English translation

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old-timer
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English translation

Post by old-timer » March 14, 2015, 7:59 pm

Here are a few translations of English to English:
image.jpg
Perhaps someone could post other variations of English too like Australian and New Zealand so we have a English to English dictionary we can refer back to during our discussions if need be.

Another thing, why did the English language get changed once it left the shores and borders of England?

OT............... \:D/



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Shado
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English translation

Post by Shado » March 14, 2015, 8:32 pm

In my experience, thirteen of the twenty eight British English words are commonly used in American English. It's not at all unusual for Americans to use autumn, bill, curtains, film, flat, fortnight (occasionally), ground floor, handbag, holiday, mobile, Mum, lift and car park in the same context. It really depends on which part of America one might hear or use the words.

Of course, when it comes to slang and swearing, Americans can't even come close. :lol:

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English translation

Post by old-timer » March 14, 2015, 9:56 pm

I'm not sure how fortnight came about in English, I think the American "two weeks" gives it more clarity.
And what about asking questions? that's a really different ball game when it comes to an Englishman asking the same question as an American, you see Americans say whatever they are talking about and add Right? at the end of the sentence to make it a question whereas English people say what, how, when, is, can, why etc etc at the beginning of the question. I adapt to the american way of questioning when talking to let's say an Asian because nine times out of ten they have been taught the American English whereas a European nine times out of ten will have been taught the English version of English.
For us native English speakers most things are quite easy to understand in whichever version it's spoken. It's normally the accent and slang that trumps us from time to time.
Luckily for everyone there isn't an accent in English literature. Except Shakespeare, he threw a spanner in the works whenever he felt like it, I'm sure he did it on purpose, attention seeking I shouldn't wonder.


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Laan Yaa Mo
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English translation

Post by Laan Yaa Mo » March 14, 2015, 10:38 pm

How well is your version of English understood in Hackney, or in outposts like Newcastle and Liverpool?
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English translation

Post by merchant seaman » March 15, 2015, 7:07 am

Why is it always up to the Americans to improve everything?
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English translation

Post by Shado » March 15, 2015, 7:27 am

old-timer wrote: "Luckily for everyone there isn't an accent in English literature."

If you ever find the time or are interested, you might take a look at a few of the works by Mark Twain to read some accent/dialect in American literature. Even though the words were written just a little over a 100 years ago, most Americans today would have difficulty understanding much of the usage. Books such as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi etc. are chock full of words and phrases using the regional accents and idioms.

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English translation

Post by old-timer » March 15, 2015, 4:01 pm

Laan Yaa Mo wrote:How well is your version of English understood in Hackney, or in outposts like Newcastle and Liverpool?
OT was born in London and lived there throughout my childhood so no problems in East London. I don't think English is the native language in the other two places.
merchant seaman wrote:Why is it always up to the Americans to improve everything?
Such as?
Shado wrote:old-timer wrote: "Luckily for everyone there isn't an accent in English literature."

If you ever find the time or are interested, you might take a look at a few of the works by Mark Twain to read some accent/dialect in American literature. Even though the words were written just a little over a 100 years ago, most Americans today would have difficulty understanding much of the usage. Books such as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi etc. are chock full of words and phrases using the regional accents and idioms.
Even John Grisham has a bit of a twang in his books and a mighty twang in his English Language. Still though literature can be fathomed out whereas some takes on English Language are a mess. The Jeremy Kyle show attracts some of those deep southern American types.
The Scottish and Irish can also be tricky to understand at times. And a xxxxx is impossible, remember Bradd Pitt in the film Snatch?

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English translation

Post by Shado » March 15, 2015, 4:14 pm

Much of the US southern accents/twangs you hear today are remnants of the Scots-Irish (Scotch-Irish) lingo spoken by their ancestors.

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English translation

Post by Astana » March 15, 2015, 8:00 pm

Southern USA dialects originated in large part from a mix of immigrants from the British Isles including a predominantly English majority, who moved to the South in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the creole or post-creole speech of African slaves. Scots-Irish is more predominant in the Northern Eastern States.

