It's pretty hard as a visitor to get a grasp of any nations food so most opinions about it usually are shallow to the point of uselessness. Like last week i had some terrible meals in France, but thankfully i know French food well enough to know that the shit versions served in those tourist traps do not properly represent the food of that nation. But if i were just in from like afghanistan and this was my first glimpse of it i would've thought French food was utter shit.
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It's pretty hard as a visitor to get a grasp of any nations food so most opinions about it usually are shallow to the point of uselessness. Like last week i had some terrible meals in France, but thankfully i know French food well enough to know that the shit versions served in those tourist traps do not properly represent the food of that nation. But if i were just in from like afghanistan and this was my first glimpse of it i would've thought French food was utter shit.
You were in Paris, right?
Next time you visit France, try going for the country-side. Based on the region you'll be in you'll have great traditional food (and for a reasonable price).
On the other hand being in Paris is a good opportunity to try African/Asian cuisine.To stay on topic: it's good to see that a lot of people speak different languages. Often English isn't the mother-tongue. We have a global community.
I was born in Poland, but left quite early so I can't read it or speak that much. I understand a lot, though. I lived in the UK and now in France, and I try to learn as much Spanish as high-school courses provide (I think it's a beautiful language).
The whole Euro-traveling is due to my parents moving a lot when I was a kid. At first it's really a pain to find yourself in a country and go to school without being able to talk with anyone (or even understand them)… but in the end I am very grateful.
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You were in Paris, right?
Next time you visit France, try going for the country-side. Based on the region you'll be in you'll have great traditional food (and for a reasonable price).
On the other hand being in Paris is a good opportunity to try African/Asian cuisine.Once we pick up enough French to venture outside of the tourist zones that was the idea. Cause we realized quite early on that you get nowhere with English unless you are near a monument of some sort. And even then it's a bit you no take candle please English in most cases. To find the good stuff you gotta pick up the language, and apparently by old-timey dress code clothing lol. Like Sweden is so casual that i was like shocked by a demand for suit and tie and dress shoes. Felt like a time warp for me
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Always a classic. Poor England got it more than most I think.
The Brits get bullied because they have a lot of very simple food like "beans on toast" that were introduced in the early 40's by the GIs. It wasn't much, but at least people didn't starve to death. The thing is that they kept all these foods after the war instead of going back to a normal diet.
And also crazy things like meat at breakfast such as bacon that's been "introduced" by corrupted doctors and cynical lobbies… I don't really remember if it was at first an English or American thing though.
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Andrew Zimmern could probably find you some cool places with English or Swedish:
Although he probably always had a translator with him.
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Fascinating stuff. So the garden variety Spanish really isn't all that useful in Spain outside the Spanish speaking regions huh.
I've got absolutely no clue of what you mean by garden variety Spanish, but the whole of Spain speaks Spanish, it IS the official language and a really useful one in a worldwide sense. It's just that some areas of Spain, such as Catalonia, have another official language, Catalan in this case. Anyway you can of course travel or live in Spain knowing only Spanish, as it's the case of most of its population.
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I mean, I didn't wanna sound like an ass and say that people who learn Japanese are usually doing it for anime and videogames. Or for their growing soft-power.
Same goes for Korean. It's the two only languages along English that attract a lot of people due to their "soft-power". (putting quotation marks because it's not really a soft-power)It's hard to tell what is american food and what was brought by immigrants. The difference isn't easy to make
The thing is food from the states may have started as something brought in by migrants but it evolved in unique ways, making it american.
Everyone talks about meatballs and spaguetti as being italian but no one in Italy made that dish, it was created by the italo-americans.
Fortune cookies are a stapple of chinese food yet they were invented in San Francisco.If you take out the food brought in by migrations every country loses their typical dishes, not just the USA.
Also, pop corn is definetly american. Natives were eating pop corn, or at least a variation of it, long before the europeans found about the continent.
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What, where? :wassat:
First at a river boat restaurant for the dinner service. Aboslutely no jeans, no sneakers, no short sleeve shirts. Then at a restaurant near Notre Dame. Dude looked at us like we offended him spiritually by showing up in our shorts and sneakers lol. Was a new experience, i don't think i've ever been turned away due to clothing before.
