Losing my native language
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My native language is Dutch, but there are times I just can't find the right words in Dutch, so I either finish sentences in English or put English words in the middel of sentences. But even though my native language is Dutch, I usually go to English internetsites, post on English forums, I tweet in English and my computer/consoles/iPhone/iPad are all set to English as the system language.
läderlappen=batman. hur kunde man skriva om det på det sättet?Queen Michael said:That's "losing" it. Sorry, but I just had to say it.Banana Phone Man said:
Me, yeah, it happens to me now and then, which is why I try to keep reading in Swedish to keep up the language. Or as we say in Swedish: "På svenska kallas Batman för Läderlappen, ia lla fall förr!"
OT: i vote for l33t sp3ak!
Vad jag har förstått betyder "läderlapp" "fladdermus". Fast det hade varit klart coolare att kalla honom för "fladdermusen" enligt mig.i did it 4 the lulz said:läderlappen=batman. hur kunde man skriva om det på det sättet?Queen Michael said:That's "losing" it. Sorry, but I just had to say it.Banana Phone Man said:
Me, yeah, it happens to me now and then, which is why I try to keep reading in Swedish to keep up the language. Or as we say in Swedish: "På svenska kallas Batman för Läderlappen, i alla fall förr!"
OT: i vote for l33t sp3ak!
OT: A lot of Swedes think they speak pretty good English, and that they have an easier time communicatiing in English, but that's not really true. Sure, there are a lot of situations where an English expression might come in handy, but if they were to speak in English all the time, they'd have a lot of problems with the language.
talking English with a Swedish accent sound horribly like putting a cat in the meat grinder.Queen Michael said:Vad jag har förstått betyder "läderlapp" "fladdermus". Fast det hade varit klart coolare att kalla honom för "fladdermusen" enligt mig.i did it 4 the lulz said:läderlappen=batman. hur kunde man skriva om det på det sättet?Queen Michael said:That's "losing" it. Sorry, but I just had to say it.Banana Phone Man said:
Me, yeah, it happens to me now and then, which is why I try to keep reading in Swedish to keep up the language. Or as we say in Swedish: "På svenska kallas Batman för Läderlappen, i alla fall förr!"
OT: i vote for l33t sp3ak!
OT: A lot of Swedes think they speak pretty good English, and that they have an easier time communicatiing in English, but that's not really true. Sure, there are a lot of situations where an English expression might come in handy, but if they were to speak in English all the time, they'd have a lot of problems with the language.
Language is not simply a basic means of communication. To think in two different languages is to structure your entire thought process in two completely different ways. Translations of important texts into English don't always relay the full intended spirit of the original work, and vice versa. For example, Franz Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis', originally written in Czech, suffered in the translation of its core themes. It certainly has more impact in its native language.
Back to the main point, even if a universal language could be adopted, I imagine several branches and dialects would break off, and develop a unique flavour of their own. I mean, our modern 'English' would be indecipherable to many people who also spoke 'English' in the Middle Ages, or indeed even 150 years ago. Who can say that any current iteration of language would be a permanent one? Or even that any one language is the 'best' one?
Back to the main point, even if a universal language could be adopted, I imagine several branches and dialects would break off, and develop a unique flavour of their own. I mean, our modern 'English' would be indecipherable to many people who also spoke 'English' in the Middle Ages, or indeed even 150 years ago. Who can say that any current iteration of language would be a permanent one? Or even that any one language is the 'best' one?
I'm learning Hindi and my native tounge is English
The beauty of this is that Hindi-speakers generally speak "Hinglish", where they will randomly use English words, phrases or entire sentences in the middle of their usual Hindi dialouge. If I were speaking Hindi and lost my way, I'd just flip over to English until I could take over in Hindi again. It's great!!!
The beauty of this is that Hindi-speakers generally speak "Hinglish", where they will randomly use English words, phrases or entire sentences in the middle of their usual Hindi dialouge. If I were speaking Hindi and lost my way, I'd just flip over to English until I could take over in Hindi again. It's great!!!
I know what you mean. i'm not losing my dutch, exactly, but sometimes it's just easier to phrase what you're saying in english, cause english has a phrase for it and dutch doesn't, but that works both ways.
I too think in english sometimes, but i think that's because i had 7 years of bilingual education and it's harder to think in dutch and translate to english than to just think and speak english right away. wouldn't really mind losing my dutch though, not very fond of it as a language.
I too think in english sometimes, but i think that's because i had 7 years of bilingual education and it's harder to think in dutch and translate to english than to just think and speak english right away. wouldn't really mind losing my dutch though, not very fond of it as a language.
