Language Chit-Chat

[DV52]

Yes. Seemed appropriate at the time. Btw, I had 2 years of Latin in high school, but neither the school not its programme had any ties to religion.

Really? I thought that the only education facilities that taught Latin were those that used the language in rituals like public religious worship?? But then Europe has always been more enlightened where study of the classics is concerned (no, I'm not a snob)!!

"2 years of Latin in high school" - it must have made a real impression if you use the language to create a forum ID (I'm impressed)!!

Don

 

[Uwe]

"2 years of Latin in high school"

I also had some Latin in a public school -- I think it was a half a year. It was then that I realized that English is mashup of Germanic and Latin roots.

-Uwe-

 

[DV52]

I also had some Latin in a public school -- I think it was a half a year. It was then that I realized that English is mashup of Germanic and Latin roots.

-Uwe-

@Uwe: Now that is impressive!! 6 months acquaintance with Latin and making the link to the origins of English at such a young age is remarkable- clearly a portent to future success!!

When I was studying Latin at high-school - my only thoughts were how I could use the language to woo girls (didn't work- as I recall)!!

Don

 

[Uwe]

6 months acquaintance with Latin and making the link to the origins of English at such a young age is remarkable-

Perspective: English was my second language. German was first and my "mother tongue".

That said, English has been my primary language for ~50 years now and my German is somewhat rusty/atrophied.

-Uwe-

 

[PetrolDave]

"2 years of Latin in high school"

Same here back in the early 1970's - my school offered 3 languages (French, German and Latin) of which you had to choose 2 BUT Latin had to be one of them!

I wanted to study French and German as I considered they would be more useful to me in my chosen career of engineering, but was rudely told that was not allowed...

 

[Quintus Rotam]

That said...

 

[Crasher]

It was then that I realized that English is mashup of Germanic and Latin roots.

Don't forget there is a bit of surrender monkey in there a well.

 

[Uwe]

Don't forget there is a bit of surrender monkey in there a well.

Sure, but that is mostly a derivative of Latin..

-Uwe-

 

[Uwe]

Since we've strayed so far off the original topic, I've extracted these posts from the SFD thread

-Uwe-

 

[iichel]

Over here, Latin and Greek are courses only offered in the Gymnasium for five years. The 'highest' grade of secondary school.

 

[DneprDave]

I had two years of Spanish in grade school. I was even reading Spanish language books, but I haven't used Spanish for so long that I have lost it. I took two years of Latin in high school, same story.
My wife is Ukrainian and has Russian as her first language. Her Mother and Niece came to visit in '91 just before the Soviet Union collapsed, her family asked us to arrange for them to stay as they were worried about the political situation at home. We got a permanent visa for my mother in-law and we adopted my niece, so she could get a permanent visa. For many years all I heard at home was Russian and I absorbed quite a bit, though they would laugh at my grammar when I attempted to speak Russian, I can understand it quite well.

 

[DV52]

Same here back in the early 1970's - my school offered 3 languages (French, German and Latin) of which you had to choose 2 BUT Latin had to be one of them!

I wanted to study French and German as I considered they would be more useful to me in my chosen career of engineering, but was rudely told that was not allowed...

Dave: again, impressive!! I'm amazed that at high school age there were people with the maturity and presence-of-mind to have a "chosen career". Clearly in your case - you had a plan. I stumbled into engineering more as a result of happenstance.

Actually, without wanting to get too philosophical - I have a habit of asking folk to list the 5 x most important events in their lives and to describe the catalyst that led to the outcome. In most instances, the stimulus was trivial and the decision that was made was done so without much thought at all. Kismet, I guess in my case - maybe not in yours!!!

Don

 

[DV52]

Over here, Latin and Greek are courses only offered in the Gymnasium for five years.

Miichel: Now there's a clear example of the lunacy of the English language!! The word "Gymnasium" has the common meaning of a place devoted to physical activity, of brawn and muscle-building (quite the opposite to intellect - albeit this is not necessarily so)

And the same word has the meaning of a place that prepares pupils for university entrance in countries like Germany, Scandinavia, or central Europe!!

And both meanings stem from the Ancient Greek term gymnós which translated to English is "naked". Go figure!!

Don

 

[vreihen]

Our high school only offered Spanish, and we were obligated to take three years of it and pass a NY State Regents exam to prove that we could read/write and were conversational in it for anyone on a college/university track.

About 15 years ago, we were on a cruise ship that docked in Mexico for a port call. The port city was ravaged by a hurricane a few months before, and the usual tourist stuff was not rebuilt yet. Since there was nothing to do, I decided to set off on a mission to get a sales brochure for the VW Saveiro Pickup for Jack (who wanted to get the truck despite not being offered/legal for road use in the USA). Long story short, asking Spanish-speaking taxi drivers to take you to the Volkswagen Store in my rusty conversational Spanish was interpreted as "bring the confused gringo to a car rental agency" versus the VW dealership outside the tourist area. After a few tries, I finally found a taxi driver who understood that I wanted to *buy* a car and not rent one. When we got to the dealership, it was closed either due to the day or because of storm damage.

Jennifer did take a picture of me standing next to a Saveiro parked by the cruise ship tender dock, though.....

 

[DV52]

Perspective: English was my second language. German was first and my "mother tongue".

Uwe: same with me - but Italian was my roots and my mother tongue was a dialect that was frozen in time to when my parents left Italy - probably nothing like the regional language spoken today.

Immigration created a type of "language museum" with last century's technology - less so today with a more interconnected world.

I suspect that your "home" version of German suffered from the same dynamic

That said, English has been my primary language for ~50 years now and my German is somewhat rusty/atrophied.

Me too - and such is my regret!!!

 

[jyoung8607]

Perspective: English was my second language. German was first and my "mother tongue".

That said, English has been my primary language for ~50 years now and my German is somewhat rusty/atrophied.

I saw you on Youtube, interviewed at some trade show in Germany (I assume) and as someone who didn't speak a lick of German at the time, I can confirm whatever I heard was definitely some Philadelphia German.

I actually tried out Duolingo a few weeks ago for learning German. I thought it would be useful since I end up Google-translating a lot of German docs and talking with German people in the course of openpilot tinkering. I like the way they teach and reinforce it, and I thought it was feeling pretty easy. "Kaffee und Milch, bitte!" is seared into my brain forever. After they got my subscription fee after the trial, that's when they introduced the annoying triple-gender stuff. I'm still rocking that Level 1 badge and haven't practiced for a couple weeks.

German word of the day: Fahrzeuglängsbeschleunigungssteuerungseinrichtung

 

[Uwe]

Fahrzeuglängsbeschleunigungssteuerungseinrichtung

Yeah, it takes some effort to parse those, but at least it's possible to make sense of it. What kills me is when the just refer to something like that as 'FLBSE' in their data.

-Uwe-

 

[DV52]

German word of the day: Fahrzeuglängsbeschleunigungssteuerungseinrichtung

I thought that the only language that had the objective of using every letter in the alphabet in their words was Gaelic !!

 

[iichel]

I thought that the only language that had the objective of using every letter in the alphabet in their words was Gaelic !!

Clearly you never met the Germans. They have an interesting, but good, habit of putting words together.

 

[Uwe]

Germans. They have an interesting, but good, habit of putting words together.

Personally, I do not think this habit is "good".

-Uwe-