by LoveUniHateExams 180 Replies latest jw friends
Man, I love that movie / soundtrack ... esp. the ones of Audrey Hepburn's original vocals which were less spectacular than the overdubbed version but had far more feeling.
Ironically, it was also one of the first movies where the soundtrack was the actual thing sang on set rather than recorded and added later - mainly because Rex Harrison's performance was not always 100% the same every time (because some of the singing was delivering lines).
Yes, I'm a language geek.
Me too. I am preparing a speech where I am talking about learning culture through language. I am giving two examples. One is on a gig that I had in the early 2000s doing work for the US State Attorney´s office in NYC. I was in charge of transcribing body wire recorded conversations in Spanish and prepare those transcribed documents for translation into English. I specialized in translating from Puerto Rican and Dominican slang, mispronounciations and idioms into actual understandable Spanish.
Speaking of fannys ,arent some girls named fanny ? that boggled my mind when I was young as fanny ,pussy and c##t ,all meant the same thing
Why would a parent name their daughter after her private parts ? I also thought virginia was a no-no to name a girl , I was confusing virginia ,virgin ,and vagina all in one.
Thats what happens when you get your sex education from your very young peers.
I was young.
Zeb you make a good point about how american tv /movies especially and to a lesser extent british tv and movies have influenced the vocabulary of the spoken word in australia.
We have been very influenced /indoctrinated in our language by these two countries.
Idioms, colloquialisms and slang have always fascinated me. Most people here in the U.S., for example would have some trouble with this quote:
"Stone the bloody crows, mate. Why'd ya rip into me like that?" Snarled Mick. "If you want to go around, playing the big bloke and threatening to dob the old man into the cops, take it somewhere else. I'm telling you, he'll hear about it and take you right down and I'll be buggered if you're going to take us with you."
Germanic languages in general seem to be rich in this sort of stuff. It's frustrating to know the dictionary definition of every single word, but still be unclear on the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
I have a weakness for the German group, Wir sind Helden, which was known for its "playful use of words." Here's a quick example from one of their songs: (Nur ein Wort)
"Wenn do schon auf den Mund fallen musst warum dann nicht auf meinen"
Literally, "If you must fall on your mouth, why not then on mine."
Is this good? Is this bad? Is it suggestive or sexual? What is she saying? Classroom instruction doesn't really prepare you for how a language might actually be used on the street. In this case, the meaning would be (roughly) "If you don't know what to say, then just kiss me."
Interesting subject. I had a bit of an issue with my accent the other week. I had a foreign patient who I was having trouble communicating with. I assumed it was because he didn't speak English very well, and asked if he would like me to re book his appointment and arrange for an interpreter to attend. He accepted. So he attends a couple of weeks later and see's another colleague. My colleague has no trouble communicating with him and asked why an interpreter was requested. The patient replies "oh well I speak English ok it's just that I didn't understand a word that foreign lady was saying last time!"
I was mortified! Everybody else thought it was hilarious!
btw Loveuni I don't live that far away from you
Here's something I find interesting: Umlaut, also known as vowel change. Most of the Germanic languages have it.
In English, vowel change can be used to make nouns from adjectives (such as filth from foul, or length from long) and verbs from adjectives (such as fill from full).
It can also be used to form the plural of certain nouns - such as man -> men, foot -> feet and mouse -> mice.
So, as someone with an interest in languages, I ask the following: if the plural of goose is geese, and the plural of foot is feet, why isn't the plural of book beek?
Well, it was. In Old English (spoken by the Anglo-Saxons) the plural of boc (also spelt booc) was bec (or beec).
So, why do we did books survive and not the other form?
My guess is the answer lies with Norman scribes who fiddled around with English in the Middle Ages.
Booc had a hard sound, which the scribes wrote as k. Beec had a soft sound, something that can't be conveyed by k. Perhaps this was why books won out over beec?
I went to the states about 30 years ago where in San Francisco I met a Canadian couple and they thought i was a POME [Prisoner of mother England]. I then travelled down to Los Angeles And stayed with some Americans that had invited me over when I had met them in Europe the year before. I remember driving down the road with this cute American girl and I never forgot. She said 'I don't care what you say just keep talking to me I love the sound of your voice. I'm Australian.
Just thought I'd return to this thread.
A few years ago Joey Barton was loaned out to Olympic Marseille, a French league 1 football side. So far, so good.
Not being able to conduct a press conference in French, Joey did what all decent Englishmen would do in such a situation - he spoke English ... but with a twist.
He spoke English with a French accent.
'ee eez, 'ow you say, un plonkeur.
Enjoy!
Joey learned his French from the T.V comedy prog. " 'Ello 'Ello" obviously.
Im from a part of Liverpool where they all talk quite strong scouse, but my accent is slight. In fact, words that have a T in the middle, i pronounce with an American accent without knowing. I think it's due to me working in immigration for 13 years. Speaking to foreign people all day everyday and i had to slow down and speak clearly.
However, i can switch to very scouse if i want to. Not that i ever do.