I've got absolutely no clue of what you mean by garden variety Spanish, but the whole of Spain speaks Spanish, it IS the official language and a really useful one in a worldwide sense. It's just that some areas of Spain, such as Catalonia, have another official language, Catalan in this case. Anyway you can of course travel or live in Spain knowing only Spanish, as it's the case of most of its population.
Oh i meant garden variety as in the most common, ordinary, plain ol' Spanish. I realize i've tripped myself into a stupidity loop here regarding something your current posts explains, but what i assumed was that if the Catalonia region spoke a completely different language, and that if all the other regions like Basque or whoever also did the same with their seperate languages then maybe the plain school taught Spanish has limited use if it's only a second language in those regions and what's mainly spoken is an independent language instead of a related dialect. But yeah you cleared it all up in your post. My bad for being stupid.
The thing is food from the states may have started as something brought in by migrants but it evolved in unique ways, making it american.
Everyone talks about meatballs and spaguetti as being italian but no one in Italy made that dish, it was created by the italo-americans.
Fortune cookies are a stapple of chinese food yet they were invented in San Francisco.If you take out the food brought in by migrations every country loses their typical dishes, not just the USA.
To verify this just hop on to youtube, search out a cooking clip and ask any Italian in the comment section if what's being cooked in the clip is italian food. Or better yet state that it is Italian food for maximum anger. Take that opportunity to provoke an already angry people. Y'know for the fun of it.
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Trump should apologize for Taco Bell
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I always wanted to try taco bell. That and KFC.
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Try KFC. Don't try Taco Bell unless you're drunk or stoned.
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I'm not sure at all that I'll be fluent in this language, but I'm gonna spend 5months in Prague for my erasmus semester. So, I have to start learning the basics of Czech asap
Unfortunately, I can't go to Bergen because apparently it only works for the second semester. And I have to be in Paris during my second semester to look for a good master and try to pass some tests for the "GrandesÉcoles".
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I imagine that Prague will be more fun than Norway anyhow.
Better beer if nothing else. And all the drunk Brits you can handle.
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yeah, apparently there are lots of Britons in Prague. Why's that so ?
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The stereotyper in me wants to say that it is because you can get absolutely pissed on the cheap. Not that i as a Swede can shame others for being drunk and obnoxious when on vacation. Even as we speak atleast twelve Swedes are puking in some tourist spot down south
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Welp day 20 of studying french. Man this stuff is hard.
At my best i bet i sound like officer crabtree in allo allo lol
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The issue about learning a language that isn't English is often that it doesn't have a soft-power. I mean, when you learn English you have tons of TVshows and movies and whatnot to help you to improve yourself. You kinda have that too for Japanese with anime
You always have radio shows but it doesn't have subtitles and the language is usually too literary. You don't get to learn useful expressions for daily life.
TVshows and movies help people a lot when they have to learn EnglishAnd anyway, everyone should watch La Reine Margot (Queen Margot), whether you're learning French or not. Even the trailer is
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Watching movies/tv/anime is one of the best ways to help you learn. But there's more out there than people realize, it's just a matter of getting a hold of it.
Like, seriously Netflix? A movie that was originally French is only available in English and Spanish? Fail.
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The issue about learning a language that isn't English is often that it doesn't have a soft-power. I mean, when you learn English you have tons of TVshows and movies and whatnot to help you to improve yourself. You kinda have that too for Japanese with anime
You always have radio shows but it doesn't have subtitles and the language is usually too literary. You don't get to learn useful expressions for daily life.
