Words of Wisdom - by Celeste

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]A somewhat... liberal... translation [/quoteost_uid0]

I'm a liberal kinda guy...plus there's a semi-official good taste standard around here.

The actual Latin itself is probably grammatically horrible as well.[/colorost_uid0]

[Kodu]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]I wouldn't know about the grammar, I dropped Latin as soon as I could. Grammar was the main reason, especially what according to my dictionary is called 'cases'. I hate those in every language: Latin, Greek, German, horrible things they are. I'm glad modern English (and Dutch) don't have any of those anymore...

Edit:
By the way, shouldn't other languages also be kept to this 'good taste standard'? [/colorost_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]If at first you don't succeed, keep making phone calls.

I have no idea what cases are, but I find the idea of arbitrarily dividing the world into two genders and then conjugating all your words along that system to be maddening. At least French only has two; German has four.

An excessive number of verb tenses in also an annoyance. French has the present, the past, the other past, the future, the future simple, the future complicated, the conditional, the arbitrary, and the unconditional surrender. OK, so I made some of those up (and the surrender joke wasn't meant to refer to France's war record).[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]So, you don't know what cases are, and you're trying to speak Latin? 8|

You're right about French. It sucks. I'm not gonna say anything else about it, because I'm finally done with it. Besides, I wouldn't know much about it anyway. Do you really think I paid attention in French class? [/colorost_uid0]

[Celeste]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Che sara sara.

Italian: What will be, will be.

From the verb essere, future tense. I hate my Italian class. :crying:[/colorost_uid0]

[Kodu]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]I have no idea what cases are, [/quoteost_uid0]
They're what you call it if a noun changes depending on it's function in the sentence (subject, object, etc.) Latin has 5 different cases :eyeroll:, German four (I think), and I think Greek also has four. Modern Dutch has none, Old Dutch has a couple, don't know how many.

[quoteost_uid0]but I find the idea of arbitrarily dividing the world into two genders and then conjugating all your words along that system to be maddening. [/quoteost_uid0]
Heh. Dutch has three genders
Male, female, and neuter. Male and female share the same article, neuter has another one.

[quoteost_uid0]At least French only has two; German has four.
[/quoteost_uid0]
German has four? Male, female, neuter and?
French is quite annoying, I can never remember which word is which gender (German is hard too, but it's more like Dutch so at least the words make [iost_uid0]some[/iost_uid0] sense)

[quoteost_uid0]An excessive number of verb tenses in also an annoyance. Â French has the present, the past, the other past, the future, the future simple, the future complicated, the conditional, the arbitrary, and the unconditional surrender. Â OK, so I made some of those up (and the surrender joke wasn't meant to refer to France's war record).
[/quoteost_uid0]
Latin has about 3+ past tenses, 3+ future tenses, at least one present.[/colorost_uid0]

[NAHTMMM]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Que sera', sera' in Spanish.



Spanish has present (I do), -ing present (I am doing), preterite [past] (I did), past imperfect (I was doing [iost_uid0]or[/iost_uid0] I used to do), present perfect (I have memorized what all these tenses are called, but I have suddenly found that their names have hidden themselves away in corners of my mind, or maybe under the stacks of paper), past perfect (I had done), future (I will do), future perfect (I will have done), conditional (If I were to do), subjunctive ([iost_uid0]a tip-off that the speaker is doubtful about the accuracy of the statement being made[/iost_uid0]) for past and present and future, command forms (Do this [iost_uid0]or[/iost_uid0] Don't do that), plus of course perfect -ing forms (I had been doing).

Or something like that. I may have goofed on the conditional. What's nice about Spanish (other than the 95% phonetic rate) is that you can often omit the subject of the verb because the verb ending will tell you who is doing the verb. Plus you have words like trabajabajabajabajabajamos or whatever that are fun to say. :smile:

Oh, and there are two words for "for".[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]Spanish has present (I do), -ing present (I am doing), preterite [past] (I did), past imperfect (I was doing or I used to do), present perfect (I have memorized what all these tenses are called, but I have suddenly found that their names have hidden themselves away in corners of my mind, or maybe under the stacks of paper), past perfect (I had done), future (I will do), future perfect (I will have done), conditional (If I were to do), subjunctive (a tip-off that the speaker is doubtful about the accuracy of the statement being made) for past and present and future, command forms (Do this or Don't do that), plus of course perfect -ing forms (I had been doing).[/quoteost_uid0]

Are you saying English is the most dificult? You have examples for everything. [/colorost_uid0]

[Kodu]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="NAHTMMM"]What's nice about Spanish (other than the 95% phonetic rate) is that you can often omit the subject of the verb because the verb ending will tell you who is doing the verb.[/quoteost_uid0]
Actually, I think that's another one of the most annoying things about Latin [/colorost_uid0]

[Zeke]

[quoteost_uid0="catalina_marina"][color=#000000ost_uid0]Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum.
(I think that I think therefor I think that I am.)

