Nice People 12: Nice in Nice

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

I would love to be able to learn another language.

When you hear "fluent" foreigners mangling the English language after high levels of English study and many years of being here ... you realise how hard it must be to learn another language.

Then you decide it's "OK" that you can't.

You have to use it, a lot, to be able to benefit from learning one really.... unless all you want to do is go on day trips to Calais and be able to order cake and coffee in a cafe

purch

PasturesNew wrote: »

You have to use it, a lot, to be able to benefit from learning one really....

After making numerous trips to Hull over the last 12 months where SS1 is at University, I have found learning East Yerksher to be harder than I imagined

PasturesNew

purch wrote: »

After making numerous trips to Hull over the last 12 months where SS1 is at University, I have found learning East Yerksher to be harder than I imagined

I had to work there once, on a client site, for a couple of long stretches, one of which was 3 weeks without parole.

On my first few days of being there the sales manager called me into his room to "explain" .... he told me to expect trouble with the staff member I was working alongside (I was Project Manager, he was their internally allocated PM) because "... is from the generation when women had to walk 3 paces behind their menfolk...." So anything I said wasn't being noted as I was "a girl" and he was a superior "man".

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

When you hear "fluent" foreigners mangling the English language after high levels of English study and many years of being here ... you realise how hard it must be to learn another language.

Then you decide it's "OK" that you can't.

You have to use it, a lot, to be able to benefit from learning one really.... unless all you want to do is go on day trips to Calais and be able to order cake and coffee in a cafe

Foreigners mangling ing English? The English make a fine job of that themselves I think.

RP used to speak several languages, seems to struggle now. Non RP doesn't really, just a couple, including very poor French, ( I can remember as a child sulking a way as non RP told a market holder they liked breasts, they always had very large breasts, and did they have tasty breasts for sale that day.....meant pumpkins) A kinder child might have done all the translating. Luckily non RP often wins people over and despite lack of linguistic skill people just fawn anyway!

SingleSue

I've always managed to pick languages up quite easily, as a teenager, I spent the summer holidays as a French translator and now I moderate forums where lots of different languages are used (but mainly Swedish, Danish and Polish)

I've visited Denmark twice, the first time was a business trip with everything provided so didn't really learn much, the second time, I was on my own travelling by train. All I knew when I arrived in the country was Congratulations, Happy birthday...by the time I left 2 days later, I was reading Danish papers (not fluently but enough to understand what the articles were going on about)

Doozergirl

Hey, Masomnia, I hope things are okay with Mum. You can't change anything by worrying - it only ruins today.

I can very easily understand English people speaking French but I can't understand French people speaking French

PasturesNew

A few months ago, somebody on one of the boards asked how often Zoopla is updated..... and I looked and noticed it updates almost every day ..... which, as I'd just bought a house, made for a great spreadsheet. Mostly it doesn't move much, once it went down a chunk .... but overnight, since yesterday, my new house has "gone up" by over £7,000.

That's groin-thrust worthy ... surely?

lostinrates

SingleSue wrote: »

I've always managed to pick languages up quite easily, as a teenager, I spent the summer holidays as a French translator and now I moderate forums where lots of different languages are used (but mainly Swedish, Danish and Polish)

I've visited Denmark twice, the first time was a business trip with everything provided so didn't really learn much, the second time, I was on my own travelling by train. All I knew when I arrived in the country was Congratulations, Happy birthday...by the time I left 2 days later, I was reading Danish papers (not fluently but enough to understand what the articles were going on about)

I found dh's family's accent really difficult. The 'kids' speak very broad dialect so fil cannot understand them often, but Milan was easier. DH finds the venitian accent funny, not quite as hard as he finds say, Glaswegian, but venitian to me was fantastic, it was the most amazing aural/ vocal interpretation of a place ever, dreamy, soft around the edges, not hitting the consonants so hard...slightly sleepy or even drunk. I got it instantly! I have a venitian friend who understands English but speaks none and we rabbit away me in pigeon English, cos its quicker, and him in venitian and its great. DH looks bemused.

When I stayed with a friend in Modena I was adrift, I didn't understand the local accent at all. It was very hard. My friend was French, and her French accent Italian was diificult too, though her French accent, being broad from an area not so far from an area I knew, was like a comfortable old shoe, but her son, who was at the humbly stage of mixing up French/ English/ Italian and I got on just fine!

Spirit_2

Generali wrote: »

I've had devils dancing on my tongue due to the burns for the past couple of weeks and that's really been getting me down but since Sunday the burns have been going down and all I'm left with in my mouth is a scar line that I hope will go away too.

We had salad with vinaigrette for dinner tonight which makes me think that my mouth can cope again with everything.

We have a quarterly team meeting in a couple of days and I need to take a Colombian dish. Any thoughts? It should really be something sweet. I was thinking about a silly take on cocaine like a Chelsea bun. I'd welcome ideas though.

I like that you are healing and as we know that interesting food is important to you, it is great that you are getting taste back without loss.


Can you use Colombian coffee - make iced coffee, a coffee cake or dessert (pudding for NDG)

Doozergirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

A few months ago, somebody on one of the boards asked how often Zoopla is updated..... and I looked and noticed it updates almost every day ..... which, as I'd just bought a house, made for a great spreadsheet. Mostly it doesn't move much, once it went down a chunk .... but overnight, since yesterday, my new house has "gone up" by over £7,000.

That's groin-thrust worthy ... surely?

Plenty of groin thrusting to look forward to!

New next door neighbours bought on 8th May. Zoopla says it's gone up £8k since then.

Both the old neighbours and the new neighbours told us different prices for what they bought/sold. Neither correct, according to Zoopla now. Outgoing neighbours inflated the selling price a little bit (for the sake of rounding, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt) incoming neighbours deflated it a bit more than that. I thought everyone knew that amounts were available online. Clearly they don't?!