Hmm becuase of how you seem to make such a big deal out of British slang. If I ever go to America, Im going to pretend to be a smoker and constantly ask for [censored].
Whats the most homophobic state ? I want to see horror and disgust on peoples faces.

Even Bethesda dosent like our slang

Try the Middle East or central Africa, specifically Uganda. You'll probably get a bit more than you're looking for, though... like, death-more.

The Dutch.

Gulden Draak!

So it occured to me (I'm slow, sue me) that we're all speaking English but that it's not the native tongue for all of you. How hard was it for you guys to learn English? I'm not going to lie, I tried to learn Spanish in high school but I couldn't get past the "la" and "el" and how the adjectives came after the object.

I've been thinking of trying to learn a language now, but I'm not sure I want to try Spanish again (as it's the secondary language of the US) or Japanese so I can watch my cartoons without subtitles... lol

And thank you Doubler and Urrinor! I'll look into finding those recipes.

Learning English was more difficult for me than learning Spanish was.

Like Haggis

It depends what you like, Scotland exports a large amount of Whisky to places like the States, so we must have some good whisky

Sausages are good, but only if they have a high meat content. (A lot of sausages consist of e.g. 25% meat; 50% sinew, fat and junk, and 25% grains and preservatives.) No haggis, tripe or churba for me, thanks... Usually, it's not prepared properly, so it tastes like... just thinking about it activates my gag reflex.

DOUBLE. POST.

from last thread
I totally missed the irony. Sorry. My dad is a teacher in collège, he teaches Spanish but for a couple of years he also taught French and from what I understand it was a very frustrating experience. Many people in rural Vendée just aren't that interested in correct grammar, apparently. Kids of English origin (there are lots of them in Vendée) usually speak and write a richer and more precise French than most local kids.
And btw, I just have to say it: I'm not whining because I had poor grades, I did well in French classes. I remember using the word "anachronisme" in an essay when I was 13, the teacher was very impressed and it turned out I was the only one in the classroom (apart from the teacher) who actually knew that the word existed... My friends were shocked that I knew such a "useless" word... still makes me facepalm for them when I think about it.
Yes, that's what I love the most about English, its capacity to be innovative and reinvent itself, it's very impressive. French seriously needs to loosen up, imo. I passed my "DUFLE" last year and was amazed at how complicated teaching grammar to foreign students appeared to be!
http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1342261-international-inquiries/page__st__60__p__20232812#entry20232812

Can't be worse than http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming.

"When opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odor, which explains why the dish is often eaten outdoors. A Japanese study has shown that the smell of a newly opened can of surstr?mming is the most putrid smell of food in the world....."

Yum...sounds like it would be enough to gag a maggot....I want some.

Just by looking at the pictures I don't think I'd willingly take some.
Seeing the above posts quote, m m no thank you.

No problem! If you don't find anything in English I would happily quickly translate one!

You know, my experience is completely different, so I guess it isn't a question of being from Northern Europe. Learning English was almost natural (to me and some of my friends), as in, I feel that the only thing that classes did was give me the structure and the names for the way we spoke English, directing us. And that all comes from the "dub problem", I guess...

I grew up surrounded (well, not exactly but you know what I mean) by media in English, be it movies, videogames or music, so the vocabulary was acquired gradually and naturally, not exactly taught in classes. I learn a lot of names for objects through videogames for example (I remember finding out what Arrow means in Age of Empire II )I still learn in English classes, but only some minor expressions and grammar.

What I find the hardest is still talking fluently, but I think my writing is becoming almost as rich in English as it is in Portuguese. And btw, English Grammar: Best.Grammar.Ever. Seriously, you guys have almost no verbal forms, comparing to Portuguese or French, and there are not so many "rules". Talking about simple stuff btw, not pretending to be an English expert lol If you would ask me questions about the language, I probably couldn't answer them, but comunicating is just fine for most of us.

I found learning French way harder than English, despite it also being a latin language... since I was not surrounded by french while growing up I guess.

Question for all the Internationals: Do you have any feelings about English being dominant in the world of communication? Do English native-speakers, when going to other countries, feel entitled to the locals knowing how to speak it, or feel proud when they do? If you know what I mean...

You mean tripe? Used to be quite popular, but I've always succeeded in avoiding it. I like liver though, and steak & kidney pudding is nice even if I'm not too keen on the concept of kidneys: apparently they're pretty disgusting to prepared, but not as much as the lungs that are used in haggis.

I feel slightly embarrassed at my utter ineptness at other languages, really. Nobody else has made a big deal of it when I've been abroad, but perversely that just makes me feel even worse...

From what people have been saying about languages, is English the only language where people can make such inventive sentences and dialog up through messing around with grammar/syntax/etc.? I guess I never really thought just how complex my language is until I tried learning another, but I gave up soon after I thought about how much of my spoken word is intentionally messed up or unusual for the sake of variety. Do people do the same thing in other languages? (i.e. using phrases and devices no one but a native speaker would be able to appreciate/make sense of) I would call them idioms, but it's not even anything so well-defined: Intentional mispronunciations, switching two words in a sentence, dialog-related inside jokes, the list goes on of what my friends and I do (in conversational form only) just to keep a conversation fresh in terms of what language we use.

Question to folks in Finland or maybe it's Iceland. I have heard that you have heated highways and roads. Do you and if so how are they heated. I thought of this yesterday as I drove over 100 miles of glare ice and black ice. My hubby said he too had heard this and we started wondering how it's accomplished.

I hear there's a lot of hassle involved in sending food items to the US, but otherwise I would've been happy to send you a can.

But you can http://www.ehow.com/how_2070108_make-surstromming.html if you're desperate enough.

Troyatz or Exorince have to go out every morning and lie down on them until they warm up.

I heard that too. On a day when the gasoil froze in my car while I was driving, I am le jealous. I don't like the snow, but these days, it's all been blown back on the roads, packed and frozen packed.

Fact: everybody in the world can understand English if it's spoken loudly and slowly enough.







Or so some tourists seem to think...

No. That's possible in every (or almost every) language.

To: everyone. Have any of you grown up and/or lived in multiple countries?

Actually, I found a recipe in English, but I am having a heck of a time finding the dried cod. I have a request out to my family to let me know if they come across any in their shopping trips to the various world markets in the area. But thank you!
I've never had the chance to go abroad, but personally I would feel horrible going to a place and not at least trying to learn the language some. I don't mean this disrespectful at all - but I even wish I knew what language the family at my local Chinese joint spoke so I could try to learn some of that. I see them every week and I think it would be neat to learn. I guess I just find it a show of respect if I were to attempt to "fit in" per say in any country I visited. I see how much trouble people have from other countries who don't speak a lick of English and come here for vacation. I don't want to be that person.

Nope. Lived in Washington my whole life (so far). Though I occasionally head up to Canada, due to the close proximity.

So I got to thinking the other day, are there any American foods that people in other countries (specifically in northern and western Europe) enjoy? BBQ comes to mind as the most distinctly American food.