The questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread V

[Brighteye]

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks. So anyways, why/from where does this particular verbal tic come from?

hatred of foreigners like Mirc? xenophobia? inbreeding?

If you'd read the article, you'd have seen that it is done to prevent a hiatus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiatus_(linguistics)
It seems less like a verbal tic and more like a sensible way of allowing speech to flow.

 

[Mirc]

Now the question is, why avoid a hiatus? My language does the opposite, create diphtongs where there already is a hiatus so that you often get strings of 3+ vowels.

Yes, I know there is no such thing as an answer to a "why" question in linguistics, just wanted to show a different perspective there.

 

[GinandTonic]

Blame my English teacher. As I said, no-one here seems to mind. I've never been marked down for my grammar.

The method you indicated was the required format for the indication of a subordinate clause with hyphens when I was at university. One Brazilian tutor had a one-woman crusade for the double hyphen which only caused confusion.

 

[GinandTonic]

No-one will -, and I should have specified myself clearly, but in a war that just involved these parties, with the EU - and therefore, everyone in NATO except, what, Turkey? - throwing their hands in the air and saying "don't kill us" Russia would have no interest in nuking European nations.

Problem one. "-," is wrong since the "-" is already denoting the opening of a subordinate clause. One or other is redundant.

Problem two. There are three hyphens in the sentence so the subordinate clause doesnt work. The first two work. If we excise the subordinate clause "No-one will ... and therefore, everyone in NATO except bla bla" makes sense. The last two work. If we excise the subordinate clause created by the second and third hyphens "No-one will, and I should have specified myself clearly, but in a war that just involved these parties, with the EU ... throwing their hands in the air and saying "don't kill us" Russia would have no interest bla bla ".

Problem three. Not a problem in a forum context, but formally I dont think a subordinate clause can have a stop or question mark unless contained in a quote.

 

[Irish Caesar]

I've always done it Sharwood's way too, as do most books I've ever read. I have literally never seen it your way before.

The method you indicated was the required format for the indication of a subordinate clause with hyphens when I was at university. One Brazilian tutor had a one-woman crusade for the double hyphen which only caused confusion.

Hm, okay then.

Like I said, I've not seen it with the en dash and spaces, so I guess we're reading different stuff.

But I'll repeat that the double-hyphen is only because there's no other way to type an em dash in this font.

 

[Sharwood]

Problem one. "-," is wrong since the "-" is already denoting the opening of a subordinate clause. One or other is redundant.

Problem two. There are three hyphens in the sentence so the subordinate clause doesnt work. The first two work. If we excise the subordinate clause "No-one will ... and therefore, everyone in NATO except bla bla" makes sense. The last two work. If we excise the subordinate clause created by the second and third hyphens "No-one will, and I should have specified myself clearly, but in a war that just involved these parties, with the EU ... throwing their hands in the air and saying "don't kill us" Russia would have no interest bla bla ".

Problem three. Not a problem in a forum context, but formally I dont think a subordinate clause can have a stop or question mark unless contained in a quote.

Yes, I'm aware I made a mistake there. I noticed it when it was first reposted.

 

[Phlegmak]

My little fan that the company bought for me has a package that's in French and English. It has this on the side: "Ventilateur personnel". My question is: are the the 'r' and 'l' at the ends of those words pronounced?

 

[Grisu]

My little fan that the company bought for me has a package that's in French and English. It has this on the side: "Ventilateur personnel". My question is: are the the 'r' and 'l' at the ends of those words pronounced?

Oui, if I remember my french correctly, personel and personelle are pronounced identically. and in ventilateur the r is pronounced as well.

 

[raketooy]

My little fan that the company bought for me has a package that's in French and English. It has this on the side: "Ventilateur personnel". My question is: are the the 'r' and 'l' at the ends of those words pronounced?

I'm quite sure both are pronounced.

 

[Mirc]

Both are. Why wouldn't you pronounce the final L in any French word?

And the final R is also always pronounced apart from when it's preceded by an E (some exceptions apply, of course).

 

[Ulyaoth]

Are you Europeans taught English like your entire schooling? Are you expected to be fluent? I really want to get fluent in Italian but I can't see it happening from classes or anything. I was thinking I'd try to find like an Italian forum or something to try to learn it, or like Italian youtube videos or whatever, think that could work? I mean my grandma claims she learned English from watching hockey games.

 

[Brighteye]

Are you Europeans taught English like your entire schooling? Are you expected to be fluent? I really want to get fluent in Italian but I can't see it happening from classes or anything. I was thinking I'd try to find like an Italian forum or something to try to learn it, or like Italian youtube videos or whatever, think that could work? I mean my grandma claims she learned English from watching hockey games.

Nope. I was taught English properly for only a couple of years.

 

[Love]

Hah I've been learning english my whole life.

 

[Mirc]

Are you Europeans taught English like your entire schooling?

For 11 years of your 12 of school, here.

Are you expected to be fluent?

Nah... you are expected to have a decent-to-good understanding, far from being expected to be fluent.

I really want to get fluent in Italian but I can't see it happening from classes or anything.

Nobody that I know learned any language from the classes they took in school. So, not really a big surprise there.

I was thinking I'd try to find like an Italian forum or something to try to learn it, or like Italian youtube videos or whatever, think that could work?

Of course, but it'll take time and practice.

I mean my grandma claims she learned English from watching hockey games.

People can learn languages given amazingly little, if they are gifted in that regard.

 

[holy king]

only five years of compulsory schooling english class in austria.

and no, you're not really expected to be fluent with that.

pick up italian tabloids for starters.

 

[Mirc]

Ah, actually now that I think about it not all schools have English as their main language. Some have French, Spanish, and there are at least 2 schools in Bucharest which give German and one that has Italian, AFAIK. Still, I'd estimate some 80-85% of the schools have English, and all those that don't have it as the compulsory secondary foreign language.

 

[holy king]

school is compulsory for 12 years in romania?

 

[Mirc]

No, only 10. But I don't think he was talking about drop-outs. And a secondary foreign language would start since the 5th grade, so they'd have 5 years of that too.

 

[holy king]

what? it's compulsory for 10 years, but you cant have finished any school after that time?

 

[Mirc]

Where are you getting that from?

I said school is compulsory for 10 years. But since a secondary language would start at the 5th, you'd still get 5 years of it even if you drop out as soon as you can. Normally, for those who finish all the 12 years, you'd get 11 years of a first foreign language and 7 of a second one. If you drop out, you get 9 years of a first language and 5 of a secondary one. Where did I say anything about finishing other schools?