In one of Bierma's columns he talks about the UN declaring 2008 the International Year of Languages. Apparently in this proclamation they rebuked themselves a bit for relying too much on English. They called for the UN not to give English preferential treatment over their other 5 official languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. They also called for UN employees to use in-house training materials for learning a second or third language. I might have thought all UN employees already knew at least 3 languages.

The UN resolution also declared that February 21, 2008, will be International Mother Language Day. We'll have to celebrate it on Wordcraft!

If you read the link, Bierma also had a good discussion of the word "czar," the German word "kitschen," and the phrase to "come clean."

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Originally posted by Kalleh:

The UN resolution also declared that February 21, 2008, will be International Mother Language Day. We'll have to celebrate it on Wordcraft!

Oh, noooooo, only Zmj and Goofy are likely to be able to speak Proto Into-European!

Yeah. I might know Czech and German by then, though, since I must learn both those languages by July when I'll be in Vienna and Prague. On second thought, I think I'll just drag Goofy or zmj with me.

Good practical idea Kalleh - I always knew you were a Praguematist!

Hee hee! I think I will Prague you along for the laughs!

I'd go along just to Czech up on you. Well, actually, the Czechs make some fine model airplane kits, so maybe I'd actually like to go shopping!

Shu and I looked for your airplane book while we were in France, but Shu speaks very good French. On the other hand, for me to go into a Prague store and ask, in Czech, for a book on "fine model airplane kits," well...let's just say I'd get a condom or something. Otherwise, I'd buy you one, Asa!

I bought my Czech and German phrasebooks/dictionaries today. They don't look easy! My cab driver, who was from Yukoslavia, said that German is very hard because of 3 forms in the present, past and future tenses, though I believe we've talked about this before. I am sure I will soon understand better once I am there!

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My cab driver, who was from Yukoslavia, said that German is very hard because of 3 forms in the present, past and future tenses

I found German hard because of the numbers of genders. German has 3 - masculine, feminine and neuter - with no apparent rationale.

For example, it's Das Auto (the automobile) but Der Wagen (the car). English, of course, has no genders but what it does have (and German does not) is two present tenses (as Bob was discussing quite recently). Germans do not understand the difference between "I live" and "I am living" - although to us it is as obvious as it is difficult to explain.

Kalleh, I suspect that you'll find half the Czechs are at least passable in English, so not to worry!
And don't forget: They make the REAL Budweiser!

And Richard, it's not much better in French. Example: "Velo" M. "Bicycle." "Bicyclette," F. "Bicycle." I guess it depends on who's riding it, or who's riding whom, or something...

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And Richard, it's not much better in French.

Ah yes - but French has only two genders; German has three and is thus 50% more tricky.

Have you heard of the paternity suit in which the Prosecution performed DNA tests and determined that the Czech was in the male ???

[[[Bad joke -- so far --- needs much improvement ]]]

By the way, Spanish allegedly has only two genders ..... la and el.

But there is an argument for three genders in Spanish ...... la, el, and lo.

For example, la pez is the fish when it's swimming.... el pez is the fish after it's been caught.

And "lo pez" ??????

Ah yes, Lopez is the fisherman.

But Jerry, isn't "Lopez" a wolf eel?

My son, who understands colloquial Mexican Spanish well, says that "lo" is a slang article often used in place of "el".

That would make sense, since AIUI both el and lo would be derived from the Latin demonstrative pronoun ille, illo. Italian has il, but uses lo before words that begin with s+consonant.

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My son, who understands colloquial Mexican Spanish well, says that "lo" is a slang article often used in place of "el".

In some Mexican dialects, and in Venezuela and the Caribbean region, the final "s" is often silent, making "los" (the plural masculine article) sound like "lo."

This makes "La casa de los curas" (The priests' house) sound like "La casa de locura" (the nut house).