You know you're a language nerd when…

General discussion about learning languages
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jeff_lindqvist
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Wed Mar 08, 2017 10:03 am

@Cainntear and vogeltje:

Nothing weird, just a Roma musician in town who had got this book as a gift (they probably assumed he was Albanian :? ).
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Josquin
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Josquin » Wed Mar 08, 2017 12:23 pm

PfifltriggPi wrote:When you produce this rant on a Discord server.

No, English has a first person singular: use it!
#MakeThouGreatAgain
#DostThouEvenThou
#NotMyPronoun
Some basic guidelines for "thou".
"Thou" is nominative.
"Thy" is genative.
"Thee" is oblique.
Thou is always singular. Ye is plural or singular formal.
The second person singular English verb conjugation ending is "-st" or "-est".
Thus we get "I do", but "Thou dost."
The second person singular form of "to be" is "art".
The second person singular form of "to have" is "hast".

Sorry to nitpick, but "thou" is the second person singular... ;)
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blaurebell
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby blaurebell » Wed Mar 08, 2017 1:10 pm

Cainntear wrote:
jeff_lindqvist wrote:When a stranger wants to give you a book, and you realise it's the Book of Mormon in Albanian. (Yes, I gladly accepted the freebie.)

Wow. You win all the geek points. I never accept books from Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses, regardless of the language they're in.

Mods: close this thread, we have a winner.


While living in Germany once Italian Jehovah's witnesses rang my doorbell because of my husband's Italian name on it. I accepted their brochures precisely because it was the weirdest targeted missionary attempt I've ever experienced. I mean seriously, do these people just go from door to door looking for Italian names? And I'm sure I still have the brochures somewhere although I moved country in the meantime :lol:
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: 8 / 72 Duolingo reverse Spanish -> German

PfifltriggPi
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby PfifltriggPi » Wed Mar 08, 2017 10:25 pm

Josquin wrote:
PfifltriggPi wrote:When you produce this rant on a Discord server.

No, English has a first person singular: use it!
#MakeThouGreatAgain
#DostThouEvenThou
#NotMyPronoun
Some basic guidelines for "thou".
"Thou" is nominative.
"Thy" is genative.
"Thee" is oblique.
Thou is always singular. Ye is plural or singular formal.
The second person singular English verb conjugation ending is "-st" or "-est".
Thus we get "I do", but "Thou dost."
The second person singular form of "to be" is "art".
The second person singular form of "to have" is "hast".

Sorry to nitpick, but "thou" is the second person singular... ;)


:oops: :oops:
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arthaey
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby arthaey » Wed Mar 08, 2017 10:48 pm

When you keep yourself focused on a boring presentation by silencing interpreting the English speaker into Spanish. (Real-time interpretation is so much harder than simple translation!)
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Amerykanka
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Amerykanka » Thu Mar 09, 2017 12:44 am

arthaey wrote:When you keep yourself focused on a boring presentation by silencing interpreting the English speaker into Spanish. (Real-time interpretation is so much harder than simple translation!)


Haha, this reminds me of when I was in my tweens and early teens and I would follow my mom around when she was on the phone and translate whatever she was saying into Spanish or Polish. It was probably pretty annoying for her, come to think of it. :?

(Okay, let's be honest, I still do this sometimes when I am home on break. But under my breath so it doesn't bother her.)
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garyb
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby garyb » Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:20 pm

You choose a hostel because several of the reviews say that the staff don't speak much English.
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Brun Ugle
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Brun Ugle » Mon Mar 13, 2017 6:11 am

When you wake up exhausted because you spent the night translating your dreams into German and subtitling them.
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Mooby
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Mooby » Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:33 pm

When you speak your native language and notice that you are adopting the same vocal tics, filler words/sounds, stress patterns and intonations from your target language.
(and you decide you like them enough to seriously think about adopting them permanently) :mrgreen:
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Atinkoriko
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Beginner: Russian, Japanese

Next: Mandarin Chinese, Ancient Greek, Latin, Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Italian
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 6&start=20
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Atinkoriko » Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:37 pm

When you respond to the question of 'How many languages do you speak?' with a 2 hour impromptu presentation on CEFR levels and definitions of 'fluency'.
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