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DPChallenge Forums >> General Discussion >> To those who English is not their 1st language
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05/19/2005 01:45:29 PM · #1
I just want to express my admiration for all our DPC'ers who don't use English as their first language, and yet do such a wonderful job communicating here on DPC. I run into far too many people who mangle English and it is their "first" and only language. You folks make it look easy, and I know it isn't. I admire you greatly for this. Now back to photography, and I will try to stay on topic for the rest of the day.

Edit: just to illustrate my point, I, of course, mangle the subject line myself! lol

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 13:46:41.
05/19/2005 01:52:22 PM · #2
heck, I grew up in the USA, and still don't have a handle on it......
05/19/2005 01:58:51 PM · #3
I agree with Kylie there, I appreciate those that write in English for the rest of us. I'm impressed with those that speak with more than one language, as I grew up learning French at high school in Australia. The only language available to learn then was French and German. Nowadays they include Japanese, and others possibly. I can follow Portuguese but to string a few words together, I get stuck! I don't think people in Australia are really encouraged to learn another language, so I feel for so many of the immigrants there that have to struggle to learn the complex Strine language!
05/19/2005 02:00:26 PM · #4
English is my first and only Language I know, unless you consider 'souther slang' as a form of English. I mess it up allda time, uno. Well gotta go a friend asked me to have supper with his momnim. lol

All joking a side you are right Kylie, It amazes me how fluently they speak the English language and it's not there primary language. Props to everyone of you.
05/19/2005 02:11:28 PM · #5
Typing and reading it is easy, but when I have to talk it is a lot worse. When I am abroad for a couple of weeks talking becomes a lot easier and natural, but when one of you calls me on the telephone right now I'll be searching for words. But perhaps that is also because I get stressed when talking on a telephone. :)
Kiwiness called me once, I bet he got the impression he was talking to a monkey. :)


05/19/2005 02:15:20 PM · #6
I took three years of French in Junior High and like you say, Azrifel, writing it was one thing, but speaking - YIKES! Jinjit (adi) and Xion (Aznym), here on DPC, amaze me with their skill.
05/19/2005 02:15:53 PM · #7
Muito obrigado, é realmente muito gentil de sua parte mencionar isto!

:-D

Well, translating it into english "thank you very much, it's very kind of you to mention that".
I've been studying english since I was 9. I've already been in the US twice (for a total of 7 months). I know that if I don't practice I'll get rusty, but hey, besides practicing my photography, I practice my english, get to know new ppl, make new friends.....Lots of stuff!

I'm very glad yall notice that us, the non-english-speaking ppl, are always trying to catch up with you guys from the US, UK and Australia. I must confess that sometimes I get a lil lost, depending on the subject been debated, but I don't find that to be a problem!

I must also apologize for all the mistakes (grammar, spelling, punctuation, and on).

LoL, I'm feeling "loved"...... :-D
05/19/2005 02:17:24 PM · #8
Originally posted by scuds:

Muito obrigado, é realmente muito gentil de sua parte mencionar isto!

:-D

Well, translating it into english "thank you very much, it's very kind of you to mention that".
I've been studying english since I was 9. I've already been in the US twice (for a total of 7 months). I know that if I don't practice I'll get rusty, but hey, besides practicing my photography, I practice my english, get to know new ppl, make new friends.....Lots of stuff!

I'm very glad yall notice that us, the non-english-speaking ppl, are always trying to catch up with you guys from the US, UK and Australia. I must confess that sometimes I get a lil lost, depending on the subject been debated, but I don't find that to be a problem!

I must also apologize for all the mistakes (grammar, spelling, punctuation, and on).

LoL, I'm feeling "loved"...... :-D


You don't ever need to apologize! Someone like me needs to be senstitive to the fact that I may use terms or slang that aren't easily translated, I think.
05/19/2005 02:17:41 PM · #9
I for once had english as a main language since i went to an American school here in portugal, my classes where all in english execpt for portuguese...
I went from pre kindegarden to the 6th grade in that school always speaking englsih...
One day i woke up on the wrong side of the bed and just quited and started going to portugese school...
Now i have missed some of my english but since i am here it is a great thing i still try to keep the pace but sometimes the words just vanish out of my head and mistakes come in...
With the ultimate frisbee team i am playing many people are from other places of the world so i have to speak to them in english this is another good thing for me to keep on practicing...
So here is a little of my life story....
But thanks for that kylie
05/19/2005 02:21:29 PM · #10
Originally posted by Kylie:

You don't ever need to apologize! Someone like me needs to be senstitive to the fact that I may use terms or slang that aren't easily translated, I think.


Don't worry 'bout the slangs or terms. I might not get their exact meaning, but I do understand what you're saying, from the context of the message. (was that clear) I got a bit confused myself with my sentence.
05/19/2005 02:22:31 PM · #11
Originally posted by scuds:

Originally posted by Kylie:

You don't ever need to apologize! Someone like me needs to be senstitive to the fact that I may use terms or slang that aren't easily translated, I think.


Don't worry 'bout the slangs or terms. I might not get their exact meaning, but I do understand what you're saying, from the context of the message. (was that clear) I got a bit confused myself with my sentence.


Absolutely clear!!!
05/19/2005 02:23:24 PM · #12
Originally posted by Discraft:

I for once had english as a main language since i went to an American school here in portugal, my classes where all in english execpt for portuguese...
I went from pre kindegarden to the 6th grade in that school always speaking englsih...
One day i woke up on the wrong side of the bed and just quited and started going to portugese school...
Now i have missed some of my english but since i am here it is a great thing i still try to keep the pace but sometimes the words just vanish out of my head and mistakes come in...
With the ultimate frisbee team i am playing many people are from other places of the world so i have to speak to them in english this is another good thing for me to keep on practicing...
So here is a little of my life story....
But thanks for that kylie


Wow - you guys are amazing!
05/19/2005 02:25:13 PM · #13
isn't it great that a picture can speak a 1,000 words... ;-)
05/19/2005 02:29:19 PM · #14
Originally posted by theSaj:

isn't it great that a picture can speak a 1,000 words... ;-)


Excellent point!!

