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Welcome to RAT Tim!
There are many people here who will be very helpful to you!
I'm just here for nuisance value! hock:
Your english is fine, far better than my french, or german or greek or italian.......... :wink:
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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Thank you very much.
You I reckon as one of the "veterans" of this forum (I haven't seen much important topics without one of your replies). And I like your style of wittiness (for that, I had to take a dictionnary)!
Titus Aetius Constans
Tim
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Me, witty? :roll: :oops:
There is actually a quote which I sometimes fear relects rather badly on me, refering to wise men speaking whan they have something to say, while fools speak just to say something......I fear in this company, I fall in the latter category :oops: :oops:
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
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:lol: Well, I searched a word which I could translate, and witty was the one which came quite close to what I mean: there's some kind of humour in your replies. That's it!
Titus Aetius Constans
Tim
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Quote:Salvete,
My name is Tim Van den Abeele and I'm from Belgium. Since childhood I've always been interested in history in general. I'm a student, and since 2005 I serve as a legionary in Legio XI CPF (the same as Marcus Mummius).
That is also the date from which I started reading the posts on this forum. The amount of knowledge which is shared on it is immense!
Marcus persuaded me to register, so I could ask my questions here instead of always sending them to him :-) )
I wish to apologize for my English, which is not as good as I would want it to be.
Valete,
Titus Aetius Constans,
Tim Van den Abeele
Salve, Constans/Tim! No need to aplogize for your English, especially considering it's likely not the first language of Belgium. That would be French, yes? Anyway, it seems you speak it pefectly well; better than a lot of native English speakers I come across Welcome to the RAT! Glad you joined.
---AH Mervla, aka Joel Boynton
Legio XIIII, Gemina Martia Victrix
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Hi Joel,
You'll find you'll want to be careful about suggesting that the first language of Belgium is French, especially to a Flemish guy...
Welcome to RAT, Tim!
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Er, well, what is it? I thought it was French, but apparently I've touched upon a regional feud or dislike. If that's so, I'll keep it in mind. We don't have such things here in the US....(note to self-never admit to being Californian)
---AH Mervla, aka Joel Boynton
Legio XIIII, Gemina Martia Victrix
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Belgium is officially bi-lingual (or maybe even tri-lingual with German too?). French is spoken in the Walloon part, Flemish (Belgian Dutch) is spoken in the Flemish part. The two parts of the country generally don't mix very well. :wink:
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Greetings Joel, and thank you.
I see that Jasper (thanks again) allready explained the Belgian situation. hock:
Officialy Belgium is trilingual: Flemish, French an German (and you also have the bilingual part, which is Brussels). That are the three communities, which act like your states in the USA. In Flanders the second language is French, and in the Walloon provinces it is Dutch. The third language that we are tought is English; and we learn very little German (which I find is a pitty).
So far so good, but there's that last sentence of Jasper: Quote:"The two parts of the country generally don't mix very well."
In fact, that is pure politics. In my experience, the people themselves do not have a problem with it, if you are friendly and they are friendly, and there's a dialogue, there's no problem.
I hope this has cleared things out a bit, if you have any questions: ask!
Titus Aetius Constans
Tim
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Note: in theory that all sounds fine.
But in practice, when you see a Fleming having a conversation with a Walloon, that conversation will always be done in French; and that's one aspect of the political discussion...
Titus Aetius Constans
Tim
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Hi Tim,
By 'They don't mix very well', I meant to say that a 'Vlaming' won't like to be told his first language is French.
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Aha, that's true :wink:
But you still have "Vlaams Belang" and "Front National" and they are serious about their claim for independence... But that are politics and this is a non-political forum. Apologies.
Titus Aetius Constans
Tim
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Welcome to our new members !!
Here you will find neither 'Fleming' or 'Walloon', only 'Romans' and 'Belgae'!! wink: :wink:
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
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Thanks, Jasper and Tim. I'm afraid I don't know much about the Low Countries; that clears things up a bit. Actually, I belatedly wondered if I was stirring up a modern political controversy. Glad to see I'm not.
---AH Mervla, aka Joel Boynton
Legio XIIII, Gemina Martia Victrix
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Neh, you're not. No worries.
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