Now I've learned a new word: "gorge". I thought I already knew it, wrong thought. I regularly check my son's homework on the weekends. In the English book they are always about students at the Thomas Tallis School (TTS) in Greenwich, London. For example how they go on school trips to Wales to do gorge scrambling. Heard it a hundred times from the audio CD: "gorge scrambling" in Wales. But no, every English word can be a noun, or a verb, or an adjective, adverb, ... - not recognizable by any suffix or prefix or ... . Always needs context. To gorge oneself is, what else, to fill up your stomach through one's own 'gorge'. And that's why German translations of English books are at least 50% longer or consist of two volumes. We usually have different words and longer words for different meanings. The variety of meanings of many English words never ceases to amaze me.
Now I've learned a new word: "gorge". I thought I already knew it, wrong thought. I regularly check my son's homework on the weekends. In the English book they are always about students at the Thomas Tallis School (TTS) in Greenwich, London. For example how they go on school trips to Wales to do gorge scrambling. Heard it a hundred times from the audio CD: "gorge scrambling" in Wales. But no, every English word can be a noun, or a verb, or an adjective, adverb, ... - not recognizable by any suffix or prefix or ... . Always needs context. To gorge oneself is, what else, to fill up your stomach through one's own 'gorge'. And that's why German translations of English books are at least 50% longer or consist of two volumes. We usually have different words and longer words for different meanings. The variety of meanings of many English words never ceases to amaze me.
And that's why alot of people never finish learning the language and just stick to small sections of it until they travel and meet new people using the same words differently, it's definitely hard sometimes. And that doesn't even count all the shortening of the words that happens ie people in the South East US will say 'how yall doin' meaning how are you all doing. At times it's alot like going to a place where people speak a totally foreign language until you have time to process what they are saying and can slow it down, or speed it up in some cases, to try and have it make sense.
Now I've learned a new word: "gorge". I thought I already knew it, wrong thought. I regularly check my son's homework on the weekends. In the English book they are always about students at the Thomas Tallis School (TTS) in Greenwich, London. For example how they go on school trips to Wales to do gorge scrambling. Heard it a hundred times from the audio CD: "gorge scrambling" in Wales. But no, every English word can be a noun, or a verb, or an adjective, adverb, ... - not recognizable by any suffix or prefix or ... . Always needs context. To gorge oneself is, what else, to fill up your stomach through one's own 'gorge'. And that's why German translations of English books are at least 50% longer or consist of two volumes. We usually have different words and longer words for different meanings. The variety of meanings of many English words never ceases to amaze me.
And that's why alot of people never finish learning the language and just stick to small sections of it until they travel and meet new people using the same words differently, it's definitely hard sometimes. And that doesn't even count all the shortening of the words that happens ie people in the South East US will say 'how yall doin' meaning how are you all doing. At times it's alot like going to a place where people speak a totally foreign language until you have time to process what they are saying and can slow it down, or speed it up in some cases, to try and have it make sense.
On the subject of people using the same words differently.
I remember when I was living in Italy taking some guests to the Villa d'Este villa in Tivoli near Rome and as we passed a group walking in the opposite direction I thought that's an odd language they're speaking, only to realise a few seconds later they were Americans butchering the English language.
And that's why alot of people never finish learning the language and just stick to small sections of it until they travel and meet new people using the same words differently, it's definitely hard sometimes. And that doesn't even count all the shortening of the words that happens ie people in the South East US will say 'how yall doin' meaning how are you all doing. At times it's alot like going to a place where people speak a totally foreign language until you have time to process what they are saying and can slow it down, or speed it up in some cases, to try and have it make sense.
Dialects or accents are one thing. It's also in German... strong differences depending on the region. Particularly funny for us: Swiss TV. The newsreader speaks German with hardly any accent. If a villager is interviewed somewhere, a line of text is displayed that reproduces his/her (Swiss German) words in German which is necessary. Without I can't understand anything.
But with learning different meanings of words: that's true from your U.S. perspective and all the visitors from overseas... Learn from the native speakers... But here in the deep, far away East (just kidding) I speak English regularly to people from India, Russia, Poland, Tunisia, Norway... but rarely to any native speaker. With educated Poles or Russians it's often possible to speak German; even the last French I worked with was an avid German learner (the only I ever met). If I meet native English speakers, e.g. a group of Brits, young fellows somewhere at the sea in Spain, they typically have a strong working-class accent. You hardly understand a word. So since the 1990ies English has become the 'Lingua franca' in western and central Europe replacing French (and Russian which never was in the East). But the vocabulary of such intermediate language used by non-natives is limited. I accept your argument, I should travel (to England, Ireland?), meeting locals. Why do I immediately think of rain, drizzle, clouds? If I'm about to travel this far for holidays I prefer France (to practice my french skills; third language I learned in school, first was Russian) ;-)
And that's why alot of people never finish learning the language and just stick to small sections of it until they travel and meet new people using the same words differently, it's definitely hard sometimes. And that doesn't even count all the shortening of the words that happens ie people in the South East US will say 'how yall doin' meaning how are you all doing. At times it's alot like going to a place where people speak a totally foreign language until you have time to process what they are saying and can slow it down, or speed it up in some cases, to try and have it make sense.
