Hi Rick.
Yeah this reminds me of the concept of 'false friends' within languages. I cannot think of any really good examples of this, but you could have a word in English which looks similar to French and then make the assumption that they are the equivalent meaning of one another. This is often a good technique but sometimes it fails miserably and it must be a nightmare for many of the language students out there, lol.
Yup there are many accents in Britain and one that is probably harder to understand than deep cockney is Glaswegian. (If you have ever seen the comedy sitcom Rab C Nesbitt, you shall see what I mean, lol). But accents are funny things, there seems to be a lot more variety of this in the UK than in the States for example, unless it is just that I haven't noticed it?
I'm not surprised that your granny was a fan of Mr. Churchill. She won't have been alone at the time I'm sure! Her recipe sounds good to me also! Don't be shocked if I also contact you privately for this at some point. Lol.
Mark.
From: Rick Bates <HappyMoosePhoto@gmail.com>
To: geology2@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, 1 April 2012, 17:36
Subject: RE: [Geology2] ROFL!!!!
And not just OUR shared language (different though as it is at times); there are subtle difference in many languages, even without local variations (slang). In Japanese, the word 'beautiful' (mu tsu ku shi) and 'difficult' (mu tsu ka shi) are separated by one small phonetic difference, easily missed.
Come to think of it, perhaps those words that way on purpose. ;-D
I had a music teacher in high school that asked a Tijuana cop where to find a beer (in Spanish). The cop gave him a funny look, then pointed him to a particular establishment. It was a total 'dive' complete with sleazy looking occupants of questionable morals. He had a quick drink and almost ran from the place. Only later did he learn that 'cerveza' was a slang term for prostitute.
In AMSLAN (American Signing Language), one often repeats a sign to show emphasis. One newly trained translator however had failed to learn some 'slang'. When she repeated the sign for nervous, she didn't understand why she got the looks (and attention) she did, until one viewer explained to her that repeating that sign was slang for prostitute, so she as in essence stating that she was a hooker, not REALLY nervous.
As for Brit-speak, I can get most of it through the accents, except for deep Cockney. That tends to get a bit thick, just like me. That's thanks to me granmum, she came over from Liverpool in '17. She were a grand lie-dee she was; tot me t'mai-k tea proppa she did.
;-)
Always with a pot of potato onion soup on her stove; I figured out her recipe and enjoy it every winter. And one was expected to ALWAYS speak well of Sir Winston or deal with her clucking. His picture was on her wall until the last days.
Rick
From: Mark Smith
Lol, yes the English language can get confusing! I don't envy foreign people trying to learn it.
My 'end' is England (and to coin an English expression, I was 'knackered' when I sent the e-mail, lol).
Mark.
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