Languages stereotypes part III

unlocker   Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:41 pm GMT
Here you can continue writing if part II is locked too.
Guest   Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:46 pm GMT
<<Netherlands ? Man, Flanders is not part of Netherlands nowadays thanks to the Spanish. They didn't get rid of the Spanish completely what is quite remarkable considering Netherlands and Spain are very distant to each other. If Spain was in the center of Europe everybody would speak Spanish now.>>

I kown that Fanders is not Netherlands, thanks and rome was the center of Europe and now nobody speak latin.
Travis   Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:54 pm GMT
You people who only go and (rather idiotically) argue about whose language/country/whatever is "better" are an utter waste of time and bandwidth, honestly. You really do deserve to get your threads locked, honestly...
Guest   Wed Jun 04, 2008 12:05 am GMT
I kown that Fanders is not Netherlands, thanks and rome was the center of Europe and now nobody speak latin.


Flanders was part of the same country as the Netherlands until Netherlands splitted off . As for Rome, it is in the South but nevermind, the case of Rome illustrates what I say: Latin was the language of most of Europe.
To Travis: who cares what you say. I can start threads over and over again, if you don't like it fuck off.
Xie   Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:14 am GMT
>>You people who only go and (rather idiotically) argue about whose language/country/whatever is "better" are an utter waste of time and bandwidth, honestly. You really do deserve to get your threads locked, honestly...

Haha.




In fact, I forgot to write that the Chinese reading list INCLUDES Don Quixote. Many of us know how Yang Jiang made her effort to translate Don Quixote fully for the first time in history by first learning Spanish. So again you'd be a fool to auto-assume that they exclude DQ for political reasons. In fact, the list of foreign books include exclusively those from late 18th, 19th, and 20th century, including Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, some works from (the) Duma(s)....I can't recall correctly, but certainly they include most except Dante, Orwell, H.G. Wells, Kipling, and so on.

They can't really include everything. First, they don't have religious books for obvious reasons (I think this is also true in most secular countries). Second, they don't include those that lack popularity, and so there is no 19th century Italian novel. But at least they have Tolstoy, Bronte, Austen, and all that. Unlike Beijing, the HK officials who know nothing of culture - perhaps much to the annoyance to their seemingly cultured Mandarins in Beijing - simply can't understand any of these writers, and for unknown reasons we only have a _couple_ of 20th century novels, namely from people like Jin Yong who are still alive. As the saying goes, nothing is worse than something.
Guest   Wed Jun 04, 2008 1:38 am GMT
Sorry Xie but the discussion about Don Quixote ended many messages ago.
Guest   Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:16 am GMT
<<You people who only go and (rather idiotically) argue about whose language/country/whatever is "better" are an utter waste of time and bandwidth, >>

If the posts are in English, perhaps it's a reasonable way to improve their English skills, and also the skills of any readers.
Guest   Wed Jun 04, 2008 2:25 am GMT
That's a good point. No matter how despicable someone's posts are they still can be considered exercises for improving his/hers English - especially arguing against other people.
zatsu   Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:15 am GMT
Just to make a point from the other thread, Chistopher Columbus wasn't the one who circumnavigated the Earth by the first time and proved the world was round, it was Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan).
He was Portuguese.

Chistopher Columbus only (and supposedly) discovered America.
Travis   Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:50 am GMT
>>To Travis: who cares what you say. I can start threads over and over again, if you don't like it fuck off.<<

People like you are why the "Languages" forum on here is an utter cesspool, just so you know...
Guest   Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:00 am GMT
Que puta mania con cambiar los nombres de las personas. Vamos a tener que empezar a llamar nosotros Pablo o Juan o Jorge a Paul, John y George de los Beatles? ¿o tengo que decir escarabajos? ¿Por qué coño no resperamos los nombres originales en SU IDIOMA ORIGINAL? ¿que coño es eso de Chistopher Columbus o Ferdinand Magellan ?
Guest   Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:44 am GMT
It was not Ferdinand Magellan. He died in the tour around the World. Sebastian Elcano (the second in charge, Spaniard) was the man who first did this tour around the world (and the survivors of this tour, not many).
Guest   Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:00 am GMT
Yes. It is true. He completed the first world circumnavigation in history.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Sebasti%C3%A1n_Elcano
Lazarillo.   Wed Jun 04, 2008 11:27 am GMT
Según tu razonamiento, tampoco Cristóbal Colón, sino Cristoforo Colombo o Cristòfor Colom, a tu gusto.

Tampoco Magallanes, sino Magalhães.
Xie   Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:03 pm GMT
>>Sorry Xie but the discussion about Don Quixote ended many messages ago.

Who cares? For one thing, I'm trying to give you more insights you'd otherwise not know from most people you meet in real life - and this is possible with people me fulfilling your curiosity (if any) by typing in English. For another, Don Quixote isn't my uncle. I'm writing about something happening in my country.