Dialects or accents are one thing. It's also in German... strong differences depending on the region. Particularly funny for us: Swiss TV. The newsreader speaks German with hardly any accent. If a villager is interviewed somewhere, a line of text is displayed that reproduces his/her (Swiss German) words in German which is necessary. Without I can't understand anything.
But with learning different meanings of words: that's true from your U.S. perspective and all the visitors from overseas... Learn from the native speakers... But here in the deep, far away East (just kidding) I speak English regularly to people from India, Russia, Poland, Tunisia, Norway... but rarely to any native speaker. With educated Poles or Russians it's often possible to speak German; even the last French I worked with was an avid German learner (the only I ever met). If I meet native English speakers, e.g. a group of Brits, young fellows somewhere at the sea in Spain, they typically have a strong working-class accent. You hardly understand a word. So since the 1990ies English has become the 'Lingua franca' in western and central Europe replacing French (and Russian which never was in the East). But the vocabulary of such intermediate language used by non-natives is limited. I accept your argument, I should travel (to England, Ireland?), meeting locals. Why do I immediately think of rain, drizzle, clouds? If I'm about to travel this far for holidays I prefer France (to practice my french skills; third language I learned in school, first was Russian) ;-)
You should try listening to Scottish people talk who only talk to other Scottish people, it's hard to pick up any words at all and they speak ENGLISH!!
You should try listening to Scottish people talk who only talk to other Scottish people, it's hard to pick up any words at all and they speak ENGLISH!!
I assume, this happens when you colonize your neighboring peoples; suppress their traditional languages. Many words of their old language live on, and the colonized imprint the pronunciation of their former language(s) on the Empire's language. In this way, the colonized retain a little of their former differentness. But as soon as the colonized somewhere surpass the empire in number, in populated area, and in the diversity of their cultures, then they shape the majority language from then on. Advocates of an Oxford English certainly don't like that.
Now I've learned a new word:
)
Now I've learned a new word: "gorge". I thought I already knew it, wrong thought. I regularly check my son's homework on the weekends. In the English book they are always about students at the Thomas Tallis School (TTS) in Greenwich, London. For example how they go on school trips to Wales to do gorge scrambling. Heard it a hundred times from the audio CD: "gorge scrambling" in Wales. But no, every English word can be a noun, or a verb, or an adjective, adverb, ... - not recognizable by any suffix or prefix or ... . Always needs context. To gorge oneself is, what else, to fill up your stomach through one's own 'gorge'. And that's why German translations of English books are at least 50% longer or consist of two volumes. We usually have different words and longer words for different meanings. The variety of meanings of many English words never ceases to amaze me.
Scrooge McDuck wrote: Now
)
And that's why alot of people never finish learning the language and just stick to small sections of it until they travel and meet new people using the same words differently, it's definitely hard sometimes. And that doesn't even count all the shortening of the words that happens ie people in the South East US will say 'how yall doin' meaning how are you all doing. At times it's alot like going to a place where people speak a totally foreign language until you have time to process what they are saying and can slow it down, or speed it up in some cases, to try and have it make sense.
mikey wrote:Scrooge McDuck
)
On the subject of people using the same words differently.
I remember when I was living in Italy taking some guests to the Villa d'Este villa in Tivoli near Rome and as we passed a group walking in the opposite direction I thought that's an odd language they're speaking, only to realise a few seconds later they were Americans butchering the English language.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_d%27Este
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXWk3Tbdavs
Probably the most famous
)
Probably the most famous Claret Jug
mikey schrieb: And that's
)
Dialects or accents are one thing. It's also in German... strong differences depending on the region. Particularly funny for us: Swiss TV. The newsreader speaks German with hardly any accent. If a villager is interviewed somewhere, a line of text is displayed that reproduces his/her (Swiss German) words in German which is necessary. Without I can't understand anything.
But with learning different meanings of words: that's true from your U.S. perspective and all the visitors from overseas... Learn from the native speakers... But here in the deep, far away East (just kidding) I speak English regularly to people from India, Russia, Poland, Tunisia, Norway... but rarely to any native speaker. With educated Poles or Russians it's often possible to speak German; even the last French I worked with was an avid German learner (the only I ever met). If I meet native English speakers, e.g. a group of Brits, young fellows somewhere at the sea in Spain, they typically have a strong working-class accent. You hardly understand a word. So since the 1990ies English has become the 'Lingua franca' in western and central Europe replacing French (and Russian which never was in the East). But the vocabulary of such intermediate language used by non-natives is limited. I accept your argument, I should travel (to England, Ireland?), meeting locals. Why do I immediately think of rain, drizzle, clouds? If I'm about to travel this far for holidays I prefer France (to practice my french skills; third language I learned in school, first was Russian) ;-)
Scrooge McDuck wrote: mikey
)
You should try listening to Scottish people talk who only talk to other Scottish people, it's hard to pick up any words at all and they speak ENGLISH!!
mikey schrieb: You should
)
Umayyad Mosque of Damascus,
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Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, one of the oldest and largest
Temple Meads is the largest
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Temple Meads is the largest GWR (God's Wonderful Railway) station in Bristol.
https://www.badgerbeers.com/
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https://www.badgerbeers.com/
Richard