Native languages?

Textkit is a learning community- introduce yourself here. Use the Open Board to introduce yourself, chat about off-topic issues and get to know each other.
User avatar
Lex
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 732
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:34 pm
Location: A top-secret underground llama lair.

Post by Lex »

1%homeless wrote:And around here, I keep hearing people say German is a harsh and ugly language. It hurts and pisses me off that people so misunderstand German because of it's association to hitler speech films.
I don't think it has anything to do with Nazism or Hitler. It's just that German enunciation is, relative to English, very hard. All the consonants that English shares with German tend to be more plosive in German. Then there are the gutterals, which sound harsh to people whose native language doesn't have them. And the vowel pronunciation is not as relaxed as in English, which also gives an impression of rigidity to English ears. At least, that's my impression.

Hebrew has some of the same qualities. I don't personally like the sound of any Semitic language, but that's probably partly because I live above a Lebanese couple who fight in Arabic all the time. :x

Welsh I don't know enough about.

I don't think that expressing aesthetic opinions about languages is rude in and of itself. It just depends on how it's done.
I, Lex Llama, super genius, will one day rule this planet! And then you'll rue the day you messed with me, you damned dirty apes!

User avatar
Lex
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 732
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:34 pm
Location: A top-secret underground llama lair.

Post by Lex »

Episcopus wrote:Well here in Wales French is seen to be the language of queer people. Je suis d'accord avec cela :wink:
In American popular culture, an English accent (albeit usually RP, not cockney) is often used to denote the "nancy boy". Witness Pip from South Park.
I, Lex Llama, super genius, will one day rule this planet! And then you'll rue the day you messed with me, you damned dirty apes!

Episcopus
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2003 8:57 pm

Post by Episcopus »

I dislike also semitic languages...but arabic has some nice facets...I can't really explain when they hang onto a short a and air is released but that's funky. Plus arabic music is mysterious. And women who dance in those golden and red outfits.



"And around here, I keep hearing people say German is a harsh and ugly language. It hurts and pisses me off that people so misunderstand German because of it's association to hitler speech films. "

Indeed. You can't stop that. The german exchange students in our school were faced with much hostility. I just don't think any one will forget things that's all...and the ignorance of some stupid kids not even involved...

Kalailan
Textkit Member
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:44 am
Contact:

Post by Kalailan »

mingshey wrote: for even Korean can be musical when it's spoken by some foreigners. :D
i only heard korean once, and the person was korean. maybe the fact that she is a violist has something to do with the musicality i 'liked' about korean.

i wish i would know more korean... i only know the following words:
kamsahamnida, mianhamnida, aniong, aniong haseo, and also chellbo with a really weird 'l'. how is it pronounced?

User avatar
1%homeless
Textkit Enthusiast
Posts: 440
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2003 6:21 am
Location: East Hollywood
Contact:

Post by 1%homeless »

I'm disapointed Episcopus, you didn't even mention a negative thing about Welsh. :D Does queer mean gay in England? I have to get myself an English English dictionary. :-) My favorite word thus far is bint, even though I don't have a fluent understanding of it.
I had a friend from Spain in college (UT-Austin) say Mexican Spanish sounded effeminate!
That's funny, I once saw this Mexican girl mock Spain Spainish with a haughty gesture. I'll use Lex's term to describe what she looked like when mocking Spain Spanish: "nancy boy".
("Gothic" as in Germanic tribes of the sort that caused the Romans troubles, not people wearing black and smoking clove cigarettes).
Haha, smoking cloves... I like this stereotype. It works for me. Here is one person renaming it to Gotish.

http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gutrazda/why.html

mingshey
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1338
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2003 6:38 am
Location: Seoul
Contact:

Post by mingshey »

Kalailan wrote: i only heard korean once, and the person was korean. maybe the fact that she is a violist has something to do with the musicality i 'liked' about korean.
Hmm, that seems to explain. :)
i wish i would know more korean... i only know the following words:
kamsahamnida, mianhamnida, aniong, aniong haseo, and also chellbo with a really weird 'l'. how is it pronounced?
Well, I don't know what is "chellbo". Korean 'l'(or 'r', we don't distinguish them in Korean) is pronounced with your tongue in position of English 'd' or 't'. So some 'd' or 't's in english words are recognised as Korean 'r/l'. For example, 'data' as many an american pronounces, we hear it as 'dera'. And 'editor' as 'erirol'. Japanese 'r' has similar property, as far as I know.

Keesa
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1108
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2003 10:59 pm

Post by Keesa »

Wow! That is almost as strange as the Greek alphabet. :wink:

I love looking at the differences between languages. Even between English speakers, the differences in pronunciation are sometimes hilarious.

