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Post by Rocket Man on Feb 28, 2018 0:29:36 GMT
Just being curious... I am French, we have a Romance language but with very strong germanic superstrats (check this those who are into linguistic) that means we learn Romance/Germanic languages with more ease than other languages (slavic, I'm not talking of Finnish & Hungarian which are fun but way too hard!!! ) And then the rest... Obviously I am talking english to you right now... Relatively easy to learn from french... even Clémenceau used to say "English is french badly pronounced"  I would say English is the easiest language to learn from French because of common vocabulary and all which is even closer directly from French to English rather than other romance languages or germanic... But we can learn both without too many problem. Finnish is a torture!!! I never achieved speaking it and I have always hoped they understand swedish, because I can speak a bit swedish and it's way easier than Finnish lol! I can speak Italian and German too... A bit Spanish, a bit Dutch... Not as good but still... Mothertongue: French. Language I speak the best: English. But not because it's the international language, I don't care, it's just we have a lot of common History and we're cousins between France and the UK. I prefer British english. But I love New Zealand too. And yeah... In my region of France we're at the same distance from German and Italian (the closest city in another country is Geneva in Switzerland), so I speak both. Where do you come from? What is your mothertongue? Which language can you speak? |
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Post by Dr Johnny Fever on Feb 28, 2018 11:51:19 GMT
I speak English...and if you speak that you don't need to speak anything else...I speak, what we call school boy French..which is French learned at school....i.e. " my name is, hello how are you, a kilo of apples (don't know why but remember this) and I guess odd French words and sentences " oh and of course, frere jacques..bits of German, bits of Greek..when I say bits..it's a word or two...ordering a beer, hello, thank you, that sort of thing..but the thing is, I find that if I'm say in France and I do try to speak in French, they want me to speak in English to help them improve their English..even in America they tried to speak English to me...they didn't always know what I was talking about...my daughter asked a guy if he knew where the pictures were..which he didn't understand..cinema, was also lost on him...I did try to help them to speak the lingo..I did point out that they were saying thing that don't really exist in English...I did point out I was English and spoke English..it was my language and the clue was in the name..I mean "rest room" really, I'm not going in there for a rest, I'm going to have a pee...I've picked up the odd word when I've been on holiday..but as I've said, if you speak English, so does most of Europe...holiday in Poland, everyone and there dog spoke English, stop over in Denmark...everyone spoke English...Paris two years ago, all the menus were in French and English, Poland the same, polish and English...why bother learning something you'll never need...
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Post by Rocket Man on Mar 6, 2018 12:45:50 GMT
Yes, I can see how English is international and you can go almost everywhere and be sure you'll be understood with it. For me it's fine because it is not my mothertongue, and I love to speak other languages. The most boring to me is to have to speak french. Since it's my mothertongue, I am not going to forget it, so I prefer to speak like in any other language I know but french. I can see how people will prefer that you talk in english in Paris so that they can practice. I guess England's English and America's English have the same differences, more or less as France's French and Québec's French. I remember this thing that they use "Highway" instead of "Motorway" or they write "colour" without the "u" and the most confusing: they mix up the ground floor with the first floor... I mean in America it's the same "ground floor" and "first floor"... Which is mega confusing the first time! lol In New Zealand they say "jandals" for "flip flops" also (ok that sounds close to "sandals"). Yes about "pictures" or "cinema" I think they say "the movies" there... They "go to the movies"... Well about other languages, I simply like them, and then from my region in France you can be in no time in German/Italian speaking regions and I like to speak to people in their mothertongue... You take a train you're in Turin. You take a train you're in Freiburg. And it's fun to see you can even understand dialects with major languages like German or Dutch. Like if you meet a few of the remaining Alscian, Plättdeutsch or Flemish speakers you can actually understand them and have an exchange with them thanks to normal german and normal flemish... So that's funny. But I like languages... Of course, on the pure practical idea of international communication for practical purposes, business, and all, you will only need English. But culturally, by curiosity, or simply because I like languages, I enjoy trying to speak also other languages and see how people who have those languages as mothertongues can understand me and how we can have a conversation.  Also it makes me understand more things about my own language and it makes me more integrated in other regions... Without counting the fact that sometimes several languages belong to only one region. Like for example people in the Alpine region are going to speak french and german and italian, and if you live in the Alps, even if an idiot decided there should be a boundary between France, and Switzerland and Austria (And North Italy, and South Germany) for example, it doesn't make necessary any logical sense since a French who lives in the Alps lives in the same environment and culture as a Swiss or Austrian rather than someone from the French riviera for example and someone who lives in the Alps in North Italy lives more like someone who lives in the Alps in South Germany rather than someone from Rome, and someone who lives in Ravensburg lives more like someone who lives in Burgundy/Rhône-Alpes rather than someone from Kiel or Dresden... So... Well... If you can speak several languages it helps for the harmony of only one region for example... In a way... If you catch my drift... But of course you can always use English everywhere. In England of course you don't need to speak Cornish to live and stay and feel integrated in Cornwall. But I still already heard a woman being able to speak Cornish and I found it cool. The only problem for me is that the Gaellic languages like Cornish/Breton/Irish/Scottish are just really hard to learn... Much harder than Romace/Germanic languages... But still... If they have the luck to have two languages... I find it to be a real chance!! People who are born bilingual or even more than this, are really lucky. |
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Post by kissybissy on Mar 6, 2018 23:24:43 GMT
English. I started learning French, but I gave up.
