In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Namlish
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 07/20/2008 - 16:28In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Don’t blame the Namibians, blame those who selected the ridiculous article in the first place.
In Namibia, English is not a common language at all, so why choose from there ? German and Afrikaans are much more common, plus the majority of the population speak indigenous languages, there must be over a dozen or so. Nama and Ndonga are the most common I remember.
I thought the German and the other guy did quite well, considering they were communicating in a non maternal tongue.
ernie
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
English is a very difficult language to learn if you are not a native speaker.... and even then.
I used to tell my students of French and Spanish that nothing could compare with the difficulties of English spelling. This was the example I would always use:
The word FISH could also be spelt GHOTI
GH as in TOUGH
O as in WOMEN
TI as in NATION
:yes::no:
Learning to spell words in Italian, French or Spanish does not need memorisation of each particular word.... you follow pronunciation rules.... with a few exceptions that confirm those rules and which you learn by heart.
In these languages we use dictation as an exercise to test correct spelling skills.
It's a very amusing piece, but the comment which I most enjoyed was from Christiano of Milan.
"Mr Lofquist, your second parapraph is one of the most ironic things I have ever had the amused pleasure of reading.
No skepticism of this entry is required."
Of course, to appreciate that comment you must read the orignal second paragraph, and then try to establish who is Mr Lofquist! It doesn't seem to me to be about languages, but about comprehension.....