For those of us that may write something in a language that is not understood by all.  I found this translating site to be fairly good and it does it quickly.  

tks

http://translate.google.com/#

Quoted from gmaranda

For those of us that may write something in a language that is not understood by all.  I found this translating site to be fairly good and it does it quickly.  

tks

http://translate.google.com/#

It's actually pretty terrible translating French to English, trust me I use it as much as I can.  

Perfect example:

http://archive.maaca.org/s107351202.onlinehome.us/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1277434967/s-22/#num22

Quoted from Vengeance

Perfect example:

http://archive.maaca.org/s107351202.onlinehome.us/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1277434967/s-22/#num22

Exactly.  That's why most translators blow flies.  Never seen one yet that is worth a pinch of racoon turd.  Here is the french and translated english version of this post ~ see if it captures all the nuance :

Exactement. C'est pourquoi la plupart des traducteurs mouches de la viande. Jamais vu un qui vaut encore une pincée de crotte de raton laveur.

Exactly. This is why most translators blow flies. Never seen one that is even a pinch of poop raccoon.

Quoted from mrniceguy

Exactly.  That's why most translators blow flies.  Never seen one yet that is worth a pinch of racoon turd.  Here is the french and translated english version of this post ~ see if it captures all the nuance :

Exactement. C'est pourquoi la plupart des traducteurs mouches de la viande. Jamais vu un qui vaut encore une pincée de crotte de raton laveur.

Exactly. This is why most translators blow flies. Never seen one that is even a pinch of poop raccoon.

Well, I guess I should say that it is not that bad when you don't throw in too many "slangs" However, after I stopped laughing I would say that it missed the "blow flies" but it got the "pinch of racoon turd" really well.  I simply gave the link in case some people did not know about it. I know it is far from perfect but in some cases it does help. It sure did really good from English to Dutch but I guess when you input slang everything goes out the window.

I am still laughing over the pinch of poop raccoon

I don't mind it.. you can generally get the gist of what people are saying.  It's just a pain to use sometimes.

That being said, I'm going to make a conscience effort to learn French in the future.  It's just a good skill to have.. bilingual people tend to make more money    Us Anglais folks already have a head start with what.. 5 years of French classes in school?

Quoted from gmaranda

It sure did really good from English to Dutch but I guess when you input slang everything goes out the window.

It worked great for Dutch cause I was using it to translate English to Dutch,   I don't speak a lick of Dutch.

I only speak two languages:

English and Bad English.  

Quoted from machine.slave

Us Anglais folks already have a head start with what.. 5 years of French classes in school?

I took 10 years of French classes in school and I don't speak a lick.  

Quoted from machine.slave

I don't mind it.. you can generally get the gist of what people are saying.  It's just a pain to use sometimes.

That being said, I'm going to make a conscience effort to learn French in the future.  It's just a good skill to have.. bilingual people tend to make more money    Us Anglais folks already have a head start with what.. 5 years of French classes in school?

Since this thread maybe a good start to discuss this I will let you in on a real way to learn French but I have given this advice countless times and only one person followed it with outstanding results.

Here it is:  Buy or subscribe to a French language paper. Something like "Le devoir" etc.  A good reputable paper. Then everyday when you check out the national news....yes in French you pick one or two articles (small at first) then you READ IT OUT LOUD.  Yes out loud.  Of course French English dictionary is a must at first.

HUGE pain at first and a bit of frustration but here is what you get.  First, you get what is happening in Canada and around the world then you practice French and learn new words.  Don't go all out at first and don't burn yourself.  But trust me this really really works but you most likely won't do it........no one does. (snif snif)

That is it, of course having someone to practice with helps but instead of spending a lot of money on internet courses and DVD etc. that you won't finish my technique not only works but is cheap and not boring.

Here you go from one pinhead to another.  Try it and let me know.  Of course, if you decide to go and do it I will be more than happy to coach you in your progress.

take care

Quoted from Vengeance

I took 10 years of French classes in school and I don't speak a lick.  

I hear your pain, do you really think I picked up English in school? I was born and raised in Quebec City away from any Anglos thus I had no incentives or did I care at the time...........Although there was that Anglo exchange girl in high school....hmmmmmmmmm better left for another day

HOLY mess... NOW I get it... THAT's why people hate Gottliebs.... because they actually had French speech and text roms in them!!!

To be honest guys... an extremely small percentage of people create a stink over the language thing.

... just like that idiot that posted the Nazi thing on Wiki. It stated he lost his job to a French Canadian. Similar situation as any French Canadian who as a kid got beat up by the neighborhood bully, who just ended up being English. So... he hates them all.

Sounds a lot like a racism pattern doesn't it?  Just to add a story, a guy I knew (he was a best friend of mine but I could no longer tolerate his views...) was perfectly normal until he was run into by another car and the guy took off. My friend was quite hurt but noticed that the guy driving the other car was black. from that day on he was as racist as could be.

It's like some people have this thing that they HAVE to find a difference on someone that harmed them in a way, just to justify being angry. The government guy didn't say he lost his promotion to just another guy. The kid that got beat up didn't say that the other kid was just a dumbass, and my old friend didn't say he was hit by a criminal.

