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  1. #1
    Phero Enthusiast nonscents's Avatar
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    Default Europeans writing colloquial American English

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    There seem to be a fair number of Western Europeans contributing to the forums who revel in writing in colloquial American English. I am curious. Do you learn this from TV and movies, from long hours on the Internet, from travel in the US, from music?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    Can you say that in English please?

    [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    ?? Dove ??

    It looks like english to me .. chinese is different. Don\'t tell me you don\'t know what \"colloquial\" means [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

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    Phero Pharaoh BassMan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    </font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
    There seem to be a fair number of Western Europeans contributing to the forums who revel in writing in colloquial American English. I am curious. Do you learn this from TV and movies, from long hours on the Internet, from travel in the US, from music?

    <hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

    Yeah, I\'ve wondered the same thing. I suspect all of the above - even here in the US regional language differences seem to be dying out - especially in the larger cities.

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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    I am definitely the colloquial type of guy, I hate writing and don\'t pay much attention to it in case I have to do it. I am just hammering the words down and don\'t care about mistakes. I\'ve tried to talk to my keyboard but the result was really unsatisfactory. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    Andy, I don\'t know if you said that to receive a compliment, but I don\'t see much (grammatically) wrong with what you write. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] Apart from the fact that 90% of your posts are smart-ass remarks .... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

  7. #7
    Phero Enthusiast nonscents's Avatar
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    Yeah Andy. I\'ve seen you do stuff like replace the \"g\" of \"ing\" with an apostrophe, like \"I am goin\' to the store.\" Where did you learn to do that?

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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    Thx
    [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

    Ummmm .. dunno, I might have been to long in the states. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

  9. #9
    Phero Enthusiast nonscents's Avatar
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    Were you an exchange student for a year in high school (American high school)?

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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    No, I\'ve been half a year to the states after school during a language exchange program. But I\'ve been often in the states later. Must have been something like year all together.

  11. #11
    Phero Enthusiast nonscents's Avatar
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    OK. Thanks. That explains one person.

    I spent 3 months in East Berlin as a student in the summer of 1987 and I still couldn\'t understand that Berliner Deutsch.

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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    </font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
    That explains one person.

    <hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

    My english needs a bit more fine-tuning than Andy\'s I think. I learnt it from tv, but most of all from reading lots and lots on the internet. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    German dialects are quite complicated and might differ a lot from the main language ... Thank god you haven\'t been in Munich, or worse, somewhere else in Bavaria. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

  14. #14
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    </font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
    There seem to be a fair number of Western Europeans contributing to the forums who revel in writing in colloquial American English. I am curious. Do you learn this from TV and movies, from long hours on the Internet, from travel in the US, from music?

    <hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

    I\'m a bad influence in that regard, almost always apostophizing the end g\'s and using \"gonna\" for going to, etc.

    I miss colloquial English. It\'s dying out here. There\'s so much snobbisme surrounding it. Instead we tend toward corporate speak.

  15. #15
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    </font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
    There seem to be a fair number of Western Europeans contributing to the forums who revel in writing in colloquial American English. I am curious. Do you learn this from TV and movies, from long hours on the Internet, from travel in the US, from music?

    <hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

    Long hours on the Internet, mainly. Basically I learnt \"english english\" at school and stayed near London for holidays when I was about 15-16. I love to speak english (unlike a lot of french people).

    </font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
    I miss colloquial English. It\'s dying out here. There\'s so much snobbisme surrounding it

    <hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

    FTR : I can understand that, but it would be more difficult for foreigners to understand what you say... let\'s be as open as possible. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

  16. #16
    Pheromaniac Sexyredhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    I was in Hessen for 3 months after high school. Learned a lot of German--got quite good at it actually, but it was with a strong \"southern\" accent. Left the ends off of all kinds of things. lol

    Too bad I\'m out of practice now.

