Johnnysd Diglot Newbie Norway johnnysd.deviantart. Joined 5617 days ago 18 posts - 33 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: German, Italian, Korean, French
| Message 1210 of 3737 01 November 2010 at 11:46pm | IP Logged |
When you realise that the thought of becoming an EMT became more appealing when you
realised that there are LOTS of people from different couuntries in your hometown, and
the possibility of them needing an ambulance at some point is large, and you try to find
out which languages are the most common ones, so you can learn it and communicate with
the patients in their own language.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5967 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map
| Message 1211 of 3737 02 November 2010 at 2:10am | IP Logged |
When you start assuming tht everything you read must have been translated!
You decide to put the language books aside for a while to do some light reading just for fun, and, while reading, start wondering "Hmmm . . . I wonder what this sentence is in original?" or "Why is the word translated like that?" and remember, oh, it's English, for English-speaking readers . . .
how silly of me, but . . . how would I say "how silly of me in" . . . etc, etc . . .
3 persons have voted this message useful
|
psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5591 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French
| Message 1212 of 3737 02 November 2010 at 3:51am | IP Logged |
meramarina wrote:
When you start assuming tht everything you read must have been translated!
You decide to put the language books aside for a while to do some light reading just for fun, and, while reading, start wondering "Hmmm . .
how silly of me, but . . . how would I say "how silly of me in" . . . etc, etc . . . |
|
|
Wow! So I am not the only one who thinks like this. It drives me crazy.I get into the same "how would I say..." all the time.And, I can't really rest until I figure it out or check the dictionary for the word.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
sm66 Diglot Newbie Australia Joined 5358 days ago 26 posts - 32 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Italian, Greek, German
| Message 1213 of 3737 02 November 2010 at 8:22am | IP Logged |
...when a French horse named 'Americain' wins the biggest horse race in Australia (The Melbourne cup), and you feel the need to correct everyone when they pronounce it incorrectly.
3 persons have voted this message useful
|
Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5173 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 1214 of 3737 02 November 2010 at 11:31am | IP Logged |
sm66 wrote:
...when a French horse named 'Americain' wins the biggest horse race in Australia (The Melbourne cup), and you feel the need to correct everyone when they pronounce it incorrectly. |
|
|
Yes, certainly recognize this one. I almost caused a fight once because a couple of yuppie types (I'm old enough to remember them!) were pretentiously throwing French phrases around and I loudly made a remark about stupid, pretentious people who couldn't even pronounce French properly. There was a deadly silence and they glared at me, but switched to English. I also have to resist correcting people's pronunciation of foreign words and accept they have a right to pronounce the word however they feel appropriate.
Er... another thought I suppose it makes you a language nerd to be on this forum as much as I am! Still, nice to know I'm not alone!
1 person has voted this message useful
|
kottoler.ello Tetraglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6003 days ago 128 posts - 192 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, Mandarin, French Studies: Japanese, German
| Message 1215 of 3737 04 November 2010 at 4:15am | IP Logged |
When seeing a completely random Wikipedia page that only exists in English is such a great excuse to practice your (French, German, Arabic, Tajik, or Quechua) you spend two hours learning about whatever the page was about and contributing a page better than the one you found in English.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5173 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 1216 of 3737 04 November 2010 at 6:57am | IP Logged |
Perhaps another good indicator: not only spending a lot of time on your target language(s), but also a lot of time here or spending most of your spare time learning obscure facts aout languages!
1 person has voted this message useful
|