How many languages do you know?

[Steph]

And people wonder why the French are percieved as arrogant.

And people wonder why we say anglosaxons don't have a sens of humour, they never can tell irony.

 

[Steph]

French; wavering between fully functional, and getting by, depending on context. (I can discuss research in a seminar situation, but when getting a haircut, I'm pretty much lost at sea.)

How would you do in a research seminar on haircutting?

 

[LucyDuke]

And people wonder why we say anglosaxons don't have a sens of humour, they never can tell irony.

That's what the s are for, Steph. I was surprised to see that comment from you, but you must understand how it could be misinterpreted.

 

[Steph]

I was surprised to see that comment from you, but you must understand how it could be misinterpreted.

Why? These kind of comments from me on the great eternal fight between French and English have been known to happen.

However, I find it funny that the more bold and outrageous the statement, the more people are likely to fell for it, and that amues me to no end.

 

[LucyDuke]

Why? These kind of comments from me on the great eternal fight between French and English have been known to happen.

Not by me. I'm still the new girl.

However, I find it funny that the more bold and outrageous the statement, the more people are likely to fell for it, and that amues me to no end.

Yep, the people fall for big lies easier than small ones, right? But hell, just saying it with no indicator of irony... glad I could amuse you.

 

[Steph]

Not by me. I'm still the new girl. :

It happens in almost every thread where we can have a comparison between France and England, or French and English.
We have turned it into a kind of competition with some posters, like Prince of Leigh. Of course, they usually lost. Or if they think they win, it's because I let them: if they lose everytime, they wouldn't play anymore, would they?

Yep, the people fall for big lies easier than small ones, right? But hell, just saying it with no indicator of irony... glad I could amuse you.

Where would be the fun if I spoiled the effect with a irony indicator?
I'm sure some people still think I'm "typing" this by speaking in a mike

 

[HannibalBarka]

Arabic (native), French (fluent like native) and English (fluent everywhere but in Texas ;-)).

 

[TheBladeRoden]

I only know two languages: English and bad English.

 

[aneeshm]

If we were going for languages easy to learn, as in grammatically regular and consitently put together, the entire family of Indo-european languages goes down the drain. They're all surprisingly inconsistent, full of exceptions, large patches of stuff obeying no rule that just have to be learnt.

Well, the grammars of Marathi and Hindi are much more formalised than the European languages. Negligible exceptions, completely phonetic script, and a standard grammar. If you want a language which is completely defined according to strict and unbreakable rules, try the mother language (Sanskrit) (Panini pretty much nailed it).

 

[Snerk]

Norwegian, native.
Danish and swedish, both quite similar to norwegian. Plus my father is(was ) a dane.
English, fluently.
French, NOT fluently, just a wee bit i remember for school.

 

[Tee Kay]

English (not very fluent), Thai (not very fluent either), German (even less than that) and Mandarin (even less than that).

So I know four languages and I'm fluent in none.

 

[Abaddon]

English, nothing else.. i suck at learning, tried german/french and spanish.

 

[Gelion]

English, French, Russian and Javascript.

 

[Grisu]

Besides, if it was based on ease of learning, we'd all be speaking German.

come again? you're not serious, are you?

 

[ParkCungHee]

come again? you're not serious, are you?

I am, I'm taking German and its remarkably simple to learn compared to Italian...

 

[Grisu]

Wow, you're the first person ever I hear saying something like that. Of course, being a native german speaker makes it a lot easier for me, but I always thought german grammar is horrible.
Just wait till you have to figure out whether to capitalize a word or not, or if it's written together or separated

 

[Rossiya]

And people wonder why we say anglosaxons don't have a sens of humour, they never can tell irony.

Are you joking?

^ How ironic.

I am, I'm taking German and its remarkably simple to learn compared to Italian...

German is harder than Italian, in my honest, professional opinion.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Wow, you're the first person ever I hear saying something like that. Of course, being a native german speaker makes it a lot easier for me, but I always thought german grammar is horrible.

I always thought English was worse, as it was a half sorted mishmash of French and German. To bad old Ben Franklin's gave up on his idea for an American language...as I understand it people were rather pissed off when Ben would send them something like this in the mail.

 

[BirraImperial]

Not true, English is supposed to be one of the most irrational, rule contradicting, impractical languages out there. Besides, if it was based on ease of learning, we'd all be speaking German.
*First time an American has finished a sentence with "we'd all be speaking German" without causing a cultural confrontation*

You gotta be kidding me, German is one of the hardest languages to learn, their grammar is very complex (more than Spanish). I guess you really have a great ability to learn new languages to say that.

EDIT: I can't read that paragraph of your last post. jejeje.

 

[Phlegmak]

I agree with Steph. Using smilies to indicate sarcasm or that he's just joking would spoil the humor. Besides, after reading enough of his posts in the Offtopic forum, it should be easy to realize when he's just joking.