French DIY forum!!

[AdamW]

Nicool I hope your father's english is good!

"Papa!"

"Nicole!"

 

[andemz]

Je pense que le français est de grands gens, mais penser que l'espagnol est l'améliorer extrême. Tout que je suis ennuyé de bien que par rapport aux systèmes électriques européens est que quand l'Angleterre joue au portugal les lumières au stade dans le final contre le français ne sortent pas. L'angleterre pour gagner.

 

[AdamW]

Did you, by any chance, stick this through an automatic translator?

Je pense Angleterre gagnera, mon ami. Il gagnera.

 

[andemz]

no! hablo espanol tambien y un puco de italiano.

I actually lived in Seville in the andalucian part south of Spain for quite a while. Never had an oppurtunity to look at thier electrics though.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

(Note: I do actually speak French quite well, have a few French friends and do understand that "coin" is pronounced "kwah" by those fruitcake Francs. )

Does that mean that English ducks pronounce Qwack incorrectly?? should it be a silent 'k' on the end???

lmao...look what i found on that forum
http://www.onzin.nl/fufme/index.shtml.htm
that will teach me to go anyware near the frnech....

me stays well away from now on...

That's what I call plug 'n' play!!!

 

[AdamW]

(Note: I do actually speak French quite well, have a few French friends and do understand that "coin" is pronounced "kwah" by those fruitcake Francs. )

Does that mean that English ducks pronounce Qwack incorrectly?? should it be a silent 'k' on the end???

Believe it or not, I was thinking about this today: whilst we write animal noises in a rather unrealistic fashion, I am sure that most of us can do a pretty convincing duck impression when the fancy takes us. It is interesting that French attempts to mimic the noise closely, but English doesn't make much of an effort. And I bet that very few language professors ever consider that one!

 

[andemz]

just a thought. In chinese i.e cantonese hatgowa and mandarin to say the word duck it is YAP in the sound of a duck so Yap Mein would be duck chow mein. The word is to be pronounced as a duck would yap. as in yap yap pronounced through the nose.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Believe it or not, I was thinking about this today: whilst we write animal noises in a rather unrealistic fashion, I am sure that most of us can do a pretty convincing duck impression when the fancy takes us. It is interesting that French attempts to mimic the noise closely, but English doesn't make much of an effort. And I bet that very few language professors ever consider that one!

What do you suggest? A European animal noise spelling harmonisation???
(considering I spelt it wrong!!!!)

Would make it easier for migrating ducks I suppose???

Quack-quack, quack? coin-coin????

 

[AdamW]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3775799.stm

Ducks do quack with an accent, apparently... although I am not sure that measuring duck "coins" and "yaps" at two locations makes for scientific proof!

 

[securespark]

We have lots of words, not just animal noises that are onomatopoeic.

Bang, Hiss, Crack, Rumble, Buzz, Whizz and Pop are all words whose sound is imitative of the sound the word describes.

Moo, Baa, Quack etc... fall into this category. I think this is spot on - what better way of creating a description of something than by the noise it makes?

Hmm....just read the second para again, and it sounds a bit nefarious.....

 

[AdamW]

Bang, Hiss, Crack, Rumble, Buzz, Whizz and Pop

You been eating Rice Krispies again?

Slither is another one. In fact, if you think about it we have tonnes of onomatopoeic words in the English language. Soft, Hard, Loud, Glide, Kill, all of these are such words.

And you will notice all of our swearwords have harsh "explosive" consonant sounds at the start and the end, and they sound silly if you, e.g. soften the T at the end of the word.

And the F-word has so many uses (anyone ever heard the Monty Python item on the F-word? )