Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 4 of 5 1 2 3 4 5
#2308 06/09/00 04:17 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
JMH, if French has fewer words, wouldn't there be less likelihood of confusion and more room for error without saying something you didn't mean?

As for the range of accents in English, does anybody know how much French accents differ from region to region, not to mention from France itself to other countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada? Juanmaria, what's the situation with Spanish? How much do different accents differ?

PS Indonesian is part of the Austronesian family, which also includes Malagasy (from Madagascar), Tagalog, local languages in Indonesia and the Philippines, Maori, and various Pacific Island languages all the way over to Easter Island.


Bingley


Bingley
#2309 06/09/00 02:39 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
>Sorry Anna, but at this moment I’m busy trying to understand some hieroglyphics that I have found written on my dusty car.
If I only knew where I have left my Rosetta stone?.

JM, you know you've mastered a language when you can make jokes in it, and people actually laugh. Congratulations!


#2310 06/09/00 07:21 PM
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112
D
member
Offline
member
D
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 112
>>does anybody know how much French accents differ from region to region, not to mention from France itself to other countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada? <<

Bingley,
Here's an illustration of how French has changed in one region over time:

My father had his early education in France, since his father was travelling in "Darkest Africa", and the family was somewhat fragmented. So Dad spoke a very fluent and rich French. I learnt French from him, but it was not the language we spoke at home.

Dad maintained a regular correspondnce with French speakers, thus maintaining his vocabulary, or so he thought. When he and my mother travelled to visit family in France in later life, he discovered, to his great dismay, that he was almost lost in the language - spoken French had moved so far in the intervening years. A comment made to him by a cousin was to the effect that he was talking archaic French.

He seldom used the language after that.

I guess any language and its vocabulary will grow and develop, but the key here is that the pronounciation itself had shifted.




#2311 06/10/00 11:41 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
>>I guess any language and its vocabulary will grow and develop, but the key here is that the pronounciation itself had shifted.<<
David,
that strikes me as really strange! Does anyone from anywhere know of this having happened with English--on a
wide-spread basis, that is? I know that regional dialects
change pronunciation (good heavens! I first typed that as
"pornunciation"--gives rise to all kinds of possibilities,
doesn't it??) from place to place: for ex., some in the
U.S. South say IN-sur-ance, and people in the rest of
the country, as far as I know, say in-SUR-ance.
But, thinking back to adult conversations that I heard as
a child, I can't tell any major differences from today.

I wonder what the cause of this was? Societal change in
some specific way? I will hazard a guess that it is
possible that someone who was born or grew up around 1900
might have been taught the old language of the aristocrats, if his or her grandparents had anything to do with it.
Then during the changes wrought by the industrial revolution, this way of speaking became frowned on? A hundred and fifty year late "liberte, egalite, fraternite"?






#2312 06/12/00 05:35 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
If it comes to that, think of the difference between our own dear queen's pronunciation and that of the younger royals. It seems to have been quite a sudden thing -- there's a very audible difference between Princes Charles and Edward.

Bingley


Bingley
#2313 06/12/00 07:39 AM
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
R
addict
Offline
addict
R
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
> As for the range of accents in English, does anybody know how much French accents differ from region to region, not to
mention from France itself to other countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada? Juanmaria, what's the situation
with Spanish? How much do different accents differ?

I know of huge variations in the French accent throughout France and after a few recent visits to Belgium I have started to discern differences in the dialects (though I stayed mainly in the Flemish region - much nicer people). One thing that struck me was the complete change in language. In France (and French generally) the words for 'eighty' and 'ninety' are, respectively, quatre-vingt and quatre-vingt dix which translate as 'four twenty's' and 'four twenty's and ten'.

In Belgian French they are more akin to English and use Octante and Nonante instead. After years of using the former it takes a conscious effort to use the latter.


#2314 06/14/00 08:09 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 163
J
member
OP Offline
member
J
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 163
>As for the range of accents in English, does anybody know how much French accents differ from region to region, not to mention from France itself to other countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada? Juanmaria, what's the situation with Spanish? How much do different accents differ?


We have very different accents from region to region. Only in Spain there are at least eight easy recognizable regional accents but I, as Andalusian, can recognize at least four types of Andalusian accent, so I suppose that people from other regions can make further distinctions.
Regarding South American accents, I think I can distinguish among Mexican, Argentinean or Venezuelan but I can’t tell a region from another, I’m sure that people from those countries can distinguish accents from different regions.
Lately we are importing TV programs, mainly soap operas, from South America and this is improving our understanding of their Spanish.
Personally my favorites are Cuban and other Caribbean accents “Papi, mi amol”.


Juan Maria.

#2315 06/14/00 08:11 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 163
J
member
OP Offline
member
J
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 163
>JM, you know you've mastered a language when you can make jokes in it, and people actually laugh.



Juan Maria.

#2316 07/19/00 01:11 PM
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1
J
stranger
Offline
stranger
J
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1
Some years ago, in Amsterdam, I met an Englishman who had lived in the Netherlands for some years. We got into a discussion of the Dutch language. He told me that the Dutch were so particular about pronuciation that movies that were set in outlying regions of the country were subtitled in "High Dutch" to overcome difficulties with dialects.


#2317 07/19/00 04:47 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Welcome, jhar!

I'm glad, or perhaps I should say not, to know that there
are sticklers in other cultures!


Page 4 of 5 1 2 3 4 5

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,283
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 444 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,510
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5