Cat Using toilet and toilet paper

"Christine BA" wrote in message
...

My active German (speaking it myself) has rusted a bit, the
passive side, reading and listening, is doing OK. We speak
Swedish at home... err... with my parents, always have. When
dad calculates something, for example, he does it in German.
And of course he speaks German too. Sometimes we speak German,
sometimes Russian (dad's mum was Russian), just for fun. And
when DH's around my family, we speak English, even though his
English isn't very good, and neither is that of my parents, but
they get along. And if need be, I give DH the "Readers' Digest"
version of the ongoing discussion in French, if some other
language is used or he hasn't been able to follow. But I'm
still not fluent in French, just a lot better at it than I was
about a year ago. It's a multilingual environment here...

OK, back to English after our little aside in German :-) (Yes, it
made sense to me, with a little thought and trawling of
long-forgotten memories).

We're lazy in the UK. The "average" British tourist just raises
their voice when they're not being understood :-( My late father
worked with a Greek man who could speak, read, and write
*fourteen* languages - fluently. Languages from A to Z,
literally - Arabic to Zulu (Swahili) ! He just had a natural
talent for learning and using any language, and he was much in
demand for his translation skills - particularly as he worked for
British Airways at Heathrow Airport :-) Having English agreed as
the international language of air travel must have been one of
the major factors in its widespread use today.

I recall going to the station "buffet" at Zurich Hauptbahnhof
(main railway station) in Switzerland with my brother. It was
more of a restaurant than a snack place. The menu was in German.
I translated to English, my brother ordered in French, and the
waiter replied in English - though his mother tongue was
obviously Italian!

--
MatSav

I recall going to the station "buffet" at Zurich Hauptbahnhof
(main railway station) in Switzerland with my brother. It was
more of a restaurant than a snack place. The menu was in German.
I translated to English, my brother ordered in French, and the
waiter replied in English - though his mother tongue was
obviously Italian!

My most multilingual experience was in a train compartment going
from Istanbul to Thessaloniki. Me, two Syrians, and a Portuguese
couple. One of the Syrians spoke only Arabic, the other spoke
Arabic and Turkish. I spoke English and Turkish. The Portuguese
woman spoke English and Portuguese, her boyfriend only Portuguese.
I don't think much of the conversation made it all the way from
Arabic to Portuguese and back.

==== j a c k at c a m p i n . m e . u k === http://www.campin.me.uk ====
Jack Campin, 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland == mob 07800 739 557
CD-ROMs and free stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, and Mac logic fonts
****** I killfile Google posts - email me if you want to be whitelisted ******

Jack Campin - bogus address wrote:

My most multilingual experience was in a train compartment going
from Istanbul to Thessaloniki. Me, two Syrians, and a Portuguese
couple. One of the Syrians spoke only Arabic, the other spoke
Arabic and Turkish. I spoke English and Turkish. The Portuguese
woman spoke English and Portuguese, her boyfriend only Portuguese.
I don't think much of the conversation made it all the way from
Arabic to Portuguese and back.

That sounds like an advanced form of the Telephone game. (Or "Pass
the Secret", as we used to call it.) So if the Portuguese-speaking
guy wanted to say something to the Syrian who spoke only Arabic, the
message might be rather garbled by the time it made it through all
those translations.

Joyce

--
Something you'll never hear an 8-year-old say:
"Nana, will you spit on your hankie and wipe the gravy off my face?"

Yowie wrote:

I hated French and subsequently failed it at school. I was *far* better at
German, although no where near as good at it as the rest of my subjects. I
did six months worth of each language when I was 13, and when we got to
choose which subjects were were going to do, foreign language was the one of
the first ones dropped (the first one was sewing - I was much worse at
sewing than I as even at French, and still am.)

My mother had loved and was good at French when she was in school, so
from a young age, I was prepped to study French when I reached the grade
where it was taught. I started in 7th grade and took it every year until
I graduated high school - 6 years in all, but even then I had not attained
fluency. I didn't hate the language, I liked it, but I just wasn't that
good at picking it up.

In college, I needed to fill a language requirement, so I decided to try
Spanish. That one really clicked for me and I picked it up quickly. I
was only required to take two semesters, but I took it for 5 semesters
instead. I also did a lot of stuff on my own - read books, listened to
Spanish-language radio, got involved with Latin American events, etc. My
level of fluency was pretty good, and at one point I even considered
changing my major in college (from computer science - glad I was smart
enough not to do that! )

Ironically, although I acquired far more vocabulary in Spanish than
in French, I find it a lot easier to pick up French words than Spanish,
when watching movies in the respective languages. I don't think I could
put together a French sentence, but I understand a lot more than I can
say. With Spanish it's the complete opposite. I don't understand why
that is.

