QUOTE(Mike H @ Mon 8th March 2010, 11:00pm)
QUOTE(The Adversary @ Mon 8th March 2010, 4:47pm)
QUOTE(Mike H @ Mon 8th March 2010, 9:35am)
Now I don't have a faux-Danish speaker to speak Danish with. (IMG:
smilys0b23ax56/default/unhappy.gif) Meget trist.
Du kan alltid snakke med meg! (IMG:
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Du er en nordmand? Hvor bor du?
Ok, more correct language here would be: "Er du norsk? Hvor bor du?" And ...jeg er litt svensk, litt norsk og litt dansk. Og jeg bor på et jævligt kalt sted nord for Danmark...
QUOTE(Milton Roe @ Mon 8th March 2010, 10:55pm)
That's DOESN'T mean that somebody intent on faking this, and given time, can't do it by simply sponging off a buddy who IS a native speaker. If only a few bits are required, he might even post on a language-learning BBS somewhere, with a translation question, then return with the answer. The same is true of technical questions in a given field which require inference, and can't simply be looked up. But if you KNOW a real astronomer, and aren't under time pressure, you can fake being an astronomer yourself as well as you need to, by simply putting the questions to the real expert. Since, of course, it's not really a "fake" at some level-- when you turn those questions over to somebody else who really IS what you're pretending to be, then you get an answer which does what it's supposed to do.
Yes: if you have, say, an astronomer friend, you can "fake" being an astronomer by getting him/her to answer relevant questions for you. And you will know what
specific questions you needed an answer to. Any work/occupation-related stuff is easier to fake, as it is more
limited.
Faking a nationality, I would say, is far, far more difficult...as that involves, well,
everything! I recall one excellent English teacher of mine spending lots of time on this. Say, just order in a restaurant, correctly, in English.... We trolls, (even a polite, educated troll!) will tell the waiter, translated: "I want blabla." But directly translated into English this would be terribly rude (so I was told..) there you have to say "
May I have blabla,
please?
This goes on every level. First time I worked with some English guys, I described a guy X: "X is definitely not stupid". One of the English guys got very angry with me, and exclaimed: "What do you mean, saying "X is not stupid"! He is brilliant! A genius!"
Me: "But, but, but.... that
is what I am saying...." (IMG:
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Etc, etc..
-so, if you just want to fake an occupation, then you don't have to guard
every single sentence you say--you only have to be guarded when talking about the work itself. And 90%+ of the time you are not "talking shop".
But, I don't think the Poetgang even considered the possibility that a sentence like "Yes I am proud to speak Danish correctly" would be a dead give-away. If you are going to fake another nationality online, you really need a real-life expert to check
each and every sentence you write....
(Hope I'm not giving him any ideas, here (IMG:
smilys0b23ax56/default/unsure.gif) )