Double deltas - SAAB J35A/B Draken (Refurbished plus NOS 1957 Revell kits)

[Rick Lowe]

Speaking the language better than the natives... typical Overachiever!   
All meant with respect, of course! 

I hate to think what a botch I'd make of anything Scandinavian... my French and German efforts were bad enough - thank goodness most Europeans speak decent English, is all I can say. 

[Pellson]

Your flatter is as exaggerated as it is well received. 

While on subject - you should hear young Mr P Jr. While overhearing him gaming online a couple of months ago, I had to interrupt and ask where he'd picked up his language - to which he responded "My online mate is Mancunian".
I wasn't even aware the little sod knew of the epithet Mancunian, but I had to admit it made sense.. 

Test fitting two seater components from the Heller kit on the Revell fuselage, I may actually be able to build an Sk35C trainer Draken from another old Revell kit and spares after all. Hmmm... Must source yet another old crap Draken then..

[PR19_Kit]

I know a couple of Swedish words, maybe three............

SAAB, Scania & Volvo. 

Oh yes, and ABBA too. 

[NARSES2]

I hate to think what a botch I'd make of anything Scandinavian... my French and German efforts were bad enough - thank goodness most Europeans speak decent English, is all I can say. 

Indeed they do, or at least in places where us Brits are likely to travel. Always wish I'd learned a language at school, but back then Secondary Moderns did't teach languages. Mind you I can read French fairly well, or could up until a few years ago, as most of our industry's official EU documents, and there were thousands of them, were in French as the "legal" language. All our meetings were held in English though unless there was simultanious translation, which was only ever offered in Paris strangely enough 

[Rheged]

I hate to think what a botch I'd make of anything Scandinavian... my French and German efforts were bad enough - thank goodness most Europeans speak decent English, is all I can say. 

Indeed they do, or at least in places where us Brits are likely to travel. Always wish I'd learned a language at school, but back then Secondary Moderns did't teach languages. Mind you I can read French fairly well, or could up until a few years ago, as most of our industry's official EU documents, and there were thousands of them, were in French as the "legal" language. All our meetings were held in English though unless there was simultanious translation, which was only ever offered in Paris strangely enough 

I suffered from a Grammar School education and have Latin and Classical Greek to "O" level (not that there has been much call for either in day to day life) and French to "A" level  (which I do still use as a National Trust guide).  I am also fluent in Gibberish and Rubbish.  Having two young grand daughters, I have recently  become  able to understand Toddler, even if I can't speak it.

[PR19_Kit]

Having two young grand daughters, I have recently  become  able to understand Toddler, even if I can't speak it.

Oddly that seems to be an 'International' language, no matter which country the aforementioned grand-kids come from, they can all understand each other straight away! 

[kerick]

Funny how all Toddlers are able to understand Adult language. I'd forgotten how to understand Toddler until my granddaughter turned two. Now it's coming back to me.

[steelpillow]

I suffered from a Grammar School education and have Latin and Classical Greek to "O" level (not that there has been much call for either in day to day life) and French to "A" level  (which I do still use as a National Trust guide).

Public School Twit of the Year here. The Latin, French and German I learned have all been useful in my life from time to time. German especially, as so much aerodynamic development was done there. And I like to read Asterix comic books in the original French. Wish I had taken Greek too, as that is useful in my mathematical studies.

[kerick]

Some understanding of the pronunciation of Latin and Ancient Greek would have been helpful in science classes without question.

[PR19_Kit]

I may have mentioned this before, but I got the LOWEST mark ever in my school's Mock O Level Latin exam.

To quote my form master :-

'Spackman, English into Latin, zero marks. Latin into English, one mark. Average, one half!'

Que loud cheers from all my form mates. 

[steelpillow]

Well yes, I did hate Latin and, despite being taught it from the age of seven, was set fair to fail my O level. This Latin master was an evil-tempered disciplinarian so all was as usual. Then one day, something in him snapped. He just couldn't take the bunch of sulky dunderheads in front of him any more. He took up his Virgil, which he had vainly been trying to get us to understand, turned to his favourite passage, and began to read it out loud with great passion. It was basically an epic poem and as the poetry flowed through him his face lit up with a transcendent glow we could never have imagined in such an old sourpuss. The sounds rolled around the classroom, his eyes half-closed in ecstacy as he recited by heart. It finally dawned on me that there might be something to this Latin mental torture after all, if it could move such a hardened heart of stone as his.
Next year was O level year and we got an amiable and decrepit dodderer. He was so long-suffering and good about our awful indifference, it shamed me into actually revising for my exam, and I scraped through. A posthumous thank you to both of them.

Did I mention Ursula K le Guin? She wrote a historical novel, Lavinia, around a character in that poem. It's on my bookshelf right now.

[kerick]

There's nothing more ineffective as a teacher than someone who loves the subject to no end and expects students to love it just as much. Then gets mad and then eventually turns into the sourpuss when they don't. It's like they just can't conceive a normal person not loving Latin or whatever.

[NARSES2]

Well yes, I did hate Latin and, despite being taught it from the age of seven, was set fair to fail my O level. This Latin master was an evil-tempered disciplinarian so all was as usual. Then one day, something in him snapped. He just couldn't take the bunch of sulky dunderheads in front of him any more. He took up his Virgil, which he had vainly been trying to get us to understand, turned to his favourite passage, and began to read it out loud with great passion. It was basically an epic poem and as the poetry flowed through him his face lit up with a transcendent glow we could never have imagined in such an old sourpuss. The sounds rolled around the classroom, his eyes half-closed in ecstacy as he recited by heart. It finally dawned on me that there might be something to this Latin mental torture after all, if it could move such a hardened heart of stone as his.
Next year was O level year and we got an amiable and decrepit dodderer. He was so long-suffering and good about our awful indifference, it shamed me into actually revising for my exam, and I scraped through. A posthumous thank you to both of them.

Wonderful   

[Rick Lowe]

Well yes, I did hate Latin and, despite being taught it from the age of seven, was set fair to fail my O level. This Latin master was an evil-tempered disciplinarian so all was as usual. Then one day, something in him snapped. He just couldn't take the bunch of sulky dunderheads in front of him any more. He took up his Virgil, which he had vainly been trying to get us to understand, turned to his favourite passage, and began to read it out loud with great passion. It was basically an epic poem and as the poetry flowed through him his face lit up with a transcendent glow we could never have imagined in such an old sourpuss. The sounds rolled around the classroom, his eyes half-closed in ecstacy as he recited by heart. It finally dawned on me that there might be something to this Latin mental torture after all, if it could move such a hardened heart of stone as his.
Next year was O level year and we got an amiable and decrepit dodderer. He was so long-suffering and good about our awful indifference, it shamed me into actually revising for my exam, and I scraped through. A posthumous thank you to both of them.

Wonderful   

Yes; a great story, and lesson - you never know the journey someone has taken to get to where you see them.
<pontifical mode OFF for the weekend - I promise!>