Cat Using toilet and toilet paper

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

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.

--
It's a pity you don't have a friend in Germany to phone so you
can not have an underdose, but rather an overdose
Brits are dreadful at languages. We think all the world speaks
English so we don't try much to learn any other language. So
arrogant.

Tweed


Bro and dad are quite fluent at German, so I wouldn't need to
phone anyone in Germany (and I couldn't afford it by normal phone
either, but Skype would work).

And if you forgive me for being blunt, it seems most people who
speak English as their first and foremost (only) language, seem to
think everybody else should speak English too. So I wouldn't say
it's just the Brits...

I know in my case, difficulty in learning a second language amounts
to a learning disability. I tried very hard, really I did. My dad
was the same way. He grew up in Canada where nearly everyone
manages to learn some French. It is usually a required subject. He
didn't learn much of it and didn't retain any of it.

Perhaps because they have been able to 'get away with it' this
particular disability has become more common for those who's only
language is English.

Jo

Christine BA wrote:
Well we pretty much *have to* learn other languages if we want to get
around in the world. There just aren't all that many around who speak
Finnish or Swedish in the world...especially Finnish

I once had somebody come up to me and ask something in Finnish when
I was on holiday in Rhodes. It's a big enough destination for Finns
that some of the Greeks working in the tourist industry learn it, and
I guess this guy was hoping to make an impression.

I try to keep score of the languages people have have come up to me
and tried out of the blue. Welsh and Arabic have been among the more
hopeful ones. I think I look more Central European than most people
in Scotland, so almost anything might be worth a try.

==== 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 ******

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

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.

--
It's a pity you don't have a friend in Germany to phone so you can not
have an underdose, but rather an overdose
Brits are dreadful at languages. We think all the world speaks
English so we don't try much to learn any other language. So arrogant.

Tweed


Bro and dad are quite fluent at German, so I wouldn't need to phone
anyone in Germany (and I couldn't afford it by normal phone either, but
Skype would work).

And if you forgive me for being blunt, it seems most people who speak
English as their first and foremost (only) language, seem to think
everybody else should speak English too. So I wouldn't say it's just the
Brits...


Well, if someone is monolingual in English, or in any other language for
that matter, he or she doesn't have much choice than to hope that
someone else speaks their language. The difference between people who ar
monolingual in English and, say, Finnish or Italian, is that
English-speakers have a better chance of finding someone who speaks
English as an additional language because of the status of English as a
language of international diplomacy, trade and science.

Of course, when many native speakers of a language can travel most of a
continent without ever needing to speak another language, they'll have
little motivation to learn another language and very little opportunity
to practice one.

Cheryl

--
Cheryl

On Oct 2, 8:41*pm, "Jofirey" wrote:


I know in my case, difficulty in learning a second language amounts
to a learning disability. *

Same here as I've mentioned before the "learning other languages" gene
in our family went to my youngest brother who speaks 5 languages to
advanced level- 2 of them to "mother tongue" standards, I mean when he
was 15 he informed me that "War and Peace" lost a lot in translation-
it was much better to read it in Russian. He can also get by in
varying degrees in another 6-7 lanugages. The only language
examination he did not get straight "A"'s in was English!

I think through in the UK part of it may be down to when you went to
school- when I was at school the only language they taught in
secondary schools was French and they didn't teach below that level so
you weren't exposed to languages until you were 11! I believe research
suggests the earlier children start to learn languages the easier
they'll find it. What probably didn't help was I had a truly bad
French teacher- the rule was as soon as you entered the classroom you
couldn't say anything in English only the teacher could- if someone
did- the class would stop, we'd spend the rest of the lesson sitting
with our hands in the air and the teacher would walk round with a 12
inch ruler and if she spotted someone's hands trembling (these were
half hour lessons and sometimes it would happen early on you can
imagine how numb and shaky your hands went) she'd smack them across
the palm of the hand with the ruler. Now that rule applied after the
very first lesson where we learn "Bonjour" "Bonsoir" and "Je
m'apelle" (excuse spelling "My name is") so the next lesson we caught
when someone wanted to leave the room 5 minutes in and didn't know the
French for it as she hadn't been taught. We actually managed to get
through half an hour of lessons without stoppages by about year 3.....

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

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

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.

--
It's a pity you don't have a friend in Germany to phone so you can not
have an underdose, but rather an overdose
Brits are dreadful at languages. We think all the world speaks English
so we don't try much to learn any other language. So arrogant.

Tweed


Bro and dad are quite fluent at German, so I wouldn't need to phone anyone
in Germany (and I couldn't afford it by normal phone either, but Skype
would work).

And if you forgive me for being blunt, it seems most people who speak
English as their first and foremost (only) language, seem to think
everybody else should speak English too. So I wouldn't say it's just the
Brits...


N sent me a book called "how to be an alien" It was written by a man whose
first language was not English. He told of a time when he very nearly
married an Englidh woman but he told her he thought his mother wouldn't like
it if he married a foreigner.
She replied "I'm *not* a foreigner, I am English"
Made me laugh as it's so true of Brits.
Everyone else is a foreigner but not us!

