Favorite Quotes

[Galaxiom]

According to AI

I didn't have AI to resort to when I investigated while learning Spanish in 1994.

Rules always have exceptions (excepciónes).

Also I said backwards because it was Spanish words that came to English so those with "cion" endings are prevalent in English but not so much the reverse.

 

[KitaYama]

I didn't have AI to resort to when I investigated while learning Spanish in 1994.

Rules always have exceptions (excepciónes).

Also I said backwards because it was Spanish words that came to English so those with "cion" endings are prevalent in English but not so much the reverse.

I even have problems with my own native language, so learning Spanish is beyond me. Compared to other languages, English is simpler, which is why I started learning it. I really admire those who can speak Spanish, French, or German.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Then, of course, there are the mixture languages. In the early 1700s, French settlers lived in what is now Canada, in the Nova Scotia (New Scotland) region, in a place called Arcadia. However, due to expenses incurred in the almost-never-ending French wars of that period, France sold Canada to England, which promptly required all Canadians to swear allegiance to the King of England. As our late humorist/historian Justin Wilson tells the story, they would not swear TO the king, they would only swear AT him. In the mid-1700s, the "Acadian Diaspora" began, with people sailing south to find the other major French settlement near New Orleans. However, we had other incursions. At different times, many different flags have flown over the city of New Orleans. That would be the French (royal, or "Bourbon") flag, the Spanish flag, the French tricolor (republic) flag, the English flag, the USA flag. Jefferson bought Louisiana from the French republic. Paid cash, too! We were under the flag of the Confederate states for a couple of years. That's six flags. The other two flags are the city's own flag and the State of Louisiana - a total of eight flags. But we also had immigrants from Germany, Ireland (during the early 1800s potato famine), and many people from the Caribbean and Africa, some related to slave trade but others not at all involving slavery. So we have some central African words as well.

So is it any surprise that anyone who speaks Cajun French absolutely cannot understand or be understood by a speaker of Parisian French?

Simple examples: In "Paree" French, "I don't know" is "je ne sais pas" but in Cajun French it is "pas ca ne." In "Paree" French, a potato is "pomme de terre" (apple of the earth) but in Cajun it is "potat." And the ethnicity "Cajun" is actually linguistic drift from "Acadian". My mother-in-law spoke accented English but also spoke Cajun fluently. When I told her my ancestry research could prove that her family had, in fact, come from Acadia, Nova Scotia when the Cajuns arrived, she lit up like a Christmas tree to learn that she had a provable human "pedigree." It was as good, to her, as it is for some folks to say their ancestors came over on the Mayflower from England.

 

[Isaac]

Some Wisconsin address begin with a letter followed by a number. This gave Google map fits until a few years ago.

Actually you're right, a couple decades ago my parents' address changed from the 'regular' format to N#### Owen Ave, quite strange but they said it had something to do with the 911 system. My dad threw quite a fit about this, as it felt like an invasion of his identity!

 

[DickyP]

I even have problems with my own native language, so learning Spanish is beyond me. Compared to other languages, English is simpler, which is why I started learning it. I really admire those who can speak Spanish, French, or German.

I, because I have been married to a German teacher for many. many years have met a number of foreigners (German French, Spanish and Italian) who teach English. There common refrain is that English, despite its idiosyncrasies, is the easiest language to get started with as it has the simplest underlying structure, You can be up and started with a limited vocabulary very quickly. It is the progression from there that is more difficult.

German, my best foreign language, is easy - simple rules and simple spelling. It is easier to 'hear' than French which to English ears often just sounds like noise.

The problem most of the teachers report is the wide differences and conflicts in words, meanings, and pronunciation between US and English English (not to mention Irish, Scottish, Australian and Welsh variations/accents etc!).

 

[The_Doc_Man]

It is easier to 'hear' than French which to English ears often just sounds like noise.

Not as a criticism, but as near as I can tell, the 'fluid' patterns of French include the feature called elision - verbal suppression of certain harsh letters at the end of the word so that the beginning of the next word can flow together. Also, when two words have a flowing end on one and a flowing beginning on the other, they get pronounced more like syllables of the same word rather than as two words. J'taime ("Je" + "te" + "aime") for "I love you".

While German can be a jawbreaker sometimes, the language is strictly phonetic. If you see it and have a moment to think about the longer words, you can correctly pronounce anything - though some of the umlauted vowels can be tricky because English doesn't normally have at least some of those sounds so we don't automatically know what they sound like until someone demonstrates them for us.

 

[DickyP]

.. some of the umlauted vowels can be tricky because English doesn't normally have at least some of those sounds so we don't automatically know what they sound like until someone demonstrates them for us.

Agreed - the only real 'killer' is 'ü' which most English ears can't hear as it just like another regional variant of 'u'.

 

[Isaac]

I even have problems with my own native language, so learning Spanish is beyond me. Compared to other languages, English is simpler, which is why I started learning it. I really admire those who can speak Spanish, French, or German.

