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Post by The Old Bean on Jan 5, 2006 9:09:40 GMT
'Allo!
I don't know about other people, but I'm often curious about other countries and so forth and the way they work and so such.
So I thought other people might as well.
Hence, I dedicate this thread for people who would like to ask members of a country about their nation. Pose each question by stating what country you are directing it to, and hopefully a member from that country will answer.
To Americans: What's the difference between Freshman, Sophmore (sp?), Senior etc? What are they? Where are they? I've 'eard about 'em, but have no idea what they are.
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Post by mstnoodle on Jan 5, 2006 9:36:39 GMT
From what I know they are high school terms.
Freshman = Newbie Sophmore = ? (no idea) Senior = Older graders
Mstnoodle
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Post by CPK on Jan 5, 2006 13:40:10 GMT
Freshman - Early years of High School Sophmore - Mid years of High School Senior - Latter years of High School
Well, that's my creed anyway, but I'm not American.
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Post by Kate669 on Jan 5, 2006 14:34:41 GMT
Grade placement in the American school system varies from region to region, but the age levels for each grade are the same, ranging from kindergarten to high school senior.
Kindergarten = Grade 0 (ages 5-6)
Birth date determines your placement when you enter kindergarten. In the system used by my school district, if your birthday is before September 15th, you start kindergarten at age 5. If it's on or after September 15th, you wind up having to wait about a year, and you'll be nearly 6 when you start.
Elementary/Grammar/Primary School = Grades 1-5 (ages 6-11)
Middle/Junior High/Intermediate School = Grades 6-8 (ages 11-14)
A Junior High school consists of 7th and 8th grades only, placing Grade 6 with the Elementary School groups. This is where the system varies - some districts have a Middle School (Albuquerque, for example), while others have a Junior High (like my district).
High School/Secondary School = Grades 9-12; the classes are named as follows:
Freshman = Grade 9 (ages 14-15) Sophomore = Grade 10 (ages 15-16) Junior = Grade 11 (ages 16-17) Senior = Grade 12 (ages 17-18)
I hope all this makes sense.
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Post by Mark Iron on Jan 5, 2006 21:02:25 GMT
yep, other difference is there's some more privilages given to the upperclass men.
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Post by Skarloey on Jan 5, 2006 22:01:08 GMT
Well, incase you Americans were wondering about the UK version (which is a lot simpler): Nursery - "Nursery" Age 3. Infants - "Reception" Age 4, "Year 1" Age 5, "Year 2" Age 6. Juniors - "Year 3" Age 7, "Year 4" Age 8, "Year 5" Age 9, "Year 6" Age 10. Secondary - "Year 7" Age 11, "Year 8" Age 12, "Year 9" Age 13, "Year 10" Age 14, "Year 11" Age 15. Sixth Form - "Year 12" Age 16, "Year 13" Age 17. Occasionally, "Nursery" is encorporated in Infants. "Nursery" and "Years 12 & 13" are optional. "Sixth Form" is part of "Secondary" School. Infants and Juniors are sometimes incorporated in "Primary" School. I'm in Year 10. About Exams... Key Stage 1 SATs - Year 2 Key Stage 2 SATs - Year 6 Key Stage 3 SATs - Year 9 GCSE Exams - Years 10 & 11 A Levels - Years 12 & 13 I'm doing my GCSE work now.
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gonzerelli
Goods Engine
The definition of 'Crazy Musician'
Posts: 268
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Post by gonzerelli on Jan 6, 2006 1:26:06 GMT
The Australian school system is simpler still.
Primary School = Kindergarten, Years 1-6 High School = Years 7-12
*In the Queensland and South Australian systems, Year 7 is included in Primary School*
Quite simple really. You can leave with a School Certificate (or equivalent) after Year 10, or go on to do the extra 2 years to get your Higher School Certificate (or equivalent).
So yea. High School can sometimes be split into Juniors/Seniors depnding on whether you've finished Year 10. Sometimes Primary Schools will be split into Infants (K-2)/Primary (3-6) for certain purposes.
Early Childhood (specialist) Teachers will teach from Pre-School to Year 2.
That's it. Nothing special about anything - Year 7's are called Year 7's, no special silly names...
