the pen is on the table

Telofy This might be off topic by now, but many of my former schoolmates who had French seem to remember “Arthur est un perroquet” as culmination point of that experience. Dec 12, 2009

chained_bear Every time I see the name of this page on the front page, I think of www.penisland.com. Jun 18, 2009

skipvia *wincing at frogapplause's disturbing image*
*thinks of lorena bobbitt*
*wincing even more now* Jun 18, 2009

bilby You buy your gear from the Pen Island website, don't you? Jun 18, 2009

frogapplause My eye missed the spacing: The penis on the table. Jun 18, 2009

sarra hehehe, I like that, pro. Jun 16, 2009

sionnach Stop the coach, the postillion has been struck by lightning. Jun 15, 2009

jfk flickr Jun 15, 2009

bilby Yeah, sedang is very marked, which is roughly my point. I used to do a lot of court interpreting and sedang was one of those words that crept in to lawyers' questions, usually probing for very specific information. It was quite awkward. Jun 15, 2009

skipvia I wonder if this is in any way related to "la plume de ma tante est sur le bureau de mon oncle," a sentence used in many French lesson dialogs for English speakers--perhaps conveying that "all I remember about English is what I learned in junior high"?

It's surprising how rarely you get to work phrases like "moi, j'aime mieux les frites" or "il faut que j'aille cherchez un livre" into conversations. Jun 15, 2009

Prolagus See picture! Jun 15, 2009

qroqqa Presumably Saya sedang makan when they answer the phone in an annoyed voice. It is unusual that what's conventionally called the 'present tense' in English usually isn't, whereas the 'be . . . ing' construction is more central and unmarked than en train de or (I presume) sedang. Jun 14, 2009

bilby It has its uses, qroqqa. But if you ask an Indonesian a question like 'Lagi apa sekarang?' What are you doing now? the answer will typically be without sedang, eg. '(Saya) makan' I eat. Jun 14, 2009

seanahan When I was first learning Spanish, my Mom asked me to speak it to a fluent neighbor, and the only thing I could think of was "levanta los manos", which he (jokingly) took to mean I was attempting to rob him. Jun 14, 2009

rolig My first Russian sentence, from dialog on a "Learn Russian" LP, which we were supposed to memorize even before we had any idea what we were saying, was:
Вот �? и приехал в Мо�?кву. Я думаю, что зде�?ь мне понравит�?�?.
Vot ya i priyekhal v Moskvu. Ya dumayu, chto zdes' mne ponravitsya.
Well, here I am having just arrived in Moscow. I think I will like it here.
This line has stuck in my head for close to forty years. Why, oh why, couldn't they have used Pushkin or Akhmatova? Jun 12, 2009

qroqqa Sedang would seem the obvious equivalent. Jun 12, 2009

bilby I think an Indonesian equivalent would be "I am good morning", which I have certainly heard several times. It's a joke about the English gerund, which Indonesians find terribly difficult as their language has no continuous aspect, and at the same time echoes the kind of phrase upon which beginners typically cut their teeth. Jun 12, 2009

plethora Vodka. Jun 12, 2009

chained_bear I have phrases like this for several languages. One is (forgive my awful spelling) Ta ean ear an gloch. Another is Deux etudients vent en France. Il sont avec en gruppe. Or, the conversation-spawning Ja, wij heb' geen bananen, wij heb' geen bananen vandaag!

I remember a bit more German so it would have to be something dull like "Ja, aber nur ein bisschen."

On the other hand, I remember about three words of Russian, and only how to pronounce them, as I never did get the alphabet into my head. One of them is "professor." The others, I believe, are "Da" and "Nyet." Oh, I guess there's "Pravda." Jun 12, 2009

charlesferdinand The phrase I'm familiar with is: My tailor is rich Jun 12, 2009

Prolagus English speakers that come to Italy may hear this sentence when they ask for information or talk to Italians. For mysterious reasons, this is the Italian code for "I haven't spoken English since junior high school". Jun 12, 2009