Writer's Block: Parlez-vous francais?
Aug. 5th, 2011 05:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99[Error: unknown template qotd]
The only language I know well is English. My German is okay. I can converse, provided I was given a month to relearn the damn grammar, I could even hold down a job, provided the geography was in my favour. By which I mean, as long as I'm not in the North or the East 'cause I don't care what they call it, what they speak in those parts is not German. I have heard the same thing said about Bayern, but the people who say that are wrong! ;) (My German sounds like nothing on Earth, English accent, plus Viennese accent)
I can read French, and my spoken French, although unspeakably abysmal, is survival standard. Give me a fistful of Euros and dump me anywhere in France and I can get home and keep myself fed and watered without resorting to English.
I learnt a tiny, tiny bit of Mandarin, but I would love to learn more. It seems like such a wonderful, rich language.
Other languages on the 'really must get round to sometime between now and grave' would be Spanish, Arabic and a Cyrillic language. Russian would be the obvious one, but I'm tempted by Bulgarian to make a friend happy. Hindi probably ought to be on there too. Then there's a fair few other languages on the pile marked, 'it would be awesome to learn' like Japanese, Korean and Finnish.
I think that, as an English as a first language speaker, I'm in an incredibly privileged position, because in a lot of other countries people are forced to learn English because it's the major international language. I think it's only polite to try to speak the language if you're in a country where English isn't the language of use.
It really, really annoys me when British tourists are all 'well, everyone ought to cater to us' because, well, no.
By the by, why yes, Mother dearest did languages as her degree. I think learning two languages growing up does mean I pick other languages up a bit more easily. Yes, I know doing German at A-level probably counts as an unfair advantage. No, I don't feel at all guilty.
The only language I know well is English. My German is okay. I can converse, provided I was given a month to relearn the damn grammar, I could even hold down a job, provided the geography was in my favour. By which I mean, as long as I'm not in the North or the East 'cause I don't care what they call it, what they speak in those parts is not German. I have heard the same thing said about Bayern, but the people who say that are wrong! ;) (My German sounds like nothing on Earth, English accent, plus Viennese accent)
I can read French, and my spoken French, although unspeakably abysmal, is survival standard. Give me a fistful of Euros and dump me anywhere in France and I can get home and keep myself fed and watered without resorting to English.
I learnt a tiny, tiny bit of Mandarin, but I would love to learn more. It seems like such a wonderful, rich language.
Other languages on the 'really must get round to sometime between now and grave' would be Spanish, Arabic and a Cyrillic language. Russian would be the obvious one, but I'm tempted by Bulgarian to make a friend happy. Hindi probably ought to be on there too. Then there's a fair few other languages on the pile marked, 'it would be awesome to learn' like Japanese, Korean and Finnish.
I think that, as an English as a first language speaker, I'm in an incredibly privileged position, because in a lot of other countries people are forced to learn English because it's the major international language. I think it's only polite to try to speak the language if you're in a country where English isn't the language of use.
It really, really annoys me when British tourists are all 'well, everyone ought to cater to us' because, well, no.
By the by, why yes, Mother dearest did languages as her degree. I think learning two languages growing up does mean I pick other languages up a bit more easily. Yes, I know doing German at A-level probably counts as an unfair advantage. No, I don't feel at all guilty.
