At 08:52 AM 7/25/2003 -0400, you wrote:
There was a recent discussion here at work about the popularity of the
English language and the so called ?American Culture?. Of course there
were many educated and not so educated guesses, but at the end I was
really puzzled by how much they were surprised by my take. I told them
that no other language is better suited for singing. Yes, my friends,
they had the same look on their faces as you do now, or as we say: ?it
came like a thunder from a clear, blue sky?. I thought they should be
flattered, but?nevermind they sounded more offended by my comment, I did
not pursue it further.
My experience is based on listening to the radio how the language sounds,
without understanding it. For the most part, this is not possible here in
US, but in Europe, you can easily tune to a station from another
country. I cannot tell you how many countless hours I have spend in front
of the radio, especially when I was a kid. I even do it now, but the
transistor radio under the pillow is replaced by a walkman with earbuds.
Interesting.
My variation on this is, if you're an English speaker and you're in a
bar/pub/restaurant anywhere in the Germanic-speaking countries of Europe,
you'll notice that the "background hum" of the conversations sound almost
identical to that of an English pub, American lounge, Canadian
bar/restaurant, etc. I found this to be true in Germany, most of Belgium
and the Netherlands. In contrast, French bars have background noise that
definitely feels "foreign" to my well-watered ear. I never felt completely
comfortable in a French bar or restaurant. I chalked it up to the
similarities in cadence and phrasing between English and
German/Flemish/Nederlans and (especially) Fries (dialect of Nederlans
spoken in Friesland, one of the provinces of the Netherlands -- *very*
similar to English; found myself constantly on the edge of understanding
what Fries-speakers were saying...).
Garth
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|