I know what you mean. I went out with a Brazilian girl for about six months and also had a Portuguese friend. Even with that level of exposure to the language, I still couldn't work it out. It's like when to use the ro- and po- prefix in Russians. A Russian once told me there's no rule; you just have to be Russian to know.
I can imagine just what you are saying - the portuguese grammar book is about five inches thick with the thinnest paper you have ever seen and all in fine print. Nobody but the highest level academics can understand it. Even the natives can't speak it correctly! English is far easier by comparision.
I think there must be some correlation between difficult grammar and being nice people. I like the Portuguese a lot. Finnish as a language is also one hell of a tough nut to crack. Really nice people, though.
You are quite right in your observation except mabye in the case of German and the Germans! But if you reverse the logic and remember that English has uncomplicated grammar then we are all nasty people (English, Americans, Canadians etc)! That can't be right - we are all wonderfully nice people!
There, their they're, your and you're
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I know what you mean. I went out with a Brazilian girl for about six months and also had a Portuguese friend. Even with that level of exposure to the language, I still couldn't work it out. It's like when to use the ro- and po- prefix in Russians. A Russian once told me there's no rule; you just have to be Russian to know.
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bigtoy
11 years ago
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I can imagine just what you are saying - the portuguese grammar book is about five inches thick with the thinnest paper you have ever seen and all in fine print. Nobody but the highest level academics can understand it. Even the natives can't speak it correctly! English is far easier by comparision.
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Frosties
11 years ago
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I think there must be some correlation between difficult grammar and being nice people. I like the Portuguese a lot. Finnish as a language is also one hell of a tough nut to crack. Really nice people, though.
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bigtoy
11 years ago
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You are quite right in your observation except mabye in the case of German and the Germans! But if you reverse the logic and remember that English has uncomplicated grammar then we are all nasty people (English, Americans, Canadians etc)! That can't be right - we are all wonderfully nice people!