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| 10 FEB 2003 at 10:10am |
| Deleted User | After reading posts here for some time now, it just occurred to me how difficult it must be for the non-English speaking members at times.
Aaaaaaahhhh... so many subtleties, so many potential misunderstandings!
But IMO cultural differences are just as important.
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| 10 FEB 2003 at 10:24am |
dimidimidimiSchattenjger
Posts : 1784
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Status : Online | I think it is interesting that there are so many different pronunciations and accents. There are of course those that I like and those that I don't like so much.
Those that I don't like is the 'Britney Spears' kind of English '...and u know...when I go to the maaaalll...' - if you know what I mean. I also dislike exaggerated british accent (play Mystery of the druids for an example).
The accents I like are mostly the actors like Bruce Willis, Brad Pit, and Keanu Reeves kind of English. I think somebody called them once Boston-English....but I don't know if the term is correct or if it applies.
I also love english with an italian accent!
PDF adventure magazine - The Inventory&&http://www.justadventure.com/TheInventory/TheInventory.shtm&&&&What would you give to know the truth?&&http://www.brokensaints.com
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| 10 FEB 2003 at 10:32am |
JoGuild Master
Posts : 3313
Joined: 3 NOV 2002
Location: AU, Qld.
Status : Offline | I also love english with an italian accent
Think English spoken with a French accent is fascinating.
Talking about accents don't know if many people here listen to opera. There is one by Franz Lehar called Juditta and sung in German. The part that has always amused me is some so-called "English gentlemen" in one part who actually are speaking (not singing) in German with a very "upper-class" British accent. We English speaking people are so used to hearing our language spoken with all sorts of different accents and don't realise how we must sound to other nationalities when speaking their language.
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| 10 FEB 2003 at 12:03pm |
HelenGuild Master
Posts : 3436
Joined: 12 OCT 2002
Location: US
Status : Offline | No, bisquits and pancakes are 2 different things here,
but know what you mean, there is so much slang here
sometimes I have a hard time, Maybe you are thinking of hot cakes, sometimes pancakes are called hot cakes, depending on which part of the country you are in.
for instance "gay" hardy ever pertains to homosexuality anymore, when the say "that is really gay" or " he or she is so gay" it pretty much just means wierd. ( in most cases )
There are so many double and triple meanings for words, it really has to be hard for someone just learning the language.
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| 10 FEB 2003 at 4:16pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By dimidimidimi (10 FEB 2003 10:23am)
The accents I like are mostly the actors like Bruce Willis, Brad Pit, and Keanu Reeves kind of English. I think somebody called them once Boston-English....but I don't know if the term is correct or if it applies.
I heard it called Atlantic English, or something like that. Actors use it but no one talks that way in real life.
I forgot my sig.
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| 10 FEB 2003 at 4:24pm |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By narji (10 FEB 2003 9:41am)
English in some ways must be the silliest language to grasp as there are so many different meanings for the same sounding words.
Very true. I believe my English is fairly decent but I certainly couldn't say that English makes any sense to me
Even among actual English speaking countries we have different spellings i.e. labor and labour etc.
That's not a problem really. Or only if I tried hard to be consistent with either British or US spelling.
Then there is pronunciation, in New Zealand we use the English pronunciation for words like dance, chance etc with the long ar sound but in Australia, in some States more than others I might add, they tend to use the American pronunciation.
Wildly varying pronunciation is certainly the biggest practical problem for me. And not only me - for instance my boss is Australian and even the other Americans (we're in California) have sometimes trouble understanding what he says.
Never quite sure whether Canada follows the USA or not but find that Canadians don't care to be taken for Americans and Americans don't like to be taken for Canadians - same with Australians and New Zealander I suppose.
Canadian English is slightly different from both British and American English.
Oh well that was a pretty boring post - you must be able to tell that I don't have anything better to do right now.
I find the topic of languages very intriguing...
I forgot my sig.
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| 10 FEB 2003 at 6:22pm |
ElfstoneGuild Master
Posts : 5892
Joined: 4 NOV 2002
Status : Online | Yes, language IS a fascinating thing.
You might try this page for a list of modern English words and their explanation:
http://www.quinion.com/words/genindex-af.htm
From a British viewpoint.
