I didn't notice that manacle-thing. Well observed!
I was reminded of Schuh des Manitu and “Jeden zweiten Tag san mir irgendwo gefesselt!“ It really seemed to happen a lot. And they really didn’t seem to be bothered that much by it.
Being from Eastern Germany, I had to learn Russian in school. Most I have forgotten now that I don’t use it as much anymore. English was voluntary, after school. I guess none of us really thought we could ever properly use it? Since travelling was so limited? I fought with grammar, and I fought with pronouncation. I later realized the reason for that was that they tried to teach us the Oxford English. Once I started to watch Stargate and realized they speak just like us, it made things easier. Of course now with being a fan of Torchwood and John Barrowman, I started to like the British English as well as Welsh or Scottish.
And if my teacher indeed could see me, travelling to the UK several times a year, going to the theatre even… but I think she would be very confused of sentences like “We can has dilithium power nao. But maybe we can also has destruction.” ;)
Heh. Oxfort is for beginners. Lolspeak is for experts. :P (Though I doubt any English teacher would agree. Still, you need to have a grasp on the language to be able to willfully criple it.)
I struggled with Oxford English, too, but I think that's mostly because the texts the had us read in school were so boring that I was lacking motivation. In the end, fanfic was a much better teacher.
How long it took me to understand that "teh" was not a typo ;)
No, I don't speak Welsh. But I like to listen to the accent, it sounds lovely. As does the Scottish. And after having been to Glasgow, of course a few things like "cannae" slip into your speach. Or, after Cardiff, "Nos da" instead of good night. But that's about it ;)
But I noticed, when I travelled with my (Czech) friend to Vancouver for a convention that was organized by British people, that she had trouble understanding the official announcements on stage, while I had none. Watching DVDs with English subtitles so you get an idea about pronouncation helped with that.
Fanfic! I learnt all my English by reading Stargate fanfic. Literally looking up every word at the beginning (as even those words I thought I knew had a different meaning), but then pretty soon that was not necessary anymore.
If you are interested in what you are doing, you learn without noticing.
Only trouble is, with the internet being all English and writing e-mails, Facebook entries, Livejournal entries, and even this conversation in English... do you also tend to forget German once in a while? Having this wonderful English word in your head where there is no proper translation? Or even having to look up the English word to get the German one? Happened to me ;)
After coming back from one trip to the UK I managed to ask for the way on Frankfurt airport in English... also, after having been to Fedcon in Dusseldorf, hearing English all day long, I talked in English with the TAXI driver... completely forgetting that for once I was at home. And there may a few stray English words happen in my day-to-day speech also.
Only trouble is, with the internet being all English and writing e-mails, Facebook entries, Livejournal entries, and even this conversation in English... do you also tend to forget German once in a while? Having this wonderful English word in your head where there is no proper translation? Or even having to look up the English word to get the German one? Happened to me ;)
Oh yes, that happens all the time! I occasionally use English expressions in German, just missing the right word (my English-speaking friend still knows what I mean - she had the same problem. :P) And sometimes there are expressions that just don't have a good equivalent. I am still looking for a good German alternative to "hypocrisy".
I was reminded of Schuh des Manitu and “Jeden zweiten Tag san mir irgendwo gefesselt!“ It really seemed to happen a lot. And they really didn’t seem to be bothered that much by it.
Being from Eastern Germany, I had to learn Russian in school. Most I have forgotten now that I don’t use it as much anymore. English was voluntary, after school. I guess none of us really thought we could ever properly use it? Since travelling was so limited? I fought with grammar, and I fought with pronouncation. I later realized the reason for that was that they tried to teach us the Oxford English. Once I started to watch Stargate and realized they speak just like us, it made things easier. Of course now with being a fan of Torchwood and John Barrowman, I started to like the British English as well as Welsh or Scottish.
And if my teacher indeed could see me, travelling to the UK several times a year, going to the theatre even… but I think she would be very confused of sentences like “We can has dilithium power nao. But maybe we can also has destruction.” ;)
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(Though I doubt any English teacher would agree. Still, you need to have a grasp on the language to be able to willfully criple it.)
I struggled with Oxford English, too, but I think that's mostly because the texts the had us read in school were so boring that I was lacking motivation. In the end, fanfic was a much better teacher.
You speak Welsh? That's impressive!
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No, I don't speak Welsh. But I like to listen to the accent, it sounds lovely. As does the Scottish. And after having been to Glasgow, of course a few things like "cannae" slip into your speach. Or, after Cardiff, "Nos da" instead of good night. But that's about it ;)
But I noticed, when I travelled with my (Czech) friend to Vancouver for a convention that was organized by British people, that she had trouble understanding the official announcements on stage, while I had none. Watching DVDs with English subtitles so you get an idea about pronouncation helped with that.
Fanfic! I learnt all my English by reading Stargate fanfic. Literally looking up every word at the beginning (as even those words I thought I knew had a different meaning), but then pretty soon that was not necessary anymore.
If you are interested in what you are doing, you learn without noticing.
Only trouble is, with the internet being all English and writing e-mails, Facebook entries, Livejournal entries, and even this conversation in English... do you also tend to forget German once in a while? Having this wonderful English word in your head where there is no proper translation? Or even having to look up the English word to get the German one? Happened to me ;)
After coming back from one trip to the UK I managed to ask for the way on Frankfurt airport in English... also, after having been to Fedcon in Dusseldorf, hearing English all day long, I talked in English with the TAXI driver... completely forgetting that for once I was at home. And there may a few stray English words happen in my day-to-day speech also.
Absolutely awful.
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Oh yes, that happens all the time! I occasionally use English expressions in German, just missing the right word (my English-speaking friend still knows what I mean - she had the same problem. :P) And sometimes there are expressions that just don't have a good equivalent. I am still looking for a good German alternative to "hypocrisy".
Reply
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