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Swearing and idioms | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| hbetx9 Newbie United States Joined 5973 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 5 04 July 2009 at 6:58pm | IP Logged |
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I'm having trouble finding information online about some of the more colorful aspects of language. I know I use expressions that while swearing may be a stretch are certainly not something I would want to use around small children and the like, and there are many idioms that I know should have equivalent forms in a target language. However, nothing effective has come up on a web search, of course the best way to learn this is immersion however short of that are there any references? The target languages I have in mind are German and Russian.
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| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5671 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes  Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 5 04 July 2009 at 7:19pm | IP Logged |
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A good way around that problem is to look for the opposite book. That is, books that teach English phrases and idioms to native speakers of the language you are learning.
I found this approach useful when I was learning Czech. I searched high and low for books of Czech idioms and colourful phrases, and found none. There where however half a dozen books teaching English idioms and slang to Czechs - and each entry included the equivalent Czech idiom or slang phrase. So, I bought one I liked the look of and studied it like crazy. Here in fact, is a small confession: I started learning Czech idioms for my wedding speech. My wife is Czech, and so were most of the guests. After ten or so hours reading in reverse my "English Idioms for Czech Speakers" book I was able to write a wedding speech using a few dozen appropriate Czech idioms. Afterwards, several kind guests told me the speech was entertaining and accurately idiomatic. Since then, I have kept learning idioms and word clusters actively, and recommend others do the same. Edited by Splog on 04 July 2009 at 7:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Amyl Newbie United States Joined 5640 days ago 12 posts - 13 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Spanish | Message 3 of 5 04 July 2009 at 9:32pm | IP Logged |
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Well, if your Russian is good enough just search: "словарь мата" and you should get some interesting sites haha. Or you can just search: "Russian Mat" and still get some interesting sites. Good luck.
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| Vilcxjo Tetraglot Newbie United States Joined 5641 days ago 21 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Esperanto, French Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Latin, Ancient Greek, Modern Hebrew, Russian, German, Biblical Hebrew | Message 4 of 5 04 July 2009 at 10:29pm | IP Logged |
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I learned most of the scatological Spanish I know from watching American movies with Spanish subtitles. Action-adventure movies were really good for this. I don't use any of these phrases when I speak, but am able to recognize them when other people use them. By the way, I don't use scatological phrases when I speak English either. Edited by Vilcxjo on 05 July 2009 at 2:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| LtM Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5862 days ago 130 posts - 223 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German | Message 5 of 5 04 July 2009 at 10:41pm | IP Logged |
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Learning idioms is great; they can really add to your language abilities.
Just be aware that few things sound as bad to most people as a foreigner swearing in the foreign language, unless s/he is highly advanced in said language. ...Imagine an intermediate-level speaker of accented English, swearing in English. It's a lot more awkward than it is impressive. However, it is good to learn that type of vocabulary, so that you know exactly what others are saying... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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