Languages

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There's a couple of dialect words that I find myself using because there's no real English equivalent. One is gabra, which is actually Malay, but got adopted into Singlish because of the need for such a word. It's used to describe someone being in a total state of confusion, hysteria, running aroung like a headless chicken - there's just no equivalent word in English.

The second is glaikit, which is a Scots word for a particular kind of fool - the nearest equivalent I can think of is the English word gormless, but it's not quite the same.

I've always thought that it would be good to know more languages just to expand on my vocabulary, but dialects are often good sources of the words I need. I wonder why they're always insults. :)
 
My native language is Greek. I also speak English and a little Polish (well, not speak yet, but i can read and watch a film with great difficulty).
 
Of course i see this from my environment and most of those complainer belong to the older generation >40, but the time will come, when i will say "früher war alles besser"


but still we are not a negative country
No, no, it's just we like to nag, because we are not satisfied with what we already have, unless we have beer.

More words? Hmm.

fisseln; fitschen; Pappnase; knorke; Knifte; Schlappen; Buchse; Blaach; Köttel; Pommes Rot-Weiß; Pütt; Kappes; malochen; zeigen wo der Frosch die Locken hat; Jacke wie Hose.

light rain; running; a fool; great; buttered bread; slippers; pants; child/teen; really young child (0-6yo); fries with ketchup and mayo; Pütt is originally a pit, but many pubs are called like this; Kappes is nonsense, but you can also call your head a Kappes; malochen is just hard working; "zeigen wo der Frosch die Locken hat" is showing who is the man; "Jacke wie Hose" = it is the same, coat and pants were made from the same fabric, so it is the same.

I don't even know how to write some correctly.
 
Haha, same here. As it is dialect we never write it. :)

"hahnebüchen" = an den Haaren herbeigezogen (reference to Baron Münchhausen?) = utterly made up?
 
Native language is Swedish. Then comes Finnish and English. Also a little bit Spanish.

Sadly, I think my English vocabulary is much greater than my Swedish and Finnish ones. Though then again, English is more fun.
 
Mataresa said:
utterly made up?

imho (at least in swiss german) more like absurd, ludicrous, crass, unbelievable (ie. hanebüchener unsinn). apparently originally meant "Aus dem Holz der Hagebuche". (made of hornbeam wood)

some of my favourite (swiss) dialect words are "chrüsimüsi" and "ghürsch", both very onomatopoetic, to my ears anyway :) first is a complete chaos of something, second is a tangle (like a tangle of cables or string)
 
Mataresa said:
Of course we don't have this superficial politeness, that the British or Americans have.

I've heard this several times from people in other countries. Most have never been to the USA... I'm curious, does this stereotype exist from watching television shows? I was born in the USA and there isn't a single stereotype that is true for every region. How people act varies greatly from region to region. In some areas people are rude and almost hostile to strangers while in others they are genuinely more welcoming and willing to help complete strangers. It's really impossible to accurately represent the entire USA with one stereotype. The USA is a rather large and diverse country. Television doesn't always accurately portray reality.
 
freakie1one said:
I've heard this several times from people in other countries. Most have never been to the USA... I'm curious, does this stereotype exist from watching television shows? I was born in the USA and there isn't a single stereotype that is true for every region. How people act varies greatly from region to region. In some areas people are rude and almost hostile to strangers while in others they are genuinely more welcoming and willing to help complete strangers. It's really impossible to accurately represent the entire USA with one stereotype. The USA is a rather large and diverse country. Television doesn't always accurately portray reality.

I am sorry, I was basing it more on the British and my experiences there. I have never actually been to USA, so I shouldn't have said that. It is not something negative I meant by that. My experience with British people and Americans is just, that you are supposed to be nice to others and say, you are fine. My impression is, that many problems that people have are hid under that facade and that you rather talk with a therapist, than with your friends. Of course most of it is based on hearsay and stereotypes. But as a German, I know how stereotypes work. ;)

But stereotypes are stereotypes and they will never apply to a lot of people and regions. :) I actually like the politeness and friendliness. Near my place at my uni, there is a super market and the people working there are some of the unfriendliest persons I have ever met. Impolite and rude and always in a bad mood. About a year ago, they got those broaches with a smiley on them, saying "I am friendly". It was so ridiculous, I didn't know, if I should laugh.
 
freakie1one said:
I've heard this several times from people in other countries. Most have never been to the USA... I'm curious, does this stereotype exist from watching television shows? I was born in the USA and there isn't a single stereotype that is true for every region. How people act varies greatly from region to region. In some areas people are rude and almost hostile to strangers while in others they are genuinely more welcoming and willing to help complete strangers. It's really impossible to accurately represent the entire USA with one stereotype. The USA is a rather large and diverse country. Television doesn't always accurately portray reality.

