Re: the Country Park vs Gosford Park

Jo Lonergan wrote:
May I compliment you on your English, Sebastian?
Certainly - any time you like. :-) Thanks!

Actually, at the time I went into UMRA and was writing more I wasn't sure how much my writing would turn out, I hadn't had practice in this kind of situation (written but somewhat informal). I had already become deeply involved in listening (obviously) and speaking (I often surprise Brits with my accent as well - am I making you curious?) and that was what I felt more safe with. So I'm very grateful for the practice as well as the compliments and I'm not getting bored of either. ;-)

One thing I have been doing for a long time is translating more formal texts. A significant part of the English on the German Big Brother Awards website (http://bigbrotherawards.de/en/) is my work. And in 1996 I discovered I am good at simultanous translations as well. But I have no paper qualifications for either of that and have been impressed by professional translators coming up with text beyond my abilities. Still, I'd be very interested to use this passion of mine in a professional way. In one of my jobs I was a travelling instructor for computer software and that included several trips abroad where I'd work in English but the my language quality did not make a real difference, and I wouldn't mind something more "human" anyway. We'll see.

It's interesting to see that some of you are finding some movies difficult too. I have often enjoyed realising how many linguistic niches one can discover. In 2000 I had a very difficult time in a Stockholm cinema watching a Hollywood movie ("Girl, Interrupted" with Swedish subtitles), not a genre I am normally very interested in. Early this year I discovered a stream of Sex and the City on the web and got deeply involved with that. :-) Now the same with the mostly British Gosford Park. And then there's literature and all kinds of "real life" situations. It really is interesting having a long-distance affair with a foreign language and culture.

Sebastian
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: which is better?
    ... Writing has a handful of words which should be never used. ... I discover a better way to write!" ... costs more, energy costs more. ... "Because of inflation, prices for goods and services are ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: "throw the cow over the fence some hay" [was: Re: Threw John a ball vs. threw a ball to John]
    ... during the time when people like Melanthon* were translating ... their names into Greek or Latin; that the classical Latin ... Chancery Standard of Saxony. ... The contrast between the writing in his novels, plays, poetry and with this letter is amazing: at one point, IIRC, there is pile up of about 4 verbs as the parenthetical clauses come together. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • [PATCH] Make kthread_stop() not oops when passed a bad pointer
    ... Due to some botched error handling code in a driver I was writing, ... It's terribly exciting to discover ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: BBC not a podcast
    ... being used to discover that in 2002 I ... wrote "bored of" in a newsgroup article. ... I think what's pathetic is an inability to accept that writing `alright' ... I have nothing very much to say to young Chris, ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)
  • Re: BBC not a podcast
    ... being used to discover that in 2002 I ... wrote "bored of" in a newsgroup article. ... I think what's pathetic is an inability to accept that writing `alright' ... quite a difficult confession for him to make, ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)