What's special about your language ?

[Trellum]

 

I've been trying to ignore this picture, but today I came from work famished! -and just looking at it is making my mouth water and my stomach growl LOL I would probably skip the cow's stomach, which I take it is tripe? That's the bit I don't like very much because of the smell, so I'd improvise and use meat instead

 

The cow stomach is what makes that recipe special   I personally adore the Mexican version, it's what a lot people would call acquired taste.  Because if it wasn't because i grew up eating that there is no way I'd try it!  I'd think it's so gross!  The only bad thing about this dish is the strong smell while it's being cooked, but once it's done it's so nice. I always make sure to throw in two whole heads of garlic. 

[lingualbabe]

Yes   Paella is a Spaniard dish.  Mexican menudo is very similar to the Spaniard ''callos de cadiz'', but we have improved the recipe, because we like to garnish it with chopped onions, dry oregano, lemon juice and a nice piece of bread. The sauce is made with chili, bit garlic, bit onion, etc. But it's not so spicy.  Do you eat your menudo only on special occasions too?  Your menudo sounds delicious   By the way, the corn we use looks like this:

It's all dried out, you are supposed to cook it in a pot separately, but since I am not so patient I always buy the one that is already done  (canned or in a bag). You could also try adding chickpeas  They are delicious too! 

 

 

That sounds delicious lol! No, we actually eat Menudo normally even if there is no occasion. It is just a bit tedious to cook as it has a lot of ingredients. I can't see the picture of corn though.:( Anyway, what are chickpeas? This is the first that I have actually known the term. We just use normal peas in cooking. It's Paella that we eat on occasions only, I love the seafood version of it.:)

[lushlala]

The cow stomach is what makes that recipe special   I personally adore the Mexican version, it's what a lot people would call acquired taste.  Because if it wasn't because i grew up eating that there is no way I'd try it!  I'd think it's so gross!  The only bad thing about this dish is the strong smell while it's being cooked, but once it's done it's so nice. I always make sure to throw in two whole heads of garlic. 

That's very interesting, Trellum! Can you believe that we too have a similar dish here in Botswana?! We use either cow or goat's stomach, except our recipe is very basic and not nearly as colourful as yours. I must say bar the awful smell as it's being cooked, it actually taste really rather good LOL The garlic thing is a very good idea, because I imagine it'll wipe out all bad smells hehe 

[Tyrell]

My mother tongue is Indonesian. We do rely very heavily on slangs, we don't go by the book unless we're writing an essay for college or a job application. If you learn the language online or from a book, you're not going to understand half the things we say. Another thing about the language is that it never had a pure form to begin with, meaning we borrow a lot of words from other languages. Malay (I guess?), Dutch, Chinese, Portuguese, Sanskrit, Arabic, and probably many more. We also don't care about genders. No 'he', 'she', 'his', 'her', 'girlfriend','boyfriend' and all that jazz. One word to replace them all, one word to rule them all: 'Dia'. Makes learning so much easier.

We can also be quite interesting when it comes to spelling - there's new spelling, and then there's old spelling. Most older citizens use the old spelling, and their names are usually also in old spelling . But generally people use the new spelling, since it's the correct one nowadays. For example, our capital city is Jakarta. If you went to school here in the 60's, you would spell the capital city's name as Djakarta, but now if you spell it like that you're going to be marked wrong.

[Trellum]

That's very interesting, Trellum! Can you believe that we too have a similar dish here in Botswana?! We use either cow or goat's stomach, except our recipe is very basic and not nearly as colourful as yours. I must say bar the awful smell as it's being cooked, it actually taste really rather good LOL The garlic thing is a very good idea, because I imagine it'll wipe out all bad smells hehe 

Yes, it's amazing, many people who smell it when it cooking think it must be the grossest thing ever, but when it's done... gosh, it's heavenly! Specially the way they serve it here, but not everyone can get it right. How do you guys prepare yours? 

