The Night Mail

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

but that may be linked to their sense of identity in a country where the Chinese are dominant.

Our friend from Singapore said her mother tongue (as in spoken at her family home) is English and she studied Malay at school. 

[Tony_S]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I reckon that to be a modern polyglot you need to be able to speak English, Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, Portuguese and Arabic.

Matthew had a plan for his future in Ireland. He was learning Polish and Portuguese and wouid then learn Irish. 
When he went to study in Utrecht they were most amused that a Swedish university hadn’t offered him a place as his English GCSE grade wasn’t good enough. By then he had a BA from Leicester and an MSc from LSE .

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Tony_S
Spelling

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Since my layouts are generally minimalistic with turnouts and signals, I have considered using a Modratec lever frame with proper mechanical interlocking.

 

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

@Happy Hippo, feel free to PM me or  have a chat.  I've got a Modratec frame and love it. It's actually been relocked from Long Preston to LGAas needed the same number of levers. I do have my electrical sections aligned with the signals so if necessary one switch will stop an errant train.

 

When the Mimram Modellers started to build their first S4 layout "Clayton East" back in the late '80s we decided to go the fully mechanically interlocked lever frame route.     We used Derek Mundys leverframe (extended with a couple of extra levers) and Alan Austin's "Ambis Engineering" locking frame.    It was fascinating learning about then working out the interlocking for Clayton East.     Sadly the layout was never completed (just as well as we had next to no stock to run on it!) but I still have the lever frame.  Actually, you can still operate a full sequence of the layout using it and a vivid imagination 🤣

 

 

 

Whilst investigating the Modratec version you mention (which I presume is now defunct)  I came across this beauty on the S4 forum.    

 

What a thing of beauty!   It looks like a real, proper engineered job to me, absolutely love it!

 

 

 

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

The main reason native English speakers tend to be terrible at learning foreign languages is because we don't need to be, I think. The fact that English is the global lingua france is both a blessing and a curse, a blessing in that it makes life an awful lot easier for us and a curse in that we don't really feel a need to learn another language.

 

At UN agencies, plenary sessions have simultaneous translation in the 6 UN languages but if that is interrupted people drop into English and non-plenary meetings and working groups are in English. Ditto in Europe, if no translation is available most EU meetings are in English for the simple reason it's the common language that allows people to communicate. Aviation and shipping are global industries in which English dominates and is the second language of non-native speakers. Until fairly recently US culture in terms of TV, movies and popular music was pretty much unique in having near global reach in a way others didn't. A lot of multinational corporations use English as their corporate language regardless of location. I spent a few years working for a Danish multinational and the language in their Copenhagen office and their Svendborg training centre is English (they're not so unusual). English is the common language across Asia, I attend a lot of conferences and meetings with government regulators across Asia and the language is generally English.

 

An indication of the effect it has on people can be seen in Singapore. English is the language of Administration and common language here, the result is an awful lot of Singaporean Chinese have a grasp of Mandarin only marginally better than mine despite schools being required to teach the 'mother tongue' to the Malay, Chinese and Indian Singaporeans. Oddly, the Malay and Indian people tend to take their mother tongue more seriously, but that may be linked to their sense of identity in a country where the Chinese are dominant.

I worked abroad for many many years without really learning another language. 

 

Arabic speakers often don't want to speak Arabic with infidels. A nephew of mine did a Pashtun course for serving in Afghanistan; he remarked that it got you past the barrier of "no English spoken" but it was always hard work. 

 

 

[rockershovel]

My mother's, grandmothers and great-grandmothers  generations had a long association with the British Indian Army and Civil Service. Most of them spoke Urdu or Hindi to varying extents. 

 

 

 

A family tale which always struck me as straight out of Kipling... a cousin of my grandfather met and courted an Anglo-Indian girl (in the sense of "Eurasian" rather than "British expat born in India"). When his contract expired he came home and found a job. 

 

My great-aunt travelled on the same boat and they were married in England. She then "passed" as an "English woman" (which she plainly was not) and they proceeded through life. This was quite acceptable at a certain social level. If you were grand enough, you could openly marry a "foreigner" (Phileas Fogg marries Princess Aouda, after all). If you were a "common soldier" you could have a "native" mistress or concubine and no-one cared, but you could not bring her home, although you could settle out there with her - "Road to Mandalay" is about this. 

