'Queue' prompts a slight tangent. The expression derives, of course, from the French word for 'tail'. In the US, when a blockage occurs on a main road, it causes a 'tailback'. When this happens on a British motorway, an illuminated warning sign reads 'Queue'. In France, though, the equivalent sign reads 'Bouchon' - 'cork' or 'stopper'. I have no idea what the equivalent is in Germany, perhaps such things are not permitted to happen! Can Canadian shipmates tell us what terms are equivalent there, and if there is a variation between Quebec and English-speaking provinces?
There are harder languages. Icelandic for one, despite being much more closely related to English than Welsh is.
If it is difficult for a native speaker of language X to learn language Y, it is equally difficult for a native speaker of language Y to learn language X. The problem is the differences and similarities between the two languages.
My granddaughter is two and a half. Her two languages at home are English and Georgian. They are so very different that she never mixes them up and switches from one to the other with ease. I think she’s lucky, at such a young age, to have two such different languages.
She speaks German at nursery and is doing fine with it. Her parents speak German to each other, but never to her, she calls it ‘Kita language’ (Kita is Kindergarten). When I speak German she laughs and says ‘that’s Kita language Omi’.
Georgian is a beautiful language visually - ჩემ ტყუპისცალს დღეს დაბადების დღე აქვს,გილოცავ კნუტის ცალო მრავალს დაესწარი მიყვარხარ ძალიან სადაც არ უნდა იყო და რამდენხანსაც არ უნდა გნახო. (Happy birthday, my twin. I will always love you kitten, however long we are apart.)
It's no worse than any other language. Only one conjugation, about six irregular verbs, gender only marked in the singular (and then not always), subjunctive only in the written language, no noun declension. The difficult bits are the syntax (VSO word order), all the different words for is (mae, ydy, sy, oes) and unpredictable plurals.
There are harder languages. Icelandic for one, despite being much more closely related to English than Welsh is.
I'm sure that's true. My previous Duolingo course was Italian, which is relatively easy especially for someone who already knows a bit of French, as all those Romance language have so many similarities. My issues with Welsh really had more to do with the specific design of the Duolingo course, but that's a rant for the Duolingo thread, not for a thread on English language!
There are harder languages. Icelandic for one, despite being much more closely related to English than Welsh is.
If it is difficult for a native speaker of language X to learn language Y, it is equally difficult for a native speaker of language Y to learn language X. The problem is the differences and similarities between the two languages.
Not necessarily. Icelandic and English are a good example here.
Icelandic has much the same grammatical structures as English. However, it also has very variable noun declension and verb conjugation paradigms. There is considerable redundancy in Icelandic grammar - it has a VSO word order to indicate subject and object (like English) but also codes that information in marking Nominative and Accusative case on the nouns. It uses a rich set of prepositions to indicate indirect objects and agents and also has Dative and Genitive case endings. It uses subject pronouns and also encodes person in the verbal endings. It has three grammatical genders each with their own set of case endings. And the definite article is also declined, as in German, but has two sets of forms - one which can stand independently and one which is suffixed onto nouns. So a noun's function in Icelandic may be indicated three times - by its position in the sentence, by its case ending and by the case ending of the independent or suffixed definite article.
It's this redundancy that makes Icelandic more daunting for an English speaker than the other way around because English simply does without that syntactic redundancy. English doesn't mark the past tense for person at all because subject pronouns are mandatory so marking the verb itself isn't needed; it has lost all present tense endings bar 3rd Sing. -s.
On vocabulary, we're about equal. A good proportion of the English lexicon has Icelandic cognates; where they differ it's mostly English having Norman French loans and Icelandic retaining the Germanic roots.
In the US, when a blockage occurs on a main road, it causes a 'tailback'.
I've never heard that. "Traffic jam" is what most of us would call it, I think.
I’m another American who’s never heard it. “Tailback” to me is an offensive position in (American) football. Merriam-Webster says the meaning of “a line of vehicles caused by a traffic slowdown or stoppage” is British usage. I’d simply say “cars were backed up.”
My previous Duolingo course was Italian, which is relatively easy especially for someone who already knows a bit of French, as all those Romance language have so many similarities.
Aye, there's the rub. I found Italian difficult because it was so different from Spanish, especially regarding accented syllables. I taught Latin, and the similarities between Latin and Spanish helped me learn Spanish.
