Why are MERB posts/threads/ads overwhelmingly in English?

[Sol Tee Nutz]

This is like saying Metallica don't make music, just Noises... pure non sense

Unless you are in my shoes you do not understand. I have listened to many French conversations and just do not get it. Not nonsense just the way some people can learn certain things and some not.

 

[Vajatron]

I have particular difficulty with the back of the throat "R" sound in French. Like at a strip club if a lady asks me if I want a dance, I usually say "non je suis correct", to which they usually reply "tu es quoi?!"
I have moderate success understanding French conversations... Usually I can pick out 3 or 4 key words in a phrase and figure out what it's about. Like how they say book speed readers can skip every couple words when reading and still understand the passage.

 

[EagerBeaver]

This is like saying Metallica don't make music, just Noises... pure non sense

Metallica is not a French band, they are Americans and they sing in English. If they were singing in French, I would not understand what they are saying. Like I said, French sounds like gibberish, but then again so does Russian when I hear my colleague's wife speak it. Chinese is also gibberish to my ears. Languages I can understand a little are Italian, German and Spanish (a lot). I also can understand a little bit of Hungarian and Polish as I was heavily exposed to both languages growing up. Although I am properly classified as a unilingual anglophone, I bet I have been exposed to hearing more different languages in my life than you. In Quebec there are just 2, English and French. In the USA where there are many immigrants, there are a lot more. I came from an immigrant Eastern European community.

 

[man77777]

Every languages sound like gibberish when you don't know them... Even English sound like gibberish to you guys when you were 1yo...

 

[Merlot]

Boys and girls,

First, apologies to everyone for being very harsh yesterday.

Some people have less difficulty learning a new language than others. Just as some people have less difficulty learning algebra and trigonometry. Just as some people draw better, etc. However, pretty much every child can learn a second language if he/she is taught it at a young age and if they live in a bilingual environment. I've never been to English schools except at university.

When I was much younger I believed English was the easiest language in the world. It's so linear, it's so logical. Why doesn't everyone just speak it? I heard foreigners trying to learn say English is so hard and I thought, c'mon, you're nuts. Try it. Then I realized I had a handicap of understanding because, English was what I grew up with, English was all I knew. Like a significant number here I had little if any comparative reference.

Then I started studying French, I had opportunity to talk to many foreigners in detail about their learning experience, I got to talk to language professionals, I learned about differences of syntax construction with various languages, I became motivated to learn much more about cultures and language.

Are some others here really more interested in language and culture, syntax characteristics and construction, or the gamesmanship agendas typical of other language threads. Is this a football game with sides for some?

Ça c'est faux si tu parles du français versus l'anglais. Je suis traductrice depuis plus de 10 ans et je peux t'assurer qu'un texte anglais traduit du français est plus court 90% du temps. Le français est une langue beaucoup plus structurée, avec beaucoup plus de ponctuation que l'anglais. Ça ne veut pas dire que l'anglais est une langue simple (en fait l'anglais compte 1 000 000 de mots contre moins de 100 000 en français), mais en anglais on va plus à l'essentiel.

Je comprends que c'est vrai. J'ai entendu dire que l'anglais a plus de mots que n'importe quelle autre langue, et a un système logique simple. C'est l'attraction. Dans les affaires et la politique, il donne la possibilité de supprime les ambiguïtés, créer plus claire compréhension.

I understand that this is true. I heard that English has more words than any other language. This is the attraction. In business and politics, it gives the possibility to remove ambiguities, create clearer understanding.

Like I said, French sounds like gibberish, but then again so does Russian when I hear my colleague's wife speak it. Chinese is also gibberish to my ears. Languages I can understand a little are Italian, German and Spanish (a lot). I also can understand a little bit of Hungarian and Polish as I was heavily exposed to both languages growing up. Although I am properly classified as a unilingual anglophone, I bet I have been exposed to hearing more different languages in my life than you. In Quebec there are just 2, English and French. In the USA where there are many immigrants, there are a lot more. I came from an immigrant Eastern European community.

Now don't your own experiences tell you something. As Sidney said, it's not necessarily the difficulty of the language to learn, it's your own individually developed skill set. That seems to be the real difference as you pointed out.

truly,

Merlot

 

[EagerBeaver]

As Sidney said, it's not necessarily the difficulty of the language to learn, it's your own individually developed skill set.

Actually it is both, and French is decidedly more difficult than the other languages mentioned, excepting Chinese and Russian.

