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ArmySGT.
01-20-2007, 01:00 AM
It always makes me feel a little embarrassed inside when I meet a young person from Europe who speaks 3 languages and has visited 8 different countries. I know they are closer together over there but still..

-E

Don't feel bad after all many languages there share the same origins (Latin).

If a Spaniard and an Italian bump into each other the can communicate at a basic level as there languages share many of the same root words. In addition the languages are structured similiarly with sentences written in the same form. Noun, adjective, verb.... The ball red bounces. Versus the english manner of describing the object than telling what it is doing. The red ball bounces. Makes it immensely easier to learn a new language when it is already similiar to your own.

Maybe it just takes football (soccer) to bring out the ugly tourist in them (Europeans). Certainly Americans percieved behavior wasn't on any one elses minds when Madrid was hosting Europe(?) cup preliminary while I was there.

rusdancer
01-20-2007, 09:34 AM
and where the hell did russia come from in your smart list?! rofl. other then the space center there, they arent exactly known for much else are they?[/quote]

You ARE kidding,right?

scarlett_vancouver
01-20-2007, 01:23 PM
Also great literature and lots of chess grandmasters!

TheSexKitten
01-20-2007, 03:28 PM
"and where the hell did russia come from in your smart list?! rofl. other then the space center there, they arent exactly known for much else are they?"

You ARE kidding,right?

It's funny that one of the main people clowning on Americans in this thread has already said 2 "internationally ignorant" things. ::)

mermaidnz
01-20-2007, 06:11 PM
It's funny that one of the main people clowning on Americans in this thread has already said 2 "internationally ignorant" things. ::)

2? um russian isnt known for being all that smart in this part of the world thats for sure. damn good looking, and drunks, yes, smart... not exactly. im definatly not saying they are stupid, but when someone claims two smart countries are japan and russia, i want to know the basis of this.

unless of course your saying russia is smart cos they are a big country (area wise) and like to have wars...ooops....just like america.



why pick apart everything i say cos i posted the video, i didnt make it, i just gfound it immensly funny, and exactly how americans are portrayed to the rest of the world.

mermaidnz
01-20-2007, 06:16 PM
Don't feel bad after all many languages there share the same origins (Latin).

If a Spaniard and an Italian bump into each other the can communicate at a basic level as there languages share many of the same root words. In addition the languages are structured similiarly with sentences written in the same form. Noun, adjective, verb.... The ball red bounces. Versus the english manner of describing the object than telling what it is doing. The red ball bounces. Makes it immensely easier to learn a new language when it is already similiar to your own.

Maybe it just takes football (soccer) to bring out the ugly tourist in them (Europeans). Certainly Americans percieved behavior wasn't on any one elses minds when Madrid was hosting Europe(?) cup preliminary while I was there.


this will be an ingnorant comment (or something i just do know about...) i know you guys study american history at school, but do you also learn much native american things? other then culture, do you learn their language? is native american core words inserted into everyday language on american tv or whatever?

growing up in nz, maori words are used on tv constantly, and kids learn alot of maori songs, language etc. the date is written in both langaues etc.... but australians dont seem to know any aborigional words, and i never ever hear anything said on tv here in any aborigional word.

just curious about whether americans intergrate native american words or not.

(ohhh look thesexkitten, another thing to use against me! damn me for not knowing every single wordly thing out there!) :O

Nautilus
01-20-2007, 06:22 PM
^^ i was thinking about this too... having lived in NZ and Aus.

we learn all the maori stories, protocol, words etc. i like it... and we know how to properly pronounce names like whangamata, ruapehu and waitakere.. on 'playschool' they even teach maori days of the week, counting etc.

i'm curious about american native stuff also... i'm guessing it's pretty much eschewed by the masses...

and what about canada for that matter... i know that french was fairly widely embraced... (i much prefer listening to the french announcements on air canada than the english ones). what about native stuff for the kiddies?

*goes and hides behind mermaid*

ArmySGT.
01-20-2007, 06:26 PM
this will be an ingnorant comment (or something i just do know about...) i know you guys study american history at school, but do you also learn much native american things? other then culture, do you learn their language? is native american core words inserted into everyday language on american tv or whatever?

growing up in nz, maori words are used on tv constantly, and kids learn alot of maori songs, language etc. the date is written in both langaues etc.... but australians dont seem to know any aborigional words, and i never ever hear anything said on tv here in any aborigional word.

just curious about whether americans intergrate native american words or not.

