Languages

[Lost]

I had a continuous professional development (CPD) class in teaching languages today. Redundant for the most part of primary teaching in the UK as the majority of schools will have external specialists or internal native speakers of the language teach that subject. For example, my school, has a native Chinese teacher do the mandarin lessons, 50% of his other teaching is normal uk teacher stuff. He's paid for by the Chinese Government. Injects a bit of communism into the kids from the get go...

Reason for this languages post is in today's CPD, I was forced to learn some Welsh in the little activities offered by the teacher.

Pharvey. Your language is all wonky donkey, higgledy-piggledy ffs. Verbs being placed in unsightly positions. Some guttural noises coming out-in the spoken word. The hell is wrong with you lot .

[Lost]

Upon further investigation Scottish Gaelic has a different sentence structure too? Similar/same to Welsh if I'm getting my maths right.

I was aware other countries (Thailand included) did it — none on this here Island though.

Is English the the wonky-donkey one?

[Lost]

And gendered language, Pete. GENDERED LANGUAGE! In this day and age. Me and the one other bloke had to learn a different word for 'teacher' to introduce ourselves than the rest of the class.

[pharvey]

Upon further investigation Scottish Gaelic has a different sentence structure too? Similar/same to Welsh if I'm getting my maths right.

We Welsh and Scots are the The "true" Britons - the Celts mate. You'll find Irish Gaelic also has a similar structure

And gendered language, Pete. GENDERED LANGUAGE! In this day and age. Me and the one other bloke had to learn a different word for 'teacher' to introduce ourselves than the rest of the class.

We like to make things clear - certainly useful in today's society! [EDIT] Seriously though, it depends on what you are calling yourself - ie Teacher, Professor, Tutor etc. Just to confuse matters further, ask them to explain the meaning of “dysgu” to you.

Is English the the wonky-donkey one?

Not my place to call your lot backward.

[EDIT] Good to hear kids are learning a British based language though. When my mother was in school, the English government banned kids from speaking Welsh not only in the classroom, but also in the playground.

[caller]

And gendered language, Pete. GENDERED LANGUAGE! In this day and age. Me and the one other bloke had to learn a different word for 'teacher' to introduce ourselves than the rest of the class.

What did you come up with?

[dtaai-maai]

And gendered language, Pete. GENDERED LANGUAGE! In this day and age. Me and the one other bloke had to learn a different word for 'teacher' to introduce ourselves than the rest of the class.

What did you come up with?

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[pharvey]

^

[Lost]

[pharvey]

And did you consider the “Dysgu” bit? Try "Dysgu am byth" and ask for the explanation - it'll be interesting to see what they say, trust me.

[Lost]

And did you consider the “Dysgu” bit? Try "Dysgu am byth" and ask for the explanation -

I won't see the Welsh 'athrawes' ( ) till next week. I'll ask her this without googling it first, makes things more interesting (edit: trying to pronounce that jumble of 'words' will be the fun part. See if she can get what I'm trying to say). Brave brave move on my part, I think.

it'll be interesting to see what they say, trust me.

If it's something vulgar and I lose my job...

[pharvey]

If it's something vulgar and I lose my job...

Far from vulgar, not an insult and not bad language - just a twist on things on a subject close to you.

[Lost]

Always find this video funny when thinking about difference in languages.

[pharvey]

^ True story .... There was an Italian, a German and a Welshman (yep, me..) working in China many years ago. Love was in the air - I was just "Dating" my now wife - the LHG. As it is with Site Work and Expats, the urine was extracted and we compared notes on how to say "I love you".

My dear Italian friend (all 5 foot and an inch of him) had a certain gift with regards to accents and languages - I just wish you could hear him!!! Of course he put the loving tones of Italian first, Chinese above Welsh and German seemingly telling your loved one that you hated them with a vengeance!!

In his view (romantic tones): -

Italian - "Ti amo"
Chinese - Wǒ ài nǐ (Wah-eye-knee)
Welsh - "Rwy'n dy garu di"

Unromantic: -

German - Ich Liebe Dich (very hard ICH)
English - Shag love? or possibly "Kebab Love" or... Hell, far too many to mention (sorry).

Joking apart, the differences in languages are quite something. Of course there's the accents - too numerous to mention in England and the UK as a whole, but do you really understand how many "languages" there are in China or for that matter between North and South Wales with a relatively small population? These are not simply accents or dialects. Initially, I thought learning Mandarin would get me in the good graces of a certain lady and her family - my Mandarin was not the best, the LHG spoke a decent amount of English, but I was in CHONGQING! Her parents spoke feck all English (no worries I thought), but they also spoke feck all Mandarin!!

[HHTel]

Has anyone who's been to India wondered why they speak English to each other?
Here's why:

India has over 19,500 dialects with 121 languages, making it the most multilingual country in the world (although only 22 of these languages are officially recognized by the government).

[pharvey]

Has anyone who's been to India wondered why they speak English to each other?
Here's why:

India has over 19,500 dialects with 121 languages, making it the most multilingual country in the world (although only 22 of these languages are officially recognized by the government).

Indeed - I've worked there on several occasions. Aside from despising the place, I can certainly agree that the only commonality Indians shared in communication was their "head bopping".