What Nationality Are You?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm an Aspie

South African.

Creole American - been out of Louisiana for more than 20 years now - if I stayed I would have NOTHING. I used to live right in the path of Katrina. All my relatives survived and are rebuilding and doing rather well since 2005.

American's quite a boring nationality and can mean a variety of things.

I'm american new orleans louisiana.
i know i have scottish, irish, french, and possibly german roots.
you can tell i have scottish and irish roots with my brothers because their facial hair has an orangish tinge to it.

I'm Dutch. Born 14423 days ago, (taking in account 10 leap years), in the province Noord-Holland about 20 kms beneath Amsterdam). My family name is of German origin but 'we moved' to Holland more than 3 centuries ago. (blah, detail, blah.... sorry)

______________
do you speak any Afrikaans? just wondering.

^
Only basic Afrikaans I learnt in school. Where are you from?

Du yu cleep yur vawels?

_________________
your multilingual skills are a world better than mine- in the great northwest of ammuurrica;+) in the sound of puget- [part of] the land where most folk barely speak english and of this group tend to have gratingly hard R's [think "valley grrrrrl"].

regardless of their charms, i like listening to the speech of south african leaders speaking Afrikaans, it sounds dignified and regal. also am partial to high-class english speech [peter sellers acting the part, the royal family and such]. american english certainly is colorful in terms of idiom but in speech is strictly utilitarian- iow it doesn't "sing," seems to lack an aural poetic flow.

anyways, if you feel up to it, please do share some of your language. charles berlitz maintained that if a student learnt the native words for "yes-no-where is-how much- please- thank you" - that everything else would flow from there, so i have made a half-@$$ed stab at learning some words from a smattering of different tongues. posting some words pertinent to AS would be an entertainment.

Gesondheid or Amandla [hope that makes sense]
____________________________

"...I meant that actors should be TREATED like cattle." [alfred hitchcock]

Sorry, not quite sure what you trying get at.



Well it's been a while since any SA'n leader has spoken Afrikaans (as a first language). Nowadays the language has a very colloquial feel to it. You get this impression when you watch programmes on tv.

I'll share some words (using my very finite knowledge I must add)

Yes - Ja (Yaah)
No - Nee (Near)
Where is - Waar (Vaarrrr) is (er-s)
How much - Hoe (hoo) veel (feel)
Please - Asseblief
Thank you - Dankie (dung - kee)

A few more...

Hello - Hello
Goodbye - Tot siens
How are you? - Hoe (hoo) is (er-s) dit (dirt)?

[/quote]

Well it's been a while since any SA'n leader has spoken Afrikaans (as a first language). Nowadays the language has a very colloquial feel to it. You get this impression when you watch programmes on tv.

I'll share some words (using my very finite knowledge I must add)

Yes - Ja (Yaah)
No - Nee (Near)
Where is - Waar (Vaarrrr) is (er-s)
How much - Hoe (hoo) veel (feel)
Please - Asseblief
Thank you - Dankie (dung - kee)

A few more...

Hello - Hello
Goodbye - Tot siens
How are you? - Hoe (hoo) is (er-s) dit (dirt)?[/quote]
__________
i can hear it in my mind now- dankie:+)
my late mother was japanese, and because my school told her i was ret*d in language development [they didn't know what autism was back then] she made it a point to not teach me any- in her own charming way she told me i was too dumb to be learning any japanese. what little i know is strictly accidentally overhearing her talk with her japanese friends.

phonetically transcribed:

yes= hai [sounds like "high" said quickly]
no= ee-ee-eh [said rapidly]
maybe= tah-bun [the "u" sounds like "ooh" and "ee" said simultaneously]
please= oh-neh-guy
hello=ohio goh-zai-mahs [yes, it sounds just like the state of ohio- my late father was stationed in japan, where a japanese worker greeted him with "ohio" and my dad told him, "no, i'm from indiana."] it really means "good morning, sir"

thanks [much]= arigato [gozaimahs] with soft "r"
how much is= ee-keh-rah [the "r" is soft, like l/d said together]
where is [that]= sore-wah [doko] - sounds almost like "soh-day-wah"]
0=ray-ee
1=ee-chee
2=nee
3=sawn
4=shee
5=goh
6=roh-koo
7=shee-chee [soft "sh"]
8=haw-chee
9=koo
10=joo
beer=bee-roo
pencil=nnpeet-soo
electricity=den-keh
delicious=oh-ee-shee

i know only a few others but i can't seem to recall them now.
interesting thing is that with the exception of orators and singers, the average japanese person cannot comprehend the english hard "r", as though the japanese brain lacks the aural/speech thingy to process the "rrr" sound. i tried to teach my mother how to say it only to be met with an uncomprehending ??? look. another interesting thing is that the french and the japanese seem to have a mutual love thing going, each country especially loves the other's culture and language.

jah mah-tah [see ya:+) ]

^
Sayanora

Very interesting. How did you come to know that?

^
About my father family's origin (plus my last name), you mean? Well, a (distant) family member went back (lets say anti-chronological) along our family tree and found out that the name started in Dülmen, Germany and it dates back 'a few' years before 1700 and probably lured by the wealth the Dutch had back then (our Golden Age) and opportunities deriving from it, a German chap thought.... Well, I don't know, maybe love had something to do with it.... (what could be other reasons, I wonder)

Still have a little booklet with the ancestry lines lying around somewhere.

(probably not that interesting for others.... the above, I mean)

I'm English, although my mother's side of the family has Scottish ancestry (her maiden name was Hendry - which is a proper Scottish clan name, and comes complete with its own tartan). Couldn't tell you about my father's side of the family, though, since I know next to nothing about him other than that he's a Chelsea fan...

My mom's side is mostly Irish I'm told, My dad's side is either english or scottish. I'm also told I've got some dutch, but I forget on which side.

irish-american 3rd generation from kerry