Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 09:28:38 +0200 From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> To: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog@FreeBSD.org>, Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> Cc: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: French, Flemish and English (was: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c) Message-ID: <p05111720b910f739ea12@[10.0.1.4]> In-Reply-To: <20020522112854.A26107@wantadilla.lemis.com> References: <20020517114010.A57127@regency.nsu.ru> <20020519100324.GK44562@daemon.ninth-circle.org> <20020519134348.I67779@blossom.cjclark.org> <p05111722b90de01cc974@[10.9.8.215]> <20020520195703.A79046@dragon.nuxi.com> <p05111701b90fb2744154@[10.9.8.215]> <20020521103710.C71209@lpt.ens.fr> <p05111703b90fc048bd8f@[10.0.1.4]> <20020521133026.L71209@lpt.ens.fr> <p05111705b90fe1afee46@[10.0.1.4]> <20020522112854.A26107@wantadilla.lemis.com>
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At 11:28 AM +0930 2002/05/22, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> That presupposes that pronunciation of words is a function of the
> language spoken. For words which don't belong to the language, this
> doesn't make any sense.
I disagree. So long as the word appears to be pronounceable in a
particular language, then I believe that most people who speak that
language will probably try to pronounce it according to the customs
of their native language. The only exception to this rule would be
if they happen to speak the language from which the word comes and
recognize it, or if they have otherwise obtained information to lead
them to believe that this particular word should be pronounced
according to "foreign" rules.
There is a Japanese word for thank you. How do you think that it
is properly spelled using what they call "romaji", and how is it
pronounced?
> I find this surprising. This must be something to do with the French
> Belgians. In France, women don't get the name of their husband. Yes,
> they're allowed to use it, and almost invariably do, but you'll notice
> the difference between "Helen Smith née Jones" and "Yvonne Belmont
> épouse Dupont". My wife is French, and we got married in Germany,
> where they have a book of rules. Their book of rules stated that my
> wife was not allowed to take my name, and no proof we could give them
> would convince them of the contrary. After something like 11 years of
> marriage they finally found a solution, but by that time we were
> leaving anyway.
We got married in the US, precisely to avoid this kind of crap.
Frankly, we have no idea what the book of rules for Belgium specifies
as to who may use what name. So far as I know, they look at us as a
married American couple, and may perhaps apply some particular view
as to how they think that Americans normally handle the name issue.
> Again, this is possibly more the case in Bruxelles than in France.
> The worst thing you can do is speak Flemish to them.
To those that speak both French and English, that is generally
true. To those that speak both French and Flemish but not English,
that is obviously false. The problem is, you don't know, a priori,
what other languages the person may speak, and you don't know if
trying either English or Flemish as the second alternative is going
to offend them.
> In France, I've
> frequently spoken to people in French and been answered in English.
I've only visited more tourist-friendly areas in France, but the
areas of France that I have been to I have encountered fewer language
problems than in some areas of Belgium (where I've been to more
off-the-beaten-track areas).
--
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@skynet.be>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
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