TVshows and movies help people a lot when they have to learn EnglishAnd anyway, everyone should watch La Reine Margot (Queen Margot), whether you're learning French or not. Even the trailer is
While it isn't as big as English the French have a fair amount of availible movies and shows. I watch taxi 4 like once every two months for instance. The only problem is, as sats notes below, that lots of movie services don't provide them in the original language. And there is lots of literature that will make people think your a pompous jerk for reading it in French. Like oh look at that smug ass reading voltaire in French. I mean French has that label of not being for common use, it's not a working class people's language that you use for it's practicallity, it's that highfaluting fancy pants language that is for impressing folks y'know
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I've established the habit of reading in French and the past posts in this thread were refreshingly motivating to give this language the love it deserves
I also attempted a phone call with a friend in France (in French while we usually converse in English or Arabic) and even though I could follow and carry a decent conversation (and managed to do so enough to establish an emotional bond and get a few laughs out of her) the imperfections of my grammar and the lack of spontaneous vocab available at the tip of my tongue were glaring enough to infuriate me mid-conversation. In languages I truly speak, I love to zoom in on just the right nuance during a good convo. In French I feel like a confused baby, that can very hesitantly mumble about their favourite primary colour.The personality traits I enjoy the most about myself just fall into dust on my tongue and it's a constant, tiresome redefining of myself. It's a journey to accept that there is a rough patch were you will simply sound dumb to native speakers and some of them will literally register you as dumb and there's no escape until you push through. You're at the mercy of another person's patience. But whenever I speak with somebody with an accent or struggling with words, I remember how they must feel and I gush over with kindness and fondness even when there's time pressure involved. It's the least I can do i think.
The issue about learning a language that isn't English is often that it doesn't have a soft-power. I mean, when you learn English you have tons of TVshows and movies and whatnot to help you to improve yourself. You kinda have that too for Japanese with anime
You always have radio shows but it doesn't have subtitles and the language is usually too literary. You don't get to learn useful expressions for daily life.
TVshows and movies help people a lot when they have to learn EnglishAnd anyway, everyone should watch La Reine Margot (Queen Margot), whether you're learning French or not. Even the trailer is
I feel you. It feels like cheating because you didn't even "work hard" for it but its just fell in your bag for free. That's why I envy kids from Luxembourg, since they pop out of school and be like "Oops, ech speak fünf línguas. Quoi the Fuck?" I'm trying to emulate it by watching netflix only in French (the language feature is a blessing) and playing videogames exclusively on French for French background noise (I've grown so fond of French "Geralt de Riv", that he is my default voice when I think of the character; what a smooth voice actor!) And hell yes, your recommendation just hit the right spot. So MERCI for that
Talking of soft powers, I wonder if later generations will be raised with another background language. English is omnipresent of course, but Korean language is gaining track via K-pop and I wonder what will happen once China gets a full grasp of the cultural power dormant within pop culture and gets the skill to properly market it to the western tastes.
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I can read a little bit right now, and pick up words here and there in a movie and establish a context.
But i'm terrified to speak in front of someone who speaks it. Their icy French judgement hovering in the air.
Even the most minute mispronounciation seems to be noted on and judged. Like it's fleschm not fleshm
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I speak English and Polish Curse Words.
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I can read a little bit right now, and pick up words here and there in a movie and establish a context.
But i'm terrified to speak in front of someone who speaks it. Their icy French judgement hovering in the air.
Even the most minute mispronounciation seems to be noted on and judged. Like it's fleschm not fleshm
Is duolingo a good device? I def have to improve my german
Every nation gets the government it deserves.–-- Joseph de Maistre
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Is duolingo a good device? I def have to improve my german
It's pretty good for reading comprehension and vocabulary. I read a tweet by Macron the other day and to my suprise i could parse most of what he was angry about. Apparently you shouldn't threaten your teachers. Speaking is okay but no substitute for a class or interaction with a native
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I'm seriously considering learning German, mainly because if push comes to shove, Austria or even Germany seems like a good place to go. Austria is pretty close too.
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I can speak English but I also have basic skills of Spanish and German. Those languages are really hard to learn but I've found an app for improving my skills in Spanish: istationeduapp.com. All the basic rules are there and there is a lot of different activities for remembering Spanish words so I think I gonna learn it soon. Already found a couple of my favorite movies translated into Spanish.
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English and Spanish.
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Just English and some Japanese (studied it for about 3 years). My goal is to be some sort of language interpreter.