Joyce

PS - I liked sewing OK in school, but now I consider it an essential
skill. Clothes rarely fit me off the rack, so I do a lot of tailoring.
I make a lot of other stuff, too - pillows, curtains, etc., including
a slip cover for a large trunk that I use for storage. It's made of
wood, but is covered in a decorative weave made of some kind of straw.
It looked fine until a certain tuxedo-wearing individual decided that
the straw weave made an excellent scratching post.

--
Beauty and music seduce us first; later, ashamed of our own
sensuality, we insist on meaning. -- Clive Barker

wrote in message
...
Yowie wrote:

I hated French and subsequently failed it at school. I was *far*
better at
German, although no where near as good at it as the rest of my
subjects. I
did six months worth of each language when I was 13, and when we
got to
choose which subjects were were going to do, foreign language
was the one of
the first ones dropped (the first one was sewing - I was much
worse at
sewing than I as even at French, and still am.)

My mother had loved and was good at French when she was in school,
so
from a young age, I was prepped to study French when I reached the
grade
where it was taught. I started in 7th grade and took it every year
until
I graduated high school - 6 years in all, but even then I had not
attained
fluency. I didn't hate the language, I liked it, but I just wasn't
that
good at picking it up.

In college, I needed to fill a language requirement, so I decided
to try
Spanish. That one really clicked for me and I picked it up
quickly. I
was only required to take two semesters, but I took it for 5
semesters
instead. I also did a lot of stuff on my own - read books,
listened to
Spanish-language radio, got involved with Latin American events,
etc. My
level of fluency was pretty good, and at one point I even
considered
changing my major in college (from computer science - glad I was
smart
enough not to do that! )

Ironically, although I acquired far more vocabulary in Spanish
than
in French, I find it a lot easier to pick up French words than
Spanish,
when watching movies in the respective languages. I don't think I
could
put together a French sentence, but I understand a lot more than I
can
say. With Spanish it's the complete opposite. I don't understand
why
that is.

Joyce


I'm terrible at languages. I figure I'm lucky I can even manage in
English. But I think part of your problem might be that French is
fairly standardized. What you hear in a movie will be very similar
to the French you learned in school. Not a huge number of accents
and dialects wandering around.

Spanish? People that speak fluent Spanish are lucky to understand
all the variations out there. Doesn't help when you are taught one
version (or a few in my case) only to run into a totally different
version and accent.

Doesn't help if you are taught by the ill equipped like I was. One
of my Spanish teachers was fluent - in Portuguese. Another had
learned a bit of Spanish in Mexico while living there for a few
years with her missionary husband. My tutor spoke Castilian. The
rest I've picked up, when I could hear, listening in on
conversational Spanish because I'm just plain nosy and like to
listen in on other's conversations. Plus I've lived in California
for nearly forty years where just about everyone speaks some degree
of Spanglish.

Jo

wrote:

My mother had loved and was good at French when she was in school, so
from a young age, I was prepped to study French when I reached the grade
where it was taught. I started in 7th grade and took it every year until
I graduated high school - 6 years in all, but even then I had not attained
fluency. I didn't hate the language, I liked it, but I just wasn't that
good at picking it up.

In college, I needed to fill a language requirement, so I decided to try
Spanish. That one really clicked for me and I picked it up quickly. I
was only required to take two semesters, but I took it for 5 semesters
instead. I also did a lot of stuff on my own - read books, listened to
Spanish-language radio, got involved with Latin American events, etc. My
level of fluency was pretty good, and at one point I even considered
changing my major in college (from computer science - glad I was smart
enough not to do that! )

Ironically, although I acquired far more vocabulary in Spanish thano
in French, I find it a lot easier to pick up French words than Spanish,
when watching movies in the respective languages. I don't think I could
put together a French sentence, but I understand a lot more than I can
say. With Spanish it's the complete opposite. I don't understand why
that is.

Joyce

PS - I liked sewing OK in school, but now I consider it an essential
skill. Clothes rarely fit me off the rack, so I do a lot of tailoring.
I make a lot of other stuff, too - pillows, curtains, etc., including
a slip cover for a large trunk that I use for storage. It's made of
wood, but is covered in a decorative weave made of some kind of straw.
It looked fine until a certain tuxedo-wearing individual decided that
the straw weave made an excellent scratching post.


