The Old Folks Home

[The Yakima Kid]

I was in California. It was in the 1980s.

Friends who said they were from "Britain" who were being interviewed at the same time were asked where they learnt their English.

Dialects and accents are interesting. I thought the Irish had a big part in development of the generic american accent.

The Australian accent comes from the lower class English accents like the cockney and a bit of Irish. These two groups were most of the convicts that were the first white invadors of Australia

The Irish may have influenced it in some parts of the country; but Germans were an early and strong influence. Have you ever been to Minnesota? The traditional Minnesota accent sounds almost as if the person was a native speaker of one of the Scandinavian languages and learned English as a second language - but it is actually the regional accent of people whose L1 is English. I worked with a man who was a PhD candidate in Chinese who was from Minnesota. It was always strange to hear him switch from English with a Scandinavian accent to Chinese with no Scandinavian overlay. Great guy to take with one to dinner at a restaurant where the management spoke Mandarin.

 

[Alaskan]

Quote:

yep.... when I was a little kid, other kids would always ask me for curse words and other bad words in other languages. I would just look at them and explain that my parents and grandparents had taught me.....

I had a friend who had the same problem, so they made up their own curse word, simply because it sounded bad in English, they used the German word for Turtle whenever they wanted to curse.

 

[Alaskan]

Quote:
True, but how do you filter out the influence of German immigrants, and the fact that English was mostly German to start off with?

 

[The Yakima Kid]

I am. I'm very disappointed. It's an indictment on the education system AND the individual's desire to be aware of their world.
That said, Europeans are much closer to people that speak other languages and national boundaries than North Americans and Australians. With that in mind, I would expect Europeans to, more often than not, be multi-lingual.

I met some young girls on a train from Bruneck to Milan. I asked if any of them spoke English. (I didn't speak Italian) One of them spoke up and in a New England accent said, "Yes, perfectly". I was relieved having trouble communicating with the conductor. After working out the problems we engaged in a discussion. She had spent a year as an exchange student in Boston. Since returning, she had been clamoring to tell her friends about all the new things she learned that school hadn't prepared her for. Utmost in her mind was American slang. She was thrilled that she had a real American in her and her friends' midst in the middle of Italy. She said, tell them some slang words. I had been travelling a couple months in Europe and English, let alone American slang had been the farthest thing from my mind for a long time. Like a moron, I couldn't think of one thing. I felt totally worthless.

I studied Spanish in high school and college. I have never been able to use it, except with educated Latin Americans. The dialect taught was an educated North American dialect, specifically that of Mexico City and the Universidad. Most of the Spanish speaking immigrants here seem to actually speak Creoles and dialects that are somewhat removed from educated Spanish.

 

[ozexpat]

30 hours til my mango smoothie and hot towel.

I still have to get two kids bikes broken down and into suitcases

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Wow. It's amazing how Zenophobic and racially prejudiced the people who formed this country were.

it's a good thing we don't interpret their words the same way they did.
"All men are created equal" the caveat: the definition of "man" is only Anglo men. People of any other color are...not..? And women...don't even get me started!
The country was built on the backs of poor immigrants as well as enslaved natives and "imports." Even the Irish were De facto slave labor at one point.
They are still doing it to this day. Ask the FBI what they questioned me and my husband about a little over a year ago. The words "intimidation" and "religious persecution" come to mind.
mind you, my husband and I come from families that are a mixture of native as well as some of the original settlers here.
I come from several generations of military service as well.

My dad's answer when I called him upset by the FBI knocking on my door, unannounced: "you know what you have to do if you want them to leave you alone" So, I have to denounce God? Wow...just wow.
Needless to say, I won't denounce God or my devotion and service to Him. That possibility was never even a possibility.
"There is no compulsion in religion..." [Q2:256]
that's why it doesn't work!

The whole internment thing was absolutely insane. Asian immigrants were not allowed to become citizens. So the Issei, even those who had served in WWI, were interned, and their children sent with them. The Nisei who were adults were sent in because they were supposedly "Fifth Columnists." The reality is that many in California coveted their property and used this as an opportunity to obtain it for cents on the dollar.

