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#51
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
B Vaughan wrote: On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 18:03:57 +0200, Giovanni Drogo wrote: Outside of such context bilingual may mean "any two parental tongues" (for instance my god-daughter is bilingual in German by father and Italian by mother ... she used to speak also some Swedish when she lived there, but maybe she forgot growing up), or generally "any two languages". An American friend has a 2-year-old grandson whose father is Spanish. They're trying to raise this little boy to be bilingual. He generally speaks English to his mother and Spanish to his father. My friend once heard him ask his mother for "agua" and then correct it to "water". Former neighbors of mine taught their kids to be trilingual. Their father is Puerto Rican (although born in the US), their maternal grandparents are German, and of course the mother of course was born and attended school here. So the three kids speak all three languages, fluently. I don't think my forebears did me any favors by discouraging me from learning German, when both maternal and paternal grandparents spoke it. (We lived with my mom's parents for a while, but they only used German in my presence when they didn't want me to understand what they were saying!) |
#52
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
spamfree wrote:
] Name one area in the USA where bilingual means anything other than English & Spanish. The various Chinatowns might be the only exception, but I don't remember that being considered officially bilingual. In San Jose, it could mean English and Vietnamese. In LA, I've heard of Korean shopkeepers who speak Spanish better than English. I'm sure you have seen the word "bilingual" used to mean English and Spanish without qualification, but that doesn't justify your sweeping generalization. |
#53
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
Hatunen writes:
The procss is that someone making a claim should support it if challenged, not that he should tell teh challenger to go and "come across it eventually". I'm not going to support it. If you're interested in knowing more, you can look it all up. If you're not, don't. -- Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail. |
#54
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
Dave Smith wrote: Hatunen wrote: In Canada, if a job posting calls for applicants to be bilingual, it means French and English. You mean Quebecoise and English. True., but the Quebecois think it is French. It's funny, but I took French in high school, had s few immersion experiences, have spent time in Quebec and France, and had work dealt with some Quebecois and some real French people. I can understand French in France. I can actually communicate with people there and understand what they are telling me. When French Canadians speak their French to me it sounds like a different language. This thread reminds me of the joke about the businessman who put a placard in his window advertising for a bilingual secretary. A cat walked in and pointed to the sign, meowing to indicate she wanted to apply for the job. The employer figured he'd play along, so gave her a letter to type, which to his surprise she did, flawlessly. When he pointed out that the job also required she be bilingual, the cat looked at him and replied "Woof". ;-) |
#55
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
Martin Bienwald wrote:
They have a funny way of making bilingual signs, however; they often write the language-independent part of the name a bit bigger and use it for both languages (for example: "rue JENATZY straat"). I've seen that in Canada. -- Doug Smith W9WI Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66 http://www.w9wi.com |
#56
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
"spamfree" wrote in message
... This is somewhat of a USA rant, but Europeans will understand. In the USA, if a sign/ad includes the word bilingual, it always refers to an ability to speak English & Spanish (and not European Spanish, but Mexican / Central American Spanish). But in Europe, bilingual would simply refer to an ability to speak two languages; German & Italian, Dutch & French, etc. A European employment ad requiring bilingual employees would always attract the query "Which two languages?" This USA policy completely annoys some of us because if we ask that question, "Which two languages?", we are immediately termed racists, but in reality we are merely literalists. In any major city's Chinatown, bilingual would more honestly refer to English & Chinese, and there are neighborhoods in New York and Chicago where bilingual could easily refer to English & Polish or English & Russian. People who speak 4 or more languages are multi-lingual; people who speak 3 languages are tri-lingual; people who speak two languages are bi-lingual; people who speak one language are American. KM -- (-:alohacyberian:-) At my website there are 3600 live cameras or visit NASA, the Vatican, the Smithsonian, the Louvre, CIA, FBI or CNN, NBA, the White House, Academy Awards & 150 foreign languages Visit Hawaii, Israel and mo http://keith.martin.home.att.net/ |
#57
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
Martin Bienwald schrieb:
Iceman wrote: Martin Bienwald wrote: I think that would be the case in most places with more than one official or "default" language. I guess in Brussels "bilingual" would mostly refer to Dutch/French, for example. Brussels has an annoying way of doing it where the sign for a street is in one language or the other, not both. So you are looking for "Rue de Ghent" and when you get to it the sign says "Klixpacqtynstraat." Oops? Street signs in Brussels are (almost) completely bilingual. They have a funny way of making bilingual signs, however; they often write the language-independent part of the name a bit bigger and use it for both languages (for example: "rue JENATZY straat"). Copied from Ontario: "rue WHATEVER street" ? :-) |
#58
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
Tanner schrieb:
["Followup-To:" header set to rec.travel.usa-canada.] On Wed, 23 Aug 2006, Hatunen wrote: On Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:24:53 -0400, Dave Smith wrote: spamfree wrote: In Canada, if a job posting calls for applicants to be bilingual, it means French and English. You mean Quebecoise and English. Likely meant French and English. We don't generally distinguish among English dialects in Canada, we call them English. Same with French. Ask a Frenchman what he thinks of Quebecois French. T. -- In memorium Layal Najib www.cpj.org |
#59
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 07:11:08 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote: Hatunen writes: The procss is that someone making a claim should support it if challenged, not that he should tell teh challenger to go and "come across it eventually". I'm not going to support it. If you're interested in knowing more, you can look it all up. If you're not, don't. You seem to enjoy writing things that you can't support. As you claim you want to educate people on usenet, how does not supporting something help? -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- -- |
#60
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Bilingual in Europe versus USA
Joseph Coulter schrieb:
Giovanni Drogo wrote in oengr.vans.vg: Switzerland it might mean any two of the four official languages. And as any good Swiss could tell you that would be a learning imparied person. Who is looking in Switzerland for bilingual staff ? :-) Receptionists in our company are fluent in German, French, Italian and English (sorry, no Romansch yet) ... or at least used to be In fact, depends where in the country: for Geneva now its usually E/F, Berne, Fribourg, Biel area F/G |
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