Foreign language recognition?

[deathfisaro]

So I was surfing youtube, and found "American McDonalds vs Japanese McDonalds" and it lead to "Japanese McDonald commercials" to "Funny Japanese commercials"

Well not really. Half the videos titled "Japanese commercials" were not in Japanese.
People's language distinguish system is broken, or are intensionally japan-rolling.



I didn't go to Canadian school except for an year, and my French is really bad. I can't sing the national anthem in French AT ALL.
So if somthing sounds like French, but also sounds like Spanish, and I have no idea if it could be German, I don't take random guesses; "European language" does the job. (Yeah so even it were in fact English, I would still be right =P)


And as for Asian languages, I used to live in Hong Kong and I can semi-tell if someone's Cantonese or mainlander by just looking.
Cantonese/Mandarin/Japanese/Korean/Singaporean languages all have some key features, and quite frequently it shows even when they speak in English.
(I haven't had much exposure to Mongolian and Taiwanese so they're hard to tell, both appearance and language)


This is kinda off-topic, but I'm not sure if I should use the lovespoon in Canada. I don't want "WTF is this? I was expecting a ring and you give me a freaking wooden spoon?", but explaining beforehand spoils the "pop" and explaining when I'm giving breaks the mood =P

 

[ojsinnerz.]

So I was surfing youtube, and found "American McDonalds vs Japanese McDonalds" and it lead to "Japanese McDonald commercials" to "Funny Japanese commercials"

Well not really. Half the videos titled "Japanese commercials" were not in Japanese.
People's language distinguish system is broken, or are intensionally japan-rolling.



I didn't go to Canadian school except for an year, and my French is really bad. I can't sing the national anthem in French AT ALL.
So if somthing sounds like French, but also sounds like Spanish, and I have no idea if it could be German, I don't take random guesses; "European language" does the job. (Yeah so even it were in fact English, I would still be right =P)


And as for Asian languages, I used to live in Hong Kong and I can semi-tell if someone's Cantonese or mainlander by just looking.
Cantonese/Mandarin/Japanese/Korean/Singaporean languages all have some key features, and quite frequently it shows even when they speak in English.
(I haven't had much exposure to Mongolian and Taiwanese so they're hard to tell, both appearance and language)


This is kinda off-topic, but I'm not sure if I should use the lovespoon in Canada. I don't want "WTF is this? I was expecting a ring and you give me a freaking wooden spoon?", but explaining beforehand spoils the "pop" and explaining when I'm giving breaks the mood =P

I've also seen a "Korean" commerical that was in full Chinese. Hell, obviously I knew it was Chinese, because I CAN READ AND SPEAK Korean, and obviously it wasn't in Korean. We can tell the difference between the other countries, unlike most of the whites, who think all asians look the same, and speak the same.

Also, lovespoon? I don't get it...

 

[moozxy]

Mm I can also semi-tell what kind of asian an asian is lol.
I thought Love Spoons were only in Wales, and I didn't know you could give them instead of a ring when proposing

 

[NeSchn]

Je voudrais manger ton chien?

 

[CockroachMan]

I can recognize most western european languages.. German, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese are very distinct.. eastern european languages look all the same to me thought..

I saw enough anime to differentiate japanese from other eastern asian languages.. if I pay attention I think I can differentiate chinese from korean..

 

[moozxy]

Korean sounds VERY different from Mandarin, Cantonese etc.

 

[wilddenim]

As fully hearing impaired, I have difficulty identifying spoken languages, let alone written language.

 

[Mangofett]

I'm not asian but I had like 9001 Asian friends (until I moved) and I learned how to tell them apart.

I'm also good at telling languages apart. When I hear and see them.

 

[deathfisaro]

Also, lovespoon? I don't get it...

I thought Love Spoons were only in Wales, and I didn't know you could give them instead of a ring when proposing

Well so yeah it's a tradition in Wales and I was told to give my lovespoon to my wife-to-be. I thought that meant use it to propose..

Wikipedia.org

Today love spoons are given as wedding and anniversary gifts, as well as birthday, baby gifts, Christmas and "just because". They are mostly a folk craft now but can be romantic under the right circumstances.

I mean, this is the kind of thing that's really hard to know unless you're well-exposed to the culture. I don't have any emergent plans on using my lovespoon though =P

 

[NeSchn]

I am good at telling written languages apart (mostly French and Finnish).

 

[SavageWaffle]

Korean sounds VERY different from Mandarin, Cantonese etc.

i 2nd that.

 

[BuDaH]

I can recognize most western european languages.. German, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese are very distinct.. eastern european languages look all the same to me thought..

I saw enough anime to differentiate japanese from other eastern asian languages.. if I pay attention I think I can differentiate chinese from korean..

Cheers for the portuguese speakers!

Same here, western european languages are a piece of cake to distinguish, but I went to Finland and Sweden last year and oh man, it's quite impossible to understand those guys, their language(Finnish) has no roots in terms of construction, so even for some Finnish people it's hard to talk in their native language, a small part of the country end up talking Swedish..

About Asian languages, animes made me learn some little words and phrases, nothing more than that.

 

[Mazor]

Same here, western european languages are a piece of cake to distinguish, but I went to Finland and Sweden last year and oh man, it's quite impossible to understand those guys, their language(Finnish) has no roots in terms of construction, so even for some Finnish people it's hard to talk in their native language, a small part of the country end up talking Swedish..

For the record, the main reason that a small part of Finland ends up speaking Swedish is that Finland has two official languages, one being Finnish and the other Swedish. The reason for this is that Finland was a part of Sweden up until somewhere in the beginning of the 19th century when it was captured by Russia (and roughly 100 years later Finland became independent).

 

[BuDaH]

Same here, western european languages are a piece of cake to distinguish, but I went to Finland and Sweden last year and oh man, it's quite impossible to understand those guys, their language(Finnish) has no roots in terms of construction, so even for some Finnish people it's hard to talk in their native language, a small part of the country end up talking Swedish..

For the record, the main reason that a small part of Finland ends up speaking Swedish is that Finland has two official languages, one being Finnish and the other Swedish. The reason for this is that Finland was a part of Sweden up until somewhere in the beginning of the 19th century when it was captured by Russia (and roughly 100 years later Finland became independent).

Thanks for the historic addition, numbering the quantity, is said that 5% of Finnish people speaks Swedish, and all is fruit of the "peaceful" colonization of Sweden. They have colleges that teach in swedish for the portion of the people who speaks it.

Man, I saw numberless of Finnishes crying over the lost against Sweden in the Ice Hockey for the Winter Olympic Games, 3x2, on the Final in 2006 I think. Hehehe...