 

[Mr First]

Originally Posted by Vajatron "non je suis correct",

Vajatron il give you a hint next time the girls ask you for a dance don't say non je suis correct just say non tes trop grosse

im just kidding

 

[pat98]

Ce "fil de discussion" pour ne pas faire de franglisme, est décidément très intéressant, merci à tous les participants ! Ça fait du bien de lire cela de temps en temps...

Le Français parlé au Québec est un Français avec moins de poésie et plus de "droit au but" à l'anglaise : un Français anglicisé dans son esprit, bien qu'il s'en défende...

Exactement et très bien résumé!
Et effectivement, le parlé québécois est direct et va à l'essentiel tandis que le français parlé à une nette tendance à ... tourner autour du pot :lol:

Lorsque je suis arrivé ici dans la belle province de Québec, je me faisait dire parfois relativement sèchement "Je parle Français !" lorsque j'avais le... malheur de dire que je ne comprenais pas !
Lorsque j'ai, disons, apprivoisé tous les anglicismes du parlé Québécois (et ils sont bien plus nombreux que ce que les Français utilisent ) tout est rentré dans l'ordre.

Il y a toujours plusieurs "saveurs" de langue partout dans le monde et le Français-Québécois parlé couramment ne fais pas exception à la règle !
Il en est tout simplement truffé de très nombreuses traductions directes de l'anglais vers le français et c'est tout à fait normal vu l'océan anglophone que représente le continent Américain.
Et puis maintenant les "shopping", "pressing", "parking" employé en France me font maintenant largement sourire !
Et cela fait également sourire les français si je dis "magasiner", "nettoyeur" et "stationnement" ! WTF !
Mais tout va bien car on se comprend tous ... :lol:

Les gens qui ont peur d'être influencé dans leur Français par l'anglais devraient se rappeler que la langue anglaise s'est beaucoup construite à partir de la langue française, lors de l'invasion française notamment (ne parlez pas de cet événement à un anglais, il vous assurera fièrement que l'Angleterre ne fût jamais envahie... ).

LOL Ça me rappelle des discussions grenouilles / rosbifs en ... France ! :thumb:

Bon maintenant pourquoi MERB en général est majoritairement en anglais. Comme déjà mentionné,
1) cela a été créé par un/des anglophone(s)
2) J'entends dire partout que le ca$$h, c'est les anglos qui en ont plus féke ça pourrait pas mal expliquer !
3) Dès que quelqu'un s'exprime en anglais, tout le monde "switche" en anglais :lol:
:amen:

 

[gugu]

I don't understand how one could say a language is easier to learn than an other, that, for example, french would be more difficult to learn for an anglophone than english for a francophone. Could someone explain it to me. Grammar? Lexicon? Spelling? Intonation?

 

[EagerBeaver]

You can't learn what you can't understand. I gave a long and detailed post as to the difference between Spanish and French to my ears. One is understandable and the other is not. Reason is the decipherability of words.

 

[soleil]

Unlike the PQ, at least Lily is smart enough to know that if you want to attract business, you have to advertise in the language of your potential customer. She never said francophones were cheap. She did say that in her experience the francophone men calling her tended to bargain.
I'm sure Lily is not interested in seeing the Lily- bashers just as much as they are not interested in seeing her.
I'd like to hear if other sp's have had the same experience.

 

[anon_vlad]

I don't understand how one could say a language is easier to learn than an other Grammar? Lexicon? Spelling? Intonation?

Had my first language been a romance language, I might well have said the opposite, but I am an allophone who found French more difficult. Here's why:

Even a fair number of francophones don't use the subjunctive properly. Aside from the affectation of referring to a boat in the feminine, English words have no gender. There are contractions, but no liasons in English. It takes more concentration to be able to tell where one word ends and the next begins for someone new to French. The passe simple is just another complication which doesn't exist in English.

The fact that publications from allophones usually appear first in English means that one is exposed to that language before attempting to study it.

Je suis un allophone qui a trouvé le français plus difficile. Si ma première langue était une langue romane, j'aurais probablement dit l'inverse.

Un pourcentage significatif de francophones n'utilise pas le subjonctif correctement. Mis à part l'affectation de se référer à un bateau par "she", masculin et feminin n'existent pas en anglais. Il y a des contractions, mais pas de liasons en anglais. Un debutant au français doit se concentrater pour être en mesure de dire où finit un mot et le suivant commence. Le passe simple est une autre complication qui n'existe pas en anglais.

Le fait que les publications de allophones apparaîssent généralement d'abord en anglais expose le monde à l'anglais avant qu'ils essaient à étudier la langue.

