Can I just say, after reading a fic that had it and suffering through it – if you’re a fanfiction writer, or a writer in general, then please, for the sake of your (possible) czech readers, use any other angel name than Zadkiel.
“Zadek” literally means “butt” in czech and I am tired of reading about the adventures of the Ass-angel ok
Just got done reading an interesting article about how language affects the way we think and perceive the world. There were some interesting examples. Like how in Spanish, the word bridge is masculine, while in German, it is feminine. So native speakers of these languages describe the same thing differently. Spanish speakers will comment on how strong or sturdy a bridge is, while German speakers will comment on how elegant or beautiful it is. Another example that blew my mind was the Guugu Yimithirr language. So, most languages, including English, use an egocentric type of directional language (turn right, left, behind, in front.) these directions are relative to you as a person. Well, the Guugu Yimithirr language uses fixed geographical directions (North, East, South, and West) no matter the context. If you were to put an English speaker and a Guugu Yimithirr speaker in the same hotel, and put them in rooms opposite sides of the hallway from each other, the English speaker will see the exact same room (that person will see the desk to the right of blah and the closet in front of blah) but the Guugu Yimithirr speaker will see a COMPLETELY different room because the bed will be facing south instead of north, and all of that jazz. And the article went on to state how speakers of this language might even have a lower sense of egotism, because directions do not revolve around them, they’re just another part of the picture. Really fascinating. It made me think really long about language imperialism and how rapidly we’re moving towards a world that deals almost exclusively in English. It makes me sad to know that we’re losing completely different ways of thinking. Completely different perspectives, just gone. I guess that’s why I always get upset when people say that language imperialism isn’t so bad, and that English as a language is connecting people together. The world is a great big place, with completely different perspectives, and I think the fastest way to kill a culture is to take away the language, because not only are you taking away a method of communication, but a way of thinking.
can’t wait for the final boss battle of duolingo when you fight the 50 foot owl armed with nothing but your wits, a sword, and your shaky grasp of verb conjugations
oh my god… duel lingo
Die Eule habe hat Hunger
True to form, I actually messed up the verb conjugation when I first put the words on this. XD
when i used to tell people i was a linguistics major and they asked me what languages i speak i would respond with “well i’ve studied french, german, asl, russian….” etc. but now i just answer with “english”. shuts them right up.
I stated saying “none properly” a while ago. Works nicely, too.
can’t wait for the final boss battle of duolingo when you fight the 50 foot owl armed with nothing but your wits, a sword, and your shaky grasp of verb conjugations
Person A: You know… the thing Person B: The “thing”? Person A: Yeah, the thing with the little-! *mutters under their breath* Como es que se llama esa mierda… THE FISHING ROD
As someone with multiple bilingual friends where English is not the first language, may I present to you a list of actual incidents I have witnessed:
Forgot a word in Spanish, while speaking Spanish to me, but remembered it in English. Became weirdly quiet as they seemed to lose their entire sense of identity.
Used a literal translation of a Russian idiomatic expression while speaking English. He actually does this quite regularly, because he somehow genuinely forgets which idioms belong to which language. It usually takes a minute of everyone staring at him in confused silence before he says “….Ah….. that must be a Russian one then….”
Had to count backwards for something. Could not count backwards in English. Counted backwards in French under her breath until she got to the number she needed, and then translated it into English.
Meant to inform her (French) parents that bread in America is baked with a lot of preservatives. Her brain was still halfway in English Mode so she used the word “préservatifes.” Ended up shocking her parents with the knowledge that apparently, bread in America is full of condoms.
Defined a slang term for me……. with another slang term. In the same language. Which I do not speak.
Was talking to both me and his mother in English when his mother had to revert to Russian to ask him a question about a word. He said “I don’t know” and turned to me and asked “Is there an English equivalent for Нумизматический?” and it took him a solid minute to realize there was no way I would be able to answer that. Meanwhile his mom quietly chuckled behind his back.
Said an expression in English but with Spanish grammar, which turned “How stressful!” into “What stressing!”
Bilingual characters are great but if you’re going to use a linguistic blunder, you have to really understand what they actually blunder over. And it’s usually 10x funnier than “Ooops it’s hard to switch back.”
[polyglot laughter and grumbles of frustration in the distance]
Polylingual here: the main thing (also the most annoying thing) is when you speak one language for long period of time, your speach pattern changes, so when you return to your native language, in my case from English to Russian, the speach pattern remains. So you start speaking your own language in a way you speak English, for example, to the extend that people would assume you are foreign, because this is not how you speak [your language].
On the pros, when I speak with my siblings, who are also polilingual, it’s quite fun, because we would start in Russian, switch to English mid-sentence, then back to Russian, which would annoy and puzzle everyone else in vicinity.
Also hard stan on the idioms and wtf is that word. Double stan on “what’s the english for [insert something that is hard to explain in layman’s terms]”.
“Trece (13) reasons why” the critically acclaimed novel in which i forget to read the numbers in English
“Mil novecientos ochenta y cuatro (1984) by George Orwell” the thrilling sequel in which i forget to read the numbers in English
“Doce (12) o’clock” the highly expected miniseries in which I FORGET TO READ THE NUMBERs IN ENGLISH
“Y as in why or y as in and (in Spanish)?” The side story in which i have no idea what language is being used
I’m aiming to be a polylingual, but it may not be the greatest idea given that I’m good in czech (my native language) and english and studying spanish, and stuff like this already keep happening:
once came excited from a spanish lesson and blurted to my (czech) mum “Do you know what perro mean is spanish? Dog!” immediately followed by, “oh I mean, uh, pes (czech word for “dog”), sorry”
artherra 