I think "tailback" may be a regionalism. I've heard it maybe three times and always from somebody official speaking traffic-control jargon, and I had to think furiously to figure out what it meant. We usually say "traffic jam" or even "parking lot" ("44's a parking lot this morning").
Thanks for the correction, I've come across it in descriptions of traffic in American cities and assummed it was general, and, of course, motoring buffs overhere. But 'Queue' is what it says on warning signs here and I wondered what the equivalent is on traffic warning signs in the US. Presumably not 'parking lot' or 'snarl-up'?
Well, we can't be honest on public signs, can we? But here, we usually get bland phrases like "expect slow-downs--find alternate routes." Which everyone mentally translates as "Oh HELL no."
'Queue' prompts a slight tangent. The expression derives, of course, from the French word for 'tail'. In the US, when a blockage occurs on a main road, it causes a 'tailback'. When this happens on a British motorway, an illuminated warning sign reads 'Queue'. In France, though, the equivalent sign reads 'Bouchon' - 'cork' or 'stopper'. I have no idea what the equivalent is in Germany, perhaps such things are not permitted to happen! Can Canadian shipmates tell us what terms are equivalent there, and if there is a variation between Quebec and English-speaking provinces?
Several decades ago while learning German, I was amused to hear that German for 'traffic jam' used the same term as for constipation. (I hope I got this right.)
My previous Duolingo course was Italian, which is relatively easy especially for someone who already knows a bit of French, as all those Romance language have so many similarities.
Aye, there's the rub. I found Italian difficult because it was so different from Spanish, especially regarding accented syllables. I taught Latin, and the similarities between Latin and Spanish helped me learn Spanish.
I did French and Latin for my school Leaving Certificate. I can read newspapers in Italian - not tried Spanish or Portuguese but probably would get by in them also.
In France, though, the equivalent sign reads 'Bouchon' - 'cork' or 'stopper'.
The seaside resort of Quiberon in Brittany is at the end of a long peninsula, along which runs a single-track road. For many years the parallel railway has carried - in summer only - a service called the "Tire-Bouchon". There is no winter service.
'Queue' prompts a slight tangent. The expression derives, of course, from the French word for 'tail'. In the US, when a blockage occurs on a main road, it causes a 'tailback'. When this happens on a British motorway, an illuminated warning sign reads 'Queue'. In France, though, the equivalent sign reads 'Bouchon' - 'cork' or 'stopper'. I have no idea what the equivalent is in Germany, perhaps such things are not permitted to happen! Can Canadian shipmates tell us what terms are equivalent there, and if there is a variation between Quebec and English-speaking provinces?
Several decades ago while learning German, I was amused to hear that German for 'traffic jam' used the same term as for constipation. (I hope I got this right.)
Well, as @Amanda B Reckondwyth noted, we’d say that traffic is “backed up,” just as we’d say a clogged drain or toilet is “backed up.” And I’ve often heard “my plumbing is backed up” as way of saying “I’m constipated.”
Because of the Jublee [sic] Mrs RR and I have been plagued with local magazines celebrating and commenting on the events. Reading just some of these has been painful for someone used to editing. Below is just a selection of (to my eyes, pedantic misanthrope that I am) poor English written by journalists who, one supposes, have graduated with some sort of qualification:
Fulsome to mean full, enormity to mean large, ennervating to mean 'exciting' (a bad one, this).
It's for 'its' was common, as were, adjectives confusedly used as nouns (for example, 'usual' and 'packaged').
'Iconic' was used so much I wanted to scream and 'very unique' was everywhere. Just once, hilariously, I saw 'stiff' instead of 'stuff' (a typo, this, but it should have been picked up. I will not easily forget the image of someone rummaging through their fathers stiff!).
'Different to' no longer bothers me (though I still change (not 'correct') this in writing I'm editing).
None of this is of course very bad - what the writer meant was generally clear - but, as I consigned the magazines to the recycling waste bin, I was profoundly depressed and in no mode to celebrate.
Mrs RR thinks I'm a miserable old scroat. I correct her; being a Christian, I tell her I'm a Dead sea scroat. According to my grandchildren, I am of similar antiquity.
Amen to all the above, especially 'iconic', unless applied to objects of religious veneration.
Some time ago I felt obliged to write to a university PR official who had invited us to contribute to a fund celebrating a 'notorious' alumnus. Unusually, I received an apologetic reply.
Comments
I've never heard that. "Traffic jam" is what most of us would call it, I think.
If it is difficult for a native speaker of language X to learn language Y, it is equally difficult for a native speaker of language Y to learn language X. The problem is the differences and similarities between the two languages.