[Trellum]

That sounds delicious lol! No, we actually eat Menudo normally even if there is no occasion. It is just a bit tedious to cook as it has a lot of ingredients. I can't see the picture of corn though.:( Anyway, what are chickpeas? This is the first that I have actually known the term. We just use normal peas in cooking. It's Paella that we eat on occasions only, I love the seafood version of it.:)

Oh,  you know? Lately I eat menudo once a week at a place nearby   I used to make my own for special occasions so we could all eat, but it's so tedious!  Cow stomach takes so long to cook! Chickpeas are garbanzo beans, I will be making beef soup and I will add chickpeas to it:

Chickpeas are those round things you see in the picture, they taste much better than they look    We use them in many soups.

 

[lushlala]

Yes, it's amazing, many people who smell it when it cooking think it must be the grossest thing ever, but when it's done... gosh, it's heavenly! Specially the way they serve it here, but not everyone can get it right. How do you guys prepare yours? 

My dad has begged my mum NOT to make it at home because he says the smell makes him feel sick LOL So she's taken to buying it from a local take out. Both my dad and my husband, not being from my country, absolutely refuse to even taste it. 
 

I've never personally prepared it. But I know it's chopped up into small pieces and then boil and then slow cook it. It's slow cooked until it's tender and then a pinch of salt and pepper is added towards the end. I know it's delicious, but I refuse to eat it regularly because it's full of calories LOL. it sounds like a very basic recipe, but it does the job.

[lingualbabe]

Oh,  you know? Lately I eat menudo once a week at a place nearby   I used to make my own for special occasions so we could all eat, but it's so tedious!  Cow stomach takes so long to cook! Chickpeas are garbanzo beans, I will be making beef soup and I will add chickpeas to it:

Chickpeas are those round things you see in the picture, they taste much better than they look    We use them in many soups.

 

Yeah, but it's all worth it as Menudo tastes so yummy! Do you also use those tomato sauce sachets or do you make your own tomato sauce from scratch? We usually just use the sachet ones. That picture looks just like our Nilaga! Minus the chickpeas and that green thing, what is that? Hehe. Add potatoes and beef soup = nilaga! It's amazing to know that many dishes here are the same with yours.

[Carlyarn23]

My native language is English. I think it is special because you can find others who speak it in many parts of the world. Sometimes it can be confusing because many of the "rules" only apply sometimes or in certain circumstances. Like " I before E except after C" there is many times that rule does not apply. Rotweiler, neighbor. 

[mmegs00]

My native language is English and I find that many people struggle with the multiple meanings of words. With this, I am referring to words that all sound the same, but are spelt differently and can mean different things, or in the cases where words are spelt the same, but pronounced differently to produce different meanings. 

For example: 
Their, They're, and There = all three of these words sound the same but they have different meanings. 

Here, Hear = same problem as the previous group of words

Read, Read = these two words are the same right? No! One can be pronounced in the present tense while the other can be pronounced in the past tense. On paper, they both look identical. You can really notice the difference though when they are sounded out. 

It is problems such as these that I feel the English language can be very difficult for people to learn. I know individuals who have lived in North America their entire lives and English is their native tongue and still make these common mistakes in writing and speech. Never get discouraged. Life is always a learning curve. 

[LCastellano]

My native language is Filipino. I like how it's this cultural hodgepodge of a language and you just sort of get surprised sometimes when it shares a couple of words with the language of some neighboring country. 

[linguaholic]

Yes   Paella is a Spaniard dish.  Mexican menudo is very similar to the Spaniard ''callos de cadiz'', but we have improved the recipe, because we like to garnish it with chopped onions, dry oregano, lemon juice and a nice piece of bread. The sauce is made with chili, bit garlic, bit onion, etc. But it's not so spicy.  Do you eat your menudo only on special occasions too?  Your menudo sounds delicious   By the way, the corn we use looks like this:

It's all dried out, you are supposed to cook it in a pot separately, but since I am not so patient I always buy the one that is already done  (canned or in a bag). You could also try adding chickpeas  They are delicious too! 