It's just another way of self-justification and dissociation versus another person and their actions. Hate breeds hate. And no way will my kids be raised in such a fashion.

Can't people just stick to the original language of a thread? I have nothing against French but it's jarring to see one message in one language and then switch to another.

En Francais:

Quoted Text

Impossible de personnes seulement s'en tenir à la langue d'origine d'un fil? Je n'ai rien contre le français, mais c'est choquant à voir un message dans une langue et ensuite passer à un autre.

Back to English:

Quoted Text

Can not people just stick to the original language of a thread? I have nothing against the French, but it's shocking to see a message in one language and then move on to another.

That was pretty close, but it confused the language French with the French people. Confusing...

Quoted from gmaranda

I hear your pain, do you really think I picked up English in school? I was born and raised in Quebec City away from any Anglos thus I had no incentives or did I care at the time...........Although there was that Anglo exchange girl in high school....hmmmmmmmmm better left for another day

Yea I've always been told the best way to learn a language is just to speak to people who speak it.  

Quoted from Vengeance

I took 10 years of French classes in school and I don't speak a lick.  

That's because your French classes were probably as bad as most of the English classes in French schools here... They should be teaching "second" languages a lot better. In fact, I always believed they should teach Spanish as well.

c'est toujours choquant de voir que tout les francais se forcent le cul pour parler anglais mais que le contraire est impossible.


"Type text or a website address or translate a document.

it is always shocking to see that all the french are forced a** to speak English but the opposite is impossible"

Quoted from Mrhide

c'est toujours choquant de voir que tout les francais se forcent le cul pour parler anglais mais que le contraire est impossible.

Like it or not Phil, English is the dominant language on this corner of the globe.. I'm sure the Spanish, Chinese and Hindu speaking cultures are perfectly okay with it.

Blame our Government for not forcing us to learn French if you like.    Outside your province though, it's rarely spoken - if at all.  The other languages I mentioned are far more dominant, especially in the GTA.

I wouldn't consider our lack of French language and culture to be a prejudiced thing though.. that's like shooting the messenger.  

My spider-sense is telling me this thread will lead no where but down the wrong track...

Back to pinball and pizza toppings...

What barrier? Pinball sound/display files come in English and sometimes additionally support German. If they only played in French then there may be issues.

I like red Skittles but green aren't so good.

Quoted from machine.slave

Like it or not Phil, English is the dominant language on this corner of the globe.. I'm sure the Spanish, Chinese and Hindu speaking cultures are perfectly okay with it.

Blame our Government for not forcing us to learn French if you like.    Outside your province though, it's rarely spoken - if at all.  The other languages I mentioned are far more dominant, especially in the GTA.

I wouldn't consider our lack of French language and culture to be a prejudiced thing though.. that's like shooting the messenger.  

My spider-sense is telling me this thread will lead no where but down the wrong track...

I got nothing to add, you hit the nail on the head.

Quoted from machine.slave

Outside your province though, it's rarely spoken - if at all.

Depends where you work. I really wish I were more proficient in French than I am due to it's common usage.

Quoted from wbradley

Back to pinball and pizza toppings...

or sex............as I always say sex is always good in any language!

Quoted from necro_nemesis

I like red Skittles but green aren't so good.

You remember when they stopped using red food colouring for a while in the 80's?  That was good times.. no red Smarties    (pretty sure that's when they introduced purple)

Quoted from necro_nemesis

I really wish I were more proficient in French than I am due to it's common usage.

Ditto!  I'm actually pretty envious of people who can speak more than one language.. it's a great skill to have, IMO.

Rouge dye #5... just doesn't have the right ring to it.

Quoted from machine.slave

Ditto!  I'm actually pretty envious of people who can speak more than one language.. it's a great skill to have, IMO.

Nice spin on this.  You are right, believe it or not two languages now a day is almost a minimum, if you speak three then perfect.  I raised my kids in both French and English and although my household is predominantly Franco my two sons speak to each other in English......why because they are gamers i.e World of Warcraft.  Thus they shop talk all the time about that virtual world.

However, they could not care less whether you are an Anglo or a Franco. Why? Because I raised them that way.  English is a very useful tool around the world but not everywhere and there were places that I got by with the French only.

The planet is getting smaller so you should get going on "mandarin" if you want to get a head start.

Salut (translation: salut)

[quote=371]



Like it or not Phil, English is the dominant language on this corner of the globe.. I'm sure the Spanish, Chinese and Hindu speaking cultures are perfectly okay with it.

C'est vrai que la langue anglaise est"dominante" dans ce coin de planete mais aussi dans le site de Maaca,je considere avoir le droit de m'exprimer a ma guise dans une langue qui est reconnu dans mon propre pays et ce surtout sans avoir a subir les sarcasme de gens qui se disent incompris parcequ'il ne sont pas foutu d'avoir au moins une toute petite ouverture d'esprit pour comprendre qu'il peut y avoir une difference de culture et de langue dans ce plus beau pays,L'inconnu crée la peur chez les peureux,aussi dernierement sur le site des n'importe quoi a propos des différence de "culture"ont été écrit sur ce site,moi j'pense que derriere un clavier certaine personne se sentent brave et écrivent certaine choses qui parfois dépassent leurs pensées,ça ne peut que dégénéré
Quand je lis "english is the dominant language",ça sous-entend pas que je vais me faire dominer et aboutir a m'obliger a parler anglais contre mon grés.Dominer c'est ça
En passant le peu d'anglais que je parle,je l'ai appris avec Maaca et je suis bien content

Quoted from machine.slave

Blame our Government for not forcing us to learn French if you like.

