WOT (Way off topic)

John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:44:48 -0600, AMuzi wrote:
On 2/3/2020 4:42 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

On 2/3/2020 3:33 PM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Monday, February 3, 2020 at 8:56:11 PM UTC, Joerg wrote:

The German language is similar to Lego. You piece together
words to create a new one. Vogel means bird and Gesang is the
act of singing (not the word for "song" which would be
"Lied").

As Joerg, the Former German and belated Germanistikersti, carefully avoided
the brown Lego Elephant in the Vogelsang room, let's complete the WOT:
https://liberationroute.de/media/1441349/spot231-01.jpg

It isn't difficult to learn a new language. Go to a place,
acquire a girlfriend who doesn't speak English, and voila, a week
later you will speak the language. Most natural thing in the
world

Maybe not speak the language in a way very comprehensible to outsiders, but
at least be acquainted with a foreign tongue.

The question might be raised, "If you can't talk to her, and she
can't talk to you, how does one become acquainted?"

The sort of question a married man might well ask.

Married men ask the sort of overly naive question Hollywood would have young
Jimmy Stewart pose?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/A0YAA...Eae/s-l300.jpg

No, the sort of question someone who has spent many years in foreign
lands where being unable to speak the local language precluded "talking
to girls" :-)

As if Americans servicemen and businessmen willing to "talk to girls" in
foreign lands had been known to not have any other means at their disposal
than using the local language.

On Tue, 4 Feb 2020 08:16:33 +0100, Sepp Ruf
wrote:

John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:44:48 -0600, AMuzi wrote:
On 2/3/2020 4:42 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:

On 2/3/2020 3:33 PM, Andre Jute wrote:
On Monday, February 3, 2020 at 8:56:11 PM UTC, Joerg wrote:

The German language is similar to Lego. You piece together
words to create a new one. Vogel means bird and Gesang is the
act of singing (not the word for "song" which would be
"Lied").

As Joerg, the Former German and belated Germanistikersti, carefully avoided
the brown Lego Elephant in the Vogelsang room, let's complete the WOT:
https://liberationroute.de/media/1441349/spot231-01.jpg

It isn't difficult to learn a new language. Go to a place,
acquire a girlfriend who doesn't speak English, and voila, a week
later you will speak the language. Most natural thing in the
world

Maybe not speak the language in a way very comprehensible to outsiders, but
at least be acquainted with a foreign tongue.

The question might be raised, "If you can't talk to her, and she
can't talk to you, how does one become acquainted?"

The sort of question a married man might well ask.

Married men ask the sort of overly naive question Hollywood would have young
Jimmy Stewart pose?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/A0YAA...Eae/s-l300.jpg

No, the sort of question someone who has spent many years in foreign
lands where being unable to speak the local language precluded "talking
to girls" :-)

As if Americans servicemen and businessmen willing to "talk to girls" in
foreign lands had been known to not have any other means at their disposal
than using the local language.

Err,,, I was an American serviceman in a number of foreign lands and I
can assure you that initially we only talked to those who could talk
to us :-)

Granted, some of us did learned to speak "their" language but the
initial contact with the indigenous personnel (to quote one military
regulation) was made in "our" language.
--

Cheers,

John B.

On Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at 2:16:37 AM UTC-5, Sepp Ruf wrote:

Maybe not speak the language in a way very comprehensible to outsiders, but
at least be acquainted with a foreign tongue.


in which case the tongue isn't necessarily performing diction.