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Popular misconceptions about languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5315 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes  Speaks: Swedish* | Message 33 of 100 03 December 2009 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
Nokia does SOUND like it could be Japanese, but so does tiramisu. Seriously though, Astrid Lindgren's books are very popular in Japan, because they are cute. The stories about Mumin are too, though, and they are Finnish, or at least from Finland. I never felt that Japanese people like Finland more, though. They do feal that the language sounds a bit similar to Japanese (coincidence or ural-altaism?) If they do, it probably has more to do with Finnish minimalism than Nokia. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Captain Haddock Diglot Senior Member Japan kanjicabinet.tumblr. Joined 6562 days ago 2282 posts - 2814 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: French, Korean, Ancient Greek | Message 34 of 100 03 December 2009 at 1:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Nokia has practically no market presence in Japan, so I doubt that has anything to do with their perception of
Finland. However, the Mumin are hugely popular here, as Gusutafu notes. Also, the Japanese diet (parliament) has one white member — its only member not Japanese by ethnicity — and he happens to be Finnish. Edited by Captain Haddock on 03 December 2009 at 1:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5632 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 35 of 100 03 December 2009 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
Oh did you! Now I understand why you are such an international person. :-) Well, the exhibition that I was talking about was actually in the mid 1990s - I was too young to be interested in it at all, but I think it was some kind of tourism promotion - They sold souvenirs etc, there were exhibitions of artifacts and works of art. I think it was in Ginza actually, not in Roppongi. But I might be mixed up because I did a few similar "jobs" for Swedish interests. This exhibition was in the basement of a very fancy skyscraper building, as I remember it - very professionally set up. Finland was also part of the exhibition and seemed to interest people more. Plus a few times in Japan I was asked by strangers if I was Finnish - which just seemed strange to me. I could never work out why Finland seemed to have a higher profile. Somebody mentioned that the Japanese approved of the fact that Finland is a very homogenous country, which was true back in the 90s at least. Overall I think all the Scandinavian countries classify as "exotic" from a Japansese perspective. Very interesting to hear from Captain Haddock that Japan has a European born MP! Well done him - that's quite a feat he's pulled off... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5718 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 36 of 100 03 December 2009 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
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My personal favorite misconception about languages is that some Americans actually claim English spelling is phonetic. This seems even more ridiculous to me when I find out that these people, who are always native speakers, often can't spell.
Another one is that English and German or Dutch are mutually intelligible, and if you know one of the three you can easily converse with speakers of the other two languages. I've heard Spanish speakers say this sometimes. That certain languages are impossible for non-native speakers learn. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Rowena Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6373 days ago 21 posts - 26 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 37 of 100 04 December 2009 at 4:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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A handful of Canadians I've met who say they "don't have accents" because they speak "just like Americans."
As if American English as a whole is the neutral, accentless basis for the world! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6453 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 38 of 100 04 December 2009 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
Which American English accent do you have in mind? Perhaps some Canadians do indeed sound like some Americans, but there are plenty of Americans who definitely do not sound Canadian. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5605 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 39 of 100 04 December 2009 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think that there's a pretty good argument to be made that in the modern world, if there is any overall standard English accent, it's that of Mid-Atlantic, Upper Midwestern, and West Coast regions of the US. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Gusutafu Senior Member Sweden Joined 5315 days ago 655 posts - 1039 votes Speaks: Swedish* | Message 40 of 100 04 December 2009 at 8:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
Why would that be so? Does that happen to be your own dialect? I don't think that many people outside America would agree with this, not even many people within the borders. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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