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Beware of "secret" languages ;-) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 145 of 173 25 September 2011 at 2:26pm | IP Logged | |||||
Reminds me, there is a Welsh language film (now that's a rarity in itself - I think it might be called "The White Feather" in English, but I might have mis-remembered), the action of which takes place in the first world war - It's about a poet who wants to become a bard at the Eisteddfod). Anyway, he's in a Welsh regiment, but with English officers who don't know Welsh. On one occasion, the officer is giving one of the Welsh-speaking privates a dressing down for some infringement of discipline or a scruffy uniform or something, and the private says to him "Kye dee gegg" (that's not the spelling, which I've forgotten, but that's the rough pronunciation expressed in English). The officer asks the sergeant what the private just said, and he replied "He says that he is very sorry sir and that he will try his best in future". Of course it really means "shut your mouth!" :-) My wife learned Welsh at school, and got the joke before I did :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 146 of 173 25 September 2011 at 2:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
Oh dear, this explains why I have such a love-hate relationship with my fellow- countrymen, at least some of them. :-( And the same time, these people probably expect to be understood by everyone if they speak English abroad....just speak louder and they'll understand... There again, given the rabid xenophobia displayed by so many of the tabloid newspapers here, and which sadly so many people "read", perhaps it's not so surprising. On a more positive note, a couple of people have mentioned Sign Language. A problem with this is that you can't conceal from those around you that you are using it. However, (and it surprised me on first learning it, to be honest), the SLs of different language groups are not the same as each other. There is a wonderful film from Germany called "Jenseits der Stille" about a little girl who has to interpret for her deaf-and- dumb parents. I learned on the additional material of the DVD that the father was actually played by an American actor who was deaf-and-dumb, but had to learn the German version of Sign Language for the part. (Sorry, there is a more politically-correct term for not being able to speak or hear, but I can't remember what it is). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5034 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 147 of 173 25 September 2011 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
Deaf mute 2 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 148 of 173 26 September 2011 at 2:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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This happened to a friend of mine. Although she is an American born native speaker of English,she is of Polish ancestry and is fluent in that language. She is raising her daughter to be bi-lingual. She and her teenage daughter were in a store. The owner was Russian. The daughter remarked to her mother, in Polish, about how fat the man was. To the girl's surprise and embarrassment, the man answered in Polish that he was fat but he at least did not talk badly about strangers.
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| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 149 of 173 27 September 2011 at 9:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
Apparently that is not acceptable either: http://www.nad.org/issues/american-sign-language/community-a nd-culture-faq 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4828 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 150 of 173 10 October 2011 at 8:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I thought I had discovered "German Rhyming Slang" for a minute, but it turns out that
it's invented: http://auftakt.blogspot.com/2008/05/its-german-rhyming-slang .html Fun idea though. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Deerhound Triglot Newbie England Joined 4905 days ago 30 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English*, German, Toki Pona Studies: French, Mandarin, Esperanto, Greek, Latin, Welsh | Message 151 of 173 19 October 2011 at 12:34am | IP Logged | |||||
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I love this thread! xD
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| shadowcalm Triglot Newbie Taiwan Joined 5975 days ago 29 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Latin, Ancient Greek, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 152 of 173 04 December 2011 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | |||||
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As a freshman in college, I went to the language lab to take a test on some recorded French materials. I told the lab assistant what I needed, and he asked me to wait a minute as he was talking with a woman I recognized as a Spanish major. The lab was pretty small and I was the only other person in there at the time, so it was impossible not to listen to the two of them. After throwing a quick glance in my direction, the assistant began to speak to the woman in Spanish. I immediately spoke up , "Oh, I can..." He cut me off, however, and with a sharp look added, "I said I'd be with you in a minute!" So, I heard a 5-minute discussion about the rumors concerning his relationship with a certain French TA. The funny thing was that his Spanish wasn't all that good. I almost felt like jumping in and helping him with a phrase or two that he was struggling with, but I held my tongue until the woman finally left, at which point I said in Spanish, "And now I can take that test." It took a full second for him to notice that I wasn't speaking English, and then he exclaimed, "You speak Spanish!? Did you understand everything?" I nodded. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked. I answered quite sincerely, "I tried, but you didn't listen!" I figured I not only taught him a lesson but also gave him the opportunity to practice his Spanish.
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