You know you're a language nerd when...

[Michael]

I plan on publishing two books on Pizzonese Neapolitan: Grammatica del napoletano pizzonese and Vocabolario tematico del napoletano pizzonese. I will write them in Italian first since that's where I need to reach out to in order to receive linguistic help and support. Then I will translate the works into English - Spanish - Portuguese. How many of you would ever be interested in a copy?

[johntm]

Pfft. South Carolina isn't the South

Bitch please, SC was the first state to secede.

I could write a multi-volume encyclopedia about the dialects (and creoles) of Southeast Louisiana.

I'd totally read it. I find Cajun French and its history pretty interesting (I haven't looked into it too much, though).

I plan on publishing two books on Pizzonese Neapolitan: Grammatica del napoletano pizzonese and Vocabolario tematico del napoletano pizzonese. I will write them in Italian first since that's where I need to reach out to in order to receive linguistic help and support. Then I will translate the works into English - Spanish - Portuguese. How many of you would ever be interested in a copy?

I would, because I find the dialects of Italian kind of interesting right now, and I plan on learning (Standard) Italian at some point so I assume that interest will only grow. I'd probably go for a copy in Spanish, English, and Italian. Just because.

[Kenny]

When you choose French on an ATM when withdrawing money and read everything it tells you, annoying the shit out of everyone in line behind you.

[MillMaths]

When you choose French when setting up your newly bought laptop. Which was what I did. When I bought it at the store, the sales assistant actually offered to do the setting up for me. That would have cost me an extra £20 so I refused. Instead I set it up myself – and chose French as the interface language. If I had let him set it up for me, he would have chosen English – that is to say, American English. Sorry, I’m not poisoning my eyes by having to look at ugly spellings like "favorites" instead of "favourites" on my own computer. Fuck American English.

[hlysnan]

Pfft. South Carolina isn't the South

Bitch please, SC was the first state to secede.

Weren't you originally from Georgia anyway?

[md0]

. . . when you watch films in languages you do understand, cause you are curious about the choices the translator made.

[johntm]

Pfft. South Carolina isn't the South

Bitch please, SC was the first state to secede.

Weren't you originally from Georgia anyway?

Yes, that's why I edited my post from "we were the first state to secede". My parents and their parents are from South Carolina though, so I've been going there since I was little, so I know SC pretty well (at least, the upstate).

[Aurinĭa]

. . . when you watch films in languages you do understand, cause you are curious about the choices the translator made.

That's why I usually watch English films with Dutch subtitles. Or with French, if I'm feeling like it.

[Kenny]

I don't do that anymore because 99% of the time at some point I feel like shoving my foot through the screen thinking to myself "MotherFUCKER WHO PUT YOU IN CHARGE OF TRANSLATING THIS SHIT?!".
It's not that their translations don't sound Hungarian enough, it's just that sometimes they have no goddamn idea what the hell a sentence they found a real handy translation for actually means.

[Tenebrarum]

Over here, I have pretty good evidence that the subs they put on at the cinema are generated by EVTRAN, possibly with corrections by humans.

Yes, English proficiency and work ethnics in Vietnam are that amazing.

[johntm]

Yes, English proficiency and work ethic in Vietnam are that amazing.

Related story: my dad worked in Radio Shack after he graduated college, and one of his coworkers was a black guy (<-that comes in to play in a second). Some guy returned a phone (or answering machine or something) that didn't work, and the black guy told my dad they should put it back out for sale. My dad responds by saying it's not ethical to do that, to which the guy responds "Man, what's that got to do with me being black?"

[MillMaths]

No, it's not ethical for white Americans to do that. Let black people and Mexicans do it instead.

[Aurinĭa]

Subtitles here are generally quite good. Sure, there are mistakes sometimes, but it happens just as often that I'd want to compliment the subtitler on a particularly good subtitle.

When you go to a film in the cinema in a foreign language you (more or less) understand, read the bilingual subtitles* and compare both translations with the original, all while being completely engrossed in the film.

*Films in Belgian cinemas are always subtitled in Dutch and French.

[MillMaths]

When you go to a film in the cinema in a foreign language you (more or less) understand, read the bilingual subtitles* and compare both translations with the original, all while being completely engrossed in the film.

How can you be engrossed in a film and still manage to read two sets of subtitles at the same time?

[Quetzalcoatl]

...when close friends tell you that watching "The Big Bang Theory" reminds them of you for some reason..

[Ludwig Whitby]

When you go to a film in the cinema in a foreign language you (more or less) understand, read the bilingual subtitles* and compare both translations with the original, all while being completely engrossed in the film.

How can you be engrossed in a film and still manage to read two sets of subtitles at the same time?

Practice I guess. People who aren't used to subtitles at all can't read them and be engrossed in a film. So I guess it's just taking it one step further.

[Michael]

•When you have your iPod Touch in Portuguese and your phone in Spanish and nothing in English.

Pfft. South Carolina isn't the South

Bitch please, SC was the first state to secede.

Weren't you originally from Georgia anyway?

They're all the same thing to me. (I'm not saying that out of ignorance. I remember in history class we discussed how the Carolina and Georgia colonies were founded for almost similar purposes; although do note that Oglethorpe originally meant for Georgia to be a free/non-slave state.)

No, it's not ethical for white Americans to do that. Let black people and Mexicans do it instead.

Nice one, Σοφία.

...when close friends tell you that watching "The Big Bang Theory" reminds them of you for some reason..

I've been told this before (many times) too!

[loqu]

Related story: my dad worked in Radio Shag

That's what I read and I went WOW COOL STATION.

[johntm]

They're all the same thing to me. (I'm not saying that out of ignorance. I remember in history class we discussed how the Carolina and Georgia colonies were founded for almost similar purposes; although do note that Oglethorpe originally meant for Georgia to be a free/non-slave state.)

Georgia was originally a debtors' colony, I don't think SC had any specific purpose (other than agriculture and splitting up the bigass state called "Carolina").

[Aurinĭa]

When you go to a film in the cinema in a foreign language you (more or less) understand, read the bilingual subtitles* and compare both translations with the original, all while being completely engrossed in the film.

How can you be engrossed in a film and still manage to read two sets of subtitles at the same time?

Practice I guess. People who aren't used to subtitles at all can't read them and be engrossed in a film. So I guess it's just taking it one step further.

Yep, just practice. I've been reading subtitels practically since I could read. And they show a lot of foreign-language programmes and films on TV here, so I get practice almost every day. I do it automatically, I don't have to think about it.

You know, that might be another reason I almost always watch films with subtitles, even when it's in a language I understand well enough without. Because I miss them, the subtitles.

That reminds me, when I was on Erasmus in Finland most DVD's I got from the library had subtitles in Finnish/Swedish/Norwegian/Danish. I really liked to watch Scandinavian films with subtitles in a different Scandinavian language, just to see the similarities and differences. Unfortunately, many DVD's here only offer Dutch and French.