Re: Das Chinesische Pidgin Englisch _Ham Soi_

Jonathan Chang wrote:

>     AiYaH!!!, I even would like to get the Bisang book, la. (If I have
> problems reading the Dutch fluently, I could always get an assist from my
> Dutch-educated Indonesian relatives & certain wonderful conlangers on this
> list  ; )
University of Amsterdam notwithstanding, the book (or at least its title)
is in German.

ObPersonal:  For a while after it came out I went around reading Douglas
Hofstadter's _Le Ton Beau de Marot_, which is almost entirely in English
(it's about translation), despite the title and the cover, a drawing of a
tombstone (pun) with a Marot poem inscribed on it.  As a result,
acquaintances and strangers started addressing me in French, a language
which I can puzzle out in written form but have absolutely no fluency with.
I spent a lot of time saying "Only the title is French."

BTW, it's a wonderful book, and I recommend it.
--

Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,  || http://www.reutershealth.com
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau,           || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.            -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)