Touché
Czech and Slovak
From the department of languages:
‘Some in Brussels have expressed sympathy for Ms. Ashton, who took over two functions when she got her job last year. Her predecessor as Britain’s representative at the European Commission, Peter Mandelson, did not speak French. The man she succeeded as European foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, spoke English and French, but with a heavy accent, as well as his native Spanish.
Meanwhile Mr. Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, will not be going back to school.
“He is a very busy man,” said his spokesman, Robert Golanski, “and therefore as long as he is President of the European Parliament it is unlikely he will be able to find additional time for learning French.”
“He speaks very good English,” Mr. Golanski said, “and in addition to his native Polish he is able to speak Czech and Slovak.”
As the French might put it, touché.’
Read here Stephen Castle’s complete article, which was published in yesterday’s Herald Tribune.
I suggest we treat politics as an extension of summer language schools.
Molière
I'll never forget the moment a friend told me in earnest that Dutch wasn't a language in wich you could think rationally, philosophical, scientifical: French was destined to perform these tasks.@ Mieke
Vraiment, n'importe quoi !non-sense
was he french, this guy ?
well
most of czech, slovak and polish people claim they can speak the other two languages, but most of them are liars.Transcript of a Conversation in Munich
"Combien de langues est-ce que tu parles?""Alors ... Le néerlandais est ma langue maternelle ..."
"Ah?! Tu prends ça pour une langue?"
"Y a-t-il une raison de ne pas le faire?"
"Non, non, supposons nous que c'est est une lague ..."
Concerning language one of the more alienating experiences I have had.
What I learned about French
Don't ever ask the bus station inforrmation guy in Charleroi, Belgium a question in Dutch. And when he goes postal on you, do not then ask the same question in English.Pjötr
According to the author W.F. Hermans Dutch is just a German dialect.The language of the people
Yesterday I sat next to a man, we formerly called a negro. He spoke for about half an hour in his cell phone to a girl friend. Next to an African language I distinguished a lot of French, English, some Arab, here and there a typical Flemish expression and finally a very Dutch ‘Doei !!!”Bernard
Voila !To Arnon
As much as I admire Hermans' novels, outrage and general eloquence. On the matter of Dutch being a germanic dialect we part company.There are plenty men and women around who are professional interpreters or translators, no ? They will probably stay ,by far, better and quicker ,than politicians learning a language against their will.
6920 different,spoken, languages in the world today.Apart from the words ,some have a very 'cultural' sound.For instance the ones spoken in dessert areas,like in Afghanistan or so.
