Polyglots?

[Eriku]

But you still owe me a head's ransom if you don't want me to plant a staff of shame on you.

Noggy laws have evolved, Svartemann

How much is a head's ransom, out of curiosity?

[Trolldor]

One can always have more than nothing.

[Eriku]

btw, Madhat, are you talking about variants of English like British, American, Jaimaican, Haitian, etc. or are you just being silly?

I want some sound clips of you performing your array of English talents, if not. Pwetty pwease? (That's Elmer Fuddian, if you're not familiar with it)

[Trolldor]

I'm afraid I can't do that Hal.

[Svartalf]

But you still owe me a head's ransom if you don't want me to plant a staff of shame on you.

Noggy laws have evolved, Svartemann

How much is a head's ransom, out of curiosity?

Obvious, find a nice and cute Norsegirl who'll give me head ...

[Eriku]

But you still owe me a head's ransom if you don't want me to plant a staff of shame on you.

Noggy laws have evolved, Svartemann

How much is a head's ransom, out of curiosity?

Obvious, find a nice and cute Norsegirl who'll give me head ...

If I could find one for myself and if I would have to deprive you of one to keep her to myself, I'd rather have you plant the staff of shame... so long as it's not done in an invasive way.

[DRSB]

Svartalf wrote:

What I studied in school was formal Castillan, and that's still the model I look for in grammar and pronunciation. Trouble is that, of late, all my exposure to "Spanish" (I can't even regard it as such myself) I've had was deep south, small town Andalucian that is weird on every level... I don't have as much difficulty dealing with the enforced specificity of Catalan dialect... and of course, for some weird reason, I seem to have more of an affinity for Galician and Portuguese anyway, which is not saying much given that I neither study, nor ever get to practice those.

A Catalan guy disagrees withe the term "dialect" to denote Catalan and allowed me to quote him, for the sake of acuracy:

"Wrong! Catalan is a language with its own and different rules.Ok, they are both romanic, but that's all.

Catalan has à, é,è, í, ò, ó, ú whereas Spanish has á, é, í, ó, ú

Catalan has ç and l·l (pronounced like a long l), whereas Spanish has
not.

Catalan has ny whereas Spanish has ñ (same sound, different spelling)

Verb conjugation is different too.

There are more differences between Catalan and Spanish, these are only
the most important.

I know this for sure because my society is bilingual."

[Svartalf]

With all due respect, Catalan is a dialect, either of Langue d'Oc or of Spanish.

There's pretty little linguistic that is properly Catalan, it all is part of the southern Romance language continuum.

AFAIAC, every contrary claim on the part of Catalans is misplaced chauvinism and/or politically driven.

[owtth]

With all due respect, Catalan is a dialect, either of Langue d'Oc or of Spanish.

There's pretty little linguistic that is properly Catalan, it all is part of the southern Romance language continuum.

AFAIAC, every contrary claim on the part of Catalans is misplaced chauvinism and/or politically driven.

My Catalan wife has a number of relatives who cannot speak Spanish or French. Strangely Catalans have an easy enough time understanding Italian. As to whether it is a language or a dialect, surely that rests with it's official status?

[Svartalf]

When French schools start offering different classes in Catalan and Castillan, I'll believe that Catalan is a real language... for all I've seen, it's more like the locals imposing their patois just to annoy the madrid folk... For that matter, I'd be more inclined to declare Andalucian a separate language, on phonologics alone.

[DRSB]

With all due respect, Catalan is a dialect, either of Langue d'Oc or of Spanish.

There's pretty little linguistic that is properly Catalan, it all is part of the southern Romance language continuum.

With all due respect, the criteria for what is a separate language and what is a simply a dialect are not purely linguistic but more political and social anyway. As soon as a dialect becomes codified as the standard language of a politically defined society, it becomes a language. On the other hand, as long as a dialect, no matter what a deviation from the norm it is, has no standardized written norm, it does not gain the status "language". Example: the Swiss German dialect(s), would certainly qualify to be a language considering what a deviation from German it is, more akin to Dutch than to High German. Why is it not a language? Because it has no standard form, not written form, except phonetically as a joke in private. Young people write SMS and e-mails in Swiss German to each other, but that is pretty much all. We speak in Swiss German (dialect) but we write in High German (language) with a norm. There have been considerations to codify some Standard Swiss German, but then debates arise as to which dialect to take as the basis. There are big differences along the continuum too.

Not to mention the codification of languages for purely political reasons, such as Moldavian, which is for all practical purposes pure Romanian.

[mistermack]

If I was French, I would learn English.
If I was Chinese, I would learn English.
If I was Dutch, I would learn English.
If I was Indian, I would learn English.
(there's a pattern emerging here).
I'm English. Fuck it, my work is done.

Just to edit that a bit.
My ancestors were Irish. Do I want to learn Irish? Not in the slightest. Unless the rest of the world suddenly starts speaking it.

My ancestors were cattle men. I see no reason to learn how to deliver a calf.
I regard language as a tool. Why collect old tools you never use?
.

[chaggle]

If I was French, I would learn English.
If I was Chinese, I would learn English.
If I was Dutch, I would learn English.
If I was Indian, I would learn English.
(there's a pattern emerging here).
I'm English. Fuck it, my work is done.

Just to edit that a bit.
My ancestors were Irish. Do I want to learn Irish? Not in the slightest. Unless the rest of the world suddenly starts speaking it.

My ancestors were cattle men. I see no reason to learn how to deliver a calf.
I regard language as a tool. Why collect old tools you never use?
.

That is a very sensible post

[Svartalf]

Actually, it's an obsolete post... learning Chinese or Arabic, or possibly Persian (the latter being cultural languages throughout the muslim world, from Syria to Pakistan and Indonesia) might be more sensible choices if you're a young person and intend to be relevant 30 years from now.

[mistermack]

Actually, that post is probably obselete. In 30 years time, your phone will translate foreign languages straight into your ear.
.