No I means doesent sesiblity mean sensitive isnt that waht this means?
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Originally Posted by Googled define: sensibility
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No I means doesent sesiblity mean sensitive isnt that waht this means?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Googled define: sensibility
My first language is theoretically english, however, like most Glaswegians I speak a variant of english which is generally not even understood by other english speakers. If anyone is interested in understanding the strage and senseless Glaswegian dialect more information can be found here http://www.semple.biz/hobbies/johnwalker3.htm
:D great link!Quote:
Originally Posted by kilted exile
My mother language is Chinese, and I like it very much. My first foreign language is English, and I use it in my work sometimes. Well, I am learning Germany this year throught the BBC website.
Here I meet some understanding problem: In which case do you English speakers use "take the matter to trial"? and "contingency fee"?
I think it is very hard to understand the little words like "take" for me.
My mother tongue is Hindi but I'm as fluent in English since I started learning English right from the age of four at school. And though I mostly use Hindi at home, I speak English as well. My writing skills in English are possibly better than my Hindi though since I generally read literature in English. I think most Indians in urban areas know atleast three languages...Hindi, English and usually their regional language.
My first language is English, and I am contstantly in awe of people who become fluent—or even conversational!—in another language, especially when their first language is one very different from English. I took French classes in high school, but learned almost nothing beyond vocabulary. My hope is to learn French and German, but I seem to hit a wall when it comes to languages, where my mind fills up and I can't make sense of anything more. :rolleyes: But I can make up for it by being such a total English geek. :thumbs_up:p
HappyWind:
Those are "legal terms," words that people use in a court of law. When someone sues another person, lawyers often call it "taking the matter to trial." "Take" means the same as "bring," though it would sound strange to say, "bring the matter to trial." It's just a polite way of saying, "to open a court case against someone."
A "contingency fee" is the lawyer's payment when their client wins the trial and receives money, usually for an injury they suffered. The fee is "contingent" because the lawyer is paid a percentage of whatever the plaintiff wins, so if they win a lot, the lawyer gets paid a lot; and if they win very little, the lawyer gets paid very little.
I hope that helps.
Emily, English geek=cool in my books :p
Welcome to the forums HappyWind :)
Well! the percentages are almost 50/50 now, I continue to be impressed by the range of cultures and languages here :D
I'm actually surprised it's 50-50, it seemed to me that the number of people from non-English places was far higher...but I guess I didn't consider the many English speaking cultures that are also part of the great variety of this forum...
So I see it's exactly 50/50 now! :)
My native langauge is italian,anyway i've been studying english for ages(since i was 8).I studied it at high school too, and now i'm keeping improving it at uni.
But i must admit i'm obsessionated with langauges and infact i also study Spanish and french and i've tried(just for a year) to study russian which is very fascinating but as hard as latin and i swear i've hated it at high school.
So i'm italian proud to be neapolitan but desperately in love with english...'cause i will never be as good as i'd like to be... this is my only regret!
Changos! Spanish speaker here, too; but I would wish to understand French, English, German, Italian and Ancient Greek. Just a little bit by now, because it takes time; but I am trying, I am self teaching, but reading helps.
My first is Icelandic... am I the only one here?...
Not sure, but I recently saw an interesting TV program about Iceland on the Travel Channel. The host, Anthony Bourdain, is such a joker I didn't know if I could trust what he said. Do you receive the Travel Channel in Iceland?Quote:
Originally Posted by Helga
While he is indeed the mordant wit, I think he's the most exceptionally well-travelled, well-read and most entertaining `chef' there is :DQuote:
Originally Posted by starrwriter
Miss Iceland Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir, a 21-year-old anthropology and law college student and part-time policewoman, was crowned Miss World on Saturday:Quote:
Originally Posted by Helga
Helga, are all of you Icelandic girls this beautiful? I thought Iceland was settled by Vikings. Miss World has dark hair and doesn't look very Viking-like.
My first is Hebrew..
than english and for the last six months i study spanish.
Does anyone knows hebrew..
I thought they were all blonde too...Quote:
Originally Posted by starrwriter
Helga, are all of you Icelandic girls this beautiful? I thought Iceland was settled by Vikings. Miss World has dark hair and doesn't look very Viking-like.[/QUOTE]
I have found in a German play about Sigfrido, that Brynhild, the queen of Thule, was black haired and had black eyes. Sigfried , talking to Kriemhild, says at a moment: "And I thank you for having blue eyes instead of black eyes..." and so. As a black haired woman, I was very dissapointed, and forgot the author name and virtues. I can`t remember, but I guess his name was Goebbels or something in that way.
I don't know a word of Hebrew, but I know spanish acceptably.Quote:
Originally Posted by Weeping Willow
my native language is the arabic , english is a good language it is flexible and practical language but it it has so wide vocabulary , i have been learning english since about ten years but my level in english is still humble.
