What language (other than English) do you speak?

[GoktimusPrime]

liegeprime: there are some Transfans who do communicate with sign language... one was an active member on the now defunct austnet #transformers IRC channel a fews ago but she's not a member of this message board. She wasn't mute though - she could speak and lip-read, as could her other hearing-impaired Transfan friend.

She used to complain about the Madman G1 Transformers DVDs not having English subtitles. I invited her to this animé channel where there was a Madman rep hoping that she could present her case to him and convince Madman to release future TF DVDs with subtitles. The conversation went something like this...

Madman Rep> How can I help you?
Transfan> I want Transformers DVDs with subtitles.
Madman Rep> Transformers was originally done in English. There's no need for subtitles.
Transfan> I'm deaf.

That's one thing that I like about the Sony Beast Machines DVDs - unlike Madman TF DVDs (with the exception of their G1 Takara DVDs), they have subtitles. So from a hearing-impaired POV I think Sony does a better job... but it's the only aspect of Sony's TF DVDs that I prefer... in every other way I prefer Madman (like ya know... special features!).


Translation: "Let's begin (using) sign language!"

(nobody post pics of norti gestures please )

[liegeprime]

Thanks Gok, thats interesting to know, shame some of the old TF fans from the old boards didnt join in this new one, although thats not to say our current roster is not interesting as it is.

[GoktimusPrime]

I also looked at heroic_decepticon's Chinese KO of Transformers Generation - basically the TF:Generations book translated into Chinese but with poorer resolution pics cos it's a KO... I was reading the Kanji for the Chinese names and had a good giggle at some of the Chinese translations for TF names... like Starscream is called 'Kou-kumo' (紅蜘蛛) which means Red Spider (WTF?!). And Ginrai is called 'Chounou-tairyou' (超能大量) meaning "Mass Super Power"... what I found odd was why they didn't just use the Kanji for Ginrai (神雷) - even though the Japanese write it in Katakana (ジンライ) the name was intended to be Japanese (as confirmed by Kaneda Masumi). I thought that was kinda odd.

On another note, someone was asking me today why I just put "Chinese" as one of the options instead of "Mandarin/Cantonese" considering that Chinese isn't a spoken language. There are actually many more spoken Sinitic languages aside from Mandarin and Cantonese, and even more dialects amongst them (Reference).

[Sam]

Well, since being able to speak something fluently is not the same as being able to read and write something fluently ... Cantonese and Mandarin for me.

[jacksplatt11]

There are KO TF books? arrr.. What won't they KO...

[GoktimusPrime]

Well, since being able to speak something fluently is not the same as being able to read and write something fluently

Yeah I know, but considering that this thread is called "What language (other than English) do you speak?" - so the poll is meant to be focussing on spoken languages rather than written ones.

Heh... I was considering putting Arabic as an option too which would've had a similar issue as Chinese because Arabic is also a literary language, not a spoken one. People read Arabic but will speak say Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Tunisian etc. - all of which are, like Chinese languages, mutually unintelligible.

[STL]

I noticed there was no option for the language of love.

[1orion2many]

I noticed there was no option for the language of love.

I will now step away from the one liners.

[Kyle]

There are KO TF books? arrr.. What won't they KO...

There are HEAPS.

[Pulse]

... as my thick australian accent (yes I have been told by many an international friend that I have a very thick Australian accent) usuallys causes me to stuff up the words.

That reminds me of this one time when I was in Auckland for a week with a couple of mates a few years ago & I can remember everytime I spoke to a Kiwi (be it when trying to buy something or to my Mate's Kiwi GF at the time) they all told me "Sorry, but I can't understand a word you're saying. You speak way too fast & your accent is making it much worse. Can you say it again much_slower?"

I tried speaking_slower but they still couldn't bloody figure me out... *deep sigh*