The Language Thread!

[pfrsantos]

What do you call facial hair in men? A beerd?...

 

[firiki]

When I was learning English, I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that everything and everyone in this language is a "the"

In Greek we have three articles, for him, for her, for it and they are present in conjugations as well, gender definition in any sentence simply can't be avoided.

After a while I realised that there are many different ways of channeling the human intellect into articulated speech. That was a revelation for young me back then.

[bmot]

When I was learning English, I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that everything and everyone in this language is a "the"

In Greek we have three articles, for him, for her, for it and they are present in conjugations as well, gender definition in any sentence simply can't be avoided.

After a while I realised that there are many different ways of channeling the human intellect into articulated speech. That was a revelation for young me back then.

I'm glad we don't do that in Dutch... French is terrible, everything changes with genders 

[pfrsantos]

When I was learning English, I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that everything and everyone in this language is a "the"

In Greek we have three articles, for him, for her, for it and they are present in conjugations as well, gender definition in any sentence simply can't be avoided.

After a while I realised that there are many different ways of channeling the human intellect into articulated speech. That was a revelation for young me back then.

I'm glad we don't do that in Dutch... French is terrible, everything changes with genders 

Portuguese vs. German is also complicated. There are a lot of words that go transgender from one language to the other. For example, Sun is masculine and Moon is feminine in portuguese but the other way around in german...

 

[pfrsantos]

Another thing germans invented so you have to pay attention to what they say is that the last word in a sentence determines the meaning. It's the ultimate NOT! joke:

"You are inteligent, nice, good-looking, friendly not!"

 

[firiki]

Yeah, gender changes. What a mess sometimes (But I love speaking French with women.)

Speaking of German and Portuguese: sometimes hearing Portuguese (I understand some BTW) sounds like German with a Russian accent to me, seriously !

I don't speak German, I'm afraid I might get run over by one of those railway-long words the make

[pfrsantos]

There's a lot of people here from eastern countries, Russia, Ukraine and thereabout. It's very easy for them to learn portuguese because the sounds are very similar. There are even some words that are easily recognizable in both languages.

[bmot]

There's a lot of people here from eastern countries, Russia, Ukraine and thereabout. It's very easy for them to learn portuguese because the sounds are very similar. There are even some words that are easily recognizable in both languages.

That's both the curse and blessing of Dutch and German. The words look like eachother, but on the other hand, there are lots of words that look the same, but mean different things


Like this:


DE - NL
See - Meer
Meer - Zee

[firiki]

Are both words referring to the sea?

Also ; I believe pfrsantos meant words common in Portuguese and the immigrants native tongues? I might be wrong, been that before

[enki_ck]

There's a lot of people here from eastern countries, Russia, Ukraine and thereabout. It's very easy for them to learn portuguese because the sounds are very similar. There are even some words that are easily recognizable in both languages.

That's both the curse and blessing of Dutch and German. The words look like eachother, but on the other hand, there are lots of words that look the same, but mean different things


Like this:


DE - NL
See - Meer
Meer - Zee

See can mean both in German.

der See - lake
die See - sea

[bmot]

There's a lot of people here from eastern countries, Russia, Ukraine and thereabout. It's very easy for them to learn portuguese because the sounds are very similar. There are even some words that are easily recognizable in both languages.

That's both the curse and blessing of Dutch and German. The words look like eachother, but on the other hand, there are lots of words that look the same, but mean different things


Like this:


DE - NL
See - Meer
Meer - Zee

See can mean both in German.

der See - lake
die See - sea

*grumblegrumble* Damn Germans... 


That's not how I remember it from school. Then again, I hated German, dropped it as soon as I could 

[Etherealicer]

There's a lot of people here from eastern countries, Russia, Ukraine and thereabout. It's very easy for them to learn portuguese because the sounds are very similar. There are even some words that are easily recognizable in both languages.

That's both the curse and blessing of Dutch and German. The words look like eachother, but on the other hand, there are lots of words that look the same, but mean different things


Like this:


DE - NL
See - Meer
Meer - Zee

See can mean both in German.

der See - lake
die See - sea

*grumblegrumble* Damn Germans... 


That's not how I remember it from school. Then again, I hated German, dropped it as soon as I could 

Don't worry, while enki is not entierly wrong in Switzerland at least you would not use it like this.
sea == Meer == zea

[bmot]

There's a lot of people here from eastern countries, Russia, Ukraine and thereabout. It's very easy for them to learn portuguese because the sounds are very similar. There are even some words that are easily recognizable in both languages.

