First, speaking a second language (in addition to English) is 'very nice', but I wouldn't call it 'important'. I do like to put "Indonesian Speaker" on my CV (lived there for a few years), though, as it picks the reader's interest (on a recent agile meeting, we were asked to introduce ourselves by telling one differencing fact; most said silly things like 'I like raw spinach' or serious ones like 'I put integrity in everything I do'. My 'I speak Indonesian' got one of the loudest applause -- second only to the guy whose mother is drawing a famous comic strip for kids).
As for me, being pretty much bilingual in English landed me 4 jobs in 3 English-speaking countries (my friends and colleagues who want to go to London 'to learn English' have a much harder time -- it is acceptable when you're young and willing to work in pubs, but harder when you have 10 years IT experience and a family to feed).
Here in France, there is some pressure to learn German. It is more prestigious and harder to learn than Spanish, so ambitious pupils will take it to get to best schools, a bit like latin. Also, my parents thought that I had a good chance to work there, and get to work with Germans.
So I took German for 5 years (my wife did 7), and even got to visit a German family for a month. These guys -- they spoke better French than I did English, even. Bummer.
Long story short: I never had to put my German to test. All the Germans I've met speak adequate English or French.
15 years later, I figure it was mostly a waste of time.
Pretty much the same story with Japanese, which I took for 2 years. Never got interested enough to remember anything.
However, I dearly regret not trying Spanish. My sister did, and got to work more than 2 years ni Spain and Mexico. I personnally visited Spanish-speaking countries 3 times, and was extremely frustrated not to be able to talk with most natives.
Also, Spanish/Latin culture is much more present in Europe and US than German culture. I figure this is one of the reasons I never quite liked speaking German. While I can still vaguely sing lyrics (that I do not understand) of various Spanish songs.
Finally, a word about French. I know a few British and Americans that took French, because they wanted to visit France in better conditions (a little French will help a lot towards winning people's hearts -- at least outside Paris). A bit like my approach to Spanish, then.
However, a couple of them landed jobs in Paris. That works mostly if your French is rather good, but do know that this is a real option. That came as an afterthougth, though.
I cannot speak for Chinese or Hindi. I can tell, though, that Hindi is a risky option: it is only one of many Indian languages -- and not even the one spoken in Bangalore (they speak kannada there).
Chinese could be the same problem, as you have different dialects depending on the region in China, but my understanding is that it is much more standardize than indian languages.
Since when the price of anything gave you the right to steal/borrow it w/o the owner's consent? Do you sneak into movie theaters from the backdoor just because you feel tickets are overpriced?
OK.
My post was really about chocolate found in France, as opposed to the rest of the world.
My point was that in this country (and probably in other European countries), the best chocolate is expected to come from either Belgium or Switzerland, but that's not the case anymore.
I'm a bit curious about chocolate in South America, though. I'd expect the area to produce cocoa or cocoa beans, rather than transformed chocolate. At the recent Salon du chocolat in Paris, there was little if any presence from South America. There were delegations from Africa (particularly the Ivory Coast), but only as producers of cocoa beans.
Hm... in France, they are certainly big, but there is healthy competition. Especially in the last few years, dozens of gourmet chocolate bars have appeared in supermarkets aisles (not just gourmet stores): white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate (from 40% to... 98% pure cocoa)... I'd personnally choose either Nestle or Poulain (now property of Cadbury-Schweppes) or at last resort Lindt or Cote d'Or (Kraft). Interestingly, most of the finest/darkest chocolate is produced in France, not Belgium or Switzerland, as you would expect.
Err... where was I going? Oh yes, so Milka is quite big in France with children/youngsters (maybe women as well), but I wouldn't call they the Microsoft of chocolate.
The son of family friends died a few months ago. Accident, suicide? they are not entirely sure; maybe both.
His parents were devastated, of course, but they also admitted that they were relieved in a way. This boy (24 years old) had been a chronic alcoholic for years; he had been to several specialized institutions, but regularly came back to his vice. He never could pursue any studies whatsoever, never could hold a steady job, and was plagued with nice and very successful siblings. This was really making his parents' life a hell.
I think his whole family had given up any hope that he would recover one day. At least he's in peace.
Maybe they are just trying to go through this by convincing themselves that it's for the best. But aren't they the ones who would know best?
You know, most movies will likely have a different "point" than the book they are based no. Heck, sometimes they are different than the scenario they are based on!
This is because the director (and/or producer) is the artist who has the final say on the work, not the book author. Sometimes the core idea is preserved, sometimes not; sometimes the result is a failure, sometime it is a masterpiece (Hitchcock movies are good examples).
This is understandly frustrating for the book author and its fans, but, really, is it that fun to watch a movie that tells exactly the same thing as the book? See the Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings Series: acceptable movies, but no real added value to the books.
As for me, I've come to accept that. When I've read a book that has been made as a movie, I don't go see it (or I go fully aware that I'll be disappointed). If a movie is released based on a book I haven't read, I make sure I don't read the book beforehand.
Hm... not living in London anymore, I cannot try, but a friend of mine just told me that he can omit 0 02 and just type the following 8 digits.
I wonder if the system would cope with dialing just the last 7 digits if the first 4 are the same; the last 6 if the first 5 are the same, etc. (does not sound very realistic)
Same in London: 0 + 10 digits (might be the case in other areas as well, but in Lancashire, you only seem to need 6 digits).
Same again for UK mobiles, even though they are not linked to a specific area.
