Posted: Apr 30, 2015 12:31 pm
A similar tale is being told about 'schild ende vriend' during the uprising against the french (brugse metten)Papa Smurf wrote:
According to legend that one was used to identify German spies in WW2:Wikipedia wrote: There is anecdotal evidence of the name Scheveningen being used as a shibboleth during World War II to identify German spies: they would pronounce the initial "Sch" differently from Dutch native speakers.
Non-native speakers tend to pronounce the sch as sk, which actually cost them their lives.
Anyway. When I hear how fast spanish people talk, I can hardly keep up listening, let alone speaking it myself.
and as for not being able to produce the sounds needed: what about the clicking sounds in the khoisan languages?
igorfrankensteen wrote:Oh, and let's not forget the people (again, especially here in America) who INSIST on mispronouncing non-American words, for political reasons.
Also: what's with the above? Sounds stupid and probably is. Could you provide an example? (the stupid is not yours, igor)