12 Jan 11
1 edit
Originally posted by scacchipazzoItalian isn't difficult because of grammar and vocabulary. You could say that about any language. Try Thai and Chinese for grammar 😉, and vocabulary. Thai is fairly simplistic in vocabulary, but tone and pronunciation is incredibly complex. Thai can have 10 words all spelled virtually with the same letters, but if you pronounce and tone them incorrectly then you are saying another word. Italian is easy compared to eastern languages, for a westerner that is.
Very difficult language because of the grammar and vocabulary. Al the dialects are alive and well and throw me for a curve when visiting, especially Neapolitan/Campanian and Sicilian, Calabrian and Pugliese dialects.
If one has studied Latin and Greek, eastern languages are somewhat very much easier, and I have no idea why. Italian and Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian (and even English) are a piece of cake, in comparison.
Chinese and Thai, in my experience, also have great dialectic differences. In the east of Thailand we have Esan, which is almost a completely different language and incorporates a large amount of Lao, which in itself incorporates a great deal of Chinese. I find myself learning 3 languages, not one.
I went to the market and asked for bananas, 2 years ago. I actually asked for penis. I didn't say bananas correctly. 😀 (I did learn my lesson though!) 😉
12 Jan 11
Originally posted by mikelomAny ethnicity will tell you English is one of the hardest second languages to learn becase of all the rules and exceptions to those rules.
Italian isn't difficult because of grammar and vocabulary. You could say that about any language. Try Thai and Chinese for grammar 😉, and vocabulary. Thai is fairly simplistic in vocabulary, but tone and pronunciation is incredibly complex. Thai can have 10 words all spelled virtually with the same letters, but if you pronounce and tone them incorrectly the ...[text shortened]... ctually asked for penis. I didn't say bananas correctly. 😀 (I did learn my lesson though!) 😉
12 Jan 11
Originally posted by mikelomNo argument, except the thread is about Italian, not Thai. I could never even fathom learning Thai, Chinese, and most Asian languages. I have trouble with Italian. Goes without saying that my future as a multilingual person is not real rosy at all!
Italian isn't difficult because of grammar and vocabulary. You could say that about any language. Try Thai and Chinese for grammar 😉, and vocabulary. Thai is fairly simplistic in vocabulary, but tone and pronunciation is incredibly complex. Thai can have 10 words all spelled virtually with the same letters, but if you pronounce and tone them incorrectly the ...[text shortened]... ctually asked for penis. I didn't say bananas correctly. 😀 (I did learn my lesson though!) 😉
12 Jan 11
Originally posted by Very RustyThat's in the UK. Atrocious spelling by them Brits! But since you piped in, what is your favorite pasta dish or non pasta dish, Italian of course?
No Man Engerlish is a piece cake.
It is when you speel stuff wrong, drives the gramma police insane. 😛
12 Jan 11
Originally posted by scacchipazzoI thought it was about pasta?
No argument, except the thread is about Italian, not Thai.
I really don't know what's my favourite pasta dish, but I had some great pasta in Japan. Soba (buckwheat noodles) is very nice, for example. I was lucky to be in Japan around New Year - soba is a traditional New Year's dish.
12 Jan 11
Originally posted by NordlysItalians certainly don't have all the great noodle dishes. Soba is great. Thai flat noodles are great. Pad Thai is one of my favorite dishes bar none! Yet nothing quite compares to a nice pasta dish like a first rate ravioli in some cream sauce or tagliatelle ai funghi porcini.
I thought it was about pasta?
I really don't know what's my favourite pasta dish, but I had some great pasta in Japan. Soba (buckwheat noodles) is very nice, for example. I was lucky to be in Japan around New Year - soba is a traditional New Year's dish.
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12 Jan 11
Originally posted by tomtom232For values of "any ethnicity" that boil down to "anyone who speaks English as a first language". Learning English as a second language is dead simple. Trus' me on dis; I ackchewerley dunnit. I realise that native speakers of English have a great deal of ego invested in how hard their language is, so I apologise for bursting your bubble.
Any ethnicity will tell you English is one of the hardest second languages to learn becase of all the rules and exceptions to those rules.