Tweed

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

--
It's a pity you don't have a friend in Germany to phone so you can not
have an underdose, but rather an overdose
Brits are dreadful at languages. We think all the world speaks English
so we don't try much to learn any other language. So arrogant.

Tweed

Bro and dad are quite fluent at German, so I wouldn't need to phone anyone
in Germany (and I couldn't afford it by normal phone either, but Skype
would work).

And if you forgive me for being blunt, it seems most people who speak
English as their first and foremost (only) language, seem to think
everybody else should speak English too. So I wouldn't say it's just the
Brits...


N sent me a book called "how to be an alien" It was written by a man whose
first language was not English. He told of a time when he very nearly
married an Englidh woman but he told her he thought his mother wouldn't like
it if he married a foreigner.
She replied "I'm *not* a foreigner, I am English"
Made me laugh as it's so true of Brits.
Everyone else is a foreigner but not us!

Tweed


LOL!!

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

wrote in message
...

I've made some effort to learn another language, but have been only
partially successful. Most of the time, I end up speaking English with
people whose English isn't nearly as good as my Spanish. Unfortunately,
as I've said before, I can't understand the spoken word very well. Maybe
I should speak Spanish with a Spanish-speaker while they respond in
English.


That's good idea, actually!
Spanish would be far more useful to you than to me. I don't know anyone who
has Spanish as a first language.
Gujerati would probably be of most use to me as we have a very large Indian
Hindu population in my nearest town.
One of my social worker friends tried to learn it - it's made more difficult
as it doesn't use the same alphabet. She thought it would be a good idea,
because she is a mental health social worker, to be able to speak to a
distressed person in their own language. Even just a bit.
She found it so difficult that after a month or two all she could say with
confidence was "My name is XXXXXX. I am a social worker.." so she gave up.


Tweed

"MatSav" matthew | dot | savage | at | dsl | dot | pipex | dot | com wrote
in message ...
wrote in message
...
Christine BA wrote:

And if you forgive me for being blunt, it seems most people who speak
English as their first and foremost (only) language, seem to think
everybody else should speak English too. So I wouldn't say it's just
the
Brits...

Yeah, native English speakers in the US aren't so great about this,
either. However (and I can't speak for anyone else on this) I don't
*expect* everyone else to be able to speak English. But I'm pretty
dependent on the fact that so many people do speak it. Maybe it doesn't
matter so much on the receiving end?...

cut 'n paste from another forum, discussing single travellers staying at
Youth Hostels in the UK

"My favourite was while working at a Youth Hostel in London, when a young
lady, obviously from North America, came up to the desk and drawled:
"Excuse me, but do you speak English?"

For once, I had sufficient presence of mind to lean forward and say,
"Madam, we invented the language!" "

:-)

I wish I'd said that!!

Tweed

Christina Websell wrote:

Spanish would be far more useful to you than to me. I don't know anyone who
has Spanish as a first language.
Gujerati would probably be of most use to me as we have a very large Indian
Hindu population in my nearest town.
One of my social worker friends tried to learn it - it's made more difficult
as it doesn't use the same alphabet. She thought it would be a good idea,
because she is a mental health social worker, to be able to speak to a
distressed person in their own language. Even just a bit.
She found it so difficult that after a month or two all she could say with
confidence was "My name is XXXXXX. I am a social worker.." so she gave up.

I would imagine that an Indian language would be much more difficult for
a native English speaker to learn than any Romance language - or most European
languages, actually.

Joyce


--
"Ignorance is bliss - alas, only for the ignoramus."
-- sign on www.sorryeverybody.com/gallery/1/

"Granby" wrote in message

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
In ,
ScratchMonkey typed:
"Yowie" wrote in
:

I'd never heard of anyone being discreet about toilet paper until I
joined Usenet - it seems only to be Americans that tend not to say
the full words. Don't know why.

The same reason many other words (ie. "swear" words, and Carlin's
"seven") aren't used in public: It's a class thing. Middle class
people want to look upper class and NOT look lower class, so they
don't use "vulgar" (ie. common) language. Americans are particularly
vulnerable to this inferiority complex, and I think mothers most of
all (because they want their kids to aspire to be upper class).

My mother had no problem swearing up a storm, but woe if I dared to
let loose such a word. Of course, once she was out of ear shot, I
could tell all my friends all about my rich vocabulary that I
learned *from her*.

Strange.... I would never have thought 'toilet paper' as vulgar.

Will have to remember this if I ever got to the USA.

Or, I'll embarass whoever I'm visiting at the time by yelling in the
supermarket at the top of my Aussie lungs "WHICH AISLE HAS THE BOG
ROLLS?" hehehehehe

Oooohhhhh come to my town and do that PLEASE. Would be a hoot.

Oh no, Granby, if I ever get to *your* town, I have to dress up in black
leather Dominatrix gear, and slap you with a kipper. Then, and only then,
can we go bog roll shopping :-)

Yowie
--
If you're paddling upstream in a canoe and a wheel falls off, how many
pancakes can you fit in a doghouse? None, icecream doesn't have bones.