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English translation

Post by parrot » March 15, 2015, 8:51 pm

Driving past a KFC billboard yesterday, I was surprised at the number of English words used.....all transliterated into Thai. I'd guess if you went to KFC and used any of these words exactly as you say them in their mother tongue, the people behind the counter would look at you cross-eyed. But if you can swallow your consonant endings and close your mouth ever so as you speak, they'd understand:
nuggets, burger, wings, click, lemon, corn, on-line, donut, pepsi, fish, tart, tuna, finger, twister, salad, super, pop, mix and match, coleslaw among the words on their online menu.....all written in Thai script.

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English translation

Post by old-timer » March 16, 2015, 12:36 am

parrot wrote:they'd understand:
nuggets, burger, wings, click, lemon, corn, on-line, donut, pepsi, fish, tart, tuna, finger, twister, salad, super, pop, mix and match, coleslaw among the words on their online menu.....all written in Thai script.
No mention of chicken. Hardly surprising it's KFC.

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English translation

Post by Shado » March 16, 2015, 8:11 am

Astana wrote:Southern USA dialects originated in large part from a mix of immigrants from the British Isles including a predominantly English majority, who moved to the South in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the creole or post-creole speech of African slaves. Scots-Irish is more predominant in the Northern Eastern States.
Yes, the South, especially the coastal areas and lands along navigable waterways were settled primarily by the English. As immigration from the British Isles continued to the west into the southern Appalachian Mountains and later into the Ozarks region, the Scots-Irish (Ulster Scots) were influential in pioneering these highland areas.

"The Southern United States today is home to people of many different cultural backgrounds, so that genealogical research in the area may lead one to ancestors of various nationalities. One of the principal groups of settlers, however, was the Scots-Irish, a group of people whose influence is still widely felt in the south.

The Scots-Irish played a large role in the settlement of America, particularly in the southern United States. Their experiences in settling new lands in Ireland, and then again in the American colonies, helped to develop a hard-working, fearless, and sometimes brash, spirit. Occasionally lawless and violent, the Scots-Irish nevertheless had a big influence on the history of the United States; their descendants populated many frontier areas, and aspects of their culture, customs, and speech are still visible in parts of the south today
."


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English translation

Post by Udon Map » March 16, 2015, 9:11 am

Shado wrote:Yes, the South, especially the coastal areas and lands along navigable waterways were settled primarily by the English.
Except, perhaps, Louisiana?

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English translation

Post by parrot » March 16, 2015, 9:52 am

old-timer wrote:
parrot wrote:they'd understand:
nuggets, burger, wings, click, lemon, corn, on-line, donut, pepsi, fish, tart, tuna, finger, twister, salad, super, pop, mix and match, coleslaw among the words on their online menu.....all written in Thai script.
No mention of chicken. Hardly surprising it's KFC.

OT............. \:D/

Exactly!! It's what makes me wonder what's behind the use of only certain English words in a language like Thai. Why say 'nuggets' for nuggets for 'gai' for chicken? In the case of KFC, they don't intersperse their menu with words in English....rather they use English words transliterated in Thai script. Anyway, if you're learning to read Thai, it reduces the number of vocabulary words you need to learn.

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English translation

Post by Shado » March 16, 2015, 10:00 am

Except, perhaps, Louisiana?
I suspect that's the case, possibly Florida as well. As with most costal areas, folks from everywhere showed up. Even if they didn't want to in many cases.

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English translation

Post by FrazeeDK » March 16, 2015, 12:50 pm

yes, Louisiana was originally colonized by the French, passed to the Spanish for over 30 years, then back to France.. After Britain fully took over Canada, many "Acadian" French moved to Louisiana.. The U.S. gained the entire western watershed of the Mississippi in 1803 in the Louisiana purchase from Napoleon... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase
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English translation

Post by old-timer » March 16, 2015, 10:04 pm

Even old English, which was developed into the English we know now wasn't from Britain it came to Britain from the Anglo Saxons as Germanic, the British then refined it into English and allowed everyone else to speak it except the Europeans because those barstards kept invading our shores. If it wasn't for the Romans there would be no English language at all. We'd all be speaking European.

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