[Ruaraidh]

Sorry for opening yet another topic - to be frank, this is actually a request to open it, in case anyone's curious about one of the dialects in the UK. To be even more frank, yes, I do miss expressing myself in Scottish when I just can't be bothered doing so in Romanian. Chances are this topic will get about 10 views a month, but also that it will be perfectly harmless. I promise to keep the swearing down to a minimum or at least try.
Basically I'd gladly answer any questions one would have about the Scottish dialect, the accent, the pronounciation in various areas, Scottish culture and so forth.
If you don't wish to grant me permission to open a topic that is not in pure English, I totally understand. Just delete it.
Cheers for your trouble and for reading all this. It's your call, but whatever that may be, thank you anyway.

Aceasta postare a fost editata de Finnian: 12 May 2010 - 09:12 AM

[lupini]

As I see, you're the only scottish speaking user on this forum...so far.

[Ruaraidh]

So it seems although I noticed there were other users posting from Scotland but I guess they're not active anymore. I take it I've been granted permission to keep this topic open?

[fast_motion]

i have problems even with british dialects so i don't stand a chance when speaking to a scotch or an irish, specially if they talk really fast...

[Ruaraidh]

Many people say that Scottish is a different language altogether as it sounds nothing like English even though it uses the same words. It might come as a surprise to you but English people don't understand it either. There's even a very funny joke about that:

A man is cupping his hand to scoop water from a Highland burn.
A Gamekeeper shouts,
'Dinnae drink tha watter! Et's foo ae coo's sheet an pish!'
The man replies,
'My Good fellow, I'm from England . Could you repeat that in English for me'
The keeper replies,
'I said, use two hands - you spill less that way!!!

Basically written Scottish just immitates the way one pronounces it, and all you have to do to understand it is learn to listen first, as it's just slang and isn't regulated by any rules at all. You can spell a word differently from one sentence to another according to how it would sound in that particular context. And all the grammar you learned in school becomes completely useless .

[fast_motion]

haha that was a good one!! but it could just aswell pass as an usual romanians on hungarians joke though ( or norwegians on swedish )

[Ruaraidh]

LOL, I suppose so. But honestly although the words are...well...about 85% percent identical, the English can't understand the Scottish accent. Mind you, they needed subtitles to watch Braveheart. Ha ha.

[fast_motion]

no way!! the mel gibson Braveheart ?? that's uber lame if it's true, lol.

[Ruaraidh]

You wouldn't think they'd need subtitles for that, would you? Then again, people in the UK aren't that good with languages as they have no need (nearly everyone speaks English in developed countries and many of the rest), so they don't have a trained ear for distinguishing between languages, dialects etc. What's even funnier is what the English do when they go abroad, which is expecting foreigners to speak their language, and if they don't, the English just shout a wee bit louder . If that doesn't work, they do it again, this time including sign language .
Yanks do that as well, even when they're in the UK, and ask the natives to speak...well...English (American English, they mean, as they think that is standard for the rest of the world), and then they get told they're actually in f***ing England.

Aceasta postare a fost editata de Finnian: 13 May 2010 - 04:45 PM

[fast_motion]

true... and i can only imagine what a rough time americans are having in the rest of the UK territory, and the other way around. and the funny thing is that they get mad when we call them ignorants