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Only really English at this point. However, I have to get some languages down for my grad degree, and right now I'm taking French. I'll take German afterward. I'm only in French II, though, so I can't even remotely say I am proficient at it.
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What is everyone's thoughts and opinions about Duolingo? As I have been using it to practise my Polish so I don't lose my first language since English sorta took as the main one due to me living in the United States.
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On it's own duolingo isn't super useful. But as one aid among many it is really helpful. I try to mix up my French learning into fun segments to keep up my motivation, like i watch a tv show in french with french subtitles and try to follow along and jot down some words i didn't understand so that i can look them up, then maybe i crack open a book to do a few grammar exercises or any of the heavier stuff. Then you can do 15 minutes of duolingo exercises and wind down later by listening to french radio. And me and my girlfriend try to speak random french in our everyday life, like use the french word for an item or a food or whatever. I still suck hard at French but maybe i'll dare to speak to an actual Frenchman on our upcoming trip to Paris
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On it's own duolingo isn't super useful. But as one aid among many it is really helpful. I try to mix up my French learning into fun segments to keep up my motivation, like i watch a tv show in french with french subtitles and try to follow along and jot down some words i didn't understand so that i can look them up, then maybe i crack open a book to do a few grammar exercises or any of the heavier stuff. Then you can do 15 minutes of duolingo exercises and wind down later by listening to french radio. And me and my girlfriend try to speak random french in our everyday life, like use the french word for an item or a food or whatever. I still suck hard at French but maybe i'll dare to speak to an actual Frenchman on our upcoming trip to Paris
Ah, okay. Thank you for sharing your view. What I have been doing is keeping records of all the words I've learned, and wrote down the different forms so I can understand better. I also plan to practice doing sentences once I know a lot of words. Also, good luck on your trip to France! One thing I want to see there is the Catacombs of Paris besides the countryside.
Note: Polish is my first language, but over time I was losing it. Though I never got to learn how to read or write, just speak. It's interesting to learn more about my language, stuff that came naturally to me, had meaning behind it.
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Can read a few languages but don't ask me to speak them
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Welp i just came back from Paris and i can happily report that i now can read a french menu without a single problem. Still struggle hard with pronounciation, especially with silent letters and all. Listening is hit and miss but with a lean toward miss. I hear and understand bits and pieces of conversations atleast. I'm thinking of maybe going for a study trip to France next vacation, but we'll see
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Welp i just came back from Paris and i can happily report that i now can read a french menu without a single problem. Still struggle hard with pronounciation, especially with silent letters and all. Listening is hit and miss but with a lean toward miss. I hear and understand bits and pieces of conversations atleast. I'm thinking of maybe going for a study trip to France next vacation, but we'll see
Well, you made progress and that's the important part! I tried to learn French before, but the hard part for me is, how the sentence all flows together. Like the words change depending on what's behind or in front of it. I think it's also hard because I learned Polish as my first language, which sounds very tough-sounding, while French is more soft.
Also, one phrase I like to use in French –> Manges-tu fourmi au chocolat? Especially to people I meet online that are French
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I swear to God, Polish language just took every punctuation mark and letter from the Latin alphabet and put it in a mixer with no regard what comma would end up on what consonant. The irony of saying this as a Hungarian is not lost on me, but still, come on~
And it also sounds like the people speaking it have no idea how to make sense of this mess and just wing it.I do realize spoken language came before written texts.Language it beautiful.
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Language is more like an abusive relationship where you want to leave but it somehow manages to lure you back in again.
I feel it's more like that strange guy in the neighborhood going around in a van with a bright and colorful "wanna learn fun language facts?" sign on it. It starts off innocent enough: "Did you know German and Dutch belong to the same language family as Swedish and Danish?" Then, before you know it, you're trying to decide if you want to study Scottich Gaelic or Irish Gaelic, and which alphabet you want to scribble on your bedroom walls in its entirety, Greek or Viking.
It's not like I'm speaking from experience, no.
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English and Croatian for me. I somewhat understand a bit of German too.
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I've recently taken it upon myself to learn Hangul, and with it, some Korean. I have no serious plans with it or anything, it's just pure fun at this point~
