english as a second.... or possibly third language

[unclej]

i was running a little late this morning so instead of cooking breakfast like i usually do i stopped at the local super market to grab something from the deli. they have pretty good stuff and you can have them fix you a plate with bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and gravy. you know, breakfast. they also have fresh made breakfast tacos, biscuits with ham or sausage and cheese wrapped in celophane to go. the young lady that waited on me said in halting english, "i can help you?". i asked for a sausage biscuit. i spoke to a fellow i know as she fixed me up and really wasn't paying attention.

i got out to my truck and laughed until i cried when i opened the little sack she gave me my food in. on the bottom was an unwrapped, unsliced biscuit and right beside it was a piece of sausage.

it was so funny i just went ahead and ate it instead of going back in a getting what i ordered.

 

[Andreina]

English is my 2nd or 3rd language - depending on how you see it and trust me, I had my fair share of horror when I moved in with a cockney family in east london when I was 15.

ah, matey... give yer almondrocks, the struggle and strife is doing the washing.

 

[unclej]

hey, little devil, i hope you know that i was in no way making fun of the girl that waited on me. the whole thing was hillarious and i got just exactly what i asked for. if i was making fun of anything it was the human condition.

 

[Andreina]

hey, little devil, i hope you know that i was in no way making fun of the girl that waited on me. the whole thing was hillarious and i got just exactly what i asked for. if i was making fun of anything it was the human condition.

don't worry lol

you gotta take languages with a pinch of humor a good friend of mine (he is Scottish and studies German) said once the English equivalent of: "Sir, I would kindly remind you that I'm one fucking wicked bastard of an employee, therefore it would very kind to give me a payrise."

He sorta got his colloquial and standard German mixed up

 

[ShyGuy68]

I also know how it is to have English as a second language. But then again sometimes it also feels like my native language Danish is my second language.

The problem is very often when I sit and write something, and then try to translate it from one of the languages to the other. It's not always easy to get excatly the same meaning across I'll admit that. But I do the best I can

 

[morninggirl5]

You're right, unclej, you got exactly what you asked for.

We did a presentation in class one night where the participants were asked to write step-by-step directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then we followed their directions exactly as they were written. Not one set of directions resulted in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

There's a lot in the English language that has to be inferred to get the message properly. If you don't know what you're supposed to know, you won't understand the message at all.

 

[Lovepotion69]

Yes, second languages can confuse you at times.
In high school I read Swedish, German, Spanish and English for a year. My exams must have looked hilarious! I'd always end up not knowing something in the language the exam was on, but I'd know it in one of the other languages....

Still, it's amazing how fast I've adjusted to English over here. Now I have a harder time adjusting back to Swedish when at home. That's kinda scary....

 

[unclej]

years ago in dallas i was a remodeling general contractor and i hired a painter for a two week job. he was a russian immigrant and spoke really very good english. all day long he would ask me questions about the nuances of certain words or phrases. it was a challenge and made me realize how complicated english can be at times.

one day at lunch he asked me about something and i thought for a while then gave him the answer. he thought for a minute and said, "mr. johnny, you a very smart man." i said thank you of course and then he said, "in my country is not good to be that smart." when i asked why he said, "you that smart in my country KGB shoot you." i laughed a little and he looked me straight in the eye and told me he was serious.

no major point here just that it really makes you think sometimes about the things we take for granted.