"English-as-a-second-language" members

Non native speakers were taught the language by trained teachers - the native speakers had to catch on from the binary grunts of their parents

Derek

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Spot on there Derek, most non native speakers was taught proper not like what we was.

Bob

Roll of honour:

Thomas K

Markus Sauer

Edouard S

Regards,

Steve.

I think that Stefan Just (sjust) is pretty good too, along with our Israeli friend Omer (Vuk's Son).

JR

All of them, based on English proficiency alone, are more qualified to be President of the U.S. than the current one.

BTW, English is my second language; my first is the moaning whinge.

Thanks for mentioning my name on your roll of honour, Steve, but you are mistaken: English is not my second language. It's actually my third. German first, then Latin, then English (< show off mode> then French, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish; and I picked up a little Dutch on the way </show off mode> ).

Why, thank you.

Actually, for a few years, round the age of 13 when I was living in Canada, English sort of became my first language (at the time, my brother and I took remedial classes in German lest we lose our native tongue). My English is therefore pretty convincing when I talk about things 13-year-olds typically talk about: making out, boobs, Penthouse, making out, boobs, Playboy, making out, boobs, and, of course, Hustler.

Thomas

[This message was edited by Thomas K on Tue 16 November 2004 at 18:22.]

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and I picked up a little Dutch on the way

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Maak maar eens een paar mooie volzinnen dan Markus, ik ben benieuwd :-)

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Originally posted by Vuk's son:
Thanks folks.

But do not forget Arye who makes English everyone's second language.



Cheers, Omer.

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Sooooo true, Omer!

JR

Thank you so much, I feel very honored by this distinction ! Actually kind of makes me feel nervous, lest I make a mistake !

I must state however that yes, I am from a francophone family (French and Swiss), but I did grow up in Montreal, which is a bilingual city (actually a multilingual city). I just sort of soaked it in. Lots of English TV, anglophone friends, lots of reading in English, vacations stateside. My parents were both interpreters, and sticklers for grammatical correctness, be it in French, English or, in the case of my mother, Spanish. The point is my circumstances were much more favourable than those of some people who reach remarkable levels of fluency and idiomaticalness in a second language all the while living in an entirely monolingual environment.

And like you, Thomas, my adolescent English vocabulary considerably expanded through meaningful exchanges with my peers on the subjects so dear to our hearts which, amazingly, were very close to yours ! We seem to be culturally so close, its spooky !

Edouard S.

Edouard S.

I think herm is also a very good, and non-native, English speaker (apologies if this is incorrect).

Ross,

I am not a native English speakers but have been in teh US for last 20 years or so.

I originaly come from Japn.

English is a very difficult language to learn even to this day for me.

I marvel at the way how well people on this board write compared to most other boards.

I am still trying to learn how to spell dierhha...er.. dhierria.... diarrhia.... oh shit.

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I am still trying to learn how to spell dierhha...er.. dhierria.... diarrhia.... oh shit

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Well this triggers a question I allways had in my mind and have wanted to ask. It's quite easy to understand English when spoken and reasonably easy to speak, and it's also easy to read and write.

BUT, hearing a word in English, like kumas example, and trying to figure out how it's spelled is often next to impossible. How do you natives do it (or is it easy for you)?

JohanR

We cheat and use a spell checker (computer literate way) or a dictionary (traditional way) or redefine the way it's spelt (the American way!)

Its "diarrhoea" by the way and I can never spell it either.

Yes, we mustn't forget Herm!

Edouard,

I just realised that we practise the same profession! We have both lived in Montreal! We both have Naim systems! Bruder, komm an meine Brust!

Thomas

What's Montreal like, then?

What languages do they speak there, apart from French and English?

JR

I made a pathetic attempt to learn very basic Dutch but became rapidly aware that the distance between going into a shop and in a brutalised pronounciation asking "for a loaf of bread" and being able to understand and take part in conversation over a beer, was almost infinite.

Add to that the kindly responses of the dutch in reply, in almost perfect english, and I had gone down in flames before I had even started.

A fiend of mine who is quite good at language and had some free time went to an in-depth Dutch course and became ostensibly profficient (at least to my ears). They are continually frustrated because whenever they engage in conversation in Dutch the reply and any ensuing conversation immediately switches to English. When asked why, our dutch friends politely explain that even though my friend's dutch is structurally correct, it is still quicker for the conversation to continue in english. Most dutch folks would also admit that they want to practice their (already excellent) english aswell.

The whole thing is that, like it or not, english has become a "world" language to a greater degree than any other. It leads to a laziness which starts in education. Unless it has improved a lot the language teaching in UK schools is abysmal and starts far too late (teens rather than at say 8 years or even earlier). Add to that the fact that where ever in the world an englishman finds himself he will get by just by being able to speak english and to our shame we can take advantage and not properly learn another language.

regards
GEOFF

"Just trying to make a NAIM for myself"

The hardest words to spell in the English language in my opinion......

1 supersede

2 prerogative


Try them out on your friends. You'd be amazed how few get them right (if any!!).

Jonathan

Homophones are fun!
Homophones plus funny family and place names (Cholmondeley & Magdalene College Cambridge) are cunningly crafted traps set for the homegrown lower classes and visitors from across the seas so that they may be identified and offered help whenever possible

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Originally posted by seagull:
Its "diarrhoea" by the way and I can never spell it either.

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gees.

Where does that 'o' come from?

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Originally posted by kuma:

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Originally posted by seagull:
Its "diarrhoea" by the way and I can never spell it either.

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gees.

Where does that 'o' come from?

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From Greek. It's the same diphthong as found in 'Oenophile' and 'Phoenix'. American spelling simplifies it. And loses some of the mystery in the proces...

So why isn't it 'Phenix', AZ?

Cheers,

Tim
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Os nid Campagnolo yw hi, dyw hi ddim yn werth ei marcho...

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Edouard,

I just realised that we practise the same profession! We have both lived in Montreal! We both have Naim systems! Bruder, komm an meine Brust!

Thomas

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And we both played in laughably mediocre - and in my case pompous - bands ! Our band once entered the CHOM FM "Battle of the Bands" contest, where you would send them a tape of your original material, does that ring a bell ? They never called us back, though, I wonder why...

Above all, as I had sensed, we both have the same iconic cultural references : Penthouse et al, and yes, best of all, Hustler (which I discovered while looking over the contents of my father's briefcase, but that's another story...)!

"Bruder, komm an meine Brust!"

Sorry, but my third language is Spanish ! I would guess though that this means Brother, come in my arms, or something along those lines ?

Aie oille donc, coline de bin ! (do you remember that sound ?)

Edouard

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Originally posted by JonR:
What's Montreal like, then?

What languages do they speak there, apart from French and English?

JR

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Oh, they speak French ?

...just kidding !

Edouard S.

Chaps

I heard quite a good joke which is rather accurate this Monday evening.

Question What you you call a person who speaks three languages

Answer trilingual

Question What do you call a person who speaks two languages

Answer bilingual


Question What do you call a person who speaks just one language

Answer an English person


Question what you you call a person who just grunts

Answer A Yank


Regards

Mick