November 25, 2003
Why obscure languages are more fun to learn. Teach yourself Abkhaz, Schwäbisch, Hornoserbski or Italkian, or a hundred other minority languages.
French (Français) is a minority language?
It bloody well should be!
*hides from Wolof*
Actually, it seems all the major European languages are there: Italiano, Espanol, Deutsch, and so on.
Where is Tracy?
Statistically, anything other than Chinese (the two main dialects) and maybe English is a minority language, no?
Or should I say... non?
So, if you're not going to learn a foreign language to better communicate with people, you might as well learn a minority language: for the same amount of effort, you will surprise, amuse and impress the locals much more.
I could probably use any one of these languages while waiting in line at the DMV.
Learn a random comment from any of the languages and start muttering it aloud wherever you go.
Great way to make new friends!
I went to an international university for two years and my best friend and I made it a mission to learn how to say "I shave my head with a potato" in every represented language. I think we got up to 15, but alas, I have since lost our log.
I now settle for my favorite French phrase:
Pardon, ton chien est sur ma visage.
And also, I was drunk for most of those two years.
"Excuse me, your dog is in my view."?
I suppose it's hardly necessary for me to say that I love this post.
Learning curses in another language is always useful, when you have to say something, but don't want trouble. Yetta Skeet!!! is "eat shit" in Icelandic, btw. : >
languagehat: I saw that MeTa post and was happy.
I actually spent some time a couple of years ago learning as many words for "bitch" in obscure languages. Can't remember a single one any more.
There must be some fundamental law someone which says that the first words you can ever learn in a foreign language are swears.
And the last you remember are the words for beer.
The French I remember from high school:
Je t'aime
Je t'adore
Qu'est ce que tu veux plus encore?
(I think I spelled it mostly rightly.)
The only time I got to use French to some effect was standing in a checkout line at a Lucky grocery store in Berkeley in about 1960. Plastic flowers had just become a "thing", and there were lots of them there. So, the guy in back of me said something about how bad they were.
And, I got to say, "Yes, se can't say
"Mingon, allons voir si la rose.." anymore.
Well, I thought I was pretty hot stuff.
Kimberly, when I was in high school my fellow German classmates and I tried to teach everyone we knew to say "Ich habe deine Kinder gegessen" ("I've eaten your children") by telling them it was a common greeting. Sadly, I don't think anyone fell for it.
I've found I can get by surprising well nearly anywhere by knowing how to say: yes, no, please, thank you, I don't understand, and (last but not least) where is the toilet? My favorite words though are the little placeholders, the equivalent of "well..." or "hmmmm".
My favourite placeholder: "Anoooo..." for Japanese. You can drag that last vowel out as long as you like ;)
I'm gonna try that German sentence out on my German friends tomorrow. If I get it right, maybe they'll collapse!
I knew an American girl once who spent a lot of time in Switzerland, and when you said, "How are you?" she would reply with, "So la-la."
I have no idea if she was having us on or what.
I did try that sentence on my German-speaking friends. One of them corrected me on my pronunciation of "gegessen".
I think I'll stick to Japanese.
/whistles
Deutsch ist sehr gut.
Tetapi Bahasa Indonesia lebih bagus!
/tapdances
I've been accumulating a list of what non-whites call white people in their native language. Made a group of Indian students blush, but they were much more fun to chat with afterwards.
cor, this is old. certainsome1, if you're still alive, French is indeed a minority language in Italy and Belgium (I think). Not 'minority of world' but 'minority of community'.
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