Brits or "our American cousins". Is it a zed or a zee that cripples words like realise, and why oh why can't people spell colour correctly?

But in the long run, English has to be the language of choice because you can swear and curse so wonderfully in it. :costumes:

So I congratulate and thank all you non-native English speakers for learning my father-tongue better than wot I never did - bless yer tiny cotton socks. :kilroy:
 
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