Kalailan
Textkit Member
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:44 am
Contact:

Post by Kalailan »

mingshey wrote:
Kalailan wrote: i only heard korean once, and the person was korean. maybe the fact that she is a violist has something to do with the musicality i 'liked' about korean.
Hmm, that seems to explain. :)
i wish i would know more korean... i only know the following words:
kamsahamnida, mianhamnida, aniong, aniong haseo, and also chellbo with a really weird 'l'. how is it pronounced?
Well, I don't know what is "chellbo". Korean 'l'(or 'r', we don't distinguish them in Korean) is pronounced with your tongue in position of English 'd' or 't'. So some 'd' or 't's in english words are recognised as Korean 'r/l'. For example, 'data' as many an american pronounces, we hear it as 'dera'. And 'editor' as 'erirol'. Japanese 'r' has similar property, as far as I know.
something is suspicious here.... was she lying to me?
and about the r's, i tried to teach her how to say R the way israelis do(germans too) that was hilarious. :lol:
she said about every letter instead of R.
now, i remember that Nure or Nule was song, but what is the past tense for the verb to sing in korean?
or the imperative?. cause that's what Ronen means.

does mingshey mean anything?

mingshey
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1338
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2003 6:38 am
Location: Seoul
Contact:

Post by mingshey »

I think this thread has become something we should discuss in pm. So, I'll post the reply in a pm. ;)

mingshey
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1338
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2003 6:38 am
Location: Seoul
Contact:

Yuck!

Post by mingshey »


Emma_85
Global Moderator
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2003 8:01 pm
Location: London

Post by Emma_85 »

I think some bits there aren't quite correct
“Learning a foreign language too early, in some cases, may not only cause a speech impediment but, in the worst case, make an child autistic.”
but I definitely agree it's quite worrying. Seems like the parents are just expecting too much from their children, and pushing them too much. That they will resort to surgery just shows how desperate some parents are, it's not just the surgery itself that's terrible, but also the whole concept of desperately wanting their children to be good at something they may not naturally be very good at and pushing them. I imagine those poor children that just can't live up to those too high standards will feel quite inferior and frustrated not to mention always feeling you have to live up to your parents expectiations all the time (which are so high the child would virtually have to give up playing and having fun to meet them). Stress at such an early age? :o

Moerus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 281
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:00 am
Location: Lovanium - Leuven (Belgium)

Post by Moerus »

Dutch,
but in fact I'm bilingual: so I speak Frensh as if it were Dutch.
I also know little bit English, German, Latin and Greek.
And now I'm beginning to study, New-Greek, Italian and Russian.
And in februari I will take a course to perform my English, cause in july our university has chosen me to go to Greece for an international symposium about Homer. It looks great, but I will have to express myself a little better in English.

Moerus

mingshey
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1338
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2003 6:38 am
Location: Seoul
Contact:

Post by mingshey »

Emma_85 wrote:Stress at such an early age? :o
Yeah, such a stress that the kids cannot dream of learning Greek of themselves. :(

Keesa
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1108
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2003 10:59 pm

Post by Keesa »

Moerus wrote:Dutch,
but in fact I'm bilingual: so I speak Frensh as if it were Dutch.
I also know little bit English, German, Latin and Greek.
And now I'm beginning to study, New-Greek, Italian and Russian.
And in februari I will take a course to perform my English, cause in july our university has chosen me to go to Greece for an international symposium about Homer. It looks great, but I will have to express myself a little better in English.

Moerus
I am impressed! My brother knows Russian; he says its incredible hard to learn. (Could just be my brother. :wink: )

Moerus
Textkit Fan
Posts: 281
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 2:00 am
Location: Lovanium - Leuven (Belgium)

Post by Moerus »

No it's not just him, I find it really hard too. But I am in the very first beginning now. It's not my goal to know Russian as well as Latin or Greek. That gives me a little comfort!

Keesa
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1108
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2003 10:59 pm

Post by Keesa »

I can say a couple of words in Russian...either "please" or "thank you" (I can't remember which one) and the word for "brother", but I can't spell them, so... :D

mingshey
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1338
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2003 6:38 am
Location: Seoul
Contact:

Post by mingshey »

Keesa wrote:I can say a couple of words in Russian...either "please" or "thank you" (I can't remember which one) and the word for "brother", but I can't spell them, so... :D
Pojaluysta and Spasibo, respectively?

Kalailan
Textkit Member
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:44 am
Contact:

Post by Kalailan »

they are pronounced more like
pajhalsta & spasiva.
that is, at least, how i hear them.
many russians in israel...

Keesa
Textkit Zealot
Posts: 1108
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2003 10:59 pm

Post by Keesa »

Something like that, yes. :D

Cleo
Textkit Neophyte
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 3:09 am
Location: Montreal, Canada

well I am French speaking...

Post by Cleo »

well I am French speaking... But I'm not queer. I am however female.

French is my native language, I know English as my second language. I used to know Spanish ( 5 years in high school, it used to be that my Spanish was better than my English, but those years are long gone). I studied a bit of German, but that's also gone.

I don't remember what I thought about how the English language sounded, because I was surrounded by it from an early age.

Post Reply