Wow, so much discussion about shoes. Didn't expect that. I mean, with hats i would understand, they are the meaning of life but didn't expect it of shoes.
The Travelling Thread/ The Home Town Thread
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Working thru some stuff. Dunno how long i will be here.
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Femme's got the idea. It varies from family to family. Not everyone does it, and I think cultural stereotypes hypes it up to an extreme, but some people are like that. I grew up with a neat freak mom. We took our shoes off. Some families are more relaxed about things. On the flip side of the coin, if I want to go check the mail, I'll slip out of the house with my slippers. :3 (i feel so naughty)
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I don't wear shoes in my house but I've been tempted to after finding a live scorpion skulking about on more than one occasion.
If you live around the Austin area, I don't blame you.
Wow, so much discussion about shoes. Didn't expect that. I mean, with hats i would understand, they are the meaning of life but didn't expect it of shoes.
A lot of people wear hats up here in WA, but that's because the weather is so wet and gloomy. I love wearing my knit beanie on a regular basis.
*** PlasticStar5 Instagram***
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Thats a nice idea for a thread, it interesting to get input for new traveling goals. During the last years i've visited a few countries to learn about their gardening culture and to see the worldwide known sights. I can really recommend the Netherlands, the people there, the landscape and the culture are really fantastic. I've never been to other countries out of Europe, but i think it takes a whole live to get a little impression of the different cultures of this continent alone. Another trip i can recommend is the Loire valley in France its beautiful if you're interested in palaces and awesome food. If you ever drive through Amboise take a eclair from Patisserie Bigot, its the best thing i've ever tasted. Another faboulus area is Cornwall in England there are so many beautiful Gardens and nice Pubs. If anyone knows nice places with beautiful parks and gardens, tell me, i'm looking for my next travel destination.
And if anyone is interested, i can give plenty of references for places in my home state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany.
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Pretty much all my travel plans feel a little hamstrung by the language barrier.
Like even traveling to Germany seems like it would be alot more fun if you spoke the language.
Sure you can get by fine with English, but does one really get a true feel for a place that way?
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that's a really good question. I think I'd be too nervous to do that. Also I'd feel a little rude. "what, your in Germany and you can't even bother to talk in our language. grumpy offended face"
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Is language barrier that much of a problem?
For example, I really wanna visit Sweden one day, but there's no way I can ever learn the language xD
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that's a really good question. I think I'd be too nervous to do that. Also I'd feel a little rude. "what, your in Germany and you can't even bother to talk in our language. grumpy offended face"
The only people who do that are the French (who are very sad they lost the "world empire establishing lingua franca" sweepstakes). No one else cares. More likely you will have people enjoying practicing English with you, or mildly teasing you with having you try their local words.
English is handy in much of the old world because hey, most people who travel will know it to some degree so they can talk with each-other that way too. Because yeah like the girl from Georgia isn't gonna know a barely spoken language like Swedish if she goes to Sweden, and no way in hell will any Swedes know Georgian, but hey English will get her far.
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I think most people in Europe know basic English phrases, otherwise a book of common phrases and a basic study of how to pronounce words will get you pretty far I think as far as just visiting is concerned
I was in Italy for a week and by the end of it I was ordering chicken sammiches without any English at all
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Learn Spanish guys, we are everywhere and people love our language, lol. I remember years back i got lost with a friend in Florence and we tried to speak italian with a waiter and after a few crappy attempts he just goes "Oigan, hablo español. Soy de Uruguay". (Hey, i speak spanish. I'm from Uruguay). And another time in China i hear someone yelling at me "Hey, Mexicano!" And we always get so happy to find someone that is from a spanish speaking country or speaks spanish :3
But yeah, Language won't be a barrier except if you are in a faraway village of out there in the country. And Speaking english will help a lot.
Working thru some stuff. Dunno how long i will be here.
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Is language barrier that much of a problem?
For example, I really wanna visit Sweden one day, but there's no way I can ever learn the language xDFor all functional purposes you'll do fine with English. You'll be able to order food, get directions and get a an answer to most questions you'd have. You can probably make some decent chit chat too. But i have noticed that, even among the more fluent of my acquaintances, there is a certain uncomfortableness with having extended casual conversations in English. Especially if it's a conversation in broken English. Like if you speak English with a native speaker you can freestyle it a bit and expect him to pick up the slack a bit, and understand the gist of what you were trying to convey. But if it's a mid to low speaker talking to another somewhat fluent speaker you'll end with that whole "processing" bit, where you try understand what he's saying and then formulate a response in your head, which makes it that much more straining.
