The Thread for Useless, but Interesting Facts

[nudge]

Just now, Eco said:

You are me both. 

How many do you think you can converse in enough to get around in? 

I'm fluent in four, used to be conversational in other two, so with a bit of refreshing and practice, I think I could get back to that. A few others just very basic vocabulary for emergencies, haha.

[Eco]

1 minute ago, nudge said:

I'm fluent in four, used to be conversational in other two, so with a bit of refreshing and practice, I think I could get back to that. A few others just very basic vocabulary for emergencies, haha.

Lithuanian, Russian, German and English? 

I am fluent in 2, can get around in 5, maybe, just maybe 6. 

[nudge]

Just now, Eco said:

Lithuanian, Russian, German and English? 

I am fluent in 2, can get around in 5, maybe, just maybe 6. 

Yeah, and then Spanish and Dutch which I used to be able to converse in, but due to lack of use and practice, it's just passive knowledge now (i.e. able to read and understand most of it but struggle when it comes to speaking).

5 or 6 is a lot. What do you mean by "get around" though? Like, beginner level that's enough to get by in common daily situations, or actually holding a half decent conversation?

[Eco]

9 minutes ago, nudge said:

Yeah, and then Spanish and Dutch which I used to be able to converse in, but due to lack of use and practice, it's just passive knowledge now (i.e. able to read and understand most of it but struggle when it comes to speaking).

5 or 6 is a lot. What do you mean by "get around" though? Like, beginner level that's enough to get by in common daily situations, or actually holding a half decent conversation?

I'd say a half decent conversation to where if I was dropped in the middle of that country with no native speakers of English or Russian, that I would be able to get around. Of course some of this helps with the fact that I learned Latin as a child so while I don't count Italian, I would imagine I'd have little difficulty with it. 

But i believe if I was in Mexico, France, Romania, China (again), I would be able to get around, so couple those with my English and Russian, and I'd be at 6. 

[nudge]

1 minute ago, Eco said:

I'd say a half decent conversation to where if I was dropped in the middle of that country with no native speakers of English or Russian, that I would be able to get around. Of course some of this helps with the fact that I learned Latin as a child so while I don't count Italian, I would imagine I'd have little difficulty with it. 

But i believe if I was in Mexico, France, Romania, China (again), I would be able to get around, so couple those with my English and Russian, and I'd be at 6. 

I hope to add Mandarin to my list at some point, too . 
Europe is easy due to many languages being related; if you are fluent in one of the Germanic, Romance, Slavic languages, you're likely to be able to at least understand bits of another language from the same family...not enough to have a proper conversation mind, but to get around comfortably. 
In SE Asia, I find a mixture of body language, gestures, English and bits of broken local language the most useful, haha  

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, nudge said:

I hope to add Mandarin to my list at some point, too . 
Europe is easy due to many languages being related; if you are fluent in one of the Germanic, Romance, Slavic languages, you're likely to be able to at least understand bits of another language from the same family...not enough to have a proper conversation mind, but to get around comfortably. 
In SE Asia, I find a mixture of body language, gestures, English and bits of broken local language the most useful, haha  

My goal, for some reason, for years, has to become fluent is all of the 'Official Languages of the U.N.'

Which right now, my status is - 

1. English - FLUENT
2. Russian - FLUENT
3. French - Not Fluent, but can definitely converse with natives
4. Chinese - Used to be more fluent, but could probably re-pick it up quickly after being immersed in it for so long. 
5. Spanish - Not Fluent, but studying it and it's very easy to learn since it's so widely spoken here, thus a lot of practice readily available. 
6. Arabic - I know a few letters of the alphabet. That's about it. 

[nudge]

48 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

According to google, there are 6,500 languages currently spoken in the world today.

Interesting.

And about 840 of them are spoken in Papua New Guinea  

Edited July 24, 2018 by nudge

[Azeem]

Besides my Native and English language.

I can read and understand Persian and Arabic to an extent. 

[Azeem]

15 hours ago, The Rebel CRS said:

According to google, there are 6,500 languages currently spoken in the world today.

Interesting.

One of my Dads classmate from a village near the China border his native language was only spoken by some 50 people of his village.

Edited July 25, 2018 by Devon Von Devon

[Azeem]

The Music during news headlines is added so that the viewers precieve the news with aggression, anger , anxiety and excitement. Without Music people will take news more calmly and think before forming an opinion.

Psychology

[Cicero]

Christopher Nolan and Michael Caine have confirmed, that in the ending of the film Inception, the scene where Cobb is reunited with his kids, is REAL. 

I'm sure many of you have already figured it out, but it was just recently confirmed last week. 

In dreams, Cobb wears his wedding ring. In reality, he doesn't. 

[Viva la FCB+]

[Cicero]

7 minutes ago, Viva la FCB said:

I never got this joke. 

[Eco]

2 minutes ago, Cicero said:

I never got this joke. 

Never watch The Office then, I suppose? 

[Cicero]

3 minutes ago, Eco said:

Never watch The Office then, I suppose? 

I've binged it maybe 3 or 4 times. 

I know he is impersonating Dwight, however I've no Idea why he's included battlestar galactica 

[Eco]

5 minutes ago, Cicero said:

I've binged it maybe 3 or 4 times. 

I know he is impersonating Dwight, however I've no Idea why he's included battlestar galactica 

Oh, because Dwight is obsessed with it and talks about watching it on his Saturday nights. 

[Cicero]

2 minutes ago, Eco said:

Oh, because Dwight is obsessed with it and talks about watching it on his Saturday nights. 

I know that 

Just no idea if he said it randomly or if there was some hidden context I didn't comprehend 

[Viva la FCB+]

@Cicero basically that, no hidden context hes just saying things Dwight likes and talks about.

For those out of the loop:

 

[Toinho]

I refuse to watch the American office. 

@nudgedo you know much Khmer?

[nudge]

7 hours ago, Toinho said:

I refuse to watch the American office. 

@nudgedo you know much Khmer?

Not that much. I know the basics for daily situations (e.g. greetings, polite expressions, introductions, ordering stuff in a restaurant, asking for a bill, numbers, directions and then various basic words for different things), but I wouldn't be able to string a few sentences together otherwise... Why?

[Toinho]

3 hours ago, nudge said:

Not that much. I know the basics for daily situations (e.g. greetings, polite expressions, introductions, ordering stuff in a restaurant, asking for a bill, numbers, directions and then various basic words for different things), but I wouldn't be able to string a few sentences together otherwise... Why?

Well you were going on about all the languages you speak and I just wondered considering you live in Cambodia... 

[nudge]

50 minutes ago, Toinho said:

Well you were going on about all the languages you speak and I just wondered considering you live in Cambodia... 

Yeah, I probably should and I considered learning it properly once I arrived, but decided against it. It's a weird language and as long as English + bits and pieces of Khmer suffice in daily situations, I don't really have enough motivation to learn it for some reason, haha. Never happened to me before. 

[Faithcore]

14 hours ago, Toinho said:

I refuse to watch the American office. 

@nudgedo you know much Khmer?

She likes to eat Khmers afaik.

[nudge]

1 hour ago, Faithcore said:

She likes to eat Khmers afaik.

Khmer=kambodschanisch, du Lauch!  

[Faithcore]

58 minutes ago, nudge said:

Khmer=kambodschanisch, du Lauch!  

Nope. Must be some strange accent you picked up over there. 

Those with basic education about Cambodia know that Khmers are a Southwest Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia, accounting for 97,6 % of the country's 15.9 million people.