[b]playing[/b]: Destination Treasure Island (done in two sittings, but it's nice), Syberia (ho-hum), Dracula: Last Sanctuary (on hold)&&[b]reading[/b]: even more study papers&&[b]listening to[/b]: [url=http://www.last.fm/user/Brax82/]this and that[/url], plus [url=http://www.musicovery.com/]Musicovery[/url]&&[b]TV favorites[/b]: (currently) Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Journeyman (cancelled! grrr...), Heroes&& all-time) 24, Stargate SG1, X-Files, Lost, House
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 4:02am |
STooGE4444, EastCoastDoom...Schattenjger
Posts : 2099
Joined: 15 OCT 2002
Status : Online | English isn't too hard....
~rbeeler SVT &&Name's STooGE$$$$ Valpurgius TNT; it's not PLURAL&&[img]http://www.riseaboverecords.com/sleep/image/sleepfront.gif[/img]&&151.Generally speaking Sludge Doomsters are Angry, Gothic doomsters are sad, funeral doomsters are barely breathing, death doomsters are dirty, drunk and dribbling, Stoner Doomsters don't care, drone doomsters are out of it and traditional Doomsters are permanently pissed off, mainly with other doomsters
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 4:09am |
MichalNGrand Inquisitor
Posts : 7058
Joined: 14 SEP 2003
Status : Online | Originally Posted By StooGE4444 22-90,2-11 (11 FEB 2003 4:02am)
English isn't too hard....
That must be why so many native speakers can't spell properly
I forgot my sig.
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 4:22am |
STooGE4444, EastCoastDoom...Schattenjger
Posts : 2099
Joined: 15 OCT 2002
Status : Online | No, I was saying for me...
~rbeeler SVT &&Name's STooGE$$$$ Valpurgius TNT; it's not PLURAL&&[img]http://www.riseaboverecords.com/sleep/image/sleepfront.gif[/img]&&151.Generally speaking Sludge Doomsters are Angry, Gothic doomsters are sad, funeral doomsters are barely breathing, death doomsters are dirty, drunk and dribbling, Stoner Doomsters don't care, drone doomsters are out of it and traditional Doomsters are permanently pissed off, mainly with other doomsters
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 10:00am |
| Deleted User | Yeah Narji you are right. Im so used to using American English and now Im taking a UK degree and one thing that really got me cofused sometimes are the 'z' substitute by the letter 's'. Like I had to find every typo I made on "centralisation" and "organisation".
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 12:34pm |
| Deleted User | Originally Posted By dimidimidimi (10 FEB 2003 10:23am)
I also love english with an italian accent!
It's a-me, Maaario!
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 11:20pm |
dimidimidimiSchattenjger
Posts : 1784
Joined: 10 OCT 2002
Status : Online | Originally Posted By Petter_Holmberg (11 FEB 2003 12:34pm)
It's a-me, Maaario!
Hehe...yeah this is the one I'm talking about
PDF adventure magazine - The Inventory&&http://www.justadventure.com/TheInventory/TheInventory.shtm&&&&What would you give to know the truth?&&http://www.brokensaints.com
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 11:49pm |
JoGuild Master
Posts : 3313
Joined: 3 NOV 2002
Location: AU, Qld.
Status : Offline | for instance "gay" hardy ever pertains to homosexuality anymore, when the say "that is really gay" or " he or she is so gay" it pretty much just means wierd. ( in most cases
Gee tha'ts interesting, people still just use it to mean homosexual here. It's a funny use of a word I've always thought, wonder how it came to be used to mean homosexual?
Our son-in-law is from Cornwall and he uses the work "wicked" to mean really great or interesting in some way, we didn't know what he was talking about at first.
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 11:54pm |
JoGuild Master
Posts : 3313
Joined: 3 NOV 2002
Location: AU, Qld.
Status : Offline | my boss is Australian and even the other Americans (we're in California) have sometimes trouble understanding what he says.
Some Australians are hard to understand even if you live here! Remeber the awful "Australian" in MK4? I read somewhere that Australians would probably cringe at his accent, but some do actually speak like that - no many thank God.
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| 11 FEB 2003 at 11:59pm |
JoGuild Master
Posts : 3313
Joined: 3 NOV 2002
Location: AU, Qld.
Status : Offline | Forgot to say I'm a New Zealander, just live here that's all! Australians think we Kiwis say "fush & chups" instead of fish & chips, but they say boin and koin instead of been and keen etc. (can't actually spell the sound they use for been really). I'm joking Aussies - please don't hit me Actually now when I go back to N.Z. some of my relatives think I sound Australian - Oh well, can't win.
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