What English do you read, write, speak?

[Cyril Haearn]

+1 for learning "small" languages (Norsk or Czech or Portuguese (that is small in Europe at least)..)

[Cyril Haearn]

Here's an interesting accent!
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe ... mcallister

David Mcallister Prime Minister of Lower Saxony.

Born Germany, raised bilingually, father was a Scot, Mother German.
Total command of both languages I would guess.

Yet there are, within his English, some of the usual differences seen in German speakers, small but still there. Bird Song?

One can only envy his command though.

Ps.sorry about Brexit subject matter, though IMV he talks some diplomatic sense!

Mcallister has 'gone to Europe' but a half British, indeed half English ( ) person will be in the cabinet in Berlin, Dr jur (law) Katarina Barley, her dad was English. I read that she was considered for Foreign Minister but she might be too smart (show the guys up?) so she will be Justice Minister
The SPD will have three laddies and three ladies in the cabinet but the 'most important' positions (Finance, Foreign) go to men of course
But Ms Nahles should be in charge of the party so the power split is really close to 50:50, +1!

[Cyril Haearn]

Heard someone from India talking about cricket, he had a nice accent, not too strong, easy to understand and fluent. Heard an Australian too, he was not so easy to understand

The Indian probably speaks a couple of other languages too, +2

Cricket has a useful function in spreading the lingo, English is the cricket lingua franca

[reohn2]

Heard someone from India talking about cricket, he had a nice accent, not too strong, easy to understand and fluent. Heard an Australian too, he was not so easy to understand

The Indian probably speaks a couple of other languages too, +2

Cricket has a useful function in spreading the lingo, English is the cricket lingua franca

Cricket itself is English be definition and the nations who play it,play it as a leftover of forceful Imperialist intervention

[Vorpal]

India is a nation of thousands of languages. Many Indians speak the local English dialect as their mother tongue, and most speak English as a second language to some extent. English is the language of business and tertiary education in India. The differences between British and Indian English are at least as big as the differences between British and Australian or Canadian English. Except of course for cricket

[Cyril Haearn]

One hopes that cricket will continue to be popular, the UK will soon need as many friends as it can get
New Zealand instead of Belgium
Australia instead of Austria

Hoping to visit Austria again soon, should be familiar but a bit different from home
Easier to get to than the cricket countries, by train with 1-2 changes

[Cyril Haearn]

Just heard the PotUS on the radio:
'We spent seven trillion daalars in the middle east in the last 17 years and gaat nothing for it, nothing, nothing'
No idea if that is true but I was struck by Mr Trumps accent, quite a clear and agreeable English (or American?), easy to listen to and understand
Is that a standard NY middle-class accent? Did he take elocution lessons like Lady T?

Please, no politricks here

[Cyril Haearn]

Trumpland is leading the way again
Many schools in OK-lahoma teach in Spanish and English (or American)
Not sure whether the PotUS is involved

[mjr]

A second language does help to learn a third, even if they are not related. It gets your brain used to thinking about things in a different way, and develops your language learning strategy. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/li ... earn-third

More directly than that, it also often gives English speakers the knowledge of the mechanics of language and grammar that is no longer taught universally in English schools.

I will always be thankful that my small English village primary school taught us French from Year 1 onwards. I may have struggled with English without it, let alone French, German, Esperanto, Dutch, Spanish, Czech...

[Cyril Haearn]

We had to do French at school, could do German later, some even did Russian or Chinese later
And Latin of course

What languages if any are children learning now?

[rjb]

I had to study Latin, French then Spanish. I was rubbish at all of them including English. When they realised I would never pass my gce in them I was able to drop them and concentrate on English and science topics. Never got the hang of languages but maths was a whole lot easier.

[Cyril Haearn]

Just read an article about a newsreader on German tivi who is famous for being famous
She took elocution lessons for a year to erase a slight regional accent so she could read the flagship news programme

Even the bbc is not as bad as that

[Cyril Haearn]

+1 for politrickians who speak more than one language
Mrs Merkel speaks German, Russian & English
Mr Blair made a speech in French, Mr MacRon speaks a lot of English, but neither are perfect
Maybe Mr Trudeau is the one, I imagine he is perfect in E & F, but not as we know them in Europe

[Mistik-ka]

Maybe Mr Trudeau is the one, I imagine he is perfect in E & F, but not as we know them in Europe

M. Trudeau is completely bilingual and prevaricates with equal fluency in both Canada's official languages.

[Cyril Haearn]

Maybe Mr Trudeau is the one, I imagine he is perfect in E & F, but not as we know them in Europe

M. Trudeau is completely bilingual and prevaricates with equal fluency in both Canada's official languages.

Prevaricates he in Spanish too, or German, or any of the numerous other languages used in *The Dominion*?
I noted that Mr Trump has an agreeable accent, what about Mr Trudeau? Does he sometimes mix his two lingos? I guess that is why the brain has two halves