LL-L "Language use" 2005.07.22 (01) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.JUL.2005 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West) Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Holger Weigelt <platt at holger-weigelt.de>
Subject: "Language use"

> From: Ingmar Roerdinkholder <ingmar.roerdinkholder at WORLDONLINE.NL>
> Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2005.07.15 (11) [E/Tok Pisin]
>
> Years ago, I worked in an asylum seekers centre in Eindhoven (NL), and
> some of our "inhabitants" were from Sierra Leone, refugees fro the cruel
> civil war. Most Siera Leoneans speak Krio as a first, second or third
> language, which is an English based creole, more or less related to Sranan
> Tongo, but much closer to Standard English.
> When I tried to speak with a young guy from that country in English, he
> didn't understand what I said at all. He needed one of his compatriots to
> translate in English all the time. The funny thing was that I could
> understand every word he said, because it was just <simplified English
> with an accent> to me, and his friends just seemed to repeat what I just
> said before. Even if I tried to imitate their accent and melody, which I
> often did speaking to Africans in English, French or Portuguese to make
> myself understood better, he didn't have a clue. Very very strange, I
> think, it must have been some kind of psychological blockade that preven-
> ted this young man to understand me, rather than a linguistic one.
>
> Ingmar
>
Hello Ingmar !

In a posting some time ago I told about a similar experience in other
context. Older people from the countryside often  talk German to me not
realizing that I am talking Low Saxon to them all the time. The reason for
this behaviour I believe is my appearance not being "typical" for an East
Frisian - a kind of  psychological blockade as You called it.

Regards
Holger

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