Lyric translations?

[Fjelltussa]

My, my, my... There's so many intelligent ppl here! That's inspiring, indeed!

@astarte: I don't know many languages either. Only norwegian and english, pluss a bit french. (I understand swedish and danish, of course, but that doesn't count, since it's so similar to nor. -And icelandic is not to hard to understand either... Not when written, anyway)

 

[Fleischwolf]

but hey, in norway you hava 2 languages: nynorsk and bokmål! doesn't that count too?

 

[Qsilver]

I can speak finnish and english "goodly"
and the I can speak some svenska and Deutsche.

Then I know one sentence and few words of spanish. but we can't really count that, can we?

 

[The Nomad]

Originally posted by FatherVic
I guess we Europeans are much keen on learning languages than Americans, but won't say why, it won't be me who start a flame war here

Ehe. Most of the reasons Americans don't learn other languages are pretty straightforward:

1) The school curiculum doesn't really support it.
2) There's too many bloodly languages to pick from. Y'all Europeans mostly stick to European languages... (well, it's a problem for me).
3) No immediate reason to. Since we don't get shit for vacation, we don't travel abroad (and it's much farther than for you folk) much, so there's no gain from learning the language.

Bloody internet provider's broken,
rob

 

[Fleischwolf]

@nomad:i read on your homepage that you were born i romania! do you still speak romanian? when did you move to the usa? i guess romania is a great country, transylvania and so, but the economic situation there is very bad!

 

[The Nomad]

No, I don't speak any Romanian. My family's ethnically Hungarian, so that is what's spoken at home (between my parents). When we emigrated to the US (back in '82, I was 4.5 years old), my mom spoke to me pretty much only in English to make sure I learned the language, so I can't speak hungarian any more either... But I can understand a bit of it.

Actually, we'll be heading back to Timisoara in May. First time for me since '82.

 

[Phyros]

Is this the language thread? Then I don´t fit in here...

My only languages are my native tounge, English and some German. That´s it. And I am not going to ad Norweigan, Danish or Icelandic to that list, even if I do understand them written (not always talked), simply beacuse I don´t want to. Now there...

-phyros (noone is more bored at the moment)

 

[Morgana]

English and German are my languages I speak, but try to learn Swedish right now.

I can read and understand a couple of other language, but don't get a chance to speak it here at home.

 

[Fleischwolf]

nomad, then you are from siebenbürgen, i guess!
the hungarian enclave in romania! of course there's a band called siebenbürgen, but i think they are from sweden!

 

[FatherVic]

good points nomad....some USA dudes think it's not worth learning something out of your borders...even I guess that in terms of languages may be you are right (I hope not though!)

 

[Blackspirit]

Hm, my turn to brag about ALL the languages I know >P

Truth is I only know Norwegian (duh) and English really well.
I can understand some German, mainly cause the words are
similar in Norwegian. I can read something in German and I
understand some words and make up a meaning of it from
that )

My now best friend thought I was Swedish when we were
younger. Cause I always walked around saying stupid things
in swedish! >P

but hey, in norway you hava 2 languages: nynorsk and bokmål! doesn't that count too?

Ay! Hehe.... Then I know two languages really well, one
half-way, and German+Nynorsk I can make out some words
of >P Lol... Well, understanding nynorsk is easy, it's just
so damn irritating that I had to learn it in school!
As if I'm ever going to need it in real life!

Other than that I am really great at making up my own words
with all the typo's I have when I'm chatting with someone >)

 

[evilshell]

Originally posted by The Nomad


Ehe. Most of the reasons Americans don't learn other languages are pretty straightforward:

1) The school curiculum doesn't really support it.
2) There's too many bloodly languages to pick from. Y'all Europeans mostly stick to European languages... (well, it's a problem for me).
3) No immediate reason to. Since we don't get shit for vacation, we don't travel abroad (and it's much farther than for you folk) much, so there's no gain from learning the language.