 

 

Trellum, you just love to talk about food, don't you ? :=))))

[lushlala]

My native language is Polish. It sounds like swishing when you hear it  http://speaking7.com/ 

Hehe this is such a funny comparison LOL I have a Polish friend, and I just love listening to her speaking in Polish. It sounds to me as if it has a softer sound compared to say Russian. All I ever pick up is her saying what sounds like "so" or "dobra" every so often LOL

[Fegg]

I had no idea you guys had the ''ñ'' as well, but I guess it makes sense, since you guys were governed by the Spaniards for a while, so it makes sense you guys implemented some Spanish words and even letters like the 'ñ''.  I think it's fascinating   I have heard you people like to eat things like ''adobo'' and ''menudo'' as well    By the way, I've met a lot filipinos in the past, mostly women. 

Our lovely "ñ", I live in Germany and I need to bring the Spanish keyword with me. Even though it is not my language, I will comment something special about German. The order in which Germans say numbers let us foreigners with this face :/  when trying to find out how much did the supermarket cashier told us to pay:)

[jesolis]

I will tell you what is so special about my maternal language, Spanish, by sharing with you something my priest once said. French is the language of love, German is the language of war, Italian is the language of art, Chinese is the language of business, English is the language for training, but Spanish is the language we use to talk to God. I hope you had a good chuckle over this, greetings from Texas!

[Trellum]

Trellum, you just love to talk about food, don't you ? :=))))

 

Hehehe, I do!   I actually love to talk about food in every language, soon I might be talking about it in Dutch too    I found an excellent wordbook at the Action last year, it's supposed to be for dutch speakers who are trying to learn Spanish.   Lot's word terms, I plan to create my own  Memrise ''course'' with it    By the way, I actually made that beef soup yesterday, and it was wonderful!  NEVER use an express pot to make any kind of meat-based soup!  Ever!  If you want a flavorful soup you need to throw the cold meat in the water and let it boil  slowly. 

 

Our lovely "ñ", I live in Germany and I need to bring the Spanish keyword with me. Even though it is not my language, I will comment something special about German. The order in which Germans say numbers let us foreigners with this face :/  when trying to find out how much did the supermarket cashier told us to pay:)

 

How did you end up in Germany?  I'm just curious  I'm very interested in hearing about the journey of other native Spanish speakers living abroad.   By the way, I am also taking my Spanish laptop with me. I plan to keep on practicing my Spanish in the Netherlands. If I don't i know I might lose some words and my good orthography (I've a serious neurological problem).

Edited October 20, 2015 by Trellum

[CarpeDiem]

My native language is Urdu and I don't know if any of you have heard of it. But the best thing about it is it has this sing-y song-y tone to it and is called the language of poetry. I love my language.

[Fegg]

How did you end up in Germany?  I'm just curious  I'm very interested in hearing about the journey of other native Spanish speakers living abroad.   By the way, I am also taking my Spanish laptop with me. I plan to keep on practicing my Spanish in the Netherlands. If I don't i know I might lose some words and my good orthography (I've a serious neurological problem).

Oh là là Trellum, guess what... love basically, my husband is German. I´m from Barcelona, but still (except the weather), I like it here. And you in the Netherlands? I´ve heard some Dutch on tv and looks sooo hard!  Actually I bring my keyword here also because I don´t get used to the fact Germans have 2 letters switched (the z in the place of the w, it says qzerty actually) and I´m used to type fast and without looking.

[Fegg]

Something special about my language, and that I specially noticed once I got in touch with other languages is that we, in Spain, make too much use of swearing words. It is a pity and really shameful. Also found differences between Latin-American Spanish and European one. I have to admit that I was amazed how they tend to use much broader range of vocabulary in countries like Mexico than in my motherland, like they have much more respect and love for their own language than we Spaniards do, generally speaking.