Slashdot Mirror
And...?
First, speaking a second language (in addition to English) is 'very nice', but I wouldn't call it 'important'. I do like to put "Indonesian Speaker" on my CV (lived there for a few years), though, as it picks the reader's interest (on a recent agile meeting, we were asked to introduce ourselves by telling one differencing fact; most said silly things like 'I like raw spinach' or serious ones like 'I put integrity in everything I do'. My 'I speak Indonesian' got one of the loudest applause -- second only to the guy whose mother is drawing a famous comic strip for kids).
As for me, being pretty much bilingual in English landed me 4 jobs in 3 English-speaking countries (my friends and colleagues who want to go to London 'to learn English' have a much harder time -- it is acceptable when you're young and willing to work in pubs, but harder when you have 10 years IT experience and a family to feed).
Here in France, there is some pressure to learn German. It is more prestigious and harder to learn than Spanish, so ambitious pupils will take it to get to best schools, a bit like latin. Also, my parents thought that I had a good chance to work there, and get to work with Germans.
So I took German for 5 years (my wife did 7), and even got to visit a German family for a month. These guys -- they spoke better French than I did English, even. Bummer. Long story short: I never had to put my German to test. All the Germans I've met speak adequate English or French.
15 years later, I figure it was mostly a waste of time.
Pretty much the same story with Japanese, which I took for 2 years. Never got interested enough to remember anything.
However, I dearly regret not trying Spanish. My sister did, and got to work more than 2 years ni Spain and Mexico. I personnally visited Spanish-speaking countries 3 times, and was extremely frustrated not to be able to talk with most natives.
Also, Spanish/Latin culture is much more present in Europe and US than German culture. I figure this is one of the reasons I never quite liked speaking German. While I can still vaguely sing lyrics (that I do not understand) of various Spanish songs.
Finally, a word about French. I know a few British and Americans that took French, because they wanted to visit France in better conditions (a little French will help a lot towards winning people's hearts -- at least outside Paris). A bit like my approach to Spanish, then. However, a couple of them landed jobs in Paris. That works mostly if your French is rather good, but do know that this is a real option. That came as an afterthougth, though.
I cannot speak for Chinese or Hindi. I can tell, though, that Hindi is a risky option: it is only one of many Indian languages -- and not even the one spoken in Bangalore (they speak kannada there). Chinese could be the same problem, as you have different dialects depending on the region in China, but my understanding is that it is much more standardize than indian languages.
To sum up: I'd go with Spanish.
Since when the price of anything gave you the right to steal/borrow it w/o the owner's consent?
Do you sneak into movie theaters from the backdoor just because you feel tickets are overpriced?
My post was really about chocolate found in France, as opposed to the rest of the world. My point was that in this country (and probably in other European countries), the best chocolate is expected to come from either Belgium or Switzerland, but that's not the case anymore.
I'm a bit curious about chocolate in South America, though. I'd expect the area to produce cocoa or cocoa beans, rather than transformed chocolate. At the recent Salon du chocolat in Paris, there was little if any presence from South America. There were delegations from Africa (particularly the Ivory Coast), but only as producers of cocoa beans.
Hm... in France, they are certainly big, but there is healthy competition. Especially in the last few years, dozens of gourmet chocolate bars have appeared in supermarkets aisles (not just gourmet stores): white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate (from 40% to... 98% pure cocoa)...
I'd personnally choose either Nestle or Poulain (now property of Cadbury-Schweppes) or at last resort Lindt or Cote d'Or (Kraft).
Interestingly, most of the finest/darkest chocolate is produced in France, not Belgium or Switzerland, as you would expect.
Err... where was I going?
Oh yes, so Milka is quite big in France with children/youngsters (maybe women as well), but I wouldn't call they the Microsoft of chocolate.
His parents were devastated, of course, but they also admitted that they were relieved in a way. This boy (24 years old) had been a chronic alcoholic for years; he had been to several specialized institutions, but regularly came back to his vice. He never could pursue any studies whatsoever, never could hold a steady job, and was plagued with nice and very successful siblings. This was really making his parents' life a hell.
I think his whole family had given up any hope that he would recover one day. At least he's in peace.
Maybe they are just trying to go through this by convincing themselves that it's for the best. But aren't they the ones who would know best?
Simply, no questions whatsoever are asked on the compatibility with non-Javascript-supporting browsers.
And, shame on me, I must admit that I hardly put much thought on this.
This is because the director (and/or producer) is the artist who has the final say on the work, not the book author. Sometimes the core idea is preserved, sometimes not; sometimes the result is a failure, sometime it is a masterpiece (Hitchcock movies are good examples).
This is understandly frustrating for the book author and its fans, but, really, is it that fun to watch a movie that tells exactly the same thing as the book? See the Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings Series: acceptable movies, but no real added value to the books.
As for me, I've come to accept that. When I've read a book that has been made as a movie, I don't go see it (or I go fully aware that I'll be disappointed). If a movie is released based on a book I haven't read, I make sure I don't read the book beforehand.
and I was thinking that curiosity cloned the cat. Hey.
I wonder if the system would cope with dialing just the last 7 digits if the first 4 are the same; the last 6 if the first 5 are the same, etc. (does not sound very realistic)
Same in London: 0 + 10 digits (might be the case in other areas as well, but in Lancashire, you only seem to need 6 digits).
Same again for UK mobiles, even though they are not linked to a specific area.