That's both the curse and blessing of Dutch and German. The words look like eachother, but on the other hand, there are lots of words that look the same, but mean different things


Like this:


DE - NL
See - Meer
Meer - Zee

See can mean both in German.

der See - lake
die See - sea

*grumblegrumble* Damn Germans... 


That's not how I remember it from school. Then again, I hated German, dropped it as soon as I could 

Don't worry, while enki is not entierly wrong in Switzerland at least you would not use it like this.
sea == Meer == zea

I must really be Swiss then, a bit... Not so long ago, a Swiss friend of mine said my German accent seemed Swiss, too  (at least in the few words German I spoke...)


I quite like German, though... It's easy to follow for me, if I concentrate, even if I don't really speak it

[enki_ck]

What do you mean not entirely wrong?

I'm always right!








Yeah, I know about the uses but it's still die Nordsee and not das Nordmeer.

[bmot]

What do you mean not entirely wrong?

I'm always right!


 





Yeah, I know about the uses but it's still die Nordsee and not das Nordmeer.

Well, I could almost see (oh, yay, more "see"'s how one would get the North sea confused with a lake 


Ah, according to Wikipedia (and then you know it's right!)

Ein See ist ein Stillgewässer mit oder ohne Zu- und Abfluss durch Fließgewässer, das vollständig von einer Landfläche umgeben ist.

Which means so much as: A "see" is a still water with or without water flowing in and out, and completely surrounded by land.


But also:

Im Niederdeutschen (und ebenso im Niederländischen) sind die Wortbedeutungen von „Meer“ und „See“ vertauscht: Die an Norddeutschland angrenzenden Meere heißen Nordsee und Ostsee (die See)

Which means: In "Niederdeutch" (and also in Dutch), the meanings for the words "Meer" and "See" are the other way around: The sea's next to the North of Germany therefor are called "Nordsee" and "Ostsee".



So, Enki, how bad were my translations?

[Etherealicer]

What do you mean not entirely wrong?

I'm always right!

Of course you are always right. However languages (unless we are talking programming languages) are quite imprecise and full of loopholes. So basically its the languages fault (or Kirkys) not yours. Apologies for the misunderstanding (of course it was also the languages fault).

Yeah, I know about the uses but it's still die Nordsee and not das Nordmeer.

Well some languages evolve over time, or so I've been told.
I recently heard someone say
"chumm mer goend go foode" (lets go "fooding")
instead of
"chumm mer goend go aesse" (lets go eating)
apparently its making a Swissgerman verb out of the english word food is popular in the region of Zurich.

[Etherealicer]

I must really be Swiss then, a bit... Not so long ago, a Swiss friend of mine said my German accent seemed Swiss, too  (at least in the few words German I spoke...)


I quite like German, though... It's easy to follow for me, if I concentrate, even if I don't really speak it

I'm not surprised. Most Dutch people I know here in Switzerland prefer Swissgerman as it masks their origin much better (their behavior betrays them though , we Swiss are very introverted unlike the Dutch).

Its the other way round too. If you speak English and German you can understand alot of Dutch. Last year when I visited the Netherlands I watched some TV. My favorite Show:
zwakste schakel
zwakste - schwaechste == weakest
schakel - shackles
Half German, half English

[Top-Gear-24]

... (their behavior betrays them though , we Swiss are very introverted unlike the Dutch).

Everybody is introverted compaired to the Dutch ... 

 

[bmot]

... (their behavior betrays them though , we Swiss are very introverted unlike the Dutch).

Everybody is introverted compaired to the Dutch ... 

 

Hmmm, are we so outgoing? Never realised

[enki_ck]

What do you mean not entirely wrong?

I'm always right!

Of course you are always right. However languages (unless we are talking programming languages) are quite imprecise and full of loopholes. So basically its the languages fault (or Kirkys) not yours. Apologies for the misunderstanding (of course it was also the languages fault).

Yeah, I know about the uses but it's still die Nordsee and not das Nordmeer.

Well some languages evolve over time, or so I've been told.
I recently heard someone say
"chumm mer goend go foode" (lets go "fooding")
instead of
"chumm mer goend go aesse" (lets go eating)
apparently its making a Swissgerman verb out of the english word food is popular in the region of Zurich.