(ohhh look thesexkitten, another thing to use against me! damn me for not knowing every single wordly thing out there!) :O

Possbly in places bordering a Reservation. For the General populous, no. There are hundreds of Tribes most with their own Languages and Customs. Some have less than a hundred remaining others have like the Apache or the Sioux have thousands. Traditions were oral with pictographs meaning much has been lost. Now that you mention it I do recall a radio station in Wyoming playing a Native American language lesson. I don't recall what tribe or a single road, made the highway more interesting.

mermaidnz
01-20-2007, 06:33 PM
^ i guess it would be pretty hard when theres hundreds of different words with different tribes etc. im pretty sure thats why australia doesnt use any aborigional words too.

Jenny
01-20-2007, 06:55 PM
and what about canada for that matter... i know that french was fairly widely embraced... (i much prefer listening to the french announcements on air canada than the english ones). what about native stuff for the kiddies?

*goes and hides behind mermaid*
I don't know - I mean I took 5 years of french in school and have retained very, very little. I can conjugate "etre" and that is about it, and I remember a few nouns.

It would be impractical to integrate general "native stuff" into school curriculum or government practice - but I can't think of a good reason that you couldn't do it regionally.

Yekhefah
01-20-2007, 06:58 PM
I think they do. We learned a little bit about Cherokee and Choctaw cultures when I was growing up in Memphis, and took school trips to a preserved Choctaw village to learn about traditional customs and stuff. I don't remember much of it, but I remember at the time I found it very interesting, and I cried at the village when the costumed native tour guides explained how everyone was forced out on the Trail of Tears onto reservations. Even if I don't remember the details, I got a sense of social justice from it.

lwtex52
01-20-2007, 08:25 PM
I'm the wrong person to ask, seeing that I'm what the Political Correct crowd refers to as Native American. We started out with an entire continent, and ended up defending San Diego.

AkashaM
01-21-2007, 04:13 PM
.

Although it does make me wonder how long it would take me to locate Iran on a map.
I don know if could could see it, but Iran was in the wrong place, but no one seemed to catch it, lol.

casaubon1
01-21-2007, 07:06 PM
And yeah, a little satire on my end, too. :)

Good. As a fellow American, I almost had given you up for lost on this thread. :) Actually, you strike me as being in stage 2.

Stage 1 is the American who never travelled, never read newspapers about developments overseas, etc. Easy to make fun of, and lots of that done in this thread, although hardly a phenomenon limited to the US.

Stage 2 is travelling overseas, seeing the big world out there, and realizing how insular the stage 1's are. Maybe being a little embarrassed about being American, which I detect as well.

Stage 3 is realizing that there are millions of worldly, well-educated Americans, that they respect similar people from other countries, and that they are respected in turn. Sort of like Jay Zeno.

;)

MishaBliss
01-21-2007, 11:24 PM
My husband is American. He is very smart.

BrunetteGoddess
01-22-2007, 01:25 AM
The way I see it:

Crowds and groups are generally stupid. I don't know what it is about people, but when they get into crowds or groups they seem to lose all sense.

Individuals are smart. I think this goes for the world as a whole and every nationality and country.

TheSexKitten
01-22-2007, 12:36 PM
(ohhh look thesexkitten, another thing to use against me! damn me for not knowing every single wordly thing out there!) :O

Sorry, I wasn't targeting you, I was just pointing out some irony.

About the learning about the native stuff, when I was in grade school we spent the entire time learning about Spanish missionaries and how the indigenous peoples here were forced into Christianity. we also learned little Spanish phrases and read literature focused on native San Diegans. Then in 7th grade we took a trip to Arizona to learn all about the tribes and cultures (and dinos) there. No, we don't learn the languages, but that would be a lot of different languages to learn throughout the whole of the US. Unfortunately we were selfish ravagers early on, and the country evolved in a way as to not enmesh the native cultures into the "modern" one, but only vice versa. :(

TheSexKitten
01-22-2007, 12:46 PM
Oh man oh man! I just remembered something. About half the poeple I know are awesome and knowledgeable and open-minded, but the other half is clearly represented by the show in the og's post.

The other night, I was with my good friend at her new friends' house. We were hanging around, and my friend and I mentioned something about how we like going down to Rosarito (where I lived for almost a year). The friends promptly responded something along the lines of, "EEEW. Mexico's so dirty and gross. I've never been. I never will go. It fucking sucks there. Everyone wants to rip your off and jack your car."

So I replied truthfully, "Um, I lived there for almost a year. My car never got fucked with, and I know bad stuff happens there, but many of the people there were way nicer and more honest and accomodating than people I've met elsewhere."

So then they said, "oh, yeah right. They probably just wanted to rape you or some shit."

Needless to say I think her friends are assholes, and it's people like this that give America it's "stupid" reputation. :(