Contamination

[larryhammer]

One year I'll get the hang of learning a language without interference from a previous language. With Icelandic -- not that I'm trying to learn it, beyond ye phrasebook material -- once again* I find German getting in the way: when reaching for a word, if I don't know the Íslenska, the Deutsches pops in its place.** This is especially disconcerting for prepositions. Asking for a bus ticket nach Stykkishólmur, instead of til, will only confuse the nice salesperson. Especially if I've already established myself as an English speaker.***

* Our last visit did wonders to my conversational German. Favorite moment: three young Germans in a hostel kitchen, befuddledly watching a low-budget Icelandic knock-off of The Dating Game as they cooked dinner. Finally one figured out what was going on, and explained it to her friends -- or tried to, for it took several go-rounds. The confusion was great fun all around, but left my Icelandic even worse the next day.

** I have the same problem with Spanish invading my Latin.

*** We got the distinct impression, last time, that Icelanders want to know straight off which language a conversation will be in: starting with a cheerful "Góðan daginn"**** then switching to English seemed to disconcert many.

**** GŌ-dhahn DIE-in -- soft g is a glottal stop. And in conversational Icelandic, many word endings get slurred into a shusch. This is disconcerting, but helpful when you're not sure what's the case taken by nouns after til.

---L.

Comments

[returnoftheblog.livejournal.com]

One time I was channel-surfing and I ran across the Spanish channel right in the middle of what seemed to be some Mexican equivalent of Jerry Springer. There were tons of circus-freak-grade weirdos up on stage, and there was a talk show host, and then apparently either a fight or an argument came up, and then in the midst of all the Spanish I hear curse words beeped out. Having utterly no clue what was going on, my thoughts were, "...WTF?"

[larryhammer]

Spanish Springer clones are freaky. I prefer shows like ¿Que Dice La Gente? (Family Fued clone). And, of course, telenovelas.

---L.