Schwizerdütsch.

That's a completely different category. I can understand most of the German and Austrian dialects but Schwizerdütsch requires some getting used to.

[firiki]

... (their behavior betrays them though , we Swiss are very introverted unlike the Dutch).

Everybody is introverted compaired to the Dutch ... 

 

Except, maybe, Italian men flirting women* in some greek island in the summer?

        

* :

Show content

Colloquially, that's called harpooning here, among other names. I find it fitting in this occasion.

[Etherealicer]

... (their behavior betrays them though , we Swiss are very introverted unlike the Dutch).

Everybody is introverted compaired to the Dutch ... 

 

Hmmm, are we so outgoing? Never realised

Yes.

This really happened to me several times all over the globe (furthest was in New Zealand!):
Stranger: A I can tell by your accent, you must be from Switzerland.
Me: And you must be from the Netherlands.
Stranger: How do you know?
Me: You started talking to me.

[pfrsantos]

One of the best stories about language and being understand or not happened to the father of a friend of mine. Portuguese are a people of travelers, emigrants. Just about any place you go, there's some portuguese there, usually running a typical restaurant.
My friend's father was an engineer. He used to travel all over the world with some colleagues and they *always* met (at least) a portuguese guy. One time they went to some small asian country, one of those you might have heard of once or twice but can't even locate in a map.
They leave the airport, take a cab, give the hotel address (in english) and start talking. At one point, my friend's father says to his colleague:
"Well, at least here I'm sure we're not going to find any portuguese!"
Without turning his head, the cabbie says in a low voice:
"Isso é o que você pensa..."

(That's what you think... in portuguese)

 

It cracks me up every time he tells that story!

[firiki]

This really happened to me several times all over the globe (furthest was in New Zealand!):
Stranger: A I can tell by your accent, you must be from Switzerland.
Me: And you must be from the Netherlands.
Stranger: How do you know?
Me: You started talking to me.

[bmot]

I recently noticed how unreadable Schweizerdeutch (the German they speak in Switzerland) is, in comparison with normal German... I have a friend from Switzerland, on Facebook... Almost literally didn't understand a word of what she posted... 

[bmot]

Damn, English sucks

[Etherealicer]

I recently noticed how unreadable Schweizerdeutch (the German they speak in Switzerland) is, in comparison with normal German... I have a friend from Switzerland, on Facebook... Almost literally didn't understand a word of what she posted... 

Uh, forgot about this thread...

Anyway, that is understandable. Schwyzerdütsch is only a spoken language, there is no official way to write it so its total anarchy
However it helps if you just read it, most people just write what they are saying.

[Sweety-Sama]

Oh dear... Me and languages

I am the last of three daughters of a pair of a German and his Swedish wife. At the time my sisters learnt speaking my parents had in mind to move from Germany to Sweden. So they learnt Swedish.
But my grandfather told them that it would be better to stay in Germany because of the social security options. So my sisters started to learn German so they could go to kindergarten. That was the time I started to learn speaking. For kindergarten and playing they talked in German, the rest was in Swedish. So my head mixed that pretty bad up. It ended in a completely new language my parents then called "child Chinese". Somehow my father seemed to understand me, while nobody else did.
I needed longer to really learn ONE language. So today I speak German, my Swedish is bad but understandable and my English is by now better then my Swedish o.O
Whenever I get too stressed or excited I tend to brabble something I only know the meaning of. Sadly I can't teach it, because that "language" is completely instinctive!
I know one thing that really was hard for me to learn:
Svimma is Swedish for fainting. Schwimmen is the German word for swimming. This always settled me off. :-/
And I just spotted: the Swedish word "s-l-u-t" means end, stop.


-----------------------------

First and only

[jerseydevil]

(Image removed from quote.)


Damn, English sucks

Your little poem there isn't showing up when I'm on my computer, but I saw it fine in Tapatalk.    I had no problem with it at all...... 

[bmot]

(Image removed from quote.)


Damn, English sucks

Your little poem there isn't showing up when I'm on my computer, but I saw it fine in Tapatalk.    I had no problem with it at all...... 

Damn, it broke again? Here's a link to the pic...


http://media.riemurasia.net/albumit/mmedia/nt/5ak/snlt/121985/normal_1222911941.jpg