Bloody internet provider's broken,
rob

You're right, the American school systems do not at all support the true learning of foreign languages. They start students far too late to really make it beneficial (most schools wait until the students are 13 or so years old to begin languages). Even then, most early studies of language only require one year. I can tell you what my one year of spanish in middle school and another year of it (repeating the same information as earlier) at University has gotten me. I can count, ask for a toilet and a beer, tell someone I don't understand and call them a few choice names.

Too many languages to choose from? Hm. I'd say that the offerings are few and far between in schools here in the States. I had the choice of French or Spanish in middle school. I wanted to learn German then, but there was no course for it. Same when I first attended University. Now, I'm back at University many years later and they offer German, but only during the day when I'm working!

I speak a little bit of German and a little bit of Swedish. That comes from visiting Germany a few times and having German friends, and the Swedish comes from living there for several months and dating a Swede.

There may not be an "immediate" reason to learn, but there is a reason to! Self gratification? Simple self improvement? To not be an isolated person, in a global world? I really hate it when I go to Europe and have to ask for something to be in English because I can't understand. It is so arrogant for Americans to believe that the world should speak English because we're too lazy to learn other languages.

Travel is now cheap and easy to Europe. Flying takes about eight hours from the east coast, and can cost as cheap as $250. Cheaper than to fly from the east to the west coast of the USA. It goes back to the US being a xenophobic and insular socieity, despite being the "land of immigrants".

Sorry for the rant. It is one of those topics I'm really heated up about.

 

[The Nomad]

Originally posted by Fleischwolf
nomad, then you are from siebenbürgen, i guess!
the hungarian enclave in romania!

Uh... I don't think so, most of Transylvania has a high hungarian content, seeing that it belonged to Austro-Hungary.

damn I need some sleep.

 

[The Nomad]

Originally posted by evilshell
Too many languages to choose from? Hm. I'd say that the offerings are few and far between in schools here in the States. I had the choice of French or Spanish in middle school. I wanted to learn German then, but there was no course for it. Same when I first attended University. Now, I'm back at University many years later and they offer German, but only during the day when I'm working!

I don't mean in school, but among the world. It's just that I'd like to learn Swedish, German, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese (that's a pipe dream). I tried learning German back in school, and I suck at it. Which is distressing, because it should be the easiest of the above for an English speaking person.

There may not be an "immediate" reason to learn, but there is a reason to! Self gratification? Simple self improvement? To not be an isolated person, in a global world? I really hate it when I go to Europe and have to ask for something to be in English because I can't understand. It is so arrogant for Americans to believe that the world should speak English because we're too lazy to learn other languages.

See, I'm not sure that it's arrogant to believe that the rest of the world should speak English, because THEY DO. But if I go somewhere and they don't speak english, I don't get pissed. (except when we were at a nice hotel in Madrid and they had maybe 2 people that spoke English...). But still, even if you know a couple languages, going to Europe, you'll only have like a 1/5 chance that the country you're in speaks that language... There needs to be a common denominator, not just for Americans, but for Europeans... And although, to an extent, English sucks as a language, it's what we got, and we don't all have to learn Esperanto. Either way, I blame the Brits.

It goes back to the US being a xenophobic and insular socieity, despite being the "land of immigrants".

Well, it was the land of immigrants. Today's society has little to do with immigrants.

 

[evilshell]

Originally posted by The Nomad


I don't mean in school, but among the world. It's just that I'd like to learn Swedish, German, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese (that's a pipe dream). I tried learning German back in school, and I suck at it. Which is distressing, because it should be the easiest of the above for an English speaking person.

Oops, I misunderstood. My apologies. And yeah, there are a lot of languages out there, many of which I'd like to learn myself. German, I think, is actually damned tough to learn for English speaking people. All that shifting everything important to the end of the sentence. I actually found Swedish far easier to learn than German (except for the pronounciation....especially that evil "sj" sound).

