This.
as a linguist, I'm constantly shocked at how Brits behave abroad.
Mind you, I find learning languages easy, so I can't understand how anybody would find it difficult.
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Tue 15 May 2012, 22:18, 2 replies, latest was 13 years ago)

Behave linguistically?

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:19, Reply)

Well, you know.
Talking loudly and slowly to foreigners. Or talking in English about people, and expecting them not to know what you're saying.
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Tue 15 May 2012, 22:22, Reply)

Oi, Pedro! I said "BREAKFAST"!

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:29, Reply)

I once spoke Spanish to some staff at a hotel in Benidorm
And was treated like royalty for the rest of my stay.
You'd think I was the first English person to try it.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:36, Reply)

You were and too right!

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:39, Reply)

I can memorize phrases quite easily
but my problem is that I have no deep understanding of the rules of english grammar which makes learning grammatical rules in other languages really hard.

I feel I would have been much better at french and german if I really understood what conjugating a verb meant in english before trying to do it in foreignese.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:23, Reply)

You know how to do it in English
But you don't know what it's called. Nominative, accusative, genetive or dative. Predicate etc. WTF?
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:26, Reply)

Exactly.
So trying to actually understand what you're doing in a foreign language is quite hard.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:35, Reply)

Abso.
Latin and German are the gayest I know.
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:36, Reply)

We don't really conjugate verbs in the same way.
I do, he does, they do.
You would know not to say 'I does, he do, they does' but probably not why.
And English has so many irregular verbs 'I go, I went' etc. We should really start teaching kids languages when they're four or five, they way they do on the continent.
Mind you, English will probably always be a lingua franca, so we'll always be able to get away with not bothering.
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Tue 15 May 2012, 22:29, Reply)

When I went on the german exchange in sixth form
I sat in on several of their english lessons. As a foreign language it's taught so differently to how you learn it as a kid. I couldn't tell you what the dative is, or nominative or any of that crap.
(berk, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:32, Reply)

It's something you pick up instinctively in your own language.
Latin has seven cases. I couldn't tell you what the ablative is...
( b3th Not shit. Not mod., Tue 15 May 2012, 22:34, Reply)

It's cunt.

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:35, Reply)

You don't Learn it as a kid. You absorb it.
Did you wear lederhosen?
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:34, Reply)

You wish, boyo
actually you probably don't. I was pretty chubby back then.
(berk, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:52, Reply)

Mmmmmmmmm!
You to me are only gorgeous cakey fun. Immaculate house guest. Xxxx.
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:57, Reply)

You're only saying that because I made the bed and tidied away the kebab...

(berk, Tue 15 May 2012, 23:01, Reply)

IMMACULATE!
And pretty for one so young. And clever.
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 23:02, Reply)

Pfft, flatterer.

(berk, Tue 15 May 2012, 23:03, Reply)

Do you mind?
You're standing right in my soft spot!
(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 23:04, Reply)

I almost made a risqué joke on the subject of soft then
I thought better of it.
(berk, Tue 15 May 2012, 23:05, Reply)

;-(

(Set your faces to Stunned Bigly, Tue 15 May 2012, 23:09, Reply)

Smirk
you dreadful flirt, you.
(berk, Tue 15 May 2012, 23:12, Reply)

The other problem is that English is pretty versatile
And it is easy to make sense of terrible misuse of it.
Other languages tend to have fewer words, so context and sentence structure often matter a great deal.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Tue 15 May 2012, 22:34, Reply)