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Post by Dr Johnny Fever on Mar 7, 2018 11:09:35 GMT
Yes about "pictures" or "cinema" I think they say "the movies" there... They "go to the movies"... In the sunny U.K. We go to the "pictures" they are know as the pictures or the cinema, in the states, it a "theatre"...we were looking for the pictures in the US and stopped to ask where it was, asking for what we would in the U.K.. also thinking about this again...the other thing is we don't really have a border with another country...there's a push in Wales to speak Welsh, it's now taught in schools...but that's about it...it's not as easy to pop over into another country as it is in Europe..just jump into a car and drive over..no borders really, here you have the cost of getting over to Europe and passport control...there's always be a border between the U.K. And the rest of Europe..28 miles of water.. another thing i cant get my head around with the American English...someone says.."do you mine if I take a look at it" ...and the other guy says..."yes, sure"...if that was asked over here, we'd say, .."no, go ahead"...as in "no I don't mind" ...as the American to me is..."yes, I mind about it".. |
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Post by Rocket Man on Mar 12, 2018 11:04:37 GMT
also thinking about this again...the other thing is we don't really have a border with another country...there's a push in Wales to speak Welsh, it's now taught in schools...but that's about it...it's not as easy to pop over into another country as it is in Europe..just jump into a car and drive over..no borders really, here you have the cost of getting over to Europe and passport control...there's always be a border between the U.K. And the rest of Europe..28 miles of water.. Hmm... I understand the "island mentality", but as French it's slightly different from the rest of Europe, considering anyone from the Channel Coast in France can see England's coasts, and there are even people both French and English, who swan across the Channel and we even built the "Chunnel". ... Of course, those notions remain obscure to other "Continental europeans"... But France is Continental Europe while having a direct view on England's Coasts plus the Chunnel... Yeah... I don't know how to put it with words... But France is continental without being Germany or Italy... Italians or Germans can't see England... But we can... Hard to put in a nutshell... But maybe someone we'll understand what I mean here. You're not "isolated", "far away" or anything to us... I don't have the physical shape to swim across the Channel, but many French people already did the Calais / Dover distance!! Is it harder to cross the Channel between France / UK or the Alps between France / Italy??? (Mount Blanc 4809 Meters!) ? ... You catch my drift... So well... It's not all as simple as continental vs. island. Plus culturally most of France is just originally a gaellic territory (even if Latin and Germanic influences are very strong). And Ireland for example can be considered gaellic too, and some would say it is an "isolated island" too... So what?... Corsica is an island too... Most French people jokingly call them "italians in denial"!! Whereas they're supposed to be part of France... Like Flanders goes from France to the Netherlands or Alsace, etc have very strong links with Germany too... We're all linked. And even as an island, Great Britain resemble France a lot: France: -Gaellic territory. -Roman invasion (up to Scotland) -Frankish foundation -Normand (Viking) invasions -Anglo-French History England: -Gaellic Territory -Roman Invasion (up to Scotland) -Anglish Foundation -Normand (viking) invasions -Franco-English History So... Island... Ok... But 20.7 miles of water (not 28! Strait of Dover 20.7 miles!) ... This is not that much!!! |
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I would say English is the easiest language to learn from French because of common vocabulary and all which is even closer directly from French to English rather than other romance languages or germanic... But we can learn both without too many problem. 
Also it makes me understand more things about my own language and it makes me more integrated in other regions... 