 

Moving on, my cousin-at-whatever-remove, a teenage girl living in the Birmingham area is being urged by her school staff to "embrace her Indian culture" ... this isn't easy because her great-great-grandmother would now be Bangla Deshi and would have been displaced during Partition. She knows nothing of "Indian culture" being at least three generations removed from it, and shows no sign of wanting to. 

 

Ho hum. The times we live in... 

[polybear]

7 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

No BIKE OIL! it will destroy any plastic. Only use oil that is compatible with plastic. In the US Labelle has a range of lubricants that are compatible with plastic. Dunno about the UK.

 

 

Labelle is also available in the UK - H&A models sell it, amongst others.

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

to "embrace her Indian culture" .

My niece is doing some sort of baking theme badge for the Guides. One of the categories was something to represent your heritage. From her surname they may have been expecting an Indian product but she made Bath Buns. Why Bath, we enquired?  She said her Mum is from Wiltshire and Bath isn’t that far away. 

[TheQ]

Hold you hard there!! I struggle to speak Norfolk, cos I be born in Bath, livin in Wiltshur for a time, and Norfuk baint be Somerset.

 

In fact Norfolk people get somewhat P****d off by actors doin a west country accent, when it should be Norfuk..

[New Haven Neil]

Oh dear, languages. 

 

My brain will not learn them - despite the threats of several years of schoolmasters in French, I 'achieved' #cough# a Grade 4 in CSE, and that was a push.  It just doesn't stick.  Words maybe, I still have the basic smattering of French vocabulary, but as I didn't learn English by reciting conjugated verbs, I didn't learn French that way either, despite said threats.  As Jamie suggests, immersion is probably the best way, but a Grammar School in the early 70's was not given to such frivolity.  I was lucky to avoid Latin, doing three sciences got me out of that. And yes, I passed them all in O level with A's.

 

Of course as a Geordie some say I still haven't learnt English.  I recall Dave H's comments a few days ago!

 

I managed to learn enough at Kollege to finish with three credits and two distinctions in my finals, luckily engineering not language. So my brain does.....did....work, just not for funny sentences in odd words.  As a sea-farer though, I know the word for beer in many languages.

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

My niece is doing some sort of baking theme badge for the Guides. One of the categories was something to represent your heritage. From her surname they may have been expecting an Indian product but she made Bath Buns. Why Bath, we enquired?  She said her Mum is from Wiltshire and Bath isn’t that far away. 

The Guides have lost their way... Scouts are making a serious attempt to make young people think, to develop a concept of citizenship and community. Guides have foundered in a morass of political correctness and with Scouts now being open to girls, they are making the running. 

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Hold you hard there!! I struggle to speak Norfolk, cos I be born in Bath, livin in Wiltshur for a time, and Norfuk baint be Somerset.

 

In fact Norfolk people get somewhat P****d off by actors doin a west country accent, when it should be Norfuk..

Don't all spud-snatchers sound the same? 

 

English local accents go Geordie, Yorkey, Scouse, Brum, Essex, Cockney, Mummerset, Poldaarrrrk! 

Edited 4 hours ago by rockershovel

[Happy Hippo]

4 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

The Guides have lost their way... Scouts are making a serious attempt to make young people think, to develop a concept of citizenship and community. Guides have foundered in a morass of political correctness and with Scouts now being open to girls, they are making the running. 

The Guides do  have an excellent track record when it comes to keeping their charges safe and alive.

[PupCam]

8 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Some people really know how to get the most out of life. A former colleague of Sherry's has txted to say she is staying in an apartment in Montmartre with a friend. This morning they hope to wander down the Left Bank - via a vegan bakery.......

 

It was all going so well ......

 

 

[Hroth]

My Brown Owl friend runs an interesting and exciting troop of Brownies with plenty of activities both indoors and outdoors. However she despairs of the lacklustre national organisation who apparently can't organise the proverbial pyssup in a brewery. The higher organisation would do well as stewards on the Titanic....

 

[bbishop]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

My biggest problem in learning Japanese is that my memory is now as porous as a sieve and if I don’t use it, I loose it*

 

* as the Bishop said to the actress…

Oy, less of the Bishop and actress cracks.  

 

At school, I did one year of Latin (very useful for English grammar), 4.5 years of French and took the O level early so I never had to use that godawful language ever again, and three years of German.  I have taken up German again in order to read books about their railways and to speak on holiday.  It also helps to keep the brain cells working.  I'm never going to be fluent but at least I know the plural of "der Biergarten".

[DaveF]

it has been wet, 55mm of rain so far since 7a.m.  