  17. #17
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    Where have you been exactly SRH ? There are many different accents in Hessen, I\'d like to know how bad it was [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

  18. #18
    Pheromaniac Sexyredhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    I was over by Babenhausen, Aschaffenburg--that area. Also popped down to Augsburg and Munich for a bit. I mostly toured Bayern, actually, but stayed in a little town called Schaafheim. It was surrounded by sunflowers. I loved it. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

    Added to that, I learned German with a southern US accent, although it wasn\'t that pronounced. Then I went to central/southern Germany and learned MORE German. Try to imagine that. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

  19. #19
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    I\'ve been with a us-college group (german language students) in Augsburg around the age of 16. I had to talk english with them because the only way to tell they were talking german was because they told us they would [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]. I thought people with english as their native language would have problems talking german in general (I know it is hard because we are using much more different sounds). I found out later that the Prof was a stupid dumbass and caused it all. One of the guys went really mad after about a week because he learned such a long time and wasn\'t able to order a beer and chips without using his arms and legs. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

    Ok, ok, it\'s not better in german schools. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

  20. #20
    Pheromaniac Sexyredhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Europeans writing colloquial American English

    Actually, most of the people I was around were surprised I\'d only had one year of German before I went there. My host family didn\'t speak English, except for my host sister, and although we started in English, it went to mostly German after a week or two.
    I was lucky though. I had a really good German class/teacher in high school. My college German wasn\'t nearly so good--in fact it messed me up a bit, so I can understand what you mean about those college students.
    I remember meeting some people in a biergarten once from Austria, and it was hard to understand their accents. So maybe it\'s just YOU. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I didn\'t have nearly so much trouble with the German from the Italians! lol

  21. #21
    Carpal Tunnel Whitehall's Avatar
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    Default Thanks for making the effort!

    Just wanted to say thanks to all our non-native English speakers for making the effort to learn a second language. I appreciate your contributions and we would all be less well informed without you.

    Plus, this way I don\'t have to learn another language!

  22. #22
    Phero Dude Xehupatl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    LOL NOBODY can understand Berliner German!!

    Berliner deutsch is like raping the german language repeatedly with a 14-inch spiked dildo!

    Where do we get our colloquial english skills? SIMPSONS!! :-D

    And yes, long hours on the internet, too!

    We learn \"proper\" british english in school, but who gives a [bad word]? [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

    ahem ..

  23. #23
    Phero Dude Xehupatl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    BTW both austrian and german german (yes, there\'s a HUGE difference, german german being especially moronic) dialects are TERRIBLE! They give me the creeps. Freaky!
    Go to Vorarlberg (an austrian province) and you can\'t understand a WORD of what they\'re talking about!
    Bavarian german isn\'t so bad, it\'s really URIG (\"urig\" translates as \"down to earth\").

    I usually speak \"clean\" german, like it\'s being written. Sounds very .... educated. You dig?

  24. #24
    Pheromaniac Sexyredhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    Honestly, I love berliner deutsch. It sounds sexier, and it seems much smoother to me. Not so \"correct\".

    Ahhh, but I could be smoking crack. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

  25. #25
    Phero Dude Xehupatl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    oh please ... the only thing I hear when I listen to some Berliner is \"I dun married ma sista\"

  26. #26
    Pheromaniac Sexyredhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    Maybe I\'m just biased, being from the South and all. I looooooove southern accents. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

  27. #27
    Phero Dude Xehupatl's Avatar
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    Well if y\'all like it ... who am I to tell you differently? I just hate it.

  28. #28
    Pheromaniac Sexyredhead's Avatar
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    That\'s the general consensus, I\'ve noticed. Either you love it or hate it. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

  29. #29
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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    </font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
    Well if y\'all like it ... who am I to tell you differently? I just hate it.

    <hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

    Tch tch tch tch! \"Y\'all\" means \"you all.\" It is NEVER used to refer to one person.

    [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

    I\'ve got a god awful Andalusian accent when I speak Spanish, SRH. Isn\'t that strange? Both of us have southern English AND southern accents in our second languages. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

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    Default Re: Thanks for making the effort!

    </font><blockquote><font class=\"small\">Quote:</font><hr />
    BTW both austrian and german german (yes, there\'s a HUGE difference, german german being especially moronic) dialects are TERRIBLE!

    <hr /></blockquote><font class=\"post\">

    Oh no. I think austrian dialect is very charming! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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