Sub-Languagues and differences about them

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#1

Excuse this bad speaker of english,I don´t know really much about the difference about british and american english.Anybody can explain me the difference?,i want to speak both of them,because if i visit usa i want to talk american english,and if i visit uk,i want to visit british english.

the only i know:
England: See you United
States of America: See ya

thanks!

btw,spanish of argentina is different than the rest of latin american spanish,and the spanish from spain,i think our spanish is the best,and some of the others think that too.

If you want to do questions about sublanguagues,talk them here.

#2

explaining: sub languague is a languague with the same origin as other,but it isn´t declared an official languague:

ex: american english is a sub languague,argentinian spanish too.

#3

Only one of them is correct :smiley:

#4

lol,please,don´t fight,just answer the question if you want,or make another question,i don´t want a mess in this topic.

#5

Erwin,
In “English” English, or Queen’s English, many words are different from American English.
Some examples :
US Trunk (car) UK Boot
US Hood (car) UK Bonnet
US sidewalk UK Pavement
US Apartment UK Flat
US Elevator UK Lift
US 1st Floor UK Ground Floor
US Fall(Season) UK Autumn
US Interstate UK Motorway
(Highway)

There are many more, but that might give you a start :slight_smile:
Try here for some more.
http://www.krysstal.com/ukandusa.html

#6

thanks reiver,i actually studied a mix between them :lol:

#7

Try this wikipedia article for starters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences

As an analogy, it’s just like the difference between Flemish & Dutch, Québequois French or African French & proper French.

#8

thanks a lot

#9

Some years ago I was in Dallas, Texas to do the exams for the FAA A&P licence. In the evenings I used to hang around a Mexican bar, one of the places where you have to place the orders in Spanish, because else the waitress wouldn’t understand you, right in the middle of the Mexican area of Dallas (later I also did the same in San Jose, California).
I caused some giggles when I spoke with my Castillian European Spanish, some expressions are definitely different and they found the Castillian pronounciation of s and c (like an English th) very funny.

Jan

#10

lol,yes,i consider there are 3 tipes of spanish: the original from spain;the latin american spanish (usually talked in centre america and south) and the argentinian spanish (argentinian has influence of the english,and different words,and we talk very different).
im as a porteño :smiley: (porteños are people from buenos aires,the most intelligent and cool spanish talker :lol: ) i have a more argentinian languague than the northern argentinians.

#11

I studied German at school to GCSE level. Later in life (not that much later!) I continued learning German, but in Vienna. As a result, I have an (apparently) hilarious accent. It’s a mix of English, Wienerisch (Wiener- -deutsch or -isch is the Vienna dialect) and Austrian. It doesn’t help that I was taught a little bit of Wienerdeutsch idiom, which merely adds to the confusion.

For the benefit of our German speaking friends on the site, I present the amazing floor numbering system I was taught. I’m not sure if it’s peculiar to Vienna, or applies to Austria in general. Der / die / das omitted as I am terrible with gender (und Grammatik, Buchstabieren usw.).

Ground Floor: Parterre
First Floor: Hochparterre
Second Floor: Mezanin
Third Floor: Ersten Etage - literal translation ‘first floor’
Fourth Floor: Zweiten Etage - lit. ‘second floor’
(and so forth: und so weiter)

So it was that I rented a flat on the Ersten Etage (first floor, according to my understanding as then) that was rather further above the street than I expected. Apparently it stems from a taxation system based on the number of floors in a house, motivating people to claim fewer floors than were actually present.

File it away under “Obscure information that won’t even come up in pub quizzes”.

#12

Actually Parterre is used in German German as well, equal to Erdgeschoß (ground floor).
Hochpaterre is being used if the basement is halfway out of the ground, meaning that the ground floor is about a meter above outside ground level.
We also use Souterrain for a basement flat.
Mezanin is unknown in Germany.

I speak German with a distinctive Berlin accent, even here in the Rhineland area (Cologne) where I´m currently living.
When i speak English, I still have an Irish accent, dating from my years working in Ireland, though I´ve been loosing it over the last few years, working mainly with Americans.

Jan

#13

Jan,where are you from?

#14

Born and grown up mainly in West Berlin, Germany, though I spent some time of my childhood in Spain and Portugal. I used to live in Shannon. Ireland for a few years and now I´m living in Cologne, Germany.

Jan

#15

I’ll remember the five days in spent in Koeln (Cologne) for the rest of my life. I had a masterplan of living and working in Germany before university (how and why I picked and arrived in Koeln is another story). I lived out of the youth hostel, and frequented Papa Joe’s Jazzlokal, which had a gorgeous dutch barmaid. I didn’t find a place to live, or work, which is how I ended up in Vienna (another story).

Anyway, it snowed on my first night, and there I was, in the middle of a foreign country, in the snow, staring into the Rhein with ‘Amazing Grace’ still ringing in my ears from the Jazzlokal. I spent a large part of the time admiring the Cathedral - the Koelner Dom is an incredible feat of engineering, especially considering that it was started over 750 years ago. I’d actually say that if someone takes a trip that passes through Koeln, then it’s worth stopping for a look outside. The Cathedral is right outside the Hauptbahnhof - you really can’t miss it!

#16

My accent in Dutch is Haags + English + a touch of German.
In German it’s not bad, but with a definite chunk of English with a touch of Dutch (particularly some of the vowel sounds - my “a” can go quite Dutch). I’m reliably informed in both cases though that the English component is mercifully small - when speaking Dutch, the natives can’t usually tell that I’m English. They spot that I’m not a native speaker, but often assume that I’m South African, and are then shocked when I say “Nee, Engels!”

#17

Can you pronounce Scheveningen correctly? :smiley: My Dutch friends always tease me with this, saying that no German can pronounce it correctly. Apparently it was used in WW2 to detect German spies.

Jan

#18

what does Scheveningen mean?

#19

Alabama Guy: YOU BRITISH, YOU BRITISH.
Eddie Izzard : Uh yes (but wanting to say no)
Alabama Guy: Talk British to ma kids.
Alabama Guy: Come er Curly Sue, Billy Bill … Big Skinny Bob.
Eddie Izzard: :shock: :roll: No, First of all its …its English.
Kids: Nah dad we wanta go see da man emasculate a dunkey over there.

I think you would have to have seen Dressed to Kill to appreciate this. I like his idea for the transvestite airborne brigade/ :lol: :lol: :lol:

#20

Yes, I can say Scheveningen properly, as well as “begane grond”, “Heerlijk helder Heineken”, and “graag”.

SAM - it’s a seaside town often frequented by German tourists who like to sit on the beach & dig holes.