Richard
14 Jan 11
Originally posted by tmetzlerIs that your own dish or from a cooking site? If it is your own that is a very Italian looking serving dish indeed! Good looking recipe. Would you mind posting your favorite recipe? My wife absolutely loves broccol rab dishes!
For reference sake:
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3789/11111015.jpg
14 Jan 11
Originally posted by tomtom232I disagree. English is a relatively straight forward language - in terms of 'rules'. Its extensive vocabulary and generous stock of idioms are certainly challenging but I would say that most other major languages [and many many hundreds of 'minor' languages] in the world are more difficult than English as far as grammar is concerned, not to mention in terms of script and alphabets.
Any ethnicity will tell you English is one of the hardest second languages to learn becase of all the rules and exceptions to those rules.
14 Jan 11
Originally posted by Shallow BluePerhaps tomtom232 would find this article from The Economist rather interesting:
I realise that native speakers of English have a great deal of ego invested in how hard their language is, so I apologise for bursting your bubble.
http://www.economist.com/node/15108609
Difficult languages
In search of the world’s hardest language
"A CERTAIN genre of books about English extols the language’s supposed difficulty and idiosyncrasy. “Crazy English”, by an American folk-linguist, Richard Lederer, asks “how is it that your nose can run and your feet can smell?”. Bill Bryson’s “Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way” says that “English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner…Imagine being a foreigner and having to learn that in English one tells a lie but the truth.”
Such books are usually harmless, if slightly fact-challenged. You tell “a” lie but “the” truth in many languages, partly because many lies exist but truth is rather more definite. It may be natural to think that your own tongue is complex and mysterious. But English is pretty simple: verbs hardly conjugate; nouns pluralise easily (just add “s”, mostly) and there are no genders to remember.
English-speakers appreciate this when they try to learn other languages. A Spanish verb has six present-tense forms, and six each in the preterite, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive and two different past subjunctives, for a total of 48 forms. German has three genders, seemingly so random that Mark Twain wondered why “a young lady has no sex, but a turnip has”. (Mädchen is neuter, whereas Steckrübe is feminine.) "
And so it goes on. Well worth a read in its entirety for anyone who does - or does not, for that matter - continue to propagate the myth about the dastardly difficult English language.
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14 Jan 11
Originally posted by FMFIt struck me while pondering this yesterday that part of the reason is that English has roughly the same amount of grammar as many languages, but English expresses it using extra words, while many other languages modify the existing ones. The English way is much more obvious to spot, and what's even more important, mistakes are much more obvious.
Perhaps tomtom232 would find this article from The Economist rather interesting:
"A CERTAIN genre of books about English extols the language’s supposed difficulty and idiosyncrasy.
Such books are usually harmless, if slightly fact-challenged. You tell “a” lie but “the” truth in many languages, partly because many lies exist but truth is rather more definit ...[text shortened]... conjugate; nouns pluralise easily (just add “s”, mostly) and there are no genders to remember.
For example, in English one can say "You will talk" and "(If) I were to talk"; Italian expresses this as "Parlerai" and "(Si) parlerei". One letter difference, and one which most native speakers of English will have some trouble pronouncing at first. In French, one can say "J'essayai" or "J'essayais", and AFAIAA the difference is only noticable in writing, as the final 's' is silent - in English, the difference between "I tried" and "I have tried" is immediately obvious.
English-speakers appreciate this when they try to learn other languages.
...which is why this myth is still so prevalent among them 😛 .
German has three genders, seemingly so random that Mark Twain wondered why “a young lady has no sex, but a turnip has”. (Mädchen is neuter, whereas Steckrübe is feminine.) "
And that. Guys, please try and remember that "gender" and "sex" are not the same thing... not only will you not confuse a homosexual and a transsexual from now on, but as a bonus, you won't make linguists think you a fool, either.
Richard
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15 Jan 11
Originally posted by scacchipazzoThat was what the wifey whipped up this week. But like I said its standard fare around here, just not always with the sausage. I think have instructions typed up somewhere, I'll try to dig em up later.
Is that your own dish or from a cooking site? If it is your own that is a very Italian looking serving dish indeed! Good looking recipe. Would you mind posting your favorite recipe? My wife absolutely loves broccol rab dishes!