What English do you read, write, speak?

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Mistik-ka
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Mistik-ka »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Prevaricates he in Spanish too, or German, or any of the numerous other languages used in *The Dominion*?

Only French and English as far as I know. His English is impeccable. As his first language is French I expect it is at least as good, but my own fluency is not sufficient to permit me to comment.
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Mrs Trump speaks half a dozen languages, she is probably smarter than the lot of us

Anyone here speak more than half as many languages as the First Lady? :?
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Vorpal »

Cyril Haearn wrote:Mrs Trump speaks half a dozen languages, she is probably smarter than the lot of us

Anyone here speak more than half as many languages as the First Lady? :?

I seem to replace my second language, rather than adding a new one.

When I was small, I spoke some French and German because my mother did. Then I took Latin in school and mostly forgot the French and German. Then I used the French as an adult, travelling to Belgium and France frequently for business. Then I worked for an Italian company and free Italian lessons. I got to the point that I could speak Italian conversationally, but I could barely put a sentence together in French.

Now, I can manage conversational Norwegian, and most everyday sorts of things to do with kids in school, shopping, etc., but I struggle to put together a sentence in Italian, and French is a lost cause, except for a few automatic kind of phrases that I leant as a child, like please, thank you, and you're welcome.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Mistik-ka wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:Prevaricates he in Spanish too, or German, or any of the numerous other languages used in *The Dominion*?

Only French and English as far as I know. His English is impeccable. As his first language is French I expect it is at least as good, but my own fluency is not sufficient to permit me to comment.

Then he has two first languages, 2x 100%?
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The same for Ms Ardern in NZ
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durhambiker
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by durhambiker »

I live in County Durham....20miles south of Newcastle so not a "proper" y eye man Geordie,but a watered down version.Couple that with a "pitmatic"dialect where the miners invented their own words,maybe a fore runner of text speak,leads to an interesting way of speaking!.
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Roberto Martinez manages the Belgian football team in English! Fortunately translators are always to hand but nearly all the players do not play in the Belgian league so maybe some of them understand him
Bet he has an interesting accent, comes from Spain, lives near Wigan, wife is Scottish
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

GT and our other Sporting Heroes are quite good, many of them give interviews in French too

Is English the Lingua Franca in the peloton?
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Vorpal »

Cyril Haearn wrote:GT and our other Sporting Heroes are quite good, many of them give interviews in French too

Is English the Lingua Franca in the peloton?

Cycling is the Lingua Franca in the Peloton ;)
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661-Pete
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by 661-Pete »

I do know that, across the Channel, to say "J'ai une selle dure" (literally: I have a hard saddle) does not mean quite that! :lol:
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Vorpal »

Norwegian TV commentary on the TdF is littered with the French words used in cycle racing.
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

The Grauniad reports that English is the language of the TdF now, not French
Quel dommage :?
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Re: What English do you WRITE?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Started to realise I can identify some forum members by the way they write

We were all taught to read and write at school, but we develop our own styles, do we get better or lazier?

Is written English geographically different like the spoken language? I think there are words one might utter but not write, vice-versa too maybe. "Thoyle" is one of my favourites, I really must use it more :wink:
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Little Neve Ardern, First Child in NZ, will be brought up to speak Maori AND English
Plus Two!
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Apparently English is and will remain the de facto lingua franca in the EU burocracy, it is still the most popular second language, Italians and Finns use it to talk to each other, +27!

Will the EU be able to release some staff and save money after Black Friday?
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Re: What English do you SPEAK?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Plus One for foreign football managers speaking English or trying to, giving interviews, some of them are fluent but have quite strong accents, they make a virtue of imperfection, sounds good to me
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