 

[Siocnarf]

Why? Because even though it's based in Montreal, it's kind of international. If I write a review in English I know it will have the most impact. If the escort herself only speaks french I will write the review in French, because that's what her clients language is going to be.

Learning a certain second language maybe easier or more difficult depending on the ones you already know. But I think English is technically more simple than French. French has so many strange and unintuitive grammar rules and exceptions. That's an interesting subject. In Cegep I had a class ''Langue et Société'', and I think the teacher said the most complicated language was Basque. I also had a German class in Cegep and that was not really difficult (but we only covered the basics).

 

[EagerBeaver]

There are contractions, but no liasons in English. It takes more concentration to be able to tell where one word ends and the next begins for someone new to French. The passe simple is just another complication which doesn't exist in English..

100% correct, it is the word distinguishability that is the fundamental problem in trying to understand French. When there are no words the language spoken sounds like gibberish, almost like a chanting with no starts and stops, unlike when you listen to distinct words being spoken.

 

[Mike Mercury]

Beav: Some people have less difficulty learning a new language than others. Just as some people have less difficulty learning algebra and trigonometry.

Ça c'est faux si tu parles du français versus l'anglais. Je suis traductrice depuis plus de 10 ans et je peux t'assurer qu'un texte anglais traduit du français est plus court 90% du temps. Le français est une langue beaucoup plus structurée, avec beaucoup plus de ponctuation que l'anglais. Ça ne veut pas dire que l'anglais est une langue simple (en fait l'anglais compte 1 000 000 de mots contre moins de 100 000 en français), mais en anglais on va plus à l'essentiel.

Je ne comprends pas votre comparaison entre langage et des mathématiques d'école secondaire. 90% des gens ont de la difficulté avec la division.

Je n'ai aucunement discuté de traduction.
La quantité de mots dans un dictionaire. Un million ou cent mille. L'allemand a des mots extremements longs. Et le chinois est calligaphique et tonale. Cela a très peut à voir avec la longueur d'un roman, et l'épaisseur d'une revue.

 

[Mike Mercury]

Actually it is both, and French is decidedly more difficult than the other languages mentioned, excepting Chinese and Russian.

I found Chinese to be no harder to pick up than dutch or norwegian.

 

[Mike Mercury]

Actually, according to the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State, French and Spanish are on the same 'difficuly' level for English speakers, or "Category 1" languages, which should take 23-24 weeks to learn or 575-600 class hours. By contrast, Arabic and Mandarin are "Category 4" languages that take 88 weeks or 2200 class hours to learn. See the full list of languages by difficulty here: http://aboutworldlanguages.com/language-difficulty.

Don't worry. EB is what one would refer to as a pundit. A quasi-expert whose opinions are not main-stream credentialled expert but rather whose opinions meet the need of the political situation at hand.

 

[Mike Mercury]

French and Spanish are on the same 'difficuly' level for English speakers, or "Category 1" languages, which should take 23-24 weeks to learn or 575-600 class hours. By contrast, Arabic and Mandarin are "Category 4" languages that take 88 weeks or 2200 class hours to learn. See the full list of languages by difficulty here: http://aboutworldlanguages.com/language-difficulty.

French and Spanish are 75% similar. That is not enough to understand each other.
English and french share many identical spellings. But neither can understand each other.

What is interesting is when one is really good at at a language it only takes a very short time to pick up and get accustomed to local accents of that language and a bit longer to pick up the local vernacular and some slang.
A person who understands Canadian english well can get along very well very quickly in England, India, Australia, Texas or South Africa
A person who knows Quebec french well can get along very well in France, Vietnam, Tunisia, Dem Rep Congo, or Tahiti.

However if the french or english known is rudimentary it becomes difficult to adapt to regionalisms and accents.

 

[Mike Mercury]

100% correct, it is the word distinguishability that is the fundamental problem in trying to understand French. When there are no words the language spoken sounds like gibberish, almost like a chanting with no starts and stops, unlike when you listen to distinct words being spoken.

The separation of sounds into words is something that happens in early childhood and is the subject of scientific study.

 

[applebaum]

I am an American, but I have spoken French for thirty years. French and English pronounciation are very different. I am now learning Spanish, for the "noble" reason of seeing escorts in Tijuana I am finding the grammar and vocabulary hard, but not the pronunciation.

Je suis américain, mais je parle français pendant trente ans. Mais la prononciation de français et d'anglais sont très différentes. J' apprends maintenant l'espagnol, pour la raison «noble» de voir des escorts à Tijuana. Je trouve difficile la grammaire et le vocabulaire, mais pas la prononciation.