If you're going to live in a country, please learn their language first
544 replies, posted
:awesomelon:
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;29834812]You realize that people can learn English and then attest to how difficult it was, right?[/QUOTE]
Oh sure. They can only make relative comparisons though. Like "learning english was harder than learning spanish" not "learning english is the hardest language in the world, trust me I know".
For a native english speaker like me, learning spanish is cake compared to learning chinese.
Que?
[QUOTE=Slight;29834881]Oh sure. They can only make relative comparisons though. Like "learning english was harder than learning spanish" not "learning english is the hardest language in the world, trust me I know".[/QUOTE]
What does that matter? The CIA has a list of the relative difficulties of learning languages, I'm pretty sure.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;29834942]What does that matter?[/quote]
I can't think of a single way to be more relevant.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;29834942]The CIA has a list of the relative difficulties of learning languages compiled out there, you know.[/QUOTE]
That doesn't even make sense. Learning a language is completely relative to the native tongue of the person learning said language.
If such a list exists then I'd love to see it and perhaps their scientific process so that I could have a quick laugh. I highly doubt the list exists as a list of "the hardest languages to learn". Its just too vague.
A spanish person will learn english way faster than chinese.
A chinese person will have difficulty learning english compared to japanese.
[QUOTE=Slight;29834990]That doesn't even make sense. Learning a language is completely relative to the native tongue of the person learning said language.[/QUOTE]
Well it's based on learning from English, obviously. It's the fucking CIA.
[editline]15th May 2011[/editline]
My point is it's not impossible to rank languages from the relative difficulty of learning them from a given language.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;29835006]
My point is it's not impossible to rank languages from the relative difficulty of learning them from a given language.[/QUOTE]
I agree entirely.
So were do we diverge on the issue of english being the "hardest" language to learn? Do we agree that's a silly statement?
I wouldn't agree it's the hardest, but from what I've heard it's very difficult because we have mounds of really strange exceptions to every rule we have. i before e except after c! Unless it's weird. Having taken German in high school, it's a much more well-structured language and it's let me see just how confusing English is.
My friend is half Aboriginal, she thinks she sounds hot when she talks like a drunk Aboriginal.
I try telling her it sounds terrible but she takes it as me being racist and that I hate black people.
What does one do?
[QUOTE=MarlaCouture;29835521]My friend is half Aboriginal, she thinks she sounds hot when she talks like a drunk Aboriginal.
I try telling her it sounds terrible but she takes it as me being racist and that I hate black people.
What does one do?[/QUOTE]
Tell her she's an idiot and stop associating with stupid people.
Yes, Johnny. German is simple compared to English.
Except for having different endings for every use of each adjective or article, etc. I hate words having genders.
She has been my best friend for 2 years.
She has only started doing this voice within the last 8-9 months.
But you're probably right.
Telemarketers don't have the right to be annoyed at anything.
saturday morning, lying in bed, sleeping
*RING RING WAKE THE FUCK UP IT'S THE PHONE AT 7AM*
get out of bed, run to the phone
"Yes, hello?"
"Hey I'm Dave from Red Industries and I was wondering if you'd take the time to answer some questions about evaporative air conditioning?"
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U8RpRzpFRnE/TMNAfMVJ-cI/AAAAAAAAAXM/cF1aF-zlYcU/s1600/Are_You_Fucking_Kidding_Me_HD_by_CrusierPL.png[/img]
[QUOTE=Tyrannosaur;29829369]As a telemarketer for a charity, I call a lot of people everyday. And it pisses me to no end when I call someone and they answer and say "I don't speak English" or they answer the phone speaking Spanish. If you're going to come to America, learn English first. Every other culture knows how this works, they have come to America and integrated into society as normal people. The British, French, Chinese, Russians, Germans, and even the Bosnians have all integrated into American society. They only group that has failed to is the Mexicans. Now I understand that some Mexicans are good people and have learned English and integrated into American society, but many of them have not.
And you know that these Mexicans who don't speak English are illegal immigrants, because you have to learn English in order to become a US citizen, it's part of the citizenship test that all legal immigrants are required to take. This doesn't just go for America, it goes for all countries, please, learn the language of the country you're immigrating to. I wouldn't move to France if I didn't speak French or Japan if I didn't speak Japanese.