But then again i figure that the best idea for any extended visit would be to have an anchor, someone you know you can have fairly seamless conversations with, who speaks the language in question and can act as an intermediary.
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@Monkey:
English is handy in much of the old world because hey, most people who travel will know it to some degree so they can talk with each-other that way too. Because yeah like the girl from Georgia isn't gonna know a barely spoken language like Swedish if she goes to Sweden, and no way in hell will any Swedes know Georgian, but hey English will get her far.
In a countries like mine, Russian will also work fine, mostly depends on the age of the guy you meet for chat.
For all functional purposes you'll do fine with English. You'll be able to order food, get directions and get a an answer to most questions you'd have. You can probably make some decent chit chat too. But i have noticed that, even among the more fluent of my acquaintances, there is a certain uncomfortableness with having extended casual conversations in English. Especially if it's a conversation in broken English. Like if you speak English with a native speaker you can freestyle it a bit and expect him to pick up the slack a bit, and understand the gist of what you were trying to convey. But if it's a mid to low speaker talking to another somewhat fluent speaker you'll end with that whole "processing" bit, where you try understand what he's saying and then formulate a response in your head, which makes it that much more straining.
But then again i figure that the best idea for any extended visit would be to have an anchor, someone you know you can have fairly seamless conversations with, who speaks the language in question and can act as an intermediary.
I don't intend to do it anytime soon anyways, as I am a poor teenager at the moment xD
I said Sweden specifically cause I have a friend, Georgian, who moved in Sweden to live a year ago, and he told me that it was hard for him to learn the language, then I looked up the pronunciation on Youtube. And it was completely alien to me xD I have even watched one movie in Swedish (with English subs), still alien to me.Learn Spanish guys, we are everywhere and people love our language, lol.
I guess I'd learn Spanish, if I ever visited Latin America, just cause it seems too easy xD
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I don't intend to do it anytime soon anyways, as I am a poor teenager at the moment xD
I said Sweden specifically cause I have a friend, Georgian, who moved in Sweden to live a year ago, and he told me that it was hard for him to learn the language, then I looked up the pronunciation on Youtube. And it was completely alien to me xD I have even watched one movie in Swedish (with English subs), still alien to me.But seriously. I can imagine that it's quite a challenge. I mean some languages just compliment each other, and make for easy learning. But i don't imagine that Georgian and Swedish are one of those pairings. Swedish and Spanish seem to have that kind of compatability though.
Which i imagine is why almost everyone takes Spanish as their mandatory third language, even though German would make sooo much more sense as far as usefullness goes. But that easy to pick up pronounciation is just too appealing to us lazy bastards lol.
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But seriously. I can imagine that it's quite a challenge. I mean some languages just compliment each other, and make for easy learning. But i don't imagine that Georgian and Swedish are one of those pairings. Swedish and Spanish seem to have that kind of compatability though.
Which i imagine is why almost everyone takes Spanish as their mandatory third language, even though German would make sooo much more sense as far as usefullness goes. But that easy to pick up pronounciation is just too appealing to us lazy bastards lol.
Well we have 28 consonant sounds. And 5 vowel sounds, just plain 5 vowel sounds. But Spanish? Really? I can't see any similarities xD
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If you ever come to México hit me up then :B i'll be here (I think?)
I'd rather visit other places :B I really wanna see Argentina someday~
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But Spanish? Really? I can't see any similarities xD
It seems random i know. But Spanish speaking immigrants usually pick up the language suprisingly easy, and as we've established before Swedes find the spoken language to be fairly easy to wrap their heads around.
I personally think it has to do with the flowing nature of both languages.
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, where you try understand what he's saying and then formulate a response in your head, which makes it that much more straining.
This is why when me and Chrissie call up the Chinese place for take-out I do the talking lol.
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But seriously. I can imagine that it's quite a challenge. I mean some languages just compliment each other, and make for easy learning. But i don't imagine that Georgian and Swedish are one of those pairings. Swedish and Spanish seem to have that kind of compatability though.
Well again they're related. Swedish and Spanish are both Indo-European.
