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You know you’re a language nerd when...

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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
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Iversen
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 Message 145 of 3737
10 November 2009 at 4:33am | IP Logged 
I was watching Spanish TV yesterday evening (something about Spaniards who lived in Ethiopia), and at the same time I was studying some articles from the Greek magazines I bought in September.

As a part of this I was copying some passages to a piece of paper. And because I wanted to mention the program from TVE in my log I jotted down some things I heard on the same piece of paper ... but I mixed in some Greek letters. I then thought that this might be fun and continued to write my Spanish notes with Greek letters: φοτóγραφο, εσχουέλα, Αφρíκα, ουνα νγουíα ντε βιαχες ντε αβεντούρα...

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Levi
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 Message 146 of 3737
10 November 2009 at 4:49am | IP Logged 
Iversen wrote:
φοτóγραφο, εσχουέλα, Αφρíκα, ουνα νγουíα ντε βιαχες ντε αβεντούρα...

...when you can read and understand the meaning of these words without giving too much thought to it. Though shouldn't it be εσκουέλα and Άφρικα?

Edited by Levi on 10 November 2009 at 4:51am

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Lindsay19
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 Message 147 of 3737
10 November 2009 at 6:43am | IP Logged 
pookiebear79 wrote:
I talk to (usually, scold) my cats in other languages sometimes, too. Not in any attempt to "train" them, of course...as a true cat person will tell you, cats train their humans, not the other way round. ;)
My cats won't even listen to me in English, and any attempt on my part to confuse them into doing so in another language (primarily Dutch since that's the one I am most focused on) is met with the same "catitude" as if I had used English.
I think it's probably different with dogs, because they actually listen to humans. :)

Also on the subject of pets and being a language nerd:
When your pets have names (or nicknames...because in my family, our cats start out with one "real" name and then end with about 10 additional nicknames as time passes) up in languages other than your primary spoken language(s).

(Sorry if that one's already been mentioned...I did read the whole thread but it was a while ago.) :)



One of my cats who normally ignores my voice will actually come up and stare at me if I'm reading aloud in German. Which I find a litte strange..
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Iversen
Super Polyglot
Moderator
Denmark
berejst.dk
Joined 6453 days ago

9078 posts - 16473 votes 
Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan
Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian
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 Message 148 of 3737
10 November 2009 at 4:19pm | IP Logged 
Levi wrote:
Iversen wrote:
φοτóγραφο, εσχουέλα, Αφρíκα, ουνα νγουíα ντε βιαχες ντε αβεντούρα...

...when you can read and understand the meaning of these words without giving too much thought to it. Though shouldn't it be εσκουέλα and Άφρικα?


No, I wrote it as I heard it - with a soft and wheezy kh-sound in escuela and an unexpected accent in the middle of Africa. That's the good thing about writing in another alphabet - you aren't led astray by the correct spelling.

PS: It doesn't work as well with English, - diphtongs and schwas, sh's and other exotic stuff all over the place. Π.Σ.: ιτ ντοζντ βοερκ νήρλυ αζ βουέλλ βουιθ Έγκλισ!


Edited by Iversen on 10 November 2009 at 4:29pm

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Levi
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 Message 149 of 3737
10 November 2009 at 4:52pm | IP Logged 
Ай файнд ѳэт ъ вериейшън ъв ѳъ Сърилик элфъбет ўркс бетр фор трэнскрайбинг Инглиш мор ор лес фънетиклі.
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pookiebear79
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 Message 150 of 3737
11 November 2009 at 1:46am | IP Logged 
I definitely fit in the category of "you sing songs in foreign languages you don't know." (I also do with ones I am studying, though.) I don't listen to or enjoy 94 percent (completely made up figure) of "music" made within the last decade, so I have to either stick to my old music or find interesting music from non Anglophone countries just to find something that I don't find pointless or just plain annoying. Because if it's in a language I don't know, then I can just enjoy the sound of it without thinking how brainless the lyrics are. :)

Lindsay19 wrote:
One of my cats who normally ignores my voice will actually come up and stare at me if I'm reading aloud in German. Which I find a litte strange..


LOL. Talking to them in another language doesn't get any reaction except when I'm repeating audio aloud, then they interrupt me, but that doesn't really count because they do the same if I'm talking on the phone, too. Basically if I talk to *them*, they ignore me. But if I seem to be talking to someone else (on the phone, the imaginary person on the language tape, etc.) they suddenly decide to acknowledge my existence, LOL.
But often when I'm singing along (usually in another language, but occasionally English songs as well) to something, completely belting one out, some of my cats will come running in to my room and lay down either on or next to me, just get right in my face, and purr like mad. For some reason, singing really gets their attention. One of them is really calmed by it, even if it's not a mellow song.

I'm not sure how to take this...either they love the sounds of foreign languages when set to music (the majority of the songs are in Dutch, Swedish or Japanese)and that's why they suddenly become so sweet, or my singing voice is so terrible that they are coming in to keep watch over me because they're afraid I'm in the throes of gastric distress or something. :P
Since they don't come in to comfort me when I'm crying out in genuine pain (which happens often due to some medical issues,) I prefer to believe it's the first case, that they like foreign language music.
Now, maybe I can try singing "Get down from there right now!" in another language and they'll do it...in a dream world, anyway. :)

You know you're a language nerd when you dream of creating a language that cats will actually listen to. Not "obey," mind you, because they are still cats, but some miraculous language in which the concept of 'no!' will actually register to them.
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psy88
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 Message 151 of 3737
11 November 2009 at 4:40am | IP Logged 
You know you are a language/pet nerd when you automatically begin speaking to your friends' pets in the pet's imagined native language: French for the poodles, Spanish for the chihuahuas, Russian for the wolfhounds, Norwegian for the elk hounds, etc,
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pookiebear79
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 Message 152 of 3737
11 November 2009 at 5:45am | IP Logged 
psy88 wrote:
You know you are a language/pet nerd when you automatically begin speaking to your friends' pets in the pet's imagined native language: French for the poodles, Spanish for the chihuahuas, Russian for the wolfhounds, Norwegian for the elk hounds, etc,


Good one! :) Maybe that's why my Abyssinian is the most defiant cat, maybe I should learn the Amharic words for "bad kitty!", LOL.

But which language(s) would you speak to your friends' fish? In some cases I guess you could go with wherever the species is found in the wild, but things get complicated if they have a big mixed tropical aquarium full of different species. Or worse, a marine aquarium...since those fish came from the ocean, they didn't really come from a specific country, so which language has 'claim' to them? ;)

You know you (ok, I mean myself) are a combined pet/language nerd (or maybe just a hopeless nerd, period) when you actually (albeit just jokingly) ponder the theoretical linguistic etiquette of addressing a mixed tank of fish. And then actually post it online as proof of what a dork you are. :P


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