I don't like to be like you so I won't do it.

Quoted Text

Outside your province though, it's rarely spoken - if at all.  The other languages I mentioned are far more dominant, especially in the GTA.

That's not true. Lots of them everywhere. Perhaps you should travel a bit.

    * Franco-Ontarians (or Ontarois)
    * Acadians (in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; also present in portions of Quebec and Newfoundland)
    * Franco-Manitobans
    * Fransaskois (in Saskatchewan)
    * Franco-Albertans
    * Franco-Columbians
    * Franco-Terreneuviens
    * Franco-Ténois (in the Northwest Territories)
    * Franco-Yukon(n)ais (in the Yukon)
    * Franco-Nunavois (in Nunavut)


The fact that you think everyone else talks english brings you that much closer to beeing an american...

Je suis fier d'être Québécois et différent.

Bonsoir.

Hey all I know is when you play pool they tell you to put English on the ball. Never French... English. Just trying to contribute something meaningful to this thread.

To machine slave -

Words are so important these days, in this so called age of communication where no one really understands eachother anyway. More ways to communicate than ever before, yet less and less understanding, just fragmented thinking left behind as an afterthought to an exchange of words and/or symbols.

Just avoid the word "dominant" in your discourse, doesn't go over well here and everything should just be "honky dory".

RAB

Quoted from RAB

To machine slave -

Words are so important these days, in this so called age of communication where no one really understands eachother anyway. More ways to communicate than ever before, yet less and less understanding, just fragmented thinking left behind as an afterthought to an exchanged and so called conversation of sorts.

Just avoid the word "dominant" in your discourse, doesn't go over well here and everything should just be "honky dory".

RAB

Ok, how bout cold hard facts then....

In accordance with the statistical findings and analysis of the Canadian census of 2006, the number of Canadians speaking French was approximately 6.7 million. This constituted 21.5% of the country’s population which was 32 million at that time.

High percentage of Canadians who speak French live in Quebec. There were greater than 5.8 million people speaking French among the 7.5 million citizens of the province. Approximately 79% of Quebec people chose to identify themselves as having the capacity to speak fluently in French. The legal procedure of Quebec is based on French civil law in contrast to the remaining part of Canada where it is dependent on English common law.

About 488,000 people in Ontario spoke French in 2006 forming the largest Francophone population outside Quebec. Acadians form one third percentage of the total population in New Brunswick.

Gents,

I put the link on so to avoid a huge debate.  Nothing good will come out of this!!!  No one is right and no one is wrong.  We have a common hobby so let's not ruin it.  I simply gave a tool to everyone so we could all follow.  

Beer anyone......

take care

Nice try Sylvain, but you can not translate culture.

The Toronto Star (sorry the Toronto Sun I meant to say, that rag) and the Calgary Sun are published by Quebecor, and the head lines bash Quebec regularly as seperatists and people who want to destroy their country and profit from the Canadian system.

You can't blame our anglo brothers for disliking us, the media controls "the mind", it has been said over and over again.

The only way to break their control over us is to talk to eachother and question who profits from the conflict  and sells newspapers and hype.


Beer is fine too, transcends many things that people are coaxed to get hung up on. Language is only one of the facets that makes up a culutre.

I wish I could communicate in another language other than english...  ...I've had enough chance to learn French, German or Danish, but never succeeded.    I blame all the others who can speak English to me   , 'cause of course it can't be my fault!  

Yes, I too failed to grasp French fluently despite it being introduced to our education system as mandatory learning when I was in Gr. 7 . Then, I failed to learn Hebrew despite my first wife being from Israel originally and her habit of speaking with family in her language while I stood there clueless.  And funny enough, her Egyptian born parents were fluent in French but she couldnt speak a word.

Some people are just not drawn to learning multiple languages, unfortunately.

Oh, and Sylvain, that video is F#@*#@# hilarious!

Next Tuesday, my 6-year old daughter will be starting Grade 1 ... french immersion. I really hope she sees it through high school. My wife and I think it's a great idea since neither of our parents taught us their native tongue (danish/greek) as they were learning english since they got off the boat in Montreal, way back when, and moved to Toronto to start new lives for themselves.

I think MAACA has been great for bringing people with a shared passion together despite minor language differences. This is the only place I can try to exercise that tiny bit of French that lingers from high school. J'ai marqué un 51 en 13e année classe de français que parce que madame Odell pensé que j'étais drôle. (Thank you Google Translate quick-key button up on my browser! )  

We share a common language - pinball ! ... but I hope my daughter will eventually help my wife and I improve our french.     

    

Do I have to delete this thread too?