[Trellum]

Oh là là Trellum, guess what... love basically, my husband is German. I´m from Barcelona, but still (except the weather), I like it here. And you in the Netherlands? I´ve heard some Dutch on tv and looks sooo hard!  Actually I bring my keyword here also because I don´t get used to the fact Germans have 2 letters switched (the z in the place of the w, it says qzerty actually) and I´m used to type fast and without looking.

Same here    My future husband is actually Dutch.  I  wasn't elated over the idea of living in the Netherlands, specially after all those awful things I heard about the country, its health care, language,  and its people, but here I am   So what's your German level now? A1? B2?   I've heard German it's quite tough, but at least you don't have to deal with an odd word order?   I like a capital letter is used for each noun though, that is cool    I wanted to learn German when I was younger, but I had no access to the internet back then (I was 11 years old or maybe 10) so I didn't get too far  

[Trellum]

Something special about my language, and that I specially noticed once I got in touch with other languages is that we, in Spain, make too much use of swearing words. It is a pity and really shameful. Also found differences between Latin-American Spanish and European one. I have to admit that I was amazed how they tend to use much broader range of vocabulary in countries like Mexico than in my motherland, like they have much more respect and love for their own language than we Spaniards do, generally speaking.

In mexico they do the exact same  and it's irritating as heck. Don't feel bad, we Mexicans are as ''disrespectful'' to the Spanish language as the Spaniards    You'd should see how most people there communicates. I feel so irritated at older men using words like ''guey'' and so on.  I did the other day while eating at a small restaurant.   You should see the way teens communicate, both written and oral form.  Don't forget you guys started ''La Real Academia Española''  

[Fegg]

 

Same here    My future husband is actually Dutch.  I  wasn't elated over the idea of living in the Netherlands, specially after all those awful things I heard about the country, its health care, language,  and its people, but here I am   So what's your German level now? A1? B2?   I've heard German it's quite tough, but at least you don't have to deal with an odd word order?   I like a capital letter is used for each noun though, that is cool    I wanted to learn German when I was younger, but I had no access to the internet back then (I was 11 years old or maybe 10) so I didn't get too far  

Sounds nice though:)) I´m still A2 because I had a daughter soon after arriving here and the first year I couldn´t do much more but to take care of her. And yes, it is hard and the worst part for me is precisely that crazy sentence order they make with verbs at the end and so on, I didn´t know Dutch was the same, but it makes sense somehow. My fault is that I speak with my husband in English and not in German, but we can´t help it. Does it happen the same to you, or you speak Dutch with him?

[Trellum]

Sounds nice though:)) I´m still A2 because I had a daughter soon after arriving here and the first year I couldn´t do much more but to take care of her. And yes, it is hard and the worst part for me is precisely that crazy sentence order they make with verbs at the end and so on, I didn´t know Dutch was the same, but it makes sense somehow. My fault is that I speak with my husband in English and not in German, but we can´t help it. Does it happen the same to you, or you speak Dutch with him?

Oh my.... I WISH  we spoke dutch!!!  But we can't!!!  My dutch is hardly level A1, so we fall into the same trap.  Plus the main problem is that he is too lazy to correct me when needed, so we end up speaking English. But I know we should speak dutch, we always say we will, but we end up speaking English again.   I had no idea German had an odd word order as well!  What a nightmare!   I loathe dutch sentences with more than 2 verbs D:   What are you using to improve your German right now?  Maybe we can exchange some tips, since both languages are so similar  

[宇崎ちゃん]

Dutch is like German, but simplified I guess.
Polish has some of the best tongue twisters in all of Europe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlOoSsfU6cM

[111kg]

My mother's language is Romanian. The special thing about is the fact that you write the words as you hear them. For instance, "tu" (which means "you") is pronounced too. I don't know if I've explained it right.