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[medievalwombat]

Dear diary,

Today I memorised the present tense of the 3rd and 4th conjugation, and the -i stem of the 3rd declension. I've never felt more able to converse cum civibus romae....(with roman citizens).

I also bought a drizabone. It's black, and sexy.

Comments

[edgecondition]

Excellent! Or should I say... excellentissimus!
What's a drizabone?

[medievalwombat]

You know some latin?

A drizabone is an australian raincoat. It's oil-soaked cotton so it repels water. It's so stereotypically Australian, that our team wore them in the opening ceremony of the athens olympics. I think they're the shizzy yo. They're also excellentissimus.

http://www.drizabone.com.au/

[edgecondition]

how cool!! We could use that coat here at least for half the year!! But then again, I wouldn't want to globalize such a great brand!
(I had 2 years of latin in high-school; I had a feeling I'd learned much more there than in 3.5 years of german where we just kept switching and loosing teachers every 2 months. However- by now I only have a vague recollection of a few odd words and the infamous dicta-et-sententiae)

[medievalwombat]

You're so lucky to have been exposed to so many languages... I imagine you speak at least two fluently... But I'm so jealous of Europeans and just the exposure to so many languages so nearby.

Eddie Izzard summed up the english attitude to it (an attitude which is even worse in australia):

englishman: bilingual? two languages in one head? it can't be done! no one can LIVE at that speed!
other person: the dutch speak four languages and smoke marijuana!
englishman: yes, well, they're cheating.

[medievalwombat]

When you tell people you're learning a language here, they mostly just look at you uncomprehending....

[edgecondition]

Aaah - I wish, I wish!!!! I also get jealous of people who speak more languages, it's quite a pet-peeve of mine too!

I'm pleased with my level of English, but it's really the only foreign language I can speak. I'm not sure whether that's more due to MTV in the '80-s, huge protectorate by the English-speaking foreigners in the '90s, or to the fact that I've spent the larger part of my waking hours in the 'noughts - surfing the internet :P

However, only relatively few people here speak a third language, and if they're fluent, it's usually a sign they lived in that country as a refugee or on a scholarship. As for some real geographical exposure to other spoken languages, that's pretty much nipped in the bud by the fact that the only few countries with another spoken language that I can enter without a special visa in my passport are- Macedonia, Turkey, Egypt(? still... not sure) and Cuba!

[edgecondition]

and the Dutch must be cheaters, they literally either speak 3 or 4 languages! Well, of course, I haven't met a whole statistical sample, but everyone from the university-attending people had better command of English than me, plus could decently (if much worse) converse in German and French. The only people who seem to have been speaking 3 languages were immigrants - one native, English and Dutch!

[medievalwombat]

I think being part of the EU helps. Once you're free to wander, I'm sure you'll be wandering and picking up languages like souvenirs (souvenir is the french verb 'to remember.) I want to come and live in Europe for a while at some stage, hopefully in Crete, and just wander round a bit...