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Carpal Tunnel
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Isn't it ironic that you had to use a French -- or is it Latin? -- term to describe what English has become?Lingua Franca is Latin for the Frankish language, aka Sabir ( link), a kind of pidgin used in the Mediterranean and based on Italian.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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We don't have a national language.
Replacement: Spanish.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Lingua franca of the Mediterranean or Sabir ("know") was a pidgin language used as a Lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th century and is the original basis for the word lingua franca.
I know the comparison is slightly askew, but reading this makes me think of a doorbell used as a doorbell.
( unlike the other ones mentioned such as papiamento etc.)
Welcome back.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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We don't have a national language.
That is a very good thing of course. Canada does have two offical though languages though does it not? Spanish is replacing English in Canada? Is that serious, or just xenophobia talking?
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old hand
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old hand
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New Zealand has Three official languages. English, Maori, and NZ sign language. A gardening programme on TV featured all three simultaneously. Spoken Maori, English subtitles, and a person signing in an inset. Interesting to watch. The programme was about traditional maori planting techniques.
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member
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I think bi-( let alone multi-) lingualism enriches Canada rather than ripping it. After all the English were just one of the immigrant groups, and not the first either. ( In my part of Canada there are more native speakers of Mandarin and Punjabi than of French but English is going strong. )
The USA does not have an official language either although there have been repeated attempts to make English such. In my locale, English and Spanish are predominant although there are some Asian languages as well. Many of the public schools have a bi-lingual approach using both English and Spanish. But the one that bemuses me the most is the Braile on drive-through ATMs. ?!
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Carpal Tunnel
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But the one that bemuses me the most is the Braile on drive-through ATMs. ?!
You would rather they have to go to the expense of making separate keypads for drive-through ATMs and walk-up ATMs. Not to mention the simple fact that a blind person can sit in the back seat of a car on the driver's side and operate the ATM from there.
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member
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But the one that bemuses me the most is the Braile on drive-through ATMs. ?!
You would rather they have to go to the expense of making separate keypads for drive-through ATMs and walk-up ATMs. Not to mention the simple fact that a blind person can sit in the back seat of a car on the driver's side and operate the ATM from there. No. Actually, I was not thinking of the keypads. I was picturing a blind person driving.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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But the one that bemuses me the most is the Braile on drive-through ATMs. ?!
You would rather they have to go to the expense of making separate keypads for drive-through ATMs and walk-up ATMs. Not to mention the simple fact that a blind person can sit in the back seat of a car on the driver's side and operate the ATM from there. No. Actually, I was not thinking of the keypads. I was picturing a blind person driving. Well, there you go. Then maybe you've never driven in Boston.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome back.
Thanks, Brannie. It was fun listening to the Flemish speakers in Belgium. I'd start off asking something in my halting French, they would answer in Flemish, I'd switch to German, and they'd finish in English. The beer and chocolate were great though in any language and on every tongue.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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