It is also very cool for me to get to learn other cultures' slang from all of you.

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 14:31:26.
05/19/2005 02:34:47 PM · #15
english is not spoken here in Iceland, it's just one of many languages we learn in school, and one thing I learned about the English language and the people that uses it..

1. the English and the American do NOT know proper english.
2. foreigners in England do NOT understand the English spoken there.
3. foreigners are considered upperclass snobs because their English is proper and valid oxford english.
4. you only need 800 words to live in London, as that is the average vocabulary of the local Englishman.
5. if you are a foreigner in London and nobody understands you, hold your hand in front of your mouth and mumble, that might help as they self speak in that manor :)
6. this is not ment as an insult.. ofcource there are some people in England that can speak proper english.. like the Queen and her family ;)-- snobs :)
05/19/2005 02:35:08 PM · #16
Thank you, Kylie :-)
I was born in Germany and migrated to Australia when I was 20 years old (then came to Seattle 3 years ago on a temporary basis).

I learnt English at school, but only as much as I absolutely HAD to, after all, I was never going to need it, right? *g*
I sure wish I had known about moving to Oz from an earlier age - would have made going to college in Australia so much easier.

The most fascinating thing I learnt was that you CAN forget your mother tongue, or at least get rather rusty.
I still understand German perfectly, but when I speak it, I often can't think of the right word in a hurry, or I twist my sentences around (i.e. using English grammer translated into German words).
However, since I don't have any discernible accent in German, any native speaker must think I'm a total idiot to stutter and talk like that. LOL

Might be time for a stint in Germany for a while so it can all come back to me....
05/19/2005 02:35:19 PM · #17
I feel very embarrassed about the laziness of most English people who expect other nationalities to speak English yet don't bother to learn another language themselves - and I include myself in this group! My smattering of French and Italian are no where near as fluent as the people on this site. You have my greatest admiration.
05/19/2005 02:35:21 PM · #18
oops

Message edited by author 2005-05-19 14:51:08.
05/19/2005 02:36:17 PM · #19
Originally posted by Kylie:

I took three years of French in Junior High and like you say, Azrifel, writing it was one thing, but speaking - YIKES! Jinjit (adi) and Xion (Aznym), here on DPC, amaze me with their skill.


Oh thank you so!
You are one amazing person yourself!

I have quite the opposite problem then Azrifel mentioned. I'm better at speaking really. Takes me a few minutes to get used to different accents, but then I'm "flying" with the spoken language, and I talk A LOT! I can make an elephent tired in no time! consider yourself so lucky for having me on this side of your world! LOL
But writing and reading takes a while, and my biggest problem is vocabulary.

By the way - Scuds - watch out for me!
Eu estudo o português agora! (mas não falo ainda) (I hope that was correct ;-)

05/19/2005 02:38:34 PM · #20
Hvala lijepa, Kylie, siguran sam da bi i vi lako presli na drugi jezik da ste bili ubaceni u drugu sredinu i ostavljeni da se snadjete...

-S.
05/19/2005 02:50:40 PM · #21
Originally posted by srdanz:

Hvala lijepa, Kylie, siguran sam da bi i vi lako presli na drugi jezik da ste bili ubaceni u drugu sredinu i ostavljeni da se snadjete...

-S.


I hope that was nice! If not, at least I will never know!! lol
05/19/2005 02:51:55 PM · #22
I have a quick question for you. I was told in another forum that the apostrophe was particularly hard to understand, especially when used in contractions (can't - can not, don't -- do not, and so on). While I complied and stopped using contractions in that forum it always seemed strange for one symbol to be more difficult than any of the other symbols used. Not that it mattered, the extra typing is only helping me. :)

However, I never got the chance to find out if it was widely true or not. So, from an American that daily butchers the one language he knows -- are there any particular areas that give you and your peers more trouble than others?

David
05/19/2005 02:55:56 PM · #23
Originally posted by Britannica:

-- are there any particular areas that give you and your peers more trouble than others?


then vs than
when to 'to' and when to 'too'

But that's just because I'm to/too lazy to look it up. :)


05/19/2005 03:01:23 PM · #24
Originally posted by Kylie:

Originally posted by srdanz:

Hvala lijepa, Kylie, siguran sam da bi i vi lako presli na drugi jezik da ste bili ubaceni u drugu sredinu i ostavljeni da se snadjete...

-S.


I hope that was nice! If not, at least I will never know!! lol


Translation only for you:
Thank you very much, Kylie. I'm sure that you would be fluent in another language if only you were forced to live in another country where nobody spoke English and could understand you...
05/19/2005 03:04:56 PM · #25
David, remembering my early struggles with English (and more so my class mates who found it much harder than I did):

I had no problem with contractions. It didn't make too much sense to bother with them, since you don't exactly save tons of typing/speaking, but hey, such is the nature of the beast called language.

I was much more confused with all the "...ing"s, as in writing, shopping, etc, since in German you only write and shop.

I found questions confusing at first - the ones starting with "do" - I especially remember being endlessly puzzled by "Do you do your homework every day?" because the direct translation from German would be: "Make you daily homework?". I had a hellish time figuring out where not only one, but TWO "do's" came from.

Slang and English vs American spelling is a bit tough at first, too.
Understanding English humour which often relies on a play of words takes a while, you need to get a feel for the language first.

End of lecture *s*
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