-The American People[/QUOTE]
since there are 35 million spanish speakers in the us how about you learning spanish and be a better person overall
[QUOTE=J Paul;29829437]You might find it interesting to know that, at the time of our nations' inception, English only [I]barely[/I] won out as the official language, because the vast majority of the immigrants were German. And that's why we're an English speaking people living in counties with German names.[/QUOTE]
German was pretty much a Second Language until WW1 and WW2, where people stopped speaking it because it became the language of the enemy. The world wars pretty much killed the German Language in the United States.
Major shame if you ask me.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;29836361]German was pretty much a Second Language until WW1 and WW2, where people stopped speaking it because it became the language of the enemy. The world wars pretty much killed the German Language in the United States.
Major shame if you ask me.[/QUOTE]
I wonder what would have happened to world history had America chosen German over English.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;29836472]I wonder what would have happened to world history had America chosen German over English.[/QUOTE]
I've always wondered that too.
It also came as a bit of a personal blow, since I've always wanted to know German, but I'm horrible at learning.
I could've had both :saddowns:
I like Tyrannosaurs style. He posts his right-wing opinion on a touchy subject, and leaves the thread to the rest of Facepunch to get all worked up about nothing.
I like to claim I don't speak english in a funny accent to telemarketers, gets rid of them pretty quickly
[QUOTE=Akuma_lektro;29836328]since there are 35 million spanish speakers in the us how about you learning spanish and be a better person overall[/QUOTE]
Since there are 309 million English Speakers in the US, how about them learning English and be better people overall?
I bet the guy that OP called was like "Curses! Another pesky telemarketer! I better orchestrate a ruse to make him believe I am unable to converse in his language and therefore force him to foreclose his call prematurely!"
and then he said "i don't speak the english"
I don't get why you need to put on these silly voices. I just go "No I'm not buying it" and put the phone down.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;29836607]I don't get why you need to put on these silly voices. I just go "No I'm not buying it" and put the phone down.[/QUOTE]
Because it's funnier.
Or how about you americans learn a language different from english? It's an enrichment, not a loss.
In Belgium, half of the country speaks french (and a small part german), so stop complaining.
[editline]15th May 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Isotope;29833818]Probably going to be called racist etc or whatever, but as far as I am concerned, English has won out, and it would be better for the world as a whole if every human could easily communicate with one another. A world without language barriers would be awesome, and English is already taught in a lot of non English speaking countries to give the students the best chances in life.[/QUOTE]
How about mandarin? Or spanish? (it's above english in that list :v:)
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers[/url]
Turkish/Middle Eastern people into Germany should learn German too.
[editline]15th May 2011[/editline]
Oh, and I'm Spanish (from SPAIN), and I'm tired of people from the US asking me "What languages do you speak?" followed by "What part of Mexico do you come from?"
[QUOTE=Number-41;29836768]Or how about you americans learn a language different from english? It's an enrichment, not a loss.
In Belgium, half of the country speaks french (and a small part german), so stop complaining.
[editline]15th May 2011[/editline]
How about mandarin? Or spanish? (it's above english in that list :v:)
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers[/url][/QUOTE]
Those people in Belgium speak French because they are French. Belgium should be split in half and annexed by France (southern part) and the Netherlands (northern part) respectively.
[QUOTE=Maximo13;29836826]Oh, and I'm Spanish (from SPAIN), and I'm tired of people from the US asking me "What languages do you speak?" followed by "What part of Mexico do you come from?"[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I could see how that could get annoying.
It's easy to assume that because of our location, but you know what they say about assuming-
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;29836972]Yeah, I could see how that could get annoying.
It's easy to assume that because of our location, but you know what they say about assuming-[/QUOTE]
You didn't finish your sentence, did candlejack come or has something els
I switch up languages if the same telemarketing company calls my house and fake a strong mexican accent until I get to talk to their managers to get removed from their calling list. (:
Protip to telemarketers: If someone is speaking another language on the phone, take it as a sign of "I'm not interested"
[QUOTE=Blimpey;29837080]I switch up languages if the same telemarketing company calls my house and fake a strong mexican accent until I get to talk to their managers to get removed from their calling list. (:
Protip to telemarketers: If someone is speaking another language on the phone, take it as a sign of "I'm not interested"[/QUOTE]
I work as a telemarketer (selling a decent product with no commission, so I'm not a douchebag), and try to replicate whatever accent they speak with. In my country, if you say you are not interested, you'll probably be called back at some point, but if you ask to get removed from the list, it's as simple as the click of a button.
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