[OFF TOPIC] Language Thread

[Olympian1010 7,973]

@Griff88 forgot about this thread . Probably should talk about your English knowledge/ability here.

[Griff88 1,952]

21 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

@Griff88 forgot about this thread . Probably should talk about your English knowledge/ability here.

Haha alright.

 

Firstly, thanks.

 

None of my parents are high school graduates but they attended basic English courses by Indian immigrants in their hometown, so they are keen to have their children to excel in other languages. Since I was young, I've been exposed to English from 'Magic English' (a series of VCD with Disney movies excerpts intended for toddlers). When I was 4, I got extra English lessons from two Indian teachers who opened a learning center just in front of my school. Later my aunt's boss introduced a private teacher and I spend about 5 years learning with her.

 

And perhaps the system in my high school also helps. We had British and Australian native speakers in class once a week, "Speak English Day", and a reading program where every week we read along a chapter of famous books (Tuesdays with Morrie and The Alchemist for example) and have big discussions. Pretty much like that. I still do not consider my English is up there though, my speaking is not so good

[Olympian1010 7,973]

11 hours ago, Griff88 said:

Haha alright.

 

Firstly, thanks.

 

None of my parents are high school graduates but they attended basic English courses by Indian immigrants in their hometown, so they are keen to have their children to excel in other languages. Since I was young, I've been exposed to English from 'Magic English' (a series of VCD with Disney movies excerpts intended for toddlers). When I was 4, I got extra English lessons from two Indian teachers who opened a learning center just in front of my school. Later my aunt's boss introduced a private teacher and I spend about 5 years learning with her.

 

And perhaps the system in my high school also helps. We had British and Australian native speakers in class once a week, "Speak English Day", and a reading program where every week we read along a chapter of famous books (Tuesdays with Morrie and The Alchemist for example) and have big discussions. Pretty much like that. I still do not consider my English is up there though, my speaking is not so good

Your English is some of the best I’ve seen from a foreign speaker. You learned the language the ideal way too. Through media and speaking with people (as well as formal instruction). It’s cool to hear about your parents too. Both my parents to graduate university. One with a useless degree in physical education  (and with a minor in history), and one with a major in English and teaching. I’d just went ahead and combined they’re passions apparently . I hope you’re still very fluent in Indonesian by the way. I hate it when people give up their native language. I’m only 3 generations removed from when my family spoke Norwegian (and possibly German/Danish), but my that part of the family decided it was best not to teach the kids their language . Mostly because of American xenophobic attitudes about languages other than English or French (Americans love French for some reason).

[Olympian1010 7,973]

While doing research on Switzerland for the 2020 YOG, I came across Romansch. This has to be one of the most unique European languages I’ve seen. It’s really weird. It looks semi-German, but it also has a lot in common with the Romance languages. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll need to use any of it in our coverage since Lausanne is in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Maybe @Ustatsch can give me some more background on Romansch? (I already notice a similarity there )

Edited December 28, 2019 by Olympian1010

[heywoodu 15,135]

14 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

While doing research on Switzerland for the 2020 YOG, I came across Romansch. This has to be one of the most unique European languages I’ve seen. It’s really weird. It looks semi-German, but it also has a lot in common with the Romance languages. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll need to use any of it in our coverage since Lausanne is in the French speaking part of Switzerland. Maybe @Ustatsch can give me some more background on Romansch? (I already notice a similarity there )

 

Half the things people in Switzerland say are impossible to understand if they talk amongst themselves  Been to the Berner Oberland (for the Adelboden World Cup races) and while I don't have much problems understanding German, that thing they spoke there was hard to understand  (but also sounded cool)

[Olympian1010 7,973]

7 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

 

Half the things people in Switzerland say are impossible to understand if they talk amongst themselves  Been to the Berner Oberland (for the Adelboden World Cup races) and while I don't have much problems understanding German, that thing they spoke there was hard to understand  (but also sounded cool)

I would imagine that you’re referring to Schwyzertüütsch (Swiss-German), which I also learned was a thing today. @Vojthas actually seemed to know a bit about that one 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Olympian1010

[Olympian1010 7,973]

Also, ten points to whoever can tell mean what this means: ᎤᎾᏥ

[thiago_simoes 1,423]

On 18/10/2019 at 12:46, heywoodu said:

Much like Portuguese speakers from Portugal to me sound very weird, but that's just because I'm so used to Brazilian Portuguese  

As a native Brazilian Portuguese speaker, I can hardly understand anything Portuguese people say. Whenever there's someone speaking Portuguese on TV with the European Portuguese accent, the shows use captions for us to read. It's hilarious. 

Now, about Latin American Spanish, I believe it's fairly easy for us Brazilians to understand the accents from Peru and Mexico, and not too hard to understand accents from Paraguay and Bolivia. Argentinian Spanish in theory should not be too hard if they speak slowly and don't use slangs. Chilean Spanish is damn near impossible to understand, though, and Uruguayan Spanish is not so far behind. 

[Olympian1010 7,973]

Here’s Lausanne2020’s response to my tweet asking about the local way to say “good day” and “hello”:

 

[phelps 7,674]

1 hour ago, Olympian1010 said:

Also, ten points to whoever can tell mean what this means: ᎤᎾᏥ

 

it means "Snow"...