Native speakers' license

Caspian   Sun May 10, 2009 7:11 pm GMT
In English, my native language, native speakers seem to be 'allowed' to make up words, or add spurious word endings onto words to express ideas, albeit clumsily - however were a foreigner to do it in English, it would just sound as if they'd made a mistake.
Examples:
Suffix 'ish'. Tuesday-ish etc.
Suffix 'y'. Window-y

Also, certain families can use 'in-words' (can't think of a better word to use, so I've made up my own - an example lol) because of what a family member might have said when they were little. When I was small, I always said 'dadoot' instead of 'blackberry' (I was weird) - and my sister always said 'y' instead of 'l', my brother says 'bicbi' for 'biscuit' - and we all use these within our family.

However were a foreigner to do this, it just wouldn't sound right. It doesn't sound right when they use slang - I know a German who did this:

Me: Do you like this kind of music?
German: Ish... (meaning 'a bit, kind of')

A native speaker would be fine saying that. But it just sounded untidy when he said it!

So, can I have some examples of this in some other languages? I'm interested to see if the same happens.
PARISIEN   Sun May 10, 2009 8:27 pm GMT
I suppose this occurs in all cultures.
In French it's customary to use faulty pronunciations or syntax:
- "Chalut!" (="trawl") to say "hello" (="salut)
- "Ça c'est une idée qu'elle est bonne!"
- "J'ai une auto qu'elle est mobile..."

Of course, foreigners speaking that way would look like retards.

The Germans often delight in inserting deliberately faulty English translations of German expressions for humorous effects. For instance, instead of saying "einwandfrei!" ("flawless") they say "One wall free!", which is the exact translation of " Ein Wand frei".
clara   Mon May 11, 2009 9:16 pm GMT
PARISIEN

lol, moi j'ai un ami allemand (aussi !) qui m'a dit "je kiffe ..." ça m'a fait trop bizarre!!
un allemand qui dit "kiffe".
Caspian   Tue May 12, 2009 4:27 pm GMT
Mais moi, je dis 'je kiffe'! Je ne devrais pas?
Clara   Thu May 14, 2009 3:07 pm GMT
Caspian Tue May 12, 2009 4:27 pm GMT
Mais moi, je dis 'je kiffe'! Je ne devrais pas?
__________________________

Je ne sais pas Caspian, c'est toi qui dit que ça sonne faux de voir les étrangers utiliser des termes du langages familiers en anglais. Moi, je trouve ça marrant, tu fais comme il te plait.
Guest   Thu May 14, 2009 4:21 pm GMT
When I was small, I always said 'dadoot' instead of 'blackberry' (I was weird) - and my sister always said 'y' instead of 'l', my brother says 'bicbi' for 'biscuit' - and we all use these within our family.


Lol, my parents sometimes remember me that when I was a small boy I said certain things in a funny way while they laugh.