Hug a Tree

[Velociryx]

Sorry for that....sometimes my own bizzare brand of humor is....well....yeah. 'bout like that.

As to Baskin Robbins...it has about as much in common with Marco Polo as Marco Polo has with....well...Japan....least as far as I've ever heard....

-=Vel=-
(just like to keep ya guessing!)

[DeepO]

No need to apologize, I was just wondering whether I missed some very obvious American link that us Euro-guys couldn't know about. I never heared of Baskin Robbins before I looked it up... and I agree it has as much in common with good old Marco as he had with Japan.

keep it up, I'm still laughing (not too much, my heads hurts. Damn MT IV)
DeepO

[Velociryx]

Nahh, I try pretty hard to be a decidedly un-obvious (inobvious?) American....

Just...makin' up stuff off the top of my head, you know....lol....Baskin Robbins was the first name that jumped into my head when I was contemplating what to reply, so I went with it!

-=Vel=-

[DeepO]

(u)(i)nbvious Americans are the most appreciated on this side of the Atlantic, you can be sure about that. Our image of the typical American still is one of a cowboy, Marlboro in the mouth, burger in one hand, gun in the other. But I guess you have an image of dusty old communists who need constant monitoring when thinking about Europeans in general

Now if only half of the people visting the other side wouldn't enforce those images further, maybe we could see past the obvious

DeepO

[Tim_Hobbit]

DeepO - I will have to think about what my image of Europeans is, but "dusty old communists" is not it!

[DeepO]

hmmm. Maybe that was not very well depicted. What about dirty old socialists then
Okay, but at least you thought the second part of my description fitted: "who need constant monitoring"

If there is one opinion very common in American media (CNN on top) regarding Europe it has to be the image of that old world were everything still happens as when the Romans were still king. It might surprise those CNN guys that we are not centuries behind, and we consider ourselves in many cases at the front position in the world (okay, not in everything, but at least we know were we lack). The comments on certain political events is were this is most noticeable (like for instance the shooting of the Dutch Pim Fortuyn, you can't imagine the amount of BS I've seen on that topic)

I'm sure our media image of a degenerating American society is also far fetched, but the cowboy image is now stronger than when John Wayne was still doing movies. And pardon me for saying, but if there is one American cowboy, it has to be your president. Or at least his advisors. He is proud to be a cowboy, and as long as he wants to taunt the world with that image, our media is having a ball.

This is getting way off topic, my initial intention was just to say that obviousness is one of the character properties that we expect from Americans, so I'm always glad to meet someone who is not. No offence to anyone, please

DeepO

[Theseus]

DeepO,

I'm from the US, and I was equally confused (I thought, ice cream from China maybe?).

Vel's mind works in mysterious ways... but look at the results!!

I did work for a group called SWIFT once, from Belgium. They blew me away!!

I do think that the French can be, well, French, though.

R

[alva]

Originally posted by Theseus


I do think that the French can be, well, French, though.

R

Someone is stealing a line here

[philippe666]

hmm so there are more Belgians then me....COOL!

[Theseus]

Yes, I am.

Hilda!!!!

Edit: For those who don;t know, I am referring to Eddie Izzard, the most hilarious and intelligent comedian around today.

[DeepO]

Theseus, I've heard of SWIFT, and even if I'm not in the same domain I heard they were pretty good. Just one of the examples, I guess, were US companies are not the sole market leaders.

Oh, and the French can be very French, but that makes living in Europe interesting. In Belgium, we have several very distinct groups living together, each with their own very peculiar habbits. If, going from Leuven (Flanders) where I live, I go 15 kilometers North I'm in Brussels, if I would go 10 kilometers South I'm in the Welsh part of Belgium (la Wallonie, in French), and those three regions are very different. That's one of the things that makes life in Belgium exiting, the cultures are packed so close to each other.

In Europe the same, of course: France is only 100 km away, the same for the Netherlands, Germany, and England. In one day of travelling you can visit 5 or 6 countries, all with their own language and culture. It can be hard to constantly adjust to each other's culture, but that's also the fun part of life here

DeepO

[johncmcleod]

I know Polo didn't go to Japan-I just figured the Japanese would be in contact with other Asians so when westerners influenced Chinese and Mongols they'd influence the Japanese too. And Deepo-isn't Flemish pretty much the same as German? Because I'm learning to speak German and I look for every opportunity I can to practice it.

[DeepO]

Flemish is close to German, yes. But French and English are closer... (no Vel, I'm not joking this time ) Flemish is actually a dialect of Dutch, we share the same vocabulary, but use some different intonations, some different words. There is one commision which decides which grammatical rules apply to both languages.

French and English have a lot more in common than people tend to think, due to the constant mideival wars between the two countries, a lot of the words got mixed. Practising French with an Englishman might be as good an idea as practicing German with me: I understand it completely, and do speak it a little, but if you want some real use out of it, you might want to find yourself a German to talk to

(as a benchmark, I consider my English twice as good as my German. If you think I'm fluent in English, maybe I can be of help with German. But I don't think so...)

DeepO

[Theseus]

DeepO,

Kinda like NYC!

Seriously, I love Europe. I was just outside of Paris for 4 days, and had a great time.

BTW, you are very fluent in written English too... I speak French, but write abominably.

What was the topic again?

[DeepO]

Theseus, thanks for the compliment, but no, I'm not very fluent in English. In many cases I just translate out of Dutch, and as those languages are also close to each other, it doesn't show that much. However, when rereading some of my own posts, especially in quotes from others, many times I think "OMG, did I wrote that?"

Dutch is the hardest of European languages, it is the most complex of them. That's why in automated translation systems it was used as an interlingua: when going from French to English, it is more easy to go from French to Dutch, and then from Dutch to English. This approach means you only have to write translaters for every language to and from the interlingua, and do not need specific translators for every combination of languages you might encounter. It worked relatively well, but lately they are using artificial interlinguas, as it is easier... Dutch is a pain for all non-native speakers, including computers. There is one advantage though, Dutch (and of course Flemish) people can learn foreign languages quite easily, most of the people I know speak 4 languages. Some of my collegaes speak over 10 (and that's for electronic engineers!)

Paris is a very fun city, although many French wouldn't call it French... they have their own mentality I have to visit it soon, though, it's been years since I've been there. But, this evening I'm leaving for Berlin, as I fear this might be my last year I would enjoy myself at the Loveparade. I feel I'm getting old

As to the topic of this thread, well, let's see. First it was about trees and pollution, then Asian development, Marco Polo visiting Japan, ice cream stores, US-European images, Eddie Izzard, me tutoring German (hah, I still chuckle at that one ), and now languages. And all of this in 29 posts... pretty amazing for a strategic thread

DeepO