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But seriously: How many other Austrians participate here? Most of them would join one of the big German/Austrian/Swiss message boards. I became a member of this site mainly because none of the local ones have that many nut-jobs contributing. Browsing through the Religion, History or Politics board is just hilarious.
But seriously: How many other Austrians participate here? Most of them would join one of the big German/Austrian/Swiss message boards. I became a member of this site mainly because none of the local ones have that many nut-jobs contributing. Browsing through the Religion, History or Politics board is just hilarious.
I have always wanted to visit foreign countries web sites to see how the world looks from their point of view (with the help of google translator of course). I do not believe that I have ever been on a web site that catered primarily to British, German, Polish, Canadian ect, all America.
Kind of disappointing that those sites seem to be lacking crazies--lets just admit it without them who else is going to bring life into boring topics of politics and create wild threads that have you up way past bed time.....Can you please suggest a few.
I have always wanted to visit foreign countries web sites to see how the world looks from their point of view (with the help of google translator of course). I do not believe that I have ever been on a web site that catered primarily to British, German, Polish, Canadian ect, all America.
Kind of disappointing that those sites seem to be lacking crazies--lets just admit it without them who else is going to bring life into boring topics of politics and create wild threads that have you up way past bed time.....Can you please suggest a few.
Oh, believe me. We have them too. The ones posting in the comment section of diepresse.com for example. They're crazy in a scary way, though. Not in a funny way as in threads like "America's descent into Marxism...", "Why The Left Hates Guns" or "Should America become a Fascist nation?". "To the well traveled, do you feel America is the best place to live?" was also a great laugh, as are most of the Creationists' posts.
But on a more serious note: Yeah, I think it's important to see the world from a different angle at times. Even when it comes to a matter like the Swiss initiative adopted a couple of weeks ago. German, Austrian and Swiss-German views differ significantly on that. So it's quite refreshing to read Swiss newspapers like NZZ or BaZ on that.
This thread seems to imply that most of the world is entirely focused on the Anglosphere, which is a grave exaggeration in my opinion. This is probably due to fact that English-speakers themselves are completely emerged in the Anglosphere with little to no news from the outside getting to them. Even a dwarf nation like Liechtenstein has two newspapers focusing solely on their own domestic affairs...
I don't feel it. I use Finnish in everyday interaction, and also speak another very minnow language that I usually use. C-D and BBC are the only English websites I spend time on, everything else either in Finnish or Swedish. The TV series I watch are predominantly American, but recently I've watched a Chinese, Korean and a couple of French movies. Used to watch Poirot as well when it ran.
I don't feel overwhelmed by English. I use it, and I know it's the dominant language in business and also in academic circles, but so what? I speak English and gladly use it. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't have any interest in learning new languages. I already know the basics of French and German, and will study both these languages until I reach an acceptable level.
In continental Europe people are capable of speaking two to five languages without having a couple of blown fuses every time they open their mouth.
English is a convenience language, not a dominance language. People in talk and write 99.99 percent of their time in their local language.
You can compare American, since we speak English because of the American influence, not English influence, with a 7-Eleven, it's always there and you can transmit about anything with few words.
I consider myself lucky that the current must-learn language isn't Chinese or something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharky8828
English is extremely easy to learn especially for the young population thru pop culture/music. It's nice because you don't need to invest time/money into learning it.
In my experience, listening to music in a foreign language doesn't do anything to one's proficiency, even after taking courses in said language.
I have sort of a mixed opinion about that.
On the one hand, it's very convenient. You can go anywhere, speak to people from different countries in English. If someone doesn't speak it you can always find another person who does. That makes life easier.
On the other hand, subconsciously I fear that this big English monster will swallow all other languages in future, and it will endanger the very concept of countries and nations, which (in my opinion) makes the world a more interesting place.
Then I comfort myself by thinking that anyway it's not gonna happen anytime soon, and I won't live to see it
In my experience, listening to music in a foreign language doesn't do anything to one's proficiency, even after taking courses in said language.
This! I can easily communicate in English, but I often don't really understand the lyrics when I listen to songs. The pronunciation is way too indistinct, and often too much slang is used.
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