Nothing to show, but a lot happened.

[Rockthesmurf]

I speak for the mast majority of England when I say it never ceases to amaze me how good the rest of the world is at English. In England a tiny minority are good at another language (not Welsh or Gaelic) but the rest of us have forgotten the two French and German words we learned at school long ago.

 

[iprice]

I speak for the mast majority of England when I say it never ceases to amaze me how good the rest of the world is at English. In England a tiny minority are good at another language (not Welsh or Gaelic) but the rest of us have forgotten the two French and German words we learned at school long ago.

Indeed. I am truly ashamed of the British education system, not just for languages (including English) but pretty much every other subject too

 

[ekianjo]

I speak for the mast majority of England when I say it never ceases to amaze me how good the rest of the world is at English. In England a tiny minority are good at another language (not Welsh or Gaelic) but the rest of us have forgotten the two French and German words we learned at school long ago.

It's because you never need to use other languages to go around Everyone else in the world (at least a significant minority) can speak English so there's no incentive for native English speakers to learn other languages, unless they decide to live in another country for the rest of their lives.  

 

[Klumpen]

there's no incentive for native English speakers to learn other languages, unless they decide to live in another country for the rest of their lives.

Actually, even many of the English speaking immigrants here in Berlin do not learn German because they usually don't need it to be understood, which is quite sad and tactless if you ask me...

 

[Rockthesmurf]

I do have friends that spend considerable time trying to learn other languages, German is one example, but when I have been with them in Germany, he'll try to converse in German, but the other person will typically realise he is English and very quickly switch to English. I think it is a combination of, i. frustration of having to listen to someone speak slowly and badly, ii. wanting to be helpful and, iii. having some pride of being able to converse in another language and wanting to practise/show off/try it out. This same thing seems to be a common occurrence (in most countries), ultimately the problem is it is very rare to be in a situation where my friends language skills beat the English skills of the people they converse with. As for me, I tend to find the locals are very entertained with my enthusiastic use of the 10 words I have learned; although ultimately the conversation ends up with confusing hand signals (I had one incident in a pharmacy that didn't speak any English where I acted out a mosquito biting me as I was looking for something to go on the bite but also something to repel them, ultimately after much laughter at my expense, I did end up with what I wanted, so an acting win).

 

[moxie]

In a way it is sad that the simple existence of a keyboard can be such a cool thing these days...

This! Several times over and over again. 

 

[moxie]

I'm reading (mostly old) english literature all the time, it's "Moby Dick" atm (which is rather hard to read), hopefully this will improve my English in some way

I think we should put all new arrivals to the forum on a strict H. P. Lovecraft reading requirement. It would make for awesome forum posts

"Oh, the twisted uneuclidian geometries of the case is horribly suggestive of mindless things mankind were not meant to know! Untold aeons of dim recollections of a twisted existence between the stars! Those corner buttons leer and tumble in my mind whenever I try to get some rest from the unhallowed, foetid revelations of this life, that I alone recognize as a false charade!"

 

[Klumpen]

I'm reading (mostly old) english literature all the time, it's "Moby Dick" atm (which is rather hard to read), hopefully this will improve my English in some way

I think we should put all new arrivals to the forum on a strict H. P. Lovecraft reading requirement. It would make for awesome forum posts

"Oh, the twisted uneuclidian geometries of the case is horribly suggestive of mindless things mankind were not meant to know! Untold aeons of dim recollections of a twisted existence between the stars! Those corner buttons leer and tumble in my mind whenever I try to get some rest from the unhallowed, foetid revelations of this life, that I alone recognize as a false charade!"

I only got the whole Terry Pratchett collection in English (a must have for everyone if you ask me, especcially "Dark Side of the Sun") - no Lovecraft yet, sorry.

 

[Granitehead]

I only got the whole Terry Pratchett collection in English (a must have for everyone if you ask me, especcially "Dark Side of the Sun") - no Lovecraft yet, sorry.

I have the Disc World series in French (which isn't my native language). ... I know.

But I wanted to practice French, English is easy enough. And I really need to improve my French language skills, because I now have French as the only foreign language in school (and if I fail {i.e. marks below my goals, not actually failing school} my exams in German {which is kind of a foreign language too, but close enough to native it counts as that} then it might come in handy to rescue my average and get me a nice place at the university of my choosing).

 

[matzesu]

I can remember, whatching Monty Pythons "Holy Grail, and Life of Brain" in English, also Yelow Submarine in English whitout Problems, but as i tried a Lui de funes movie in frensh, i ditnt understand..


I had 9 Yeahrs french

 

[jp10558]

Joining two intranets just gives a bigger intranet. It becomes only internet if it's connected to "the outside world".

Well, technically, the network part that connects the two intranets is an internet. The Internet is the global one, but there are many internets also - level3 etc...