That's about all I know of Latin. And that it's incorrect, but it sounds good. [/colorost_uid0][/quoteost_uid0]
[color=#000000ost_uid0]For the record, a correct translation would be "cogito me cogitare, ergo cogito me esse."[/colorost_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]Are you saying English is the most dificult?[/quoteost_uid0]

English is one of the most difficult languages for non-speakers to learn. It's a collection of exceptions to rules. Why do I feel we've had this conversation before?

I also find that Dutch people speak better English than the average AOL user (I know I've said that before). If Standback is in anyway typical, this comment also applied to Israelis (although the Israelis are far less homogeneous than the Dutch).

[quoteost_uid0]Plus you have words like trabajabajabajabajabajamos or whatever that are fun to say.[/quoteost_uid0]

Trabajabadoo.[/colorost_uid0]

[Nan]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]And antidisestablishmentarianism.

I think.

Although, English is good as a trade language, because you can speak it terribly or with a very limited vocabulary and still be more or less understood.

Tonal languages. Now THOSE are hard. *shudder*[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]For the record, a correct translation would be "cogito me cogitare, ergo cogito me esse."[/quoteost_uid0]

I gotta remember that.

[quoteost_uid0]English is one of the most difficult languages for non-speakers to learn.[/quoteost_uid0]

Let's see, Chinese, Japanees, Dutch, French (in my opinion anyway)...
One of how many are you aiming for?

[quoteost_uid0]It's a collection of exceptions to rules.[/quoteost_uid0]

I like these 'irregular' verbs like put and cut. [/colorost_uid0]

[Kodu]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="Sa'ar Chasm"]English is one of the most difficult languages for non-speakers to learn. Â It's a collection of exceptions to rules. Â Why do I feel we've had this conversation before?[/quoteost_uid0]
I can think of a lot of languages I've had more problems with than English (German, French, Latin, Greek, and the rest I didn't even bother to try )
English exceptions aren't the exceptions, the 'regular' stuff are the exceptions . Also, the exceptions are much easier to learn than the actual rules. I never had any kind of problem with the exceptions, but the rules for the other stuff always confused the hell out of me (Made worse by the school spending about 15 minutes of class on the regular stuff and the rest of the years on the exceptions)
I've always been told that Dutch is one of the hardest languages for non-speakers to learn. We have a lot of rather complicated exceptions and it seems it's also confusing that verbs ending in 'd's aren't an exception (leading to conjugations ending in 'dt' but pronounced 't' )
The fact we changed our spelling a couple of years back might also cause some problems.

[quoteost_uid0]I also find that Dutch people speak better English than the average AOL user (I know I've said that before).[/quoteost_uid0]
It's a sad fact that a lot of Americans can't use their own languange properly, and AOL seems to draw a disproportionate part of it's user base from that group for some reason.
Your quote also reminds me of the fact that in Dutch-language competitions it usually turns out that the Belgians have a better grasp of Dutch than the Dutch [/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]I can think of a lot of languages I've had more problems with than English (German, French, Latin, Greek, and the rest I didn't even bother to try )[/quoteost_uid0]

Please note that English is way closer to Dutch than any of those languages, except German, which is just plane hard to learn.

[quoteost_uid0]... and it seems it's also confusing that verbs ending in 'd's aren't an exception (leading to conjugations ending in 'dt' but pronounced 't' )[/quoteost_uid0]

Now you're not talking about non-speakers anymore, are you?

[quoteost_uid0]The fact we changed our spelling a couple of years back might also cause some problems.[/quoteost_uid0]

It's supposed to be easier because of that. Of course, it's not. It just brings along more rules to follow.

[quoteost_uid0]Your quote also reminds me of the fact that in Dutch-language competitions it usually turns out that the Belgians have a better grasp of Dutch than the Dutch [/quoteost_uid0]

Which can make Dutch people quite angry. [/colorost_uid0]

[Kodu]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0="catalina_marina"][quoteost_uid0]Your quote also reminds me of the fact that in Dutch-language competitions it usually turns out that the Belgians have a better grasp of Dutch than the Dutch [/quoteost_uid0]

Which can make Dutch people quite angry. [/quoteost_uid0]
Hence the "" [/colorost_uid0]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]Back to the words of wisdom...

If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much.[/colorost_uid0]

[Katy Jane]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]A good friend keeps you form doing something stupid alone.[/colorost_uid0]

[catalina_marina]

[color=#000000ost_uid0][quoteost_uid0]If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much.[/quoteost_uid0]
I think I like that one.

Assimilation is futile. You will be resisted.[/colorost_uid0]

[Katy Jane]

[color=#000000ost_uid0]If an army of ten foot rats storms your door it would be best to srruender all you cheese[/colorost_uid0]