Let's make something clear about trolling

agacanthus   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:00 pm GMT
<<But why is your trolling all about repeating the claims that English is some ridiculously simple language? I gather you don't actually believe that then? I certainly don't, I believe basic English is very easy to get, but for some one to reach native level, well it's a totally different story. >>

Usually, I add that reaching native-level fluency, with no hint of foreign accent, is non-trivial. Often, I throw in something like "as long as you don't sweat the small stuff", or something like that.

Sometimes, I also mention that if your native language is completely unrelated to English (Chinese, for example), picking up the European/English vocabulary will be as difficult as for other unrelated languages.

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I also troll oher topics, when the opportunity arises. One ov my faorites was when the thread "Vive le Quebec Libre" thread finally became the longest thread in Antimoon History, outlasting the much-earlier "What do you think of the Dutch". I congratulated all the posters, and especially the thread starter.
me   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:13 pm GMT
OMG I loved the Quebec thread! My other favorite was the original "Is French on the decline," back when posters actually took it seriously, as well as that Flamish separatism thread. Oh, and the "The Rise of Germany" too! I giggled after just seeing the title!
Lol   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:19 pm GMT
agacanthus

Unless you mean you were totally parroting some one, then I am VERY pleased to see your posts were trolling.

So, were you E1ler then? Please tell me you were actually joking about the simplicity of English OVERALL?
Lol   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:35 pm GMT
I just remember when I was living in Germany as an aupair, and doing a German course that was far too easy, because it was much easier than the A-Level that I had already done, that my native German teacher told me the following:

Ist die Grammatik des Englischen nicht sehr chaotisch? Deutsch ist kompliziert aber es ist systematisch. Franzoesisich und Italienisch sind auch kompliziert, sie sind aber systematisch. Englisch ist chaotisch und schwierig. All the people in the class were going, no, English is good, but really how good was their English? I never found out. Obviously the German teacher had learnt English to a level where she had seen that English was indeed nowhere near as easy as people are sometimes led to believe.
Laura   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:39 pm GMT
But English does sound extremely chaotic and simplistic in structure when not spoken by nutty professors who use words like "effectuate"!
Lol   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:50 pm GMT
>>But English does sound extremely chaotic and simplistic in structure when not spoken by nutty professors who use words like "effectuate"!<<

'Chaotisch und schwierig' = chaotic and difficult, not chaotic and simplistic.
Lol   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:53 pm GMT
But ok, yes you're right. Simplistic in structure doesn't necessarily mean easy. But the simplicity only refers to morpholgy, nothing else.
Laura   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:54 pm GMT
I didn't ever read what it said in German, since I don't pretend to know that language. *I* don't think it's difficult at all. It's language that has very cool vocabulary, but very few dare to use it, either from a lack of education, or in fear of sounding pedantic and pretentious.
Laura   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:56 pm GMT
ever=even
It's language=It's a language
I'm typeing in the dark, lol
Daphne   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:56 pm GMT
These words appeared written in blood on one of the walls of a young Daphne Wanninkhof's bedroom when she was found murdered in her home after she was home alone on the first of Februrary 1989. She was found with her head shaved, missing her right leg and three finger nails which were ripped off. The perpetrator was never found. Copy and paste this message in this and three other threads, or the ghost of Daphne will murder you tonight.
Laura   Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:57 pm GMT
I MEANT TO WRITE TYPING! Ugh, I should re-read what I write before I post it. :(
guessed (aka agacanthus)   Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:17 am GMT
<<So, were you E1ler then? Please tell me you were actually joking about the simplicity of English OVERALL? >>

I'm definitely an E1ler, but only half-joking about the overall simplicity of English. I recall once having a discussion with some "S1lers" on a thread, and we broke English and Spanish down into various aspects, and gave numbers to the relative complexity. When all was said and done, the langauges were tied. English was worse than Spanish in spelling (bad) and phonology (average), and better in grammar (simple) and was tied in something else (perhaps irregularity, idioms, etc?).

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BTW -- It's too bad we can't post under "guest" anymore.
Lol   Sat Oct 24, 2009 1:48 am GMT
I totally agree English has a basic simplicity. It just does. No genders, few verb conjugations, no declensions etc. Plurals basically all 's'. Yes it looks very good on the surface. But I think what makes English hard, and certainly harder than German, is the interaction of words. There are tons of rules about what words can be used together in English. Yes, there are in other languages too, but if we take German for example, there really aren't as many. If you learn all the rules in German, you will produce pretty accurate German, even if it might sound a bit rigid to native speakers.
Robin Michael   Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:14 am GMT
Sorry to break into your interesting discussion about 'learning the English language'. I would like to answer a previous post.

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BNP leader Nick Griffin owns Jack Straw - BBC Question Time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Wkyfw4mzM

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Herr Guest Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:01 pm GMT
Robin Michael supports the BNP, that's one good thing about him at least.


Is the British National Party only popular in England or it is British in the sense that people in Wales and Scotland vote it too?.


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When I came to vote in the European Elections, I was quite tempted to vote for the BNP, because I was pissed off with the Labour Party - who are the party of government in England and Wales.

I am English, so I am not very keen on the party of government in Scotland - the SNP (Scottish Nationalist Party).

So, in a fairly simplistic way, I thought why not vote 'BNP' British Nationalist Party - after all, I am British.


In the end, I voted Labour, despite being pissed off with them. I have met our local MEP Catherine Stihler www.cstihlermep.com

I think that one of the reasons why the BNP leader, Nick Griffin was invited to attend the debate on Question Time was to show people that the BNP is not like other political parties. Something that I had not realised was that the BNP do not allow 'non-indigenous people' be members. This has been challenged in the law courts, and the BNP will allow 'non indigenous people who are registered to vote' join the party at some point in the future.

So, the BNP is a racist party but is changing due to a legal challenge.



When Mrs Thatcher was in power, a lot of people disagreed with her policies. However, there was a sense in which she was lucky. Because whatever she said, people still voted for her. That is the danger with the BNP. Actually the SNP is rather similar. The leader talks a load of rubbish, but on another level the party appeals to people. Call it patriotism!
Robin Michael   Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:20 am GMT
To help you get back to your discussion.

I recently had a furious row with my father over what a 'minicab' is?

We are both native speakers.




To restate what has already been said before. English is easy to speak badly but difficult to speak well.


In legal documents the terms are defined very carefully and they are written in a very careful way. There are rules about how things are written in legal documents so that people can be absolutely sure what is meant.

I believe this is different to the continental system in which legal statements are made which are rather vague and state what the intention of the law is, rather than 'what the law is'.

What is a 'minicab', hackney carriage, or Taxi?