Languages!

[IContainMultitudes]

Or all the words they have for clumsy person or loser. The old joke among Jews about the shlemiel-shlimazel dichotomy is that the shlemiel is the one who accidentally knocks over the bowl of soup, but the shlimazel is the one whose lap the soup lands in.
Yeah, Yiddish.

I recently watched the animated movie The Last Unicorn, and there's a magician character in it named "Schmendrick." On the DVD, Peter S. Beagle (author of the novel the movie is based on and writer of the screenplay) explains that that means someone out of their depth, sort of a boy sent to do a man's job. I thought that was kind of interesting.

 

[Withnail88]

I recently watched the animated movie The Last Unicorn, and there's a magician character in it named "Schmendrick." On the DVD, Peter S. Beagle (author of the novel the movie is based on and writer of the screenplay) explains that that means someone out of their depth, sort of a boy sent to do a man's job. I thought that was kind of interesting.

Yup, I'm familiar with the word. I wasn't sure what it meant. Neat.
I just find the German-Hebrew hybrid-ness of it interesting. From what little German I know I can look at some Yid words and have an idea of what they mean, like 'shwartzer' = 'black person'.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

From what little German I know I can look at some Yid words and have an idea of what they mean, like 'shwartzer' = 'black person'.

I'm not sure, but I think that's generally not considered a really nice thing to call someone. Probably not on the same level as the "N word," but you might want to be careful with it.

 

[Withnail88]

I'm not sure, but I think that's generally not considered a really nice thing to call someone. Probably not on the same level as the "N word," but you might want to be careful with it.

Right, now that you mention it, I think it is. I just thought of it, cus it was in "Maus" and we read that in class. Sorry. I forgot. Thing is, there is a cultural applicalbility to it much like there was here. I wasn't referring to anyone specific of course. I'll drop it here. Sorry.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

Right, now that you mention it, I think it is. I just thought of it, cus it was in "Maus" and we read that in class. Sorry. I forgot. Thing is, there is a cultural applicalbility to it much like there was here. I wasn't referring to anyone specific of course. I'll drop it here. Sorry.

No need to be sorry, I just thought that it might be a good idea to mention that the term is considered a little bit of a slur in case you didn't know.

I haven't read Maus in kind of a long time, but IIRC, isn't it used in the scene in Vol. 2 where Spiegelman's father is freaking out because they pick up a black hitchhiker?

 

[Withnail88]

No need to be sorry, I just thought that it might be a good idea to mention that the term is considered a little bit of a slur in case you didn't know.

I haven't read Maus in kind of a long time, but IIRC, isn't it used in the scene in Vol. 2 where Spiegelman's father is freaking out because they pick up a black hitchhiker?

Yes, that was the irony of the whole thing: everyone in Germany hated him for being a Jew; but he was so vehemently racist against the black hitcher!
I loved it, and not just cuz it was the easiest book to read in the class.
Anyways, back to languages!

 

[Occasional_Demon]

I speak English and Cantonese. I'm fairly fluent in Cantonese, and I've been told by people that for someone who's been living in Australia for most of their lives, I've been able to maintain a very good Cantonese accent. The last time I was in Hong Kong, for the most part I was able to blend in with the natives in conversation, aside from occasional lapses in colloquialisms. Basically, my knowledge of modern slang is quite out of date - parents who emigrated in the 80s + growing up on a diet of 80s HK flicks does that to someone. However, since I did sound mostly native, merchants didn't try to rip me off

I know a little bit of French - I studied French in high school. I can read some of it and when I was in France, I did very simple things like order a croissant in French or order a coffee at a cafe, as well as being able to greet people. I can't get my tongue around the French pronounciations so I tend to butcher words. I remember talking to a Parisian girl at a London backpacker's hostel and it took her a while to work out I was trying to say "Louvre".

 

[epath13]

Well I'm from Russia originally (I left when I was 25) so obviously I speak Russian and English. My husband is Dutch and it is an interesting language to learn. I would love my kids to know all of those languages but we mostly speak English at home. I don't think I would be able to learn another language...I mean I probably could but I don't think the motivation will be there. The only reason I could and wanted to learn English was because since the 1st time I heard it (I was about 4 years old) I believed that that was the language I meant to speak 24-7 not Russian.

 

[Geordie]

Well I'm from Russia originally (I left when I was 25) so obviously I speak Russian and English. My husband is Dutch and it is an interesting language to learn. I would love my kids to know all of those languages but we mostly speak English at home. I don't think I would be able to learn another language...I mean I probably could but I don't think the motivation will be there. The only reason I could and wanted to learn English was because since the 1st time I heard it (I was about 4 years old) I believed that that was the language I meant to speak 24-7 not Russian.

epath13, I learn Tagalog, Ilokano (a Filipino dialect), Mandarin, Hokkien (a Chinese dialect), Malay and English at home. But in the end, I feel that if there were a language I were to use, speak and continue learn 24-7, it'd be English. Mandarin would only be useful in PRC, but now, it's getting more popular. My family is a multicultural family, even more so than the usual Singaporean family, so here it is.

I speak English and Cantonese. I'm fairly fluent in Cantonese, and I've been told by people that for someone who's been living in Australia for most of their lives, I've been able to maintain a very good Cantonese accent. I know a little bit of French - I studied French in high school. I can read some of it and when I was in France, I did very simple things like order a croissant in French or order a coffee at a cafe, as well as being able to greet people. I can't get my tongue around the French pronounciations so I tend to butcher words. I remember talking to a Parisian girl at a London backpacker's hostel and it took her a while to work out I was trying to say "Louvre".

