Posted on Feb 18, 2016
What is the most expressive language you've ever encountered?
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Yiddish. It's a culturally rich language shared by the seniors of the Los Angeles Jewish Home. Just in time for the High Holy Days, we made a special video t...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC5YGDKUEeM
We're all well-traveled, aren't we? We've encountered languages with which we weren't familiar. But there are some that can be understood even without knowing them. Italian is easy if you're not blind. They make extensive use of gestures.
I've studied seven languages in my lifetime (forgotten most), but Yiddish stands out for me. The most expressive
We're all well-traveled, aren't we? We've encountered languages with which we weren't familiar. But there are some that can be understood even without knowing them. Italian is easy if you're not blind. They make extensive use of gestures.
I've studied seven languages in my lifetime (forgotten most), but Yiddish stands out for me. The most expressive
Foreign Language
Language Student
Culture
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 4
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I'd have to say New Yorker. I know it's "English" but trying to understand someone from there who still has the accent thickly, is damn near impossible the first go round. When they figure that out, then they combine it with carious hand and arm gestures that you quickly figure out, but you still don't understand what they said. I have a friend and she's a Borough Girl, and I give her pure hell over her accent. My second would be anyone from Wales. If you go to Wales, the signs are in English and Welsh. But looking at the Welsh lettering will have you scratching the head of the person next to you because yours will be blown.
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CPT Jack Durish
H. L. Mencken once observed that Americans and the British are two peoples separated by a common language. I think the same could be said of Americans from different regions of the country. When I entered the Army, I spent my first days in the Reception Center at Fort Jackson where I shared a tent with a young man from Boston and four others from West Virginia. The fellow from Boston sat in wide-eyed wonder watching the boys from the mountains. After a while he asked if I understood anything they said. Being from Baltimore, I had my own dialect, yet I could understand the West Virginians easier than the Bostonian. Actually, I'm saddened by the fact that mobility and sharing a common entertainment medium, American dialects are homogenizing and, just as New York is losing its neighborhood identities, we're losing some local charm.
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SSG Warren Swan
He may have written that, but after living there, the English swear we've taken the Queens language and butchered it. I can't count the number of times I've use progress to be corrected to be PROgress. That's an example of just a small change in pronunciation makes all the difference, and it's a big thing to them.
B-more has an accent? I live down the street and never noticed that. Maybe the slang was different, but that was it. A Boston accent....that IS a hard one. Had one in OSUT at McClellan, and he caught hell from everyone.
B-more has an accent? I live down the street and never noticed that. Maybe the slang was different, but that was it. A Boston accent....that IS a hard one. Had one in OSUT at McClellan, and he caught hell from everyone.
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I only know a little Arabic and Spanish but of the ones I know, I would have to say Arabic. No it is not poetic like Thai as mention in this thread, and I would definitely not consider it beautiful like Japanese, unless you find phlegmy sounds to be attractive, bleh. However, just by the change of a stressed syllable, you can change the whole meaning of the word. "Friday" turns into "sex" by accident. Or "bathroom" becomes "pigeons" with the slip of the tongue.
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CPT Jack Durish
Interesting observation. All Semitic languages share those traits. For example, in Hebrew the words for "bride" and "bread" are separated by nothing but a little phlegm. (Halah vs Chalah) On another note I've always been fascinated by the multiple meanings of Salam (Arabic), Shalom (Hebrew) and Aloha (Hawaiian), all similar sibilant sounding and meaning "hello", "goodbye", and "love" in all three.
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TSgt Melissa Post
CPT Jack Durish - haha separated by a little phlegm. I like that actually tho it is a different letter I'm not too familiar with the Hebrew alphabet but in the Arabic one it is separated by just a dot.
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Thai very poetic. It uses the word for heart in words from understanding to gracious. This enables beautiful expression.
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CPT Jack Durish
A friend purchased a pure bred Siamese cat and wanted a fancy name to register it. He came up with the bright idea of using the Thai word for "cat" but didn't know anyone who could translate it for him. I suggested that he call the UN in New York and ask for the Thai interpreter. He did and was surprised when, after making his request, the interpreter guessed, "You have a Siamese cat." Apparently his idea wasn't as original as he had hoped. BTW, he was told that the Thai word for "cat" is "Meow". I laughed when I heard this and speculated that Gerald McBoing Boing was Siamese
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpl0KRFdj1E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpl0KRFdj1E
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