She speaks German at nursery and is doing fine with it. Her parents speak German to each other, but never to her, she calls it ‘Kita language’ (Kita is Kindergarten). When I speak German she laughs and says ‘that’s Kita language Omi’.
Georgian is a beautiful language visually - ჩემ ტყუპისცალს დღეს დაბადების დღე აქვს,გილოცავ კნუტის ცალო მრავალს დაესწარი მიყვარხარ ძალიან სადაც არ უნდა იყო და რამდენხანსაც არ უნდა გნახო. (Happy birthday, my twin. I will always love you kitten, however long we are apart.)
I'm sure that's true. My previous Duolingo course was Italian, which is relatively easy especially for someone who already knows a bit of French, as all those Romance language have so many similarities. My issues with Welsh really had more to do with the specific design of the Duolingo course, but that's a rant for the Duolingo thread, not for a thread on English language!
Not necessarily. Icelandic and English are a good example here.
Icelandic has much the same grammatical structures as English. However, it also has very variable noun declension and verb conjugation paradigms. There is considerable redundancy in Icelandic grammar - it has a VSO word order to indicate subject and object (like English) but also codes that information in marking Nominative and Accusative case on the nouns. It uses a rich set of prepositions to indicate indirect objects and agents and also has Dative and Genitive case endings. It uses subject pronouns and also encodes person in the verbal endings. It has three grammatical genders each with their own set of case endings. And the definite article is also declined, as in German, but has two sets of forms - one which can stand independently and one which is suffixed onto nouns. So a noun's function in Icelandic may be indicated three times - by its position in the sentence, by its case ending and by the case ending of the independent or suffixed definite article.
It's this redundancy that makes Icelandic more daunting for an English speaker than the other way around because English simply does without that syntactic redundancy. English doesn't mark the past tense for person at all because subject pronouns are mandatory so marking the verb itself isn't needed; it has lost all present tense endings bar 3rd Sing. -s.
On vocabulary, we're about equal. A good proportion of the English lexicon has Icelandic cognates; where they differ it's mostly English having Norman French loans and Icelandic retaining the Germanic roots.
We also say that traffic is backed up. (Again, illogical use of preposition.) Of course, drivers could always back down and use public transportation.
Where I am, the sign would typically say something like “slow moving traffic ahead” or “accident/construction ahead—expect delays.”
Several decades ago while learning German, I was amused to hear that German for 'traffic jam' used the same term as for constipation. (I hope I got this right.)
I did French and Latin for my school Leaving Certificate. I can read newspapers in Italian - not tried Spanish or Portuguese but probably would get by in them also.
Except "get out and walk."
As a rule, the police get a bit upset with you if you abandon your car in a traffic jam and walk home.
Snowflakes.
See: https://tinyurl.com/yc2n6vwr
I thought it literally meant "stopper-remover" - which of course is what a corkscrew does.
This is getting silly ......
Sorry, I was talking tripe. You obviously know your onions!
a two-fer!
Thank yew. Here all week.
Total brilliance!!!!!
Wit, charm, intellect ...
Rousseauian. Or was it Rousseauean? The former, I think. (In relation to the philosopher, not the painter.)
Hmm. Do we allow derivatives of Proper Names?
This calls to mind the word "strengths", which has nine letters and only one vowel.
You dispute Shakespearean?
Fulsome to mean full, enormity to mean large, ennervating to mean 'exciting' (a bad one, this).
It's for 'its' was common, as were, adjectives confusedly used as nouns (for example, 'usual' and 'packaged').
'Iconic' was used so much I wanted to scream and 'very unique' was everywhere. Just once, hilariously, I saw 'stiff' instead of 'stuff' (a typo, this, but it should have been picked up. I will not easily forget the image of someone rummaging through their fathers stiff!).
'Different to' no longer bothers me (though I still change (not 'correct') this in writing I'm editing).
None of this is of course very bad - what the writer meant was generally clear - but, as I consigned the magazines to the recycling waste bin, I was profoundly depressed and in no mode to celebrate.
Mrs RR thinks I'm a miserable old scroat. I correct her; being a Christian, I tell her I'm a Dead sea scroat. According to my grandchildren, I am of similar antiquity.
Some time ago I felt obliged to write to a university PR official who had invited us to contribute to a fund celebrating a 'notorious' alumnus. Unusually, I received an apologetic reply.
Definitely "Christ Pantokrator" is an iconic icon.