I don't see any use of French in both Australia and Singapore. More likely, Singaporeans use Cantonese, but mostly ex-Hong Kongers and people of Cantonese descent (e.g. my good friend in this forum, T) speak it. More than two-thirds of Singaporeans speak Hokkien or Teochew, sometimes both. Anyways, I like French songs. JJ Goldman and C?line Dion are my favorites. And as I always say, Je ne sais pas.

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[Occasional_Demon]

There's a decent amount of Frenchies in Perth [where I live], so it seems. I know a few Frenchies, and one of them is my friend's boyfriend. Said friend is also a French translator and she seems to get a decent flow of work, so they are around, just probably not as obvious as other ethnicities.

 

[Geordie]

There's a decent amount of Frenchies in Perth [where I live], so it seems. I know a few Frenchies, and one of them is my friend's boyfriend. Said friend is also a French translator and she seems to get a decent flow of work, so they are around, just probably not as obvious as other ethnicities.

I see. I didn't know that ~

 

[dwoolridge]

I speak English and a little of Spanish but I do want to learn Intalian and Japanese

 

[Geordie]

I speak English and a little of Spanish but I do want to learn Intalian and Japanese

I see that you really like anime. Wow. No wonder...

 

[NeverEnder]

English and German: My German is in no way fluent, strong or even correct, probably. I love the German language, though.

I am interested in learning Hebrew and possibly Greek someday. Also, I would love to speak Russian, an awesome language to my ears.

 

[Geordie]

To NeverEnder: Guten tag

Wow, German is a beautiful language

 

[King_Oni]

I speak Dutch, German and English. And to a very, very small degree... some french. I once had French 1 year in high school. Apart from that that... I speak the local dialect, which is kinda like German. If I'd speak that in Germany, most people wouldn't have a lot of trouble understanding what I'm saying. It has occured that when I was in Germany, locals didn't believe I wasn't native... that was kinda funny. I had to show em my ID to prove I wasn't German.

More intested in where words come from or how a language is, like it is, than I am for learning new languages though. However, I've dabbled a bit in Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Norwegian and Italian. I also looked around a bit in some of the fictional languages like Nadsat, Tengwar & Klingon. Oh, and Polari, I spend some time in the past months on reading up on that. I think for most part I could understand/read it, though not really speak it.

I do enjoy reading up on slang and contemporary "urban" language. Sometimes it's a funny play on words and I do enjoy wordplay a lot.

Cockney rhyming slang is kinda odd to me though. It has nothing to do with actually understanding the language but rather than learning idiom cause both parties should, if by means of understanding, be aware of the reference one makes. But it's funny to read and listen to.

The reason I rarely learn something new is because it lacks practical application. Some people, even in Holland, speak terrible Dutch, and they're native. So I don't think that learning Klingon to have a convo at the employment center is gonna help me there.

 

[Geordie]

As for me, everyone in Singapore speaks more than one language... but the other one may not be Russian. I may look into that, who knows?

 

[Gomendosi]

I am always intrigued by bilinguals, I think its really great that a person can converse in someone else’s native tongue, this should be the case if you go and live in another country
(Sadly it doesn’t happen like that, ethnic diversity abounds while integration is still struggling)

In primary school in the 80’s I was starting to learn Arabic, they wanted us to learn to write it before the speaking part came into it. We moved before I could really get into it.
In high school I was being taught Italian and loving it way too much, beautiful language… Then we moved again. But, through all of those schooling years I had my brother’s friends teaching me to swear in many different languages, mainly Maltese.

I, theoretically, can speak the Queen’s bestest english and am fluent in the Ocker lingo, which is to say, the true blue, dyed-in-the-wool Aussie speak that confuses the rest o’ youse blokes and sheilas. Strewth, you mob have a hard time understanding us Aussies at the best of times, if we chuck in a fair dinkum or larrikin, it’s almost another language.
Just muckin’ around, no offense meant. Australian is a form of english that probably doesn’t get used in earnest anymore due to the fiasco created by ‘another shrimp on the barbie’ and ‘where the bloody hell are ya’. These last two used in overseas advertising campaigns.

Lastly, how about Klingon, a complete language pretty much invented by two guys for a film, how magnificent is that?




PS) I can provide a translation for a nominal fee ; ]

 

[kasmanaft08]

My Dutch is coming along much better than I thought, but since I broke up with my ex, I have a difficult time motivating myself to study it seriously. When I move, it won't really be that useful to me on a practical sense. But it's nice to know just for the sake of it, and so I casually have been picking things up and doing mild practice/translating. Just enough maybe to put it on a resume or just say I can do the basics.

I am thinking of getting serious with Japanese, once I'm done though.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

I'm kind of thinking of learning at least a little bit of French even though I have no plans to travel there anytime real soon. I've never studied it before, but I can kind of recognize several French words because I know a bit of Spanish and Spanish and French are both Romance languages, so I would have sort of a head start on it. I kind of think that simultaneously studying multiple Romance languages rather than just one might be a way to solidify that knowledge a little bit. I have a feeling that when you already know a few languages, that makes it easier to pick up new ones.