[PRCo] Re: Cleveland Operation

[mtoytrain at bellsouth.net]

Herb
Looks like your "Browns" are going to go ahead of the "Stillers" especially if they lose
the my Jaguars this coming Sunday.    Question - what type of operating cars are there
in Cleveland, if so, from where to where do they operate?
Jerry M
-------------- Original message from Herb Brannon <hrbran at sbcglobal.net>: --------------


> Reading is much easier than listening to it. It is spoken usually with a fast
> timbre and I many times have to say, "despacio, por favor", or, "slow, please".
> I need to think a minute before I recite a sentence in Spanish to make sure I
> have the words in the correct order or at least close to the correct order so I
> will be understood. I guess I come close to being correct, everyone gets on the
> right bus, goes down the right street and seems happy with my method of
> speaking. Of interest was what a co-operator in Orlando at Central Florida
> Regional Transit Authority, who was a young lady from Puerto Rico, said to me.
> She said, "I know it is not polite for me to speak in Spanish so much, but I can
> tell by your expressions that you understand what I am saying."
>
> Many of the words are similar to English therefore making it easier than one
> would suppose. Also, both Spanish and English have many root words from Latin.
> Many Spanish tech terms are the same as English, as there are no Spanish
> equivalents. Speaking of the "H" sound, in Spanish the letter "J" is normally
> pronounced like the English 'H".As for first names, its hard to say how they
> were made up. Maybe some unknown bunch of people, after world trade began, sat
> down in kind a "pre United Nations" meeting, way back in the Year One and
> decided which names would match up in the international community. Unknown how
> 'they' arrived at what words mean what but we must remember it all started when
> each ethnic group was isolated from the others. The language developed within
> each region and as trade on the planet began they had to figure out who was
> saying what so all that saffron, rice, wheat, corn, cotton, silk, gun powder,
> etc, etc could get traded and a profit made. We are on the
> tail end of all this so everything is pretty much "put together" for us. Just
> go with the flow and don't worry about how it all got started............do we
> really need to know how it all got started?
>
> Of course, as it is said, "practice makes perfect" or at least better than
> most, if not perfect. If I'm sitting on station-report at work and Jose Ramos is
> also sitting there and I want to ask him a question I will ask in Spanish. He
> will answer if I was correct or will get a funny look on his face if I was
> incorrect in the recital. I can then get the correct way to say it from him.
> Same goes with another non-workplace buddy of mine, also named Jose. If I'm at
> his place the television is usually on a Spanish language channel. If I get lost
> in listening to the fast paced talk, he catches me up. His English is not so hot
> either so when he's at my place I catch him up when he gets lost. He learns and
> I learn. That word, "learn" is the key. Anyone who refuses to continue with
> their "education" needs their ass kicked, especially in today's world.
> Education is not just a 12, 16, 18, or 20 year experience. It is actually a
> never ending process.
>
> That's how it goes.........listen to it, use it, try speaking and
> understanding it and sooner or later you know it.
>
> Then, what with World War 2, the British Empire, and the American Empire
> English is the "World Language". I have been in England, Greece, Denmark,
> Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia and the place I had the hardest time
> understanding anyone was London, England. In the other countries it seemed that
> everyone knew English. Even in Saudi Arabia signs are in both Arabic and English
> and most of the people there know some English do to the American influence over
> the past fifty or so years.
>
> Hey, I also heard the bell..............time for recess.
>
> Fred Schneider wrote:
> Do you feel you are fluent, Herb? Can you use it the same as
> English? Can you read a Spanish newspaper at the same speed as an
> English paper and understand it? I am not trying to be
> insulting ... I just recognize certain things where you have arrived
> with a language ... and I never have. One of those is the ability
> to make puns in a second language or to rapidly understand them.
>
> I appreciate the need for languages but for me they have always been
> a struggle. I have profound admiration for those who can speak more
> than one tongue.
>
> Perhaps if I were to be placed in a situation where I had to learn
> one such as being forced to live in a remote Mexican or Puerto Rican
> or German town for a year, where it would be impossible to use English.
>
> By the way, I recognized a strong resemblance between "Si, la pluma
> es con Enrique", and French as well as Latin which I have studied.
> I could easily fill in the blanks when I see it. But hearing it is
> totally different. I find it intriguing how languages evolve over
> time as man migrates over the land. Si in Spanish and Oui in French
> for yes have strong similarities. Even closer, la pluma in Spanish
> and la plume (also feminine) in French. With is con in Spanish, con
> in Italian, wasn't it cum in Latin but how in the dickens did it
> become avec in French????
>
> It makes sense to me that I open a window here, and in Germany I can
> point to the same object and call it "das Fenster" or in French "la
> fenêtre. It makes sense because it is something tangible that I
> can point to and point a tag on it with a name.
>
> With some of our last or surnames, I can even understand the
> connections. Mine is Schneider. The German verb "schneiden"
> translates "to cut". A Schneider in Germany is a tailor. Often
> the British anglicized the German Schneider to Taylor or Tailor.
> That makes a lot of sense to me ... or at least I can follow a line
> of logic. More so than the other Irish side of my family with the
> British tended to Anglicize from McGowan to Smith simply because it
> was so common. Maybe that in itself is logical?
>
> But I truly become confused by who decided that Henry and Enrico and
> Enrique are the same. Is it simply that there is no H sound in
> certain languages and there is in others? In French, Henry is
> spelled that way but pronounced something like On-ray. And why does
> my middle name William become Guillermo or something similar thereto
> in Romance languages ... what the heck is the connection. Are
> Frederick, Frederich, and Fredrico that similar in all languages or
> did I just get lucky enough to pick the right ones. And how about
> Herbert? What is it in other languages and does it make sense? And
> Richard? And Kenneth? And James? And does Boris translate into
> English?
>
> Of course this all leads to why do we translate someone's name?
> Isn't it a little rude? Like translating or Anglicizing a city
> because we don't want to pronounce it correctly?
>
> How many people did I stir up this time?
>
> Ah, time to go for the Indian lunch. You're all saved by the bell.
>
> On Dec 8, 2007, at 8:26 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>
>> I was able to really send "shock waves", albeit good shock waves,
>> through some Hispanic drivers a few years ago when I lived in
>> Austin, TX and worked for Capital Metro. We were all sitting in the
>> operators lounge, playing some silly game which required that
>> scores be kept for each player. I was the only "Anglo" in the
>> group. Bear in mind, however, all these guys were my good work
>> buddies. They would switch from English to Spanish, and back and
>> forth. At one point, one guy told a joke, in Spanish. When the
>> punch line came I laughed along with them. (The punch line was,
>> "And look, Henry has the pen.") So, thinking quickly, I figured I
>> better say the punch line to prove that I understood what was said,
>> and not just laughing along with them. So I said, "Si, la pluma es
>> con Enrique", or Yes, the pen is with Henry. I never saw four chins
>> drop to the floor so fast and such a look of surprise come over
>> four people at the same time. It was really priceless...........I
>> wish I would have had a camera to record the moment. At that time
>> I then knew that those years of taking Spanish were really worth
>> it. ;-)
>>
>>
>> Herb Brannon
>>
>>
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> Herb Brannon
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