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Post by sillyevan on Jan 6, 2006 3:37:12 GMT
Grade placement in the American school system varies from region to region, but the age levels for each grade are the same, ranging from kindergarten to high school senior.Kindergarten = Grade 0 (ages 5-6) Birth date determines your placement when you enter kindergarten. In the system used by my school district, if your birthday is after September 15th, you start kindergarten at age 5. If it's on or before September 15th, you wind up having to wait about a year, and you'll be nearly 6 when you start. Elementary/Grammar/Primary School = Grades 1-5 (ages 6-11) Middle/Junior High/Intermediate School = Grades 6-8 (ages 11-14) A Junior High school consists of 7th and 8th grades only, placing Grade 6 with the Elementary School groups. This is where the system varies - some districts have a Middle School (Albuquerque, for example), while others have a Junior High (like my district). High School/Secondary School = Grades 9-12; the classes are named as follows: Freshman = Grade 9 (ages 14-15) Sophomore = Grade 10 (ages 15-16) Junior = Grade 11 (ages 16-17) Senior = Grade 12 (ages 17-18) I hope all this makes sense. Now to make it more interesting, my school has the system set up in yet another way! Pre-School Kindergarten Elementry School (Grades 1-4) Middle School (Grades 5-7) High School (Grade8, Freshmen, Sophmore, Junior, Senior) Both terms "Freshmen" and "Sophmores" are politically incorrect now We have to call them "9th Graders" and "10th Graders" (respectfully). Freshmen means...well, fresh men: new to the school and not knowledgable of school customs (each school has it's own personality ). Sophmore combines Greek words to mean "a wise dummy"...it's your "second year" so you're in the middle. Okay, now here's MY question to you UK folk. I've been talking to people from the UK for over 3 years now...but I'm still curious as to how you treat your "native" (for lack of a better word) languages Like I'm pretty sure most of you (if not all of you ) know the English language, but do any of you still speak Scottish, Welsh, etc at home or at school or...where-ever? (Oh and now everyone I've ever met here will look at me strangely and say "WTF?!" )
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Post by bobwinkle007 on Jan 6, 2006 4:05:05 GMT
Another Q for yon British folk. What is your impression of an American accent?
British accents are easily distinguishable- to Americans at least. It's just hard for me to think of an "American" voice.
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Post by Mark Iron on Jan 6, 2006 6:51:45 GMT
and what are some of the differences between the countries? Like politics, culture, etc. (and ones that aren't as usually talked about)
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Anime Boy
Main Line Engine
[D3v:thomasanime]
Posts: 1,541
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Post by Anime Boy on Jan 6, 2006 11:08:14 GMT
From where I live, this is the school system: Kindergarten: Grade 0 Elementary School(Grades 1-6) Junior High School(Grades 7-9) Senior High School(Grades 10-12) Unlike the US, in which students can enter senior high school after graduating from junior high school, and go to college with only their SAT test and final test results. Junior high school students must takes a Basic Minimum Skills test and use the results to determine which senior high school they could get into, the same goes for senior high school students who are going to college. To prepare fo the tests, Grade 9 students and Grade 12 students spend their entire school year studying, studying, and testing, testing. Boy, are they swamped!
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Post by The Old Bean on Jan 6, 2006 11:40:01 GMT
Another Q for yon British folk. What is your impression of an American accent? British accents are easily distinguishable- to Americans at least. It's just hard for me to think of an "American" voice. If I may field this one from an Australian stand point, an American accent sticks out like a sore thumb - but it's nothing to be really bothered by. The thing I can't stand is when American voice artists try to impersonate Australians... ;D Oh, that and obnoxious American tourists who have to question everything. I understand that they are a minority in what I assume to be a majority of pleasant American tourists, but we still get them. and what are some of the differences between the countries? Like politics, culture, etc. (and ones that aren't as usually talked about) Our politics here is almost naive compared to other countries. Unlike Americans, we don't have celebrities vouching for political candidates. In fact, no one really cares about who is going where except for the Prime Minister, and your local MP. And they don't even come to your door to get your vote! Lazy swines... I'm generally conservative so I would be a "Liberal" voter, which I believe is the equivelant of "Republican" in the US. The other type is "Labor", which is the equivelant of "Labour" (UK) and "Democrat" (US). But politics is boring... Unfortunately Australian culture suffers from the overbearing cultures dictated by America, Europe and Asia. Hence, we are still seen as hillbillies living in a desert with kangaroos in our backyard (and I s'pose those awful racist fights at Cronulla don't help...). Furthermore, our film industry is very bleh, because no one outside Australia seems terribly interested in it. The only thing that's usually exported is our meat and wool. I just thought I might add that we do not all sound like Steve Irwin (Croc Hunter) with outrageous Australian accents. Ours is usually more reserved, and subtle. It's kinda like generalising all Americans to sound like Dr Phil or Bill Cosby and all British people to sound like Hugh Grant, both of which are ridiculous. </rant>
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Post by Ajani on Jan 6, 2006 13:39:58 GMT
are there alot of Jamaicans in Australia? I know that the UK has alot, because of the ties that we shared when Jamaica was a colony, but I'm quite curious about Australia.
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Post by stepneydude on Jan 6, 2006 19:10:35 GMT
Some quick thingies with UK and US wordings...
American Word - British Equivalent SIDEWALK - PAVEMENT GARBAGE - RUBBISH SOCCER - FOOTBALL FOOTBALL - RUGBY TRASH CAN - DUSTBIN RAILROAD - RAILWAY FRIES - CHIPS (Although we do sometimes call them fries. Chips are just fattier versions)
Also, limeys and yankees often spell words differently. For instance, Brits write it "aeroplane", but Americans write it as "airplane".
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Jan 6, 2006 20:26:02 GMT
Re American accents, an American accent is quite a broad definition. I suppose what most people outside the US tend to think of when they think of an American accent would be either a New York State kind of accent (I know that's my default American accent) or an LA kind of accent. Having said that, we can usually distinguish between those, and a Southern accent sounds very distinctive to our ears.
