Great Britain Not Serious About Spanish

Please don't forget that France is the continent. When there is specially bad weather in the Channel the English will tell you that the Continent is cut off from the world. Now, of course, there's a train. from Paris to London.

The famous Eurostar.

I'm baffled by Juan's pronunciation of "sez" for "says". I clearly pronounce "seiz". How do you pronounce that Damian? I just want to make sure I haven't gone ortographic.

Jordi sez:
<<I'm baffled by Juan's pronunciation of "sez" for "says". I clearly pronounce "seiz". How do you pronounce that Damian? I just want to make sure I haven't gone ortographic.>>

Are you serious? Check the following link:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=says ;-)

I pronounce it "sez".

Mi5 Mick sez:
<<I pronounce it "sez".>>

I owe this to you Mi5 Mick. If you hadn't alerted to the fact that "z" sound was more prevalent that what I originally thought it was, I would have stil been under the false impression that it was pronounced with an "s". I'm now currently studying the dictionary paying more attention to the way words are meant to be pronounced rather than the spelling.

No worries :)

No problemo as you would say!

"...meant to be pronounced rather than the spelling."

That's why listening to the language is very important; more so for that reason.

Jordi:

Again..like Mick...I say "sez". An example: if someone says something you disagree with, you respond with: "Huh! Sez you!"

<<the Continent is cut off from the world>>

LOL! ! Jordi..I've never heard that one before...so funny! Shouldn't it be the other way round?

One of my ambitions is to go on Eurostar.

Damian,

never travelled by Eurostar?

As a proud Scot have I come over as anti-English? I feel pangs of guilt as since I came to uni in Leeds (England!) I have made some VERY, VERY, VERY good friends who are English. Three in particular: Jeff from Lincoln; Liam from Dorset; and Paul from Warwickshire. Great guys and I've met all their families...really cool people.

Maybe I tend to look at the English from a historical perspective. There are times I really get mad with them, and times when I love them. That does not alter anything I said in my post about British expats in Spain (and elsewhere) though. As a whole, the Brits ARE averse to learning foreign languages. It must be part of our insularity.

Insular...an island. That 21 miles wide stretch of water.....the Channel (which the English call their own and the French call La Manche!)....really separate more than two countries...they separate quite disparate mentalities. Not for nothing have the French referred to "La Perfide Albion" (or something like that? Is that correct?)

I have been in Yorkshire at uni for 3 years and the local people are really lovely and friendly and down to earth (in my experience anyway) and the Yorkshire accent is very strong. I was amused when I first went down to Leeds and got on a bus and when I bought my ticket the male driver said: "Thanks, luv!" I was a bit startled as I thought he fancied me. I soon found out it meant nothing of the sort...it has no special significance at all..... it's just a custom in Yorkshire for (some) males to call other males "love" (or rather ['luv]. That is just one aspect of their friendliness.

It weighs on my conscience a wee bit after I sound off about any country or people. It's so dangerous to generalise. As I say, I have met lots of really lovely and beautiful English people, and in fairness, I know of some unspeakable Scots! So there! My conscience is salved..for now.

Well, I have worked with English people here in México (telecomms), and I told them that I would speak English during the office hours, but after that, I would speak Spanish mostly of the time.
They agreed and they were very interested, at least of understand some basics. It was very funny when their faces get shrink because of the speed of conversation.
One of them get married with a Mexican woman and the other one let in pregnancy a woman and fled away.
The one who get married is very happy here, and he has made a lot of progress in his Spanish, well I suppose because of his "living" dictionary.
He told me that while conversating by phone with his mother(England)He even forget the English word for "yeso", jajajajaja.

I do listen quite a lot but something must be wrong in my pronunciation of "seiz" if you all pronounce "sez". After all, a I do pronounce I say as I "sei" and I just keep the diphtong right through. I've done it all my life, I'm quite sure of that.
I'd never realised till today that I kept that "slight" double vowel system in "he seiz".
If you're right that's changed immediately.
"No problemo" doesn't exist and never will you hear a Spanish speaker say that. It's "ningún problema" although the most popular way to say that in European Spanish would be "sin pegas".

Jordi:

re: "Says"

Hey, man, don't let it bother you! Maybe you are strictly correct in your [s'eiz] pronunciation.....thinking on a bit, some people here do actually pronounce it your way, but far and away more say [s'ez] It just seems to roll off the tongue easier that way. I'm pretty sure about that.

Nic:

<<never travelled by Eurostar?>>

Nope....not yet!