 

[Bosbeetle]

I'm reading (mostly old) english literature all the time, it's "Moby Dick" atm (which is rather hard to read)

"Moby Dick" is the only book I've ever started reading and never finished. It really is the most tedious story and very poorly written.

The worst book I've ever read though was "Outpost" by Adam Baker - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Outpost-Adam-Baker/dp/1444709046/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402867268&sr=1-1&keywords=outpost+adam+baker#reader_1444709046    

Go to the "Look Inside" bit and go to the first page of the story (Page 5).

Strangely the actual book I have starts with the third paragraph;  "Jane was fat." Just read that page, you don't need to read any more. The book doesn't get any better. It's utter garbage.

If you think moby dick is crap, try to read the oddysey by homer or ulysses. I really liked moby dick it was a nice story and it tought me something about dutch history (we bring to much cheese, gin and meat with us on our boat trips ) 

 

[iprice]

There's a difference between tedious and crap. Moby Dick isn't crap (the book I linked to however is!). I enjoyed the story in film-form, but not as a book (which is highly unusual for me). Another tedious book I read (but completed) was Wind In The Willows. Millions love it. I don't. Tedium appears to be in the eye of the beholder I - just look at the recent WiiU thread and the Zelda: Majora's Mask discussion. I love it, others think it's boring and really poorly designed. Eveybody's opinions are equally valid.

The world would be boring if everybody thought and felt the same way about everything.

As for Ulysses - I remember watching the cartoon series (which was based on Homer's Odyssey) when I was a kid...

we bring to much cheese, gin and meat with us on our boat trips

Sounds good to me!

 

[fusion_power]

I can remember, whatching Monty Pythons "Holy Grail, and Life of Brain" in English, also Yelow Submarine in English whitout Problems, but as i tried a Lui de funes movie in frensh, i ditnt understand..

I had 9 Yeahrs french

But Louis de Funès also sounds very great in the german Dub Versions, it translates his hysterical performances perfectly imho. No need to know french to enjoy these movies imho. ^^ Remembers me onto Bud Spencer & Terrence Hill Movies, german version is the best.

 

[TeDaDeS]

I can remember, whatching Monty Pythons "Holy Grail, and Life of Brain" in English, also Yelow Submarine in English whitout Problems, but as i tried a Lui de funes movie in frensh, i ditnt understand..


I had 9 Yeahrs french

But Louis de Funès also sounds very great in the german Dub Versions, it translates his hysterical performances perfectly imho. No need to know french to enjoy these movies imho. ^^ Remembers me onto Bud Spencer & Terrence Hill Movies, german version is the best.

I actually didn't like the Bud Spencer in English, I was used to seeing them all in German.

 

[Klumpen]

Aren't the original versions of the Bud Spencer movies Italian?

 

[levi]

Apparently they were recorded in multiple different languages at the same time, according to wikipedia, but I've no idea how that actually works. But it would explain what they were doing walking around with anglophone names.

 

[fusion_power]

Apparently they were recorded in multiple different languages at the same time, according to wikipedia, but I've no idea how that actually works. But it would explain what they were doing walking around with anglophone names.

Italian and English afaik but correct, they were "international" productions and basicly also produced like this. I remember that Bud Spencer himself sayed once something like that they "just act" and leave the Dialouges to the dubbing studios, especialy the german one.  "leave it to Rainer" he sayed and he meant Rainer Brandt and his funny dubbing of various Movies and TV series back then. Known for taking any chance to add (hilarious) dialouge and phrases when the actors didn't even speak in the originals (back to the camera, face not shown, etc).  Many of these catch phrases are now part of german everydays language.  Oh, and sorry, it's almost impossible to translate into proper english ^^""

 

[FaeMinx]

'Bud Spencer himself said once'


"leave it to Rainer" he said..





Edit: Just sayin. :>


=~. O =

 

[DrHAX]

There's a difference between tedious and crap. Moby Dick isn't crap (the book I linked to however is!). I enjoyed the story in film-form, but not as a book (which is highly unusual for me). Another tedious book I read (but completed) was Wind In The Willows. Millions love it. I don't. Tedium appears to be in the eye of the beholder I - just look at the recent WiiU thread and the Zelda: Majora's Mask discussion. I love it, others think it's boring and really poorly designed. Eveybody's opinions are equally valid.

The world would be boring if everybody thought and felt the same way about everything.

As for Ulysses - I remember watching the cartoon series (which was based on Homer's Odyssey) when I was a kid...

we bring to much cheese, gin and meat with us on our boat trips

Sounds good to me!

You want tedious. Charles dickens Great expectations.. was so excited to read a victorian era book.. was Horrified to find out they paid him by the word.. I skipped about 400 pages of the book only read the begining and the end and got the highest score on the final test in the class.. That guy could write 30 pages on picking up a penny of the ground.... Bloody 'ell.