Re: What languages do you regularly use besides forth?

John Doty wrote:

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More linguistically sophisticated Germans, however, apparently understood what Kennedy was grasping for when he called himself a pastry ;-).

They also understand that "friend" and "Freund" cover different ranges of people. Some sophisticated anglophones understand that when a francophone tells you "always right" (or "tout le droit") he means "straight ahead."

It's not just vocabulary: a language's grammar channels expression in particular ways too. The topic/agent distinction at the core of Japanese grammar can be expressed in English, but the result may seem stilted and legalistic. Learning a really different language like Japanese changes how you see English. Even with a language a similar to English as French, differences in grammar are illuminating, I think.

Adopted vocabulary is also a tricky thing. You should not assume that a foreign word absorbed by English keeps its meaning. To see how adopted words *from* English fare, check out www.engrish.com: some of the craziness is simple mistranslation, but some (like "I feel Coke") is intended for Japanese readers and is strange (from an English speaker's point of view) adoption. But remember it makes sense in its linguistic/cultural context.

At least at one time, "nylon" in Hebrew meant sleek; modern; up to date.

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Jerry
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Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
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