I'm fluent in English, American and SQL. A little bit of .net and fortran.
How many languages?
- Thread starter AR1
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"You've had enough, you're pissed off!"
Makes no sense to me; the more I have, the happier I get!
SQL???
I heard something on the radio the other day that is sort of relevant to this thread.
Some kind of english professor was trying to prove that there are so many variants and dialects in the english language that english isnt really a language at all.
To prove his point he flew a bunch of 18 year old english literature students from singapore university to scotland. He then took them to a pub in Glasgow and sat them with a bunch of 60 year old locals and said "alright, speak english to each other", apparently there was much confusion and misunderstanding.
Some kind of english professor was trying to prove that there are so many variants and dialects in the english language that english isnt really a language at all.
To prove his point he flew a bunch of 18 year old english literature students from singapore university to scotland. He then took them to a pub in Glasgow and sat them with a bunch of 60 year old locals and said "alright, speak english to each other", apparently there was much confusion and misunderstanding.
Are you sure he meant dialect and variants , not accent ?
We Asians, speak in a different accent than all of those in Europe, America, etc, and it can sometimes be difficult for some native English speakers to understand it, since its not commonly spoken.
I am a 16 year old Pakistani teen, a country not too far away from Singapore, interacting with at least a couple of 50 to 60 years old people here on MFK, from all over the world, without having any trouble understanding their each and every word.
Sure that English is evolving at a astonishing rate but the use of social media, internet, etc has made it very easy to keep up with things.
So in my opinion, that professor has hit his head really hard against something solid.
I don't think you are getting the point. Written and spoken English are like chalk and cheese in some areas.
Ogertron3000
used the example of Scottish people for a good reason. They speak English in Scotland sure, but....A Scottish person, at least from certain parts of Scotland, will write English and you will easily be able to read what they are writing, say on a forum such as ours. But if you were to actually talk to them I guarantee you won't understand a single word they say, lol.
And it's not just the Scottish and Irish. Areas actually within the actual UK can be just as bad. Liverpool (Scouse), Newcastle (Geordie), London (Cockney) or Birmingham (Brummie) are just a few other examples where you would struggle to understand.
To expand this more, certainly parts of America would also toss you for a loop totally trying to figure out what the person just said to you.
I’ve listened to many English accents throughout my life, including Indian, British, Australian, etc., and I used to think Australian was the most confusing/strange (no offense, by the way,
Ogertron3000
!). But this one just blew my mind. I even had to turn on the subtitles, and still couldn’t fully understand it.I have to admit, this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.
But the question remains: does speaking the same language in a different accent make it a totally different one?
I remembered this comment when I visited the Louvre today. Check out what I found in an old Egyptian wall painting - looks like a Fahaka Puffer to me! Maybe some of them were Monsterfishkeepers, too.
