Re: Essential Swedish?

--- Peter Bleackley <Peter.Bleackley@...>
wrote:
>
> French is essentially a language that elides
> everything that doesn't get
> out of the way fast enough, and nasalises everything
> else.
That was an excellent definition !

> English is essentially the language of people who
> think that everybody else
> speaks their language. French is essentially the
> language of people who
> think that everybody else should speak theirs.
I'd rather say 'American' instead of English. Some
English people cross over to the continent sometimes,
and they notice that there exist people speaking
different languages. I think they tell it to their
friends and relatives when they come home. Americans
don't even notice it.

I also would say that French people think that nothing
as changed since before 1st World War, when French was
indeed an international language. If you look at
postcards from Russia from 1900, you'll notice that
not only the legend is in French and Russian, but also
the signs on the city shops for ex are often
translated into French. And Russia was not the only
example for this.

That was in the good old times. Now we regressed to
the status of Estonia, no offence to Estonians.



=====
Philippe Caquant

"Le langage est source de malentendus."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

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