They're starting to change but over 1/4 or so of the 1,500+ languages/dialects spoken by Aboriginals before European colonisation/conquest are either dead or close enough as to be the same.Still Life said:
My native language is Estonian, as I am, in fact, an Estonian, but I'm in the same predicament as you. I used to write stories and stuff in my native language when I was younger, even winning some writing contests, at my school, and outside of it (of course, I was a small child, and we wee creatures have much lower standards), but when I started frequenting the internet, the lingua franca here, English, was what I suddenly started to actively use and advance.
Of course, my English has always been good. In comparison to what generally others my age had/have, at least. When I was still in kindergarten, I watched a lot of Cartoon Network, and knew some basic English before even going to school. Starting English from first class also helped. All the time I was all over my native language, I was balancing it with a growing interest in English, and, well, the internet was what finally swayed me over to one of the sides.
Through the years I've used English more than my native language (going purely by a words-read/heard-to-words-written/spoken ratio, seeing as people outside have physical activities and emotions present there to fill in gaps between conversation, thus enabling to give peoples' blabbering some resting time), and my native language I've mainly used just to exercise casual chatter, going beyond that only at school, in lessons, knowing a bit more technical terms than in English (through the help of chemistry, physics and the like). Otherwise, my conversations with others are pretty laconic (due to my shrinking Estonian vocabulary) and simply worded, while, on the other hand, I always try to increase my vocabulary in English, and all of the fiction I write nowadays (recently one certain big "project" of sorts), including anything non-fiction (unless it's for a school assignment, excluding for English class) is in English, where I consistently try to improve my abilities in wordsmanship.
And after that dreadfully long shit, I'll finally come back to the topic of the thread. Due to everything I described above, my Estonian is gradually getting worse, especially seeing as with every day that passes, I use more and more anglicisms in my speech. I don't know, I just like the language more than my own (to which the fact that it's so widely used world-wide may contribute).
But seeing as I plan to move (maybe temporarily, maybe permanently, y'never know) to an English-speaking country (and I'm pretty sure which one), I don't really worry about it too much.
tl;dr: My linguistic abilities with my native language are going down the shitter, while I always try to improve my English, due to which anglicisms have started to litter my speech like flies over a most extraordinarily juicy and moist piece of fecal matter. So...high-five, OP?
Of course, my English has always been good. In comparison to what generally others my age had/have, at least. When I was still in kindergarten, I watched a lot of Cartoon Network, and knew some basic English before even going to school. Starting English from first class also helped. All the time I was all over my native language, I was balancing it with a growing interest in English, and, well, the internet was what finally swayed me over to one of the sides.
Through the years I've used English more than my native language (going purely by a words-read/heard-to-words-written/spoken ratio, seeing as people outside have physical activities and emotions present there to fill in gaps between conversation, thus enabling to give peoples' blabbering some resting time), and my native language I've mainly used just to exercise casual chatter, going beyond that only at school, in lessons, knowing a bit more technical terms than in English (through the help of chemistry, physics and the like). Otherwise, my conversations with others are pretty laconic (due to my shrinking Estonian vocabulary) and simply worded, while, on the other hand, I always try to increase my vocabulary in English, and all of the fiction I write nowadays (recently one certain big "project" of sorts), including anything non-fiction (unless it's for a school assignment, excluding for English class) is in English, where I consistently try to improve my abilities in wordsmanship.
And after that dreadfully long shit, I'll finally come back to the topic of the thread. Due to everything I described above, my Estonian is gradually getting worse, especially seeing as with every day that passes, I use more and more anglicisms in my speech. I don't know, I just like the language more than my own (to which the fact that it's so widely used world-wide may contribute).
But seeing as I plan to move (maybe temporarily, maybe permanently, y'never know) to an English-speaking country (and I'm pretty sure which one), I don't really worry about it too much.
tl;dr: My linguistic abilities with my native language are going down the shitter, while I always try to improve my English, due to which anglicisms have started to litter my speech like flies over a most extraordinarily juicy and moist piece of fecal matter. So...high-five, OP?
I used to be able to speak Welsh, but since I live down S.Wales,left school and thus never use it I can only say the important one...Which is "Speak English."
This is true. Sadly. However, there is still much to preserve, and Aboriginal culture(s) is still very much alive, despite a systematic attempt at repression. I take issue with feel good social movements and government programs which claim that the road to 'closing the gap' lies solely in the integration of the Aboriginal population in the market; simply getting a job is a grossly unbalanced approach to addressing inequality for Aboriginal people, and doesn't primarily serve the continuity of culture.RhombusHatesYou said:
In short: another form of assimilation.