Tuesday, August 30, 2005
languages i (sorta) know
Indonesian...
Bahasa Indonesia is essentially a constructed language designed to fool foreigners into thinking Indonesia is a monoculture.
--John Cowan
Malay is essentially Indonesian as spoken by Englishmen.
--Amber Adams
Conversely, Indonesian is essentially Malay as spoken by Dutchmen.
--Amber Adams
Indonesian and Tagalog are essentially flowing water -- Indonesian a swiftly flowing brook and Tagalog water going over rapids.
--Adam Walker
English...
English is essentially the devil's attempt to reverse the curse of Babel by making a world language from the most difficult language in the world.
--qaya
English is essentially bad Dutch with outrageously pronounced French and Latin vocabulary.
--Eugene Holman
English is essentially all exceptions and no rules.
--Jonathan Bettencourt
Inglish iz issenshali a langwidje dhat, wen rittun fonetkli, iz ilejibul tu netiv spikerz.
--Peter Bleackley
English is essentially the language of people who think that everybody else speaks their language. French is essentially the language of people who think that everybody else should speak theirs.
--Peter Bleackley
American English is essentially a tool to keep a person from ever being able to speak another language.
--jmallett
Broken English is the language of international trade.
--John Naisbitt (via Daniel E. Huston)
American English is essentially British English without the funny accent. [Or is that Canadian English?]
--Aleks Dubh
(basic) Spanish...
Spanish is essentially Italian spoken by Arabs.
--Benct Philip Jonsson
Spanish is essentially a dialect of Californian English used for increasing the value of real estate. (Gee, wouldn't this faux Spanish strip mall be worth $200,000 more if it was called Plaza del Mucho Dinero?)
--Jeffrey Henning
(a little bit of) French...
Canadian French is essentially bad English as spoken by a Belgian with an inferiority complex.
--Ivan C. Amaya
French is essentially the linguistic equivalent of a really bad tailgating accident in which all the final consonants either are lost or stuck on the windshield of the next car.
--Hanbing Feng
and (barely), Dutch.
Dutch is essentially what you know to be English, only heard through lots of loud background noise.
--Dan Seriff
Dutch is essentially German as spoken by the members of a conspiracy who pretend not to speak German.
--John Cowan
as taken from here.
Indonesian...
Bahasa Indonesia is essentially a constructed language designed to fool foreigners into thinking Indonesia is a monoculture.
--John Cowan
Malay is essentially Indonesian as spoken by Englishmen.
--Amber Adams
Conversely, Indonesian is essentially Malay as spoken by Dutchmen.
--Amber Adams
Indonesian and Tagalog are essentially flowing water -- Indonesian a swiftly flowing brook and Tagalog water going over rapids.
--Adam Walker
English...
English is essentially the devil's attempt to reverse the curse of Babel by making a world language from the most difficult language in the world.
--qaya
English is essentially bad Dutch with outrageously pronounced French and Latin vocabulary.
--Eugene Holman
English is essentially all exceptions and no rules.
--Jonathan Bettencourt
Inglish iz issenshali a langwidje dhat, wen rittun fonetkli, iz ilejibul tu netiv spikerz.
--Peter Bleackley
English is essentially the language of people who think that everybody else speaks their language. French is essentially the language of people who think that everybody else should speak theirs.
--Peter Bleackley
American English is essentially a tool to keep a person from ever being able to speak another language.
--jmallett
Broken English is the language of international trade.
--John Naisbitt (via Daniel E. Huston)
American English is essentially British English without the funny accent. [Or is that Canadian English?]
--Aleks Dubh
(basic) Spanish...
Spanish is essentially Italian spoken by Arabs.
--Benct Philip Jonsson
Spanish is essentially a dialect of Californian English used for increasing the value of real estate. (Gee, wouldn't this faux Spanish strip mall be worth $200,000 more if it was called Plaza del Mucho Dinero?)
--Jeffrey Henning
(a little bit of) French...
Canadian French is essentially bad English as spoken by a Belgian with an inferiority complex.
--Ivan C. Amaya
French is essentially the linguistic equivalent of a really bad tailgating accident in which all the final consonants either are lost or stuck on the windshield of the next car.
--Hanbing Feng
and (barely), Dutch.
Dutch is essentially what you know to be English, only heard through lots of loud background noise.
--Dan Seriff
Dutch is essentially German as spoken by the members of a conspiracy who pretend not to speak German.
--John Cowan
as taken from here.