Originally posted by The Nomad
See, I'm not sure that it's arrogant to believe that the rest of the world should speak English, because THEY DO. But if I go somewhere and they don't speak english, I don't get pissed. (except when we were at a nice hotel in Madrid and they had maybe 2 people that spoke English...). But still, even if you know a couple languages, going to Europe, you'll only have like a 1/5 chance that the country you're in speaks that language... There needs to be a common denominator, not just for Americans, but for Europeans... And although, to an extent, English sucks as a language, it's what we got, and we don't all have to learn Esperanto. Either way, I blame the Brits.

I guess I look at it this way. When other people come to the USA or Canada, they dont' expect us to know their language. Why should we expect them to know ours when we go there? I've found that at least trying to speak the language of the people in the country where you are helps a lot.

Even in Europe...when I was dating a Swedish guy (who spoke Swedish and English fluently, was damn good in German and got by with Spanish) we had a selection of languages. Once we ended up using German to communicate with someone when we were in Paris, because that was the only common language.

And English isn't all that common everywhere. In Bavaria, I had trouble with finding people who spoke enough english to help me out with finding the club where Vintersorg was playing (I had been given the wrong address by the imbicles in the English-speaking tourist office for the club...I ended up walking miles out of my way). In the Czech Republic, I had real problems once, when I was on a train. There was a problem with the train and we had to stop at the next station and take a bus to another train station to get a new train. The conductor didnt' speak english, nor did the people in my compartment. Yet we were able to work out that I would follow them and they'd make sure I got on the right bus and then the right train. We communicated with sign language, smiles, pictures and paper. I think that's the common language actually.

Originally posted by The Nomad

Well, it was the land of immigrants. Today's society has little to do with immigrants.

Unfortunately, that's quite true. Though in places like NYC, you still find many many immigrant families.

 

[The Nomad]

Originally posted by evilshell
Unfortunately, that's quite true. Though in places like NYC, you still find many many immigrant families.

Same true in Chicago. Hell, I'm an immigrant myself, and these families (and most first generation kids) have very different motivations and such than the rest of the world.

 

[evilshell]

Originally posted by The Nomad


Same true in Chicago. Hell, I'm an immigrant myself, and these families (and most first generation kids) have very different motivations and such than the rest of the world.

That's so very true.

 

[Fjelltussa]

Originally posted by Fleischwolf
but hey, in norway you hava 2 languages: nynorsk and bokmål! doesn't that count too?

Hehe, I wouldn't say that count, no. Though I've heard ppl say something different: That bokmål is really norwegian while nynorsk is just nynorsk (and that really piss me off - it really should be the other way around! Maybe I shouldn't say much about that here, but well, I use to say this: Nynorsk is based on something that has always been norwegian - bokmål is based on the langueage some ppl spoke because their native language wasn't good enough for them, smth. that indicates ppl without no selfrespect, honor or dignity. I know this sounds a little harsh, but it is true! -Just don't take it personally... Don't mean to offend anyone... Just think they should be seen as equals.)

 

[Djöfull]

nynorsk is much more understandable for me than bokmål; clearer and more like icelandic

man! esperanto looks like jibberish, the colonization ruined the chance for that language to evolve...

I have a bad experience with Germans trying to speak english... so I´m forced to speak German with them which is good and challenging from my point of view at least

I really don’t want to learn any non-european languages... I´ll just buy phrase books(lonelyplanet) in case of emergencies...

 

[Fjelltussa]

Originally posted by Djöfull
nynorsk is much more understandable for me than bokmål; clearer and more like icelandic

Exactly! You icelandics are so lucky to have you beautiful language still. Guess it's not that important - or shouldn't be - but language is a part of my identity, so... I want to learn norse. Thought to move to Reykjavik for a year or two, and learn Icelandic as well; then it will be much more easy. Don't know when that will happen, though...