Different internal families yeah, but still same macro-family.Georgian is in it's own little Kartvelian language family. It's only relatives are little (possibly dialects?) things also in Georgia or in the near part of Turkey. Basically entirely alone in the world like Japanese, Korean, or Basque.
Which i imagine is why almost everyone takes Spanish as their mandatory third language, even though German would make sooo much more sense as far as usefullness goes. But that easy to pick up pronounciation is just too appealing to us lazy bastards lol.
The hilarious thing with Americans is even though we're awful and lazy about foreign languages of virtually any kind, you will find that we're pretty damn good at Spanish pronunciation. Like the same American who would roll their eyes at trying to learn anything but English would probably snicker at you if you didn't pronounce your J's like H's.
Were being Spanglified and aren't even noticing.
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My headchef spent like a month as a guest chef in Mexico during a food festival last year.
Nothing bad happened, but he did learn that Mexico had the kookiest vaction scheme imaginable.
Something like for every year you work at the same place, you get an extra two days of vacation.
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@Monkey:
The hilarious thing with Americans is even though we're awful and lazy about foreign languages of virtually any kind, you will find that we're pretty damn good at Spanish pronunciation. Like the same American who would roll their eyes at trying to learn anything but English would probably snicker at you if you didn't pronounce your J's like H's.
Were being Spanglified and aren't even noticing.The path of least resistance wins again.
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Though there was that one girl at my high school graduation who was reading out our names and even though she should have known better pronounced some guy's name as "Jeeezus" instead of "Heyzuse". Which had the Puerto Rican dudes sitting with me rolling lol.
I'm always wondering how people are pronouncing Jesus Burgess, because it's obviously supposed to be the Spanish pronunciation.
I'm curious how many Americans hear Spanish on a daily basis (like if you get out of the house, sitting at home no count). Like Texans and Californians yeah. And people who live in the Northeast Megalopolis sure. Because I sure do.
We're not all hearing the SAME Spanish dialects (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican etc. depending where you are) but Spanish is just all over the place.But like I'm curious about Midwesterners, Northwesterners, and people from the South who aren't from Texas or Florida.
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Et tu Carmilla? .
Not me, just whoever made the picture :B
I honestly have no idea what Mexico is like, or what's going on there.
Except… soap operas.@Monkey:
Well again they're related. Swedish and Spanish are both Indo-European.
Different internal families yeah, but still same macro-family.Georgian is in it's own little Kartvelian language family. It's only relatives are little (possibly dialects?) things also in Georgia or in the near part of Turkey. Basically entirely alone in the world like Japanese, Korean, or Basque.
There are different languages in Georgia itself (or what belonged to us in the past). Three actually. Not just dialects.
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@Monkey:
Though there was that one girl at my high school graduation who was reading out our names and even though she should have known better pronounced some guy's name as "Jeeezus" instead of "Heyzuse". Which had the Puerto Rican dudes sitting with me rolling lol.
Ouch. I bet she even realized what she did as she was speaking.
That realization that you just butchered the pronounciation is so bad. Like when you try to pronounce Connecticut.
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Not me, just whoever made the picture :B
I honestly have no idea what Mexico is like, or what's going on there.
Except… soap operas.Well they have slightly higher living standards than Georgia. But since they're way bigger that could flunctuate dramatically from place to place.
They're definitely more violent due to drug gang fighting with the army, but on the other hand they don't have frozen conflict zones like you do let alone two, nor have they been invaded by Russians recently. So as far as dangerous goes I dunno who wins or loses exactly.There are different languages in Georgia itself (or what belonged to us in the past). Three actually. Not just dialects.
Yeah I know Abkhaz and Ossetic. But I was talking about the language family of Georgian itself, which I think you guys call something else right?
Both Abkhaz and Ossetic are in different language families entirely. Abkhaz is related to the Circassian languages in Russia across the border.And oddly the fuck enough Ossetic….is related to Swedish and Spanish as well lol. It's one of the absolute last remaining evidence of the peoples who actually spread the Indo-European language family. The nomadic "arayan/kurgan" tribes. Who became the Scythians, some of whom became the Alans, some of who became the Ossetians. Jammed up in the mountains, marginalized away from their steppes by other nomads.
