The Language (and travel) Thread

[Carol the Dabbler]

I really should polish up my Spanish speaking skills though, given how many Spanish-speaking people have moved into the area. I always feel a little bad when the best I can manage is "Mi Espanol es muy malo."

Yup, conversation is easier than writing.  I was amazed by how quickly I was able to relearn usable conversational Spanish when a friend married a woman from Mexico who (at the time) spoke very little English.  The only thing that didn't particularly improve was verb conjugations -- I would just say things like "I visit tomorrow" or "I see yesterday."  So I speak broken Spanish, so what?  At least I can have a conversation.

 

The funny part came as her English started to improve.  Without planning it, we fell into the habit of having bilingual conversations -- with me speaking Spanish and her speaking English!  The more I think about it, though, the more sense that makes.  If I spoke English, I'd be sure to use a lot of words or phrases that she didn't know, and vice versa with the Spanish.  But this way, we both understood everything, except for the occasional "¿Cómo se dice?" moment, when we would teach each other new words.

 

That was a lot of fun, but they got busy, so we hardly ever see them anymore.

[J.P.]

Don't know where to put it.

 

56 delightful Victorian slang terms you should be using

[Carol the Dabbler]

Don't know where to put it.

 

How about here?  ;)

 

I'd never heard any of those Victorian slang terms -- except for "Damfino" (meaning "Damned if I know"), which is in at least one clearly post-Victorian novel.  (Heinlein?  *checking Google*  Nope, Sturgeon.  Dunno why I sometimes get those two confused -- after all, Heinlein never wrote any Star Trek episodes!)

 

[J.P.]

A postcard from where I am.

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

A postcard from where I am.

 

 

Beautiful and peaceful!  What are those lovely purple flowers?

[T.o.b.y]

That's heather, Carol.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calluna_vulgaris

[Arcadia]

Fragrant too, isn't it?  It looks wonderful.

[J.P.]

Not really fragrant, you must put your nose really close to smell it. Maybe on hot days there is a scent in the air, but it's not these days... :(

 

I like it here. I was trying to get away from the beech woods that seem to cover all the western part of this country. Wanted to see some open landscapes with pines and birches and woods full of mushrooms. Found some, ate some, survived. :D

It's a pity though that the weather is a bit not good. It was raining all day long. Had to buy me a pair of Wellingtons, because being a goldfish I didn't think about taking some with me.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Please do be careful about eating wild mushrooms (or any other wild food).  Best to avoid them altogether unless you know for sure how to identity safe varieties (which means learning from either an experienced guide or an authoritative guide book).  I'd really hate for your last words to be, "It was delicious."

 

[J.P.]

I've been gathering mushrooms since I was a kid. Of course, I take only those I'm sure about.

[Carol the Dabbler]

That's a relief!   :D   (When you said you "survived" eating wild mushrooms, I wondered.)

[J.P.]

There is always a tiny little margin of error, you know. Even Sherlock makes mistakes. :D

[Van Buren Supernova]

It could make you immune over time and you would have superpower; ability to release and drown someone in billions of mini mushrooms.

 

Pardon me, I am tired but it doesn't stop me from talking nonsense.

 

Have some open field with pine scenery that you wish to see, but I guess you prefer to see it instead of just picture. So good luck, remember Carol's advice. We still have a lot of rewatch to do here and I prefer you to be around instead of super mushroom woman. (Although it sounds kind of cool )

[Arcadia]

I'd really hate for your last words to be, "It was delicious."

On the other hand ... what a way to go! :D

 

It could make you immune over time and you would have superpower; ability to release and drown someone in billions of mini mushrooms.

 

Pardon me, I am tired but it doesn't stop me from talking nonsense.

 

Have some open field with pine scenery that you wish to see, but I guess you prefer to see it instead of just picture. So good luck, remember Carol's advice. We still have a lot of rewatch to do here and I prefer you to be around instead of super mushroom woman. (Although it sounds kind of cool )

I think Van Buren's the one who's been sampling the wrong mushrooms....... :p

[Van Buren Supernova]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Van Buren Supernova]

I thought you guys might want to see that someone spilled the whole color palette on the sky today..

[Arcadia]

Wow.

[Shadow Dweller]

British vs German's styles of communication. What do you think? :D

www.thelanguagefactory.co.uk/cultural-differences-germany-britain-2/

https://hbr.org/2014/02/how-to-say-this-is-crap-in-different-cultures

Edited February 11, 2016 by Carol the Dabbler
Repaired a link

[Arcadia]

Reading that, Shadow, I immediately thought of the phrase "a bit not good." I remember the first time I heard it, I thought "No, that was really bad!" (And I'm not even German... :D )

[Van Buren Supernova]

Found hidden paradise, need to trek a bit.

Picture is panorama, actually first and third waterfalls almost facing each other.

 

Now...zzzzzz...

[Arcadia]

Wow. Mind if I ask what part of the world this is in? I promise to not show up there and start pestering you.

[Van Buren Supernova]

It's located exactly at the Southern Hemisphere, two and half hours drive and half to an hour trekking from where I am. :P

See, the beauty of it is that you can't kick my a** for that crappy answer because you can't find me. :tounge:

(Hey it's not totally crappy, Southern Hemisphere eliminates so many places!)

 

Bring spare clothes as it's nice to swim because the place is all yours if you arrive early. I didn't because it was unplanned destination but still drenched just by standing and waddling around. What makes me happier is the fact that apparently I am still way fitter than colleagues-friends who are respectively 7 and nine years younger than me. I was just sulking a bit before thinking that I am not getting younger and there are still so many crazy things I want to do.

[Shadow Dweller]

http://www.livescience.com/33652-americans-brits-accents.html

 

I thought that the Americans had deliberately changed their pronunciation. :lol:

[Carol the Dabbler]

I haven't read that article yet, but nope, that's simply what 400 years of separation can do, especially if the separation begins during an era of rapid linguistic change. (We did intentionally change our spelling, but that's another story.)

 

Could one of the other mods please make that into a live link, for those of us who don't yet know how to copy-and-paste on our cellphones?

[Shadow Dweller]

Sorry about that, my phone still refuse to translate the bbcode for url into a live link. :| To be precisely, there is a communication error between my phone and this forum. If I write the bbcode, it will show even in the Edit message option but it will not translate the url into a clickable link.