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".
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".
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