It's closely related to Persian! Pretty crazy huh?Like see this map here. That's the Indo-European family, different colors for different sub families. See how there's a gap between the green (Slavic) and brown (Indo-Arayan)? There didn't used to BE that gap. It would have been mostly some early form of the brown. But other languages slowly replaced it (Turkic stuff mostly). The Ossetians are one of the only remaining evidence of that.
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Ouch. I bet she even realized what she did as she was speaking.
That realization that you just butchered the pronounciation is so bad. Like when you try to pronounce Connecticut.
Caneddakit.
Never, ever, ever, pronounce the second C.
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@Monkey:
Yeah I know Abkhaz and Ossetic. But I was talking about the language family of Georgian itself, which I think you guys call something else right?
I meant Laz, Megrelian and Svan languages.
I have only heard Megrelian and Svan up close though, cause Laz is spoken in Lazistan mostly. -
I meant Laz, Megrelian and Svan languages.
I have only heard Megrelian and Svan up close though, cause Laz is spoken in Lazistan mostly.Ah those were the ones I was wondering about regarding dialect or language difference. So they're different languages? Neat.
Laz is in Turkey right? What the relation like with the Laz and Georgians? -
@Monkey:
Ah those were the ones I was wondering about regarding dialect or language difference. So they're different languages? Neat.
Laz is in Turkey right? What the relation like with the Laz and Georgians?I think they are so, as we call them the languages. And they sound completely different. At least words itself, I have no idea how the sentences work xD Maybe the same?
And I honestly dunno much about it, you can see what is written in Wikipedia, maybe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laz_peopleI have only seen some documentary about how they live or something, which I don't remember clearly.
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I think they are so, as we call them the languages. And they sound completely different. At least words itself, I have no idea how the sentences work xD Maybe the same?
And I honestly dunno much about it, you can see what is written in Wikipedia, maybe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laz_peopleI have only seen some documentary about how they live or something, which I don't remember clearly.
What are Georgian attitudes toward Turkey as a whole from your experience?
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@Monkey:
What are Georgian attitudes toward Turkey as a whole from your experience?
There are many Turkish soaps on TV and people love to visit it on vacations :ninja:
On serious note? I dunno, I think Georgians don't dislike them as they do Armenians and Russians, though.
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There are many Turkish soaps on TV
ahahaha same as Greece and Cyprus. And apparently all the Arab countries where it's like "HOLY CRAP THESE ARE MUSLIMS LIKE US??? DOING…THESE THINGS??? SCANDALOUS!!!! keeps watching".
Oh on that note isn't there a tiny Greek population in Georgia somewhere or other?On serious note? I dunno, I think Georgians don't dislike them as they do Armenians and Russians, though.
Now Russia I get obviously, but what conflict do Georgians have with Armenians?
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@Monkey:
Oh on that note isn't there a tiny Greek population in Georgia somewhere or other?
I have no idea. Lot of Georgians move to Greece though and have people in family living there. I also know a Georgian who lived in there for years and came back, and knows the language too.
Now Russia I get obviously, but what conflict do Georgians have with Armenians?
"They claim everything is theirs and they are arrogant"–The opinion I have heard.
My classmate was kind of made fun of this way: He was called "Armenian" as the word of offence. -
I took one year of Spanish in grade 10, and learned French from kindergarten to grade 12, and that's enough for me to understand Spanish. On the plane ride to New York I realized I was reading a Spanish magazine almost fluently and I was like hell yes. Also, I went to Macau where street signs are in Chinese and Portugese, and I was lik YES I FINALLY UNDERSTAND.
Yeah everyone should learn one Latin language. It gets you by in most of the others.
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I wanted this thread to die so i could make a third Monty Python reference b: Is that mean of me?
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I grew up with my mom cussing me out in Spanish all the time, so I can understand most anything said to me no problem, I'm just pretty lackluster when it comes to formulating stuff on my own.
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Where I live
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We don't live in a house or a flat. We live on a campingpark. No, we're not hobos.
Our pets are birds, rabbits, foxes, crows, stray cats, and sometimes deers who lost their way. And moles. Stupid annoying moles.
"Unicorns can't see into your heart. All our dumb horns can do is glow, point towards the nearest rainbow and play rave music!"
