Bumper stickers, pronunciations and foreign languages

[Simon]

No: HPFGUIDX 6710

Nplant wrote: <<<How about "Get high on cleaning products- PLAY QUIDDITCH!,
or
"My kid went to Hogwarts, and all I got was this stupid bumper sticker", or
(Neil, this one's for you) "My other car is a flying Ford Anglia", or even,
"My other broom is a Firebolt">>>

How about "I sold my soul to Voldemort and all I got was this lousy sticker"


Amanda wrote: "Which brings me to a related question I've been meaning to
ask. In my experience (limited to other people's observations, who've been
to England more) the English almost pride themselves on pronouncing foreign
words in English. Examples--garage, Nazi. In American English these have a
warped but faithful echo of the French and German pronunciation, but in
British English the "g" and the "z" are the standard ones of English
pronunciation."

I would agree that the British in general do mispronounce Nazi (I am unsure
if this is deliberately done as an insult or just by accident) but I am
going to disagree over garage. Garage has moved over to the English language
and, as it is not a name, I see no problem with the pronunciation. Language
is a tool for communication and words, and the entire language, do
metamorphose, in both spelling and pronunciation, over time.


Amanda wrote: "Sooooo, why, Caius, do you think the British would pronounce
Voldemort with a French accent? I've always thought it would rhyme with
"short," not "more." Does anyone have any evidence for the pronunciation
that I'm missing?"

This is interesting. When I first read the books there was no question in my
mind. Voldemort should be pronounced to rhyme with more. I never, until I
got on this group, thought about the possibility of any other pronunciation.


Neil wrote: "I don't recall anyone attempting to speak French to the
Beauxbatons visitors in GoF, for example, although the accents of the
foreign students were highlighted and even ridiculed."

Hermione had been to France, in the summer holiday before their third year.
She strikes me as someone who would make the effort to learn a foreign
language if she visited somewhere, but there is no indication that she knows
anything about the language (apart from being able to recognize it as she
works out that the students at the World Cup go to Beuxbatons).

All this interest in languages left me with the following question: Did
Hermione make any attempt to learn any Bulgarian (or whatever language Krum
uses)? If you were going to go out with someone from another country then it
would be courteous to them to learn their language (even if they can speak
your language well).


Neil wrote: "There is also the fact that English is often the language of
choice for communication - especially for the young and well-travelled - so
there is less need for English speakers to learn other languages.  When
visiting friends in Germany I found it frustrating that virtually everyone I
encountered preferred to fine tune their already-fluent English rather than
listen to me stumbling through German.  When I did speak German, I
encountered looks ranging from 'bored but tolerant' to 'barely suppressed
amusement' (especially when I accidentally told someone I was a nun)."

One of the most amusing conversations I have had this year was with a Polish
friend of a friend of mine who was in France. He spoke nearly no English; I
speak no Polish, little French and a small amount of German. It really
highlighted to me how bad my foreign language skills are. I still have plans
of learning some language or other, but will probably end up going for
something silly like Latin (winks at everyone who was still in the chat on
Sunday when that came up).


Simon