That's an interesting and rare perspective, as I've always heard Europeans say English was their hardest language to learn. I speak fluent spanish, and I can appreciate it has a lot more rules than English does that actually work phonetically and spelling wise.
But maybe there is something about your native language and English that has similarities and makes it easier? don't know.

 

[Mark_]

Overheard an odd conversation in the 80's. German soldier was talking to a German truck driver in English. After their conversation, I asked why they had not conversed auf Deutch.

Soldier, from Northern Germany, responded "He's Swabian. I can't talk like that because I can't fit enough fingers in my mouth".

 

[moke123]

When we were kids driving through Connecticut we used to giggle passing this sign.
Thank god they chose "Welcome to . . ." rather than "Now Entering . . ."

 

[KitaYama]

German, my best foreign language, is easy -

Are you sure about that?

But maybe there is something about your native language and English that has similarities and makes it easier?

That's absolutely correct.

I tried learning French at one point. When I was reading a poem in class, the teacher stopped me and said, “You sound like a Nigerian who just moved to Paris.” That was enough for me to realize my pronunciation probably wasn’t going to improve much.
So I switched to German.
Man… the number of grammar rules you have to remember just to use a simple word was killing me.

The fact that my native language is much simpler than English, makes English much easier to learn than many other languages.

My difficulties with French and German

• Grammatical gender : How is anyone supposed to memorize the gender of every object? Honestly, a lot of people are still confused about their own gender.
• Case system (especially German) : A noun changes depending on its role in the sentence: nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive. For example: "der Mann" vs "den Mann". Same word, different forms depending on how it's used.
• Verb conjugation : Verbs change depending on the subject. In English it’s mostly simple (talk → talks for the third person).
• Complex tenses : English often uses auxiliary verbs instead of changing the verb itself (am going). In many other languages the verb forms change a lot.
• Extra letters : é, à, ç, œ, ä, ö, ü, ß. Even if I hear them a million times, I still can’t pronounce them properly.
• Sentence structure : German word order can be very different. (Ich habe das Buch gelesen which literally is: “I have the book read”).

Why English is easier for us to learn:

• Very simple verb conjugation : In my native language verbs never change. In English they change only for the third person.
• Fixed word order Subject – Verb – Object. Nice and predictable.
• Plural forms are usually simple : cars, PCs, speakers.(of course every language has some exceptions : Advice-Child)
• Simpler grammar overall
• Familiar loanwords : We already use many English words such as computer, hotel, table, bike, etc.
• A lot more, but I have to go back to my job

 

[Isaac]

How is anyone supposed to memorize the gender of every object? Honestly, a lot of people are still confused about their own gender

Yeah, Spanish has the same annoying aspect but it usually depends on how the word ends

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Of course, being the oddball in high school, I took two years of Latin, which has gendered nouns and adjectives plus verb declensions. (EDIT: Verb conjugations - I always get declension and conjugation confused since I haven't dealt with them in 60 years.) I have to agree that German is easier than Latin but their word order caused you headaches in complex sentences. For instance, if some crazy politician is telling you "I will raise your taxes, confiscate your bank accounts, and sleep with your daughter", you can't get upset until he reaches the end of the sentence. You have to wait to hear if he included "nicht" (not) at the end.

In college I had to take German and my instructor, Herr Goodrum, told us about waiting for the ends of sentences to see what was and what wasn't being negated. So I'm not making it up. Can't tell you if HE was teasing or not.

 

[DickyP]

I am for ever grateful that I did Latin for 5 years. It's where I learned my grammar, and it's so useful working out what unknown words mean. Also did Greek which was less useful.

Best thing about Latin was, for a teenage boy, the original material was full of blood, sex and adventures.

Waiting for the end of a sentence is long gone in German, except in the most formal circumstances.

 

[NauticalGent]

Best thing about Latin was, for a teenage boy, the original material was full of blood, sex and adventures.

What more can you ask for...?

 

[Isaac]

One thing I hate about spanish is that it takes more to reach the same message. @DickyP is that what you meant about German too?
For example, if you take virtually any sentence in English, then translate it to spanish, you'll take 50%-100% longer to say it in spanish. I've always wondered if that cuts into their productivity. Count total # of syllables, which is also why it's hard to translate songs with rhythms from english into spanish, but the opposite is easier. SAme with listening to people translate, the original english speaker pauses what he thinks is a reasonable pause, but it takes longer than they think for the spanish person to translate it

"I want to go home".
"Quiero ir a la casa"

"You really look nice in that dress".
"De veras te vees muy bonita en esa ropa/falda [whatever]"

"where is the car"
"donde esta el carro"

 

[DickyP]

I have several books both in English and in German. The latter are gerally longer, but not because of more words but because of longer words. My favourite is duplicator which in German is Vervielfältigungsapparat - it's no wonder they're adopting English words!