Visit my Etsy Shop: Heart'n'Skull or Tumblr
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@Monkey:
Though there was that one girl at my high school graduation who was reading out our names and even though she should have known better pronounced some guy's name as "Jeeezus" instead of "Heyzuse". Which had the Puerto Rican dudes sitting with me rolling lol.
I'm always wondering how people are pronouncing Jesus Burgess, because it's obviously supposed to be the Spanish pronunciation.
I'm curious how many Americans hear Spanish on a daily basis (like if you get out of the house, sitting at home no count). Like Texans and Californians yeah. And people who live in the Northeast Megalopolis sure. Because I sure do.
We're not all hearing the SAME Spanish dialects (Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican etc. depending where you are) but Spanish is just all over the place.But like I'm curious about Midwesterners, Northwesterners, and people from the South who aren't from Texas or Florida.
I get a kick out of, we live relatively close to eachother, and yet, hearing spanish is very rare for me. Ya, I get why; I'm just saying it's kinda weird how the world works. In that regards, do you hear French Canadian all that often?
"Jeezus Burjez" I have no clue how to pronounce it, but I know I'm doing it wrong.
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I get a kick out of, we live relatively close to eachother, and yet, hearing spanish is very rare for me. Ya, I get why; I'm just saying it's kinda weird how the world works. In that regards, do you hear French Canadian all that often?
Actually I have heard it. Not often whatsoever. But French Canadians are a thing in New England (and southern Louisiana has it's own Cajun stuff).
Extremely rare down in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Mass. But if you know where to look it wouldn't be too hard to find in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Who being Quebec's downstairs neighbors you can see why.
A bunch of French Canadians immigrated down here over the years, it's just only certain populations still speak French."Jeezus Burjez" I have no clue how to pronounce it, but I know I'm doing it wrong.
It's definitely the Spanish version given he has the Mexican wrestler theme going on.
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I get a kick out of, we live relatively close to eachother, and yet, hearing spanish is very rare for me. Ya, I get why; I'm just saying it's kinda weird how the world works. In that regards, do you hear French Canadian all that often?
"Jeezus Burjez" I have no clue how to pronounce it, but I know I'm doing it wrong.
Go to Montreal and you'll hear Spanish all the time. There are a lot of people from Colombia, Venezuela, that part of the world here.
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As to where I live…
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I was born, and raised in Moscow. The center is not too from my place, about 7 km, but getting there by car will take at least an hour… Subway is the best choice, if you want to get somewhere on time (the metro is quite beautifully designed, by the way). Also, winter in Moscow is not a fascinating sight. It's not like it's really cold, but the mix of snow and dirt makes a creamy slush, which will ruin your day. The center of the city does have its charm, I will give you that. The outskirts though, are not very attractive (with the exception of a few districts)For the places, that I would like to visit:
I've never actually been in the east, so I really want to go to Japan. And I'm learning japanese too, so a little practice would not hurt. I would also like to go to Tibet.
Other than that:
Canada
Ireland
Scotland
Australia
New Zealand
Norway
Switzerland
Peru, Chile, Brazil
I've been to five states in the US, and I wish to visit Alaska, Connecticut and Illinois.I love travelling. It's worth living for the sake of travelling. I've been to a lot of countries, and I can say, that nothing gives me more pleasure than exploring other cultures, seeing wondrous sights, admiring nature.
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@Monkey:
Actually I have heard it. Not often whatsoever. But French Canadians are a thing in New England (and southern Louisiana has it's own Cajun stuff).
Extremely rare down in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Mass. But if you know where to look it wouldn't be too hard to find in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Who being Quebec's downstairs neighbors you can see why.
A bunch of French Canadians immigrated down here over the years, it's just only certain populations still speak French.It's definitely the Spanish version given he has the Mexican wrestler theme going on.
how DO you prounounce it! tell me. :V I want to be smart.
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how DO you prounounce it! tell me. :V I want to be smart.
Hey-zoos
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@Lao:
I've been to five states in the US, and I wish to visit Alaska, Connecticut and Illinois.
Connecticut is a great functional living location next to great big places not inside it (New York City, Boston).
Unless you really really are interested in Yale university it's not a tourist destination.
For New England fall leaf stuff it can be, but most people would say you should do that in more rural northern New England like Vermont.Now if you ever want to pick a place in the US to LIVE..
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16 chars of is it H or X?
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Like.. Russian X. It is in Spanish too if I am not mistaken.
 