One man was murdered outside Hood River, Oregon while his son was serving in the American army. There was sufficient shame over this that Eastern Oregon College in La Grande had many Nisei and Sansei homecoming princesses in the postwar years. It wasn't enough.

 

[ozexpat]

I studied Spanish in high school and college. I have never been able to use it, except with educated Latin Americans. The dialect taught was an educated North American dialect, specifically that of Mexico City and the Universidad. Most of the Spanish speaking immigrants here seem to actually speak Creoles and dialects that are somewhat removed from educated Spanish.

Thats very similar to how many foreigners learn English. They speak accented English grammatically more correct than most native English speakers in some ways a little off .

In the Philippines you are told to "accomplish a form".

Technically correct but.....

 

[Wisher1000]

And, probably, with just the small number of people on this thread, we wouldn't be able to agree on what should be on the "must know" list, except for the super basic.

The Old Folks Home List of "Must Knows"
In no particular order....

1. One must always know where the closest restroom is located.

2. Everyone should know the universal sign for "I'm choking" ........ oh, and how to do the Heimlich Manuver.

3. It is important that you know how to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission.




Feel free to add to the list......

 

[subhanalah]

The Old Folks Home List of "Must Knows"
In no particular order....

1.  One must always know where the closest restroom is located.

2.  Everyone should know the universal sign for "I'm choking"    ........    oh, and how to do the Heimlich Manuver.

3.  It is important that you know how to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission.




Feel free to add to the list......

the last one should have read "too old to drive but too grumpy to give up the keys"

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As to people in other countries being better at geography... the two supposedly well educated Taiwanese boys that I taught this summer could not find Taiwan or Japan on a globe.

Also, the amount of information that we could all know, is mind boggling. No one person can know it all, you need to decide what is most important, and needs to be learned.

The example of the nurse who knows about everything in the medical field, but has no idea what a rooster is, is a good example.

Now, I do think that you need to have at least a basic idea of geography. I don't think that you need to have all wars and the players and reasons for them memorized. However, the really big ones need to be know, as well as their general dates. I think it is more important to understand the basic strategy, mismanagement, politics, and tactics of war than a list of all wars fought.

And, probably, with just the small number of people on this thread, we wouldn't be able to agree on what should be on the "must know" list, except for the super basic.

Good points.

"one culture separated by our common language."

X2

Probably not my strong suit. But I used to be a very good C programmer.

Good language.

They totally sound too much alike to me!

But then, I think I have auditory processing problems.

Hearing aid?

I studied Spanish in high school and college. I have never been able to use it, except with educated Latin Americans. The dialect taught was an educated North American dialect, specifically that of Mexico City and the Universidad. Most of the Spanish speaking immigrants here seem to actually speak Creoles and dialects that are somewhat removed from educated Spanish.

I know nothing about your school but most texts and teachers of Spanish, at least back in the 60s used Castilian Spanish from the motherland. Even many Latin American broadcasters use Castilian Spanish.

There's nary a western Spanish speaking country that speaks with the same accent or dialect as Spain. One of the more diverse languages.

Understanding the history of the continent, Costa Rica and some rural areas of South America speak a more archaic form of Spanish because they were isolated for much of the time since the conquest. IMO, the worst examples of Spanish are among the Caribbean islands. I was on a plane from Puerto Rico to Atlanta sitting next to an older PR lady. We were talking for quite a while and she kept saying how good my Spanish was. I assure you, my Spanish is very poor. Yes she was being nice.

Virtually every Latin American country should have their own dictionary. I've been trying to learn Costa Rican Spanish for about 6 years. There are so many words not used in any other Spanish speaking country it's amazing.

30 hours til my mango smoothie and hot towel.

I still have to get two kids bikes broken down and into suitcases

BONUS!!!

And you'll be able to leave this conversation in the dust.