RE: Entry for Pay it Forward Curation Contest (Week 49)
Oh, you are very welcome @insight-out. You have an interesting perspective and I suppose I have not really spent much time thinking about English as a "universal language." Perhaps from the days of "the sun never sets on the British Empire" ... 😉
Years ago, I worked for a British firm and had the privilege as an "up and comer" to make some international trips. In more than one of them to our "headquarters" in the north of England, we would have representatives from a number of former "colonies." Listening to my associates from England (all of the "local" dialects - Welsh, Irish, Scottish ...), Australian, Canadian, South Africa ... it was amazing to hear them express their thoughts.
We all spoke "English," but I remember thinking ... "Wow! I think I know what you just said, but I never would've used those words to say that ..." 😉 The best part was sitting on the sidelines and watching the Aussies and the Brits "have a go" at each other ...
"I guess when you are a foreigner you can never truly master a language especially if you have never lived in the countries where it is natively spoken :)"
Yes, I'm sure you are right. I had three years each, of classes in school, for German and Spanish. Sadly, if my life depended on it, I would never be able to hold any sort of conversation in either ... I think probably "immersive teaching" is the best, from those to whom I have spoken and feel confident they can actually successfully communicate in another language ...
Е, по-добре избягайте за сега. Надявам се това да ви намери и твоя прави добре!
P.S. Google Translate ... 😉
Hahahaha, it's so nice of you to try to write in Bulgarian :) Google Translate is terrible though :D Lol
Hahaha, I know what you are talking about. I feel the same way every time I hear Macedonians speaking :D
My sister graduated from New Castle University in the UK. I visited her a couple of times and I had a great struggle understanding the locals. Every time someone spoke to me I was just blinking for 5 seconds in a desperate attempt to "decode the message" :D
However, I just love British English, especially the one spoken in the London area. It has an incredible melody.
American English has many faces, too :) I like how the people in the South speak - they sound somehow light-hearted and cheered up :)
Europe is very interesting being a host for so many different language groups. There are the Hungarian, the Finnish and the Greek languages which are on their own. There are no other languages similar to any of them. Then there are the wide group of the Slavic languages (Bulgarian included) and the Latin languages.
For instance, to me, Scottish sounds more like German or even French than English.
I know some German like you, but it is so rusty, I wouldn't count on it at all :D
Well @insight-out, I had wondered about that …
… as the thought did cross my mind to say something about having no idea how well my
EnglishAmerican words would be translated. Oh well, perhaps we can “file it” under the old “it’s the thought that counts” … 😉Yes, there is amazing diversity in the “English” accents / dialects. Even just traveling around in the various regions of the British Isles … I personally like the Scottish accent the best. They were also, at least to my mind, the friendliest …
Yes, we certainly have our own diversity. In the South, the Cajun accent / dialect in Louisiana really stands out to me. I can barely understand them. Hahaha … 😊
Always nice to “talk” with you @insight-out. Have a great day (evening / night)!
Thank you, @roleerob! Speaking of languages and different countries, I am curious do you know where your ancestors came from? Of course, feel free to skip this question if you feel that it's invading into your privacy :)
Have a great and sunny weekend! (Хубав и слънчев уикенд! (in Bulgarian) I suppose you are going to be in the backyard (as you mentioned in one of your posts) :)
Good morning (here) @insight-out.
Yes, well, I do definitely protect my privacy "in here," but I don't mind giving you the general idea. As an American, we are "mutts" (translation: mixed-breed dogs) ... 😉 … so my “pedrigree” (from DNA tests) includes about 50% the various British Isle countries, about 25% western European, of which half is German, and 25% a little bit of lots of others – like Norway, etc.
That said, as I wrote in my introductory post, both my wife and I are about as American as you can get. Both of our most recent “immigrant ancestors” arrived here in the mid 1850s. From Germany (Prussian military officer, in my case). All the rest of our ancestry goes back into 1700s of Colonial America, and many back into the 1600s …
How about you? Have you ever taken these DNA tests, which are now fairly common, at least “over here?”
As far as being in the backyard, our weather is quite volatile. So … Sadly spring has been put back on hold and we are supposed to get some more snow in the next few days … Booo! 😉
Everything is blossoming here :) It's smells fantastic :)
I haven't done a DNA test, although I am really curious and I should definitely consider doing one :) However, my cousin did. It turned out that our grandfather's ancestors lived here for the past 5000 years! It's amazing! We are the locals :D We carry the genes of the people who lived here before even the Slavs and the Ancient Bulgarians arrived in these lands. Just imagine how our bodies and way of life adapted to the area! :)
Very interesting @insight-out ...
... as this is consistent with what I imagine is true for many of the people in our world today. Specifically, DNA evidence supporting they are "nationals" in every sense of the word.
As Americans, we have a different DNA "story." The many reasons people "uprooted" from their ancient homelands to come here ... Into the "melting pot" ... As one of them, always interesting to me how that is perceived by others around the world ...
That is exciting. Can't wait for that to be true in our area, as Spring is my favorite. At higher elevations, the weather can be quite volatile. So, Spring one day and back (briefly ...) into Winter the next. We are expecting more snow within the next few days. But ... It will melt quickly then back to Spring ... 😊
It is typically not until mid to late May that we feel "safe" that what is planted will not subsequently be subject to freezing ... 😉