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well i start work in dutch ina few weeks and while i've been getting daily 1:1 lessons for the past 3 weeks, it's still fucking terrifying me. I can speak it well enough to talk shit in a pub, and German as well, but I've never worked *worked* outside of English. WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE. |
anyone work in a language other than english?
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Red-Moose 5,344 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 15 years ago -
AcidSnake 7,929 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 12 years agoYep, but then again, I'm not English...
Dutch people speak English very well though, so it shouldn't be hard to make yourself understood if you get in trouble...Dutch itself can be quite difficult as like many languages you need to learn the gender of the nouns...
And the 'G' is very difficult to pronounce correctly... -
KayJay 5,350 posts
Seen 1 week ago
Registered 11 years agoYeah, "Bullshit"...
/not enjoying work atm...
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PHP, ahahaha. -
Red-Moose 5,344 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 15 years agoAcidSnake wrote:
Yep, but then again, I'm not English...
Dutch people speak English very well though, so it shouldn't be hard to make yourself understood if you get in trouble...Dutch itself can be quite difficult as like many languages you need to learn the gender of the nouns...
And the 'G' is very difficult to pronounce correctly...
The gender and grammar I find is not a problem after German, but the dialect, accent and general speed of speech is tough. The G you can get away with as that seems to be more a North Holland thing according to my teacher, but it seems like the dutch speak with the pauses and punctuation of Christopher Walken. What is stressed and what is not, etc., . -
LionheartDJH 19,910 posts
Seen 14 hours ago
Registered 8 years agoSo just talk like Max Zorin then and all will be fine. Also laugh manically while shooting your own colleagues for no apparent reason, that'll go down well! -
AcidSnake 7,929 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 12 years agoCenter-north yeah, but it is sort of frowned upon...Many consider the hard G to be the correct one...I think in order to distance themselves from Belgium...
Extrapolating gender from German isn't always correct, but could be a quick help...
As for general pronunciation, that'll come once you're actually in the deep end....gif)
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I occasionally have to talk to people from Exeter, so I'm halfway there. -
Sponz 700 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoI'm English, in Geneva, surrounded by Frenchies. Its a nightmare..... -
MetalDog 24,080 posts
Seen 3 months ago
Registered 16 years agoHow confusing does it make what you say if you fuck up the gender in a gender-prone language? Does it destroy meaning, or just make you sound like a plank? -
AcidSnake 7,929 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 12 years agoIt's just a small error, everyone will still understand what you mean... -
Sponz 700 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoMetalDog wrote:
How confusing does it make what you say if you fuck up the gender in a gender-prone language? Does it destroy meaning, or just make you sound like a plank?
There are two phrases recently that have caught me out.
Beaucoup - if you say it too quickly means "nice arse"
La Chat - Means The cat, but, pronounce it wrong and it means a female reproductive organ.
I just bumble along, and if I cant understand something I say in my best pidgeon French "I am English and my French is very bad" -
Take the default 'Brit on Holiday' approach. If they don't understand you just say it again but louder. -
AcidSnake 7,929 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 12 years ago@MD:
Sorry, I was talking about Dutch...other languages not so sure... -
Sponz 700 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoDoesnt really wash with people I work with everyday. Luckily I work for an English firm, so its up to them to also be understanding with English people.
I am trying to learn a couple of new words a day. We're very lucky being English in that we're spoilt with a lot of world already speaking our language. Whereby a lot of non-English people have mastered the English language.
A good comparison also is that to get by in an English speaking country, you need just 500 words to have a conversation. In French, you need 2000 apparently. It really is a bit of a long winded language.. -
MetalDog 24,080 posts
Seen 3 months ago
Registered 16 years agoI'm most likely to be found mangling German if I'm going to attempt anything beyond English. -
KnuttinAtoll 5,515 posts
Seen 19 hours ago
Registered 9 years agoMetalDog wrote:
How confusing does it make what you say if you fuck up the gender in a gender-prone language? Does it destroy meaning, or just make you sound like a plank?
If you're a beautiful french woman then it's cute.
If you're anything else then you just sound like a feckin foreigner
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thedaveeyres 13,606 posts
Seen 8 hours ago
Registered 12 years ago¡El baile monstruo! -
AcidSnake 7,929 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 12 years agoGerman...Three genders, no construct logic to them...
At least Italian gives you a fair idea what the gender is with the last letter of the noun... -
Sponz 700 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoSYS64738 wrote:
If you're a beautiful french woman then it's cute.
If you're anything else then you just sound like a feckin foreigner
And there really are lots of very cute French / Swiss birds around here.... -
FairgroundTown 2,522 posts
Seen 4 years ago
Registered 13 years agoMetalDog wrote:
In Spanish it just sounds odd - it rarely destroys the meaning - after all, English lost the gender stuff 900 (???) years ago, and we are muddling along just fine without it!
How confusing does it make what you say if you fuck up the gender in a gender-prone language? Does it destroy meaning, or just make you sound like a plank? -
LionheartDJH 19,910 posts
Seen 14 hours ago
Registered 8 years agoAcidSnake wrote:
German...Three genders, no construct logic to them...
At least Italian gives you a fair idea what the gender is with the last letter of the noun...
Same with Espanol. -
FairgroundTown 2,522 posts
Seen 4 years ago
Registered 13 years agoAcidSnake wrote:
Usually! (My relatives-in-law still have a laugh about the time I referred to 'la Papa' (the (f) pope) in Spanish!)
German...Three genders, no construct logic to them...
At least Italian gives you a fair idea what the gender is with the last letter of the noun... -
paulfurn 237 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoI live in Spain and when my fiancée comes over she talks to the locals in English, but with a Spanish accent :-D -
AcidSnake 7,929 posts
Seen 11 hours ago
Registered 12 years agoHahaha...true...
The Pope (Il Papa), tiger (La tigre) and planet (Il pianeta) are common exceptions... -
Gambit1977 10,396 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 10 years agoHey, just copy Steve Mclaren, his Dutch is English with an accent, and they understood him. -
Red-Moose 5,344 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 15 years agoI thought he sounded Yorkshire in those videos! -
Salaman 23,035 posts
Seen 2 days ago
Registered 14 years agoMy condolences Red Moose. You'll have to listen to Dutchies speaking English to you with that horrible Dutchie accent day in day out soon.
And then they'll assimilate you and slowly you'll learn more and more Dutch but you'll pronounce it with that horrible Dutchie accent of theirs.
/doffs cap
edit: I'm your opposite. I speak Dutch but I've been working in English for 9 out of the 12 years of my working life. -
Red-Moose 5,344 posts
Seen 3 years ago
Registered 15 years agoI am especially looking forward to speaking English with a Dutch accshent -
Yes, I let my fists do the talking...
...down at the S&M club.
/Terrible joke
.gif)
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