(by the way dont forget logos that the native english speaker are responsible for the bad english on the net they me to write u instead you and 2 /to and cuz /cause etc
My native languages are Danish and Norwegian. I learned Indonesian before i learnt English... so i suppose, it's my fourth language...?
Wasn't Goebbels the Nazi minister of propaganda? That would explain that preference for blue eyes...and actually the topic of the play is kinda fitting...Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Seis
Btw (off topic...) I saw on tv that Miss World...and to me she looks more Arabic than anything...or even South American... she has that kind of features... maybe she has different origins than Icelandic...
My first language is Tagalog. Karay-a (one of the many dialects in the Philippines) is my third language.English is my second - I've been surrounded by it my entire life. Even though our country only has English as our second language, you'll find that the language is everywhere - media, school, slang.
It makes me sad, though, that I haven't seen a single post in this thread that says their mother tongue was Tagalog.
PS. I admire people who can speak five or more languages. I'm trying to learn French and Spanish, but I never have the time to take lessons.
PPS. I'm a new member here, and so far, this is my first serious post *grins proudly* =D
Welcome to the forums commasplice :)
I'm sure it's just a matter of time before there is someone else here who speaks tagalog as first language, there is a huge variety already.
My mother tongue is Polish, although I started learning English when I was 3, so sometimes I feel as if it was my native language. Especially as my studies are in English as well. Sometimes I'm fed up with it :D
Norwegian only hereQuote:
Originally Posted by Chava
nice idea this poll,i speak 2languages.
Hello to the newbies :)
The language of Puskin, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky!
There are more veeery good authors :)))
My mother tongue is German. Living very close to the French border, French was my first foreign language. Second was Latin (I actually loved it, contrary to the prevailing opinion in this thread :D), and the third was English. I have also started to study Italian, but I'm so bad at it :blush: , in fact I can't even understand a dialogue or such, because Italians speak so fast! :D
As many of my friends are the children of immigrants, I know a few basic sentences in Turkish, Russian and Danish. My grandma being Dutch, I'm able to understand that language as well and I would love to really learn it, as I can't write anything..aw, so little time! :(
I think languages are one of the most fascinating aspects of one's culture and I reckon it very sad, that every day there's a language/a local dialect dying somewhere because there are just too few people who feel inclined to pass on their original language as a heritage to their children growing up in the 'modern world'.
Besides I adhere ridigly to reading books in the language they were written (as long as I'm able to...). - Translation is theft! ;)
A little bump to first page because there are lots of newbies lately :)
Well I have spoken English all my life and I still don't understand a lot of chat or text speak, I find it a bit annoying :)Quote:
Originally Posted by ibsen
I wish I was good at languages. I was homeschooled for most of my education prior to university so I never learned a second language .. I'm English speaking through and through.
Pasternak is Russian as well, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex E Art
Liked Dr. Zhivago, nice little tale.
Well, if we now put it this way, I might as well say I come from the same country as the author of the book that the movie "Eyes Wide Shut" was based on. And no it is not Kubrick. He only did the screenplay adaptation.
I tend to not mention my native tongue because I know for a fact that some people who are English native speakers -one can easily distinguish these learned types lol- like to correct me while indeed they are wrong without their knowing it.
Plus they want to impose their English on me, which is either American or British. They won't see that I couldn't care less if I mix both at times and choose the one that appears to be best suitable to a certain situation and closest to my first language. Also I'm sick of being told that I have an accent while those telling me have a tiny vocabulary that features such big words and phrases like "Dude" and "Where'ya at?"
Little tale? And it seemed a big novel to me... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by AttorneyGonzo
Yeah, I read that book you're talking about... Doppeltraum, by Schnitzler. Sorry if that gives away your mothertoungue too obviously, but we have other speakers of that around here, and noone will really correct you unless necessary (I can only remember having being corrected once, even if I welcome corrections), nor care if you speak American or British or Babylonian English... Personally I'm a purist of British, but I'm aware that there are millions of Americans around the globe...
Thankfully we don't even seem to have people whose vocabulary consists mainly of "dude" and such... ;)
Like Koa said, most around here won't care what kind of English you speak and not correct you. Besides, I don't think your mother tongue would have anything to do with it should anyone correct you. It's what you say in English that counts, not what you could say in another language.Quote:
Originally Posted by AttorneyGonzo
"Babylonian English"
Is that what my 18month old granddaughter speaks?
.
First language is...Portuguese ó ié!!!
yes you are actually right. I've got some strange, abreviated version. It's not the real thing. But I love the movie.Quote:
Originally Posted by Koa
I have to give Kubrick some credit though. I found he kind of improved Schnitzler's Traumnovelle/ Dream Novella. He made it more into a detective story whereas Schnitzler's original was interesting from a literary point of view but didn't have that tension/suspect element. It really was as the title suggests more of a dreamy narration (with all the erotic elements :))