Re: OT: Icelandic help

Icelanders even speak to fast for *each other*. They say _Ha
hvað segir þú?" [,Hak:_ha'sE:rDu], or just _Ha?_ after
every third sentence or so -- although sometimes it probably
means "What do you mean?"

_Ha_ of course is a quick pronunciation of _hvað_ to
begin with...

As for being a better speaker than listener we're
definitely alike!

2008/5/5 Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>:
> On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 5:58 AM, Benct Philip Jonsson
> <melroch@...> wrote:
>  >  And yes, Icedlanders normally speak very fast.
>
>  *Everyone* normally speaks very fast from the perspective
>  of L2 speakers (or non-speakers) of their L1.
>
>
>  > I had to say "Gjerþu svo vel að tala hægara" all the
>  > time. Probably they didn't believe me because I
>  > pronounced it as
>  >
>  >  [,k_jEs:'vEl a't_ha:l 'hai)ra]
>  >
>  >  I'm too good a parrot, you see.
>
>  I have a friend who had similar issues when he was doing
>  phone solicitation in Atlanta. When someone answered the
>  phone in Spanish, he would say "Lo siento, pero yo no
>  hablo español" - except he got too good at saying it and
>  they stopped believing him. Or else they were just
>  cursing him out regardless. Phone solicitation does tend
>  to elicit that sort of reaction.
>
>  I do definitely have the "better parrot than listener"
>  problem with Spanish. I've never understood all the
>  people who say they can listen and get the gist of
>  something but can't say anything themselves; I've always
>  had the opposite problem.
>
>
>  --
>  Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
>


--
/ BP

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