From: owner-eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org (eda-thoughts-digest) To: eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org Subject: eda-thoughts-digest V3 #85 Reply-To: eda-thoughts@smoe.org Sender: owner-eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-eda-thoughts-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk eda-thoughts-digest Friday, March 10 2000 Volume 03 : Number 085 * If you ever wish to unsubscribe, send an email to * eda-thoughts-digest-request@smoe.org with ONLY * the word unsubscribe in the body of the email * . * PLEASE :) when you reply to this digest to send a post TO the list, * change the subject to reflect what your post is about. A subject * of Re: eda-thoughts-digest V3 #xxx or the like gives readers no clue * as to what your message is about. Today's Subjects: ----------------- ET: Re: french gibberish (in english ;) ["Kevin B. Pease" ] ET: happY paniC daY ;) [shivergirl ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 20:59:50 -0500 From: "Kevin B. Pease" Subject: ET: Re: french gibberish (in english ;) "shivergirl" writes: > any discussion on language fascinates me, so please indulge. ;) With pleasure. Languages can be interesting, so you'll hear no complaints from me. :) > i took it fer 13 years, and i'm barely able to write it, nevermind speak it!! You did all right in my crude estimation. > ;)i've got somebody called sylvain writing me from france, because the thinks > i'm a bonafide frenchie!! :) You aren't? Well fercrhissake! I thought all you canadians spoke French & lived in igloos. :) (Note for those other canadians who are reaching for their .45's... that was a joke, keep your ice skates on, eh? :) > just curious about you doodles down there; is french really offered that much in > skewl (like it is up here--bein one of our national languages and such, they > kinda sticky about it), compared to l'espagnol?? At my school, the offerings were pretty much 45% French, 45% Spanish, and 10% Latin. In college it was a little more expansive, they offered Russian, German, and Japanese, in addition to the standard French & Spanish offerings. Funny but true: when I was in Montreal a couple years back, I attempted to bust out my high school french... standard conversation between me and a Montreal native, upon walking into a store: Them: "Bonjour monsieur!" Me: "Bonjour, madame [or monsieur, depending on the gender of the person I was talking to...]!" Them: "Oh, how can I help you?" Apparently, even in French, I sound like I'm from Massachusetts. :) > and kevin, you did more than just "get a rough translation right." Well... I don't know that I'd call it much more than that. I'm not about to go start reading novels written in French... I'll wait for the english version. :) > if you had translated it literally, it wouldn't be as lovely as you made it. > so thanX for gettin past the elementary werds and gettin at the heart of it. :) You're welcome... I just kind of figured "what would I mean if I had said that in french?" -- nothing magical to it, truly. :) > was future imperfect subjunctive all one tense??? ;)(didn't tink so.... ;) I don't remember, but I remember that there were all sorts of weird verb structures... past, present, and future really did the trick for me 99% of the time. I had no need to say, "I will not have been doing this before you have been doing that." That's just overkill. > dunno, haven't cracked open un livre francais (or is that the other way around?? > ;) in annees. :)le w.c.?? :) like le salle de bain (sp?) ? :) Yeah, in our class, at least, the wc (water closet) was the same as the salle de bain (bathroom). Of course, that could be a bastardized American version. :) > don't tell me that!!!!!!! ;)shucks!! ;) > don't know about the rest of yous, but do you find it a true mark of living a > language by thinking in it???? > so that if you read a poh-em in it, you wouldn't have to translate, you would > just *know*??? Yep. Best way to learn the language, certainly... the problem is, once you learn that first language, you're kind of wired for sound in that language, and any other language has to translate... I can't fathom "thinking" in french, because I can only think about thinking in french... in english. :) It's interesting how that wiring holds on in people who live & work with a second language... sometimes, the funniest things can pop out, too... such as the Chinese woman I work with, talking about how something that had potential, but that she needed to work on & fix up, as "a gem in a rug."... or, the German guy I used to work with talking about how he was going to "leap with happiness" ("jump for joy") when he got something to work the way he wanted it. You can tell... they're still thinking in their first language, and translating literally. And that's just funny as hell sometimes. :) > you suppose???? ;) Um. I'm certain. Better? :) > no, but doesn't he have a song on the dead man walking soundtrack? It's possible... I'm not really sure, as I don't have the soundtrack. :) > haven't heard him second-ing that yet, b ut.... ;) Hey now. You could always check him out on your own... http://www.richardshindell.com... ;) He's really quite good. Kev - -- Kevin Pease kbpease@concentric.net ICQ UIN: 3106063 AOL IM: kbpease " . . . 'the people can go,' he says, 'the furniture stays . . .'" ---(Sarah Slean, "Before Your Time")--- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 21:26:34 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) From: kara garbe Subject: Re: ET: french gibberish (in english ;) > just curious about you doodles down there; is french really offered that much in > skewl (like it is up here--bein one of our national languages and such, they > kinda sticky about it), compared to l'espagnol?? > and kevin, you did more than just "get a rough translation right." > if you had translated it literally, it wouldn't be as lovely as you made it. > so thanX for gettin past the elementary werds and gettin at the heart of it. :) i can't help but jump in on this because i love languages... my high school in northern virginia (near DC) offered french, spanish, german, latin, japanese, and american sign language. by far the most popular was spanish. we had about 3 full time spanish teachers and only one full time french. i think that the prevalence of spanish in the united states has more to do with its reputation among high school students as an easy language (which it's not) more than anything else... it gained that reputation because at some point years ago a bunch of non-spanish speaking teachers ended up teaching spanish all over the place, thus ending up with all these easy spanish classes simply because the teachers didn't know what they were doing. then the reputation stuck. i forget the details of this story... anyone else know? ~kara ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2000 23:55:05 -0500 From: shivergirl Subject: ET: happY paniC daY ;) just before the day is gone and all... :) it's official and everything, you know... :) yesh indeedy, just like: international flirting week national inane answering message day answer yer cat's question day underdog day bring yer teddy bear to werk day and september subliminal marketing month just thought you could use some trivia... :) take kares&faerie stares, +aRa ------------------------------ End of eda-thoughts-digest V3 #85 *********************************