Re other languages in the UK, Welsh is a language that was once on the verge of extinction, but which, thanks to support at many levels, is now on the up again. There is a Welsh language TV station and a lot of signs are bilingual. Gaelic, the "native" language of Scotland and Ireland (Irish and Scottish Gaelic are, I believe, two distinct dialects), does not seem to be faring to well, although it is possible to obtain official documents in Gaelic. A language related to Gaelic is Cornish, a language that, despite the best efforts of its supporters, is almost extinct as anything other than a linguistic curiosity and a symbol of Cornish nationalism. Although I personally would question the wisdom of patriotic slogans that nobody would understand, but then, I am a London boy. Closely related to Cornish is Breton, a language spoken in the Brittany region of France. So closely related are these two languages that it is possible for a Cornish speaker and a Breton speaker to converse with ease.
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Post by Kate669 on Jan 6, 2006 23:33:30 GMT
Regarding American accents: I'm sorry to say, I actually have one. *cries*
No, it's not that bad of a thing...I just wish I still had my pretty little British accent that I lost around age 9. Nowadays, after five years of waitressing in English and Spanish, I've picked up what I like to call a "New Mexican" accent. It's not Southern (don't be thinking Texas), but it's certainly not like any accent you're likely to hear in America. And yet, it's not totally Spanish either - it's a sort of wonderful blend, which can only be described with a voice clip (I'll work on that). In the meantime, Alaric's Christmas audio production will give you a basic idea of what I sound like...the New Mexican bit kind of fades when I'm recording lines, but you can still tell I've lived in America for 17 years.
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Post by Skarloey on Jan 7, 2006 0:14:32 GMT
Re American accents, an American accent is quite a broad definition. I suppose what most people outside the US tend to think of when they think of an American accent would be either a New York State kind of accent (I know that's my default American accent) or an LA kind of accent. Having said that, we can usually distinguish between those, and a Southern accent sounds very distinctive to our ears. Re other languages in the UK, Welsh is a language that was once on the verge of extinction, but which, thanks to support at many levels, is now on the up again. There is a Welsh language TV station and a lot of signs are bilingual. Gaelic, the "native" language of Scotland and Ireland (Irish and Scottish Gaelic are, I believe, two distinct dialects), does not seem to be faring to well, although it is possible to obtain official documents in Gaelic. A language related to Gaelic is Cornish, a language that, despite the best efforts of its supporters, is almost extinct as anything other than a linguistic curiosity and a symbol of Cornish nationalism. Although I personally would question the wisdom of patriotic slogans that nobody would understand, but then, I am a London boy. Closely related to Cornish is Breton, a language spoken in the Brittany region of France. So closely related are these two languages that it is possible for a Cornish speaker and a Breton speaker to converse with ease. And don't forget Cumbrian. That's right, it's only used by farmers, though, and they use it when counting sheep... Yan, Tan, Tethera, Methera, Pimp, Sethera, Lethera, Hovera, Dovera, Dik (with a C) Crazy, eh? ;D There are all sorts of different accents in the UK... every county's accent is different and distinguish able. Some "common" English accents: Cockney (London) Scouse (Liverpool) North Eastern (Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland) West Country (Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, etc) Yorkshire (Guess where ) Lancashire (Similar to Yorkshire) Manchester (do they call it Mancurian?) Manx (Isle of Man) Cumbrian (Cumbria) Leicestershire (Has similarities to Yorkshire) Recieved Pronunciation (The Queen) And that's just a few that come to my mind.
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Post by mstnoodle on Jan 7, 2006 0:23:14 GMT
Regarding American accents: I'm sorry to say, I actually have one. *cries* No, it's not that bad of a thing...I just wish I still had my pretty little British accent that I lost around age 9. Nowadays, after five years of waitressing in English and Spanish, I've picked up what I like to call a "New Mexican" accent. It's not Southern (don't be thinking Texas), but it's certainly not like any accent you're likely to hear in America. And yet, it's not totally Spanish either - it's a sort of wonderful blend, which can only be described with a voice clip (I'll work on that). In the meantime, Alaric's Christmas audio production will give you a basic idea of what I sound like...the New Mexican bit kind of fades when I'm recording lines, but you can still tell I've lived in America for 17 years. I wish I could change my normal accent to. Eveyone saids I have a strong american accent. Mstnoodle
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Post by FlyingScotsman on Jan 7, 2006 0:49:56 GMT
My own accent varies. Sometimes it's very RP, sometimes it verges on Cockney or even Yorkshire. Most of the time it's yer typical British-bad-guy-in-a-Hollywood-movie type of accent. Think Alan Rickman, except deeper.
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Post by The Old Bean on Jan 7, 2006 1:08:10 GMT
are there alot of Jamaicans in Australia? I know that the UK has alot, because of the ties that we shared when Jamaica was a colony, but I'm quite curious about Australia. Nope. I don't know about other states, but Melbourne especially we have a lot of Greeks. I believe Melbourne is one of the cities outside of Athens that has a largest number of Greeks.
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