 

The pleasant bit of today has been running both model railways, Swiss n gauge and the Midland 0 gauge.  The photo below shows a goods train at Oxton station.  I do know some of the wagons are too modern, but it is my model railway and usually there is only me looking at it.

 

The loco was bought second hand by Dad over 30 years ago and is from a Slaters kit.  I repainted it just after he bought it.  It still works well.  The whole layout including hidden sidings is 13' x 2'.

 

 

David

 

Edited 4 hours ago by DaveF

[Mike Bellamy]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

Labelle is also available in the UK - H&A models sell it, amongst others.

 

Similar lubricants are produced by Woodland Scenics (Hob-e-Lube) and so should be available from Bachmann stockists. A trader at our show last weekend had the full range.

 

https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/category/scenery-landscape/woodland_scenics/lubricants-fasteners/hob-e-lube

.

[Willie Whizz]

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

Hold you hard there!! I struggle to speak Norfolk, cos I be born in Bath, livin in Wiltshur for a time, and Norfuk baint be Somerset.

 

In fact Norfolk people get somewhat P****d off by actors doin a west country accent, when it should be Norfuk..

Here in Nottingham we get tired of actors in dramas set in the Queen of the Midlands fudging the way we talk by doing Yorkshire. 
 

The recent ‘Sherwood’ was somewhat better than most, but still not great. 
 

To get a feel for the real thing from older people in the poorer parts of the City, imagine Su Pollard dialled-down by 20%. 

[Timboh]

I was at my Polish Mrs` alotment here in Dorset recently. Next to us were two young kids who spoke English, with a pronounced southern accent, to each other. The parents were Italian and Polish, both kids used the parents respective languages to address them. The parents spoke English to each other, though they later said they had a working knowledge ot each others languages. Fascinating listening to them. 

 (alas, my Polish is very, very basic.)

Edited 2 hours ago by Timboh
Clarity

[SM42]

I'm immersed in Polish quite regularly. 

 

After 18 years you would think I would be fluent. 

 

I can just about get by. 

 

My nephew is fluent ( he's only been doing it 14 years) and his Englush is pretty good too. 

 

I have been trying to teach him Black Country to impress his teacher. 

 

Andy

[Winslow Boy]

I speak Manutopean. Unfortunately though I did missionary work down South for a number of years - twenty before you ask, and I'm afraid some of it rubbed off.

 

I hang my head in shame and just nod my head when I'm asked something. I've found its better that way.

[SM42]

Phrases for nephew to learn: 

 

Ow am yer ?

 

Yow teks sum bred an fades the ducks an they ates it.

 

Bin yer bist or bin yer bay. 

 

(I'm not 100%  sure what the last one means but I heard it a lot growing up. 

I believe it has something to do with getting in the way. )

 

Finally the classic

 

Kipper tie. 

 

Not a 70s fashion accessory, but a refreshing hot beverage

 

Andy

[SM42]

Language learning at school for a young and upcoming SM42 was French from the ages of 9 till 16 and one year of German at 13. 

 

I dropped German at O level on the basis I had more chance in French as I had learnt ( I use the phrase loosely) it for longer. 

 

I scraped a C at O level.

 

What I did take from these lessons in French was the names of some shops, numbers and how to ask for an ice cream along with a few other words which get me to the stage of understanding a bit as I can get the feel  for the words ( written definitely more than spoken)

 

German has got me numbers, although I have a bit of a blind spot between 9 and 20   other odd words for things like waterproof and the phrases:

Das ist eine fuerzueg ( not sure on spelling?)

and

Das ist eine squeezeybox. 

 

The last might not be quite 100% German. 

 

During my later school years  I had a friend whose parents were Polish. 

He spoke his best BBC  English, but at home he would speak Polish to his parents ( whose English was patchy) 

 

I would stand there and think to myself " I'm going to learn this flippin language one day"

 

Little did I realise at the time that I would be trying to do just that 18 years later. 

 

Andy

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

I speak Manutopean. Unfortunately though I did missionary work down South for a number of years - twenty before you ask, and I'm afraid some of it rubbed off.

 

I hang my head in shame and just nod my head when I'm asked something. I've found its better that way.

 

Thats just as bad as being instantly identified as to which shore of the Mersey you reside on...

 

[Tony_S]

44 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Das ist eine squeezeybox. 

We had to learn the phrase “Das LKW war zusammengequetscht wie eine Zieharmonika” and make sure to include it in the essay question.