Well, Americans who work in customer service frequently have this artificial, trained, scripted politeness that they apply as a condition of keeping their often-minimum-wage jobs. For example, the bag boy at the grocery may be required to offer to help you carry your bags to your car -- even if you are two men the size of NFL football players.

But apart from forced attitudes, you're right, there isn't a stereotypical American attitude toward strangers; it varies not only by region but by class and ethnic group. At one extreme, you may come into a town where you can see everybody wishes you were somewhere else: nobody will look you in the eye or initiate any kind of conversation; and if they answer your questions, it will be in monosyllabic grunts. At the other, you may come into households where the first thing they do is usher you into the kitchen, sit you down and feed you, and only after you are clearly no longer hungry are you allowed to state your business.
 
Fluent in English and Spanish.
Been told my first words were Catalan (from my grandparents).
Took Portuguese and French in school, but did so as electives because they were very easy with the Spanish background (wish I would've taken them seriously now)
And a bit of Maya, since I was born and raised in Yucatan, Mexico.
 
My native is English. I'm studying to become fluent in Hebrew, I also am more casually learning Japanese, and would like to become fluent in it, French, Russian, and Polish. Maybe a few others too. I love language. I voted only "English" for the moment though.
 
Wichat said:
Only four.

Clearifying:

Catalan and Castilian perfectly (at the risk of not being a philologist
) French as a medium low French individual who has not finish elementary school but can read and write his mother language, and English stumbling... let's tell self-taught.

And I dare to speak with Portuguese and Italian people, well.... embarrassment never help in comunication ;)/>/>
 
Actually,Chinese has several language
But just two of them are widely been used:Mandarin and Cantonese
Hollywood's movie always speak Cantonese when there's Chinese acter,but I must say that Cantonese in most movie does not speak well
 
Ankil737 said:
But just two of them are widely been used:Mandarin and Cantonese
Hollywood's movie always speak Cantonese when there's Chinese acter,but I must say that Cantonese in most movie does not speak well

aren't there actually more people speaking Hokkien than Cantonese?

as for Hollywood, probably because most Hollywood movies with Chinese actors are of the HK gangster movie variety :)
 
monotoy said:
aren't there actually more people speaking Hokkien than Cantonese?

as for Hollywood, probably because most Hollywood movies with Chinese actors are of the HK gangster movie variety :)/>
In China,Most people know Mandarin.You must learn how to speak it if you go to school,of course the school teacher will teach you
Cantonese is widely been used in south area,such as Guangdong province(GD), HongKong(HK) Macao and overseas Chinese
Hokkien is the common language of TaiWan(TW),Fujian Province and Southeast Asia
The reason that Chinese actors in Hollywood movie can not speak Cantonese well may be they're overseas, living too long in America and forget how to speak
My English is poor now as well...Still studying hard on it...
 
Ankil737 said:
Cantonese is widely been used in south area,such as Guangdong province(GD), HongKong(HK) Macao and overseas Chinese
Hokkien is the common language of TaiWan(TW),Fujian Province and Southeast Asia

It's strange nowadays in Singapore. It's fairly common in multi-generation ethnic-Chinese families for the grandparents to know their "native" dialect and Malay, the parents to know dialect and English, and the children to know English and Mandarin. It can make family get-togethers quite complicated, especially if one set of grandparents is (for example) Hokkien and the other set Teochew.

But you're right about Cantonese being widely used. Even in Singapore, where Hokkien is the major dialect, there are a lot of people who have at least a basic knowledge of Cantonese simply because of the number of HK movies and songs around.
 
dragonbird said:
It's strange nowadays in Singapore. It's fairly common in multi-generation ethnic-Chinese families for the grandparents to know their "native" dialect and Malay, the parents to know dialect and English, and the children to know English and Mandarin. It can make family get-togethers quite complicated, especially if one set of grandparents is (for example) Hokkien and the other set Teochew.

But you're right about Cantonese being widely used. Even in Singapore, where Hokkien is the major dialect, there are a lot of people who have at least a basic knowledge of Cantonese simply because of the number of HK movies and songs around.
Indeed,74.1% of the population of Singapore is Chinese,and 40% of them speaks Hokkien
Some people around me want to go Singapore and live in there,I would like to travel to other countrys.But I don't even have enough money to buy not to mention the travelling...
 
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