I'm ashamed to admit how many years I studied French without becoming
fluent. We did little oral French in my small-town school, but plenty of
people had the same disadvantage and became reasonably fluent. At one
point, I could read in French reasonably well, and understand speech, if
people slowed down enough and didn't have a strong regional accent. I
dabbled in several other languages, but never was as 'good' in them as I
was in French.

My school offered sewing to the Grade 7 or 8 girls for a short period.
That was about the most useful thing I learned in school. I've made and
repaired clothes, made cushions - and, a really big savings - made curtains.

--
Cheryl

"Christine BA" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell kirjoitti:

Tweed
P.S. I offered to try and learn German - she said "don't bother, you're
too old.."
Tact lessons needed.


One is never too old to learn, it's the motivation to learn that is the
key, not the age. If you really want to learn something, you can.


Yes, but it seems to be not necessary. N would prefer to practice her
English on me rather than I learn German. Nobody speaks English where she
lives. Out in the wilds there.
She complains of an English "underdose" if we don't speak on the phone
often - there is no-one else to speak English to her.

I'll be visiting her next year again in May or June. I may come home with
more German words. I did try some but N's husband said " aww, nice." which
suggests they sounded a bit stupid.

Tweed

Christina Websell kirjoitti:
"Christine BA" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell kirjoitti:
Tweed
P.S. I offered to try and learn German - she said "don't bother, you're
too old.."
Tact lessons needed.

One is never too old to learn, it's the motivation to learn that is the
key, not the age. If you really want to learn something, you can.


Yes, but it seems to be not necessary. N would prefer to practice her
English on me rather than I learn German. Nobody speaks English where she
lives. Out in the wilds there.
She complains of an English "underdose" if we don't speak on the phone
often - there is no-one else to speak English to her.

I'll be visiting her next year again in May or June. I may come home with
more German words. I did try some but N's husband said " aww, nice." which
suggests they sounded a bit stupid.

Tweed


I'm having a German "underdose" at the moment. I've suggested to my
brother and father that we could speak German now and then, just to
activate my vocabulary, as our German-speaking clients (two of them)
haven't been very active lately.

And of course, in Germany all tv-programs, films and whatever are dubbed
in German, so one wouldn't get any English that way either. I prefer
programs subtitled than dubbed. That way I hear the film like it's
supposed to be, and not with all the Tom Cruises and Samuel L. Jacksons
speaking German (or French in the programs DH watches).

--
Christine in Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com

Christina Websell kirjoitti:
"Christine BA" wrote in message
...
Christina Websell kirjoitti:
Tweed
P.S. I offered to try and learn German - she said "don't bother, you're
too old.."
Tact lessons needed.

One is never too old to learn, it's the motivation to learn that is the
key, not the age. If you really want to learn something, you can.


Yes, but it seems to be not necessary. N would prefer to practice her
English on me rather than I learn German. Nobody speaks English where she
lives. Out in the wilds there.
She complains of an English "underdose" if we don't speak on the phone
often - there is no-one else to speak English to her.

I'll be visiting her next year again in May or June. I may come home with
more German words. I did try some but N's husband said " aww, nice." which
suggests they sounded a bit stupid.

Tweed


I'm having a German "underdose" at the moment. I've suggested to my
brother and father that we could speak German now and then, just to
activate my vocabulary, as our German-speaking clients (two of them)
haven't been very active lately.

And of course, in Germany all tv-programs, films and whatever are dubbed
in German, so one wouldn't get any English that way either. I prefer
programs subtitled than dubbed. That way I hear the film like it's
supposed to be, and not with all the Tom Cruises and Samuel L. Jacksons
speaking German (or French in the programs DH watches).

--
Christine in Finland
christal63 (at) gmail (dot) com

Christine BA wrote:

And of course, in Germany all tv-programs, films and whatever are dubbed
in German, so one wouldn't get any English that way either. I prefer
programs subtitled than dubbed. That way I hear the film like it's
supposed to be, and not with all the Tom Cruises and Samuel L. Jacksons
speaking German (or French in the programs DH watches).

LOL - around here, the Tom Cruises and Samuel L. Jacksons speak
Spanish when the movies they're in are dubbed for the Mexican stations.
They're a multilingual bunch.

Joyce

--
A clean house is a sign of a broken computer.