Page 1 of 1

Happy 2019

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 11:17 am
by Dave Watterson
This year a video greeting. Click through to watch:

https://www.jibjab.com/view/make/this_i ... dce8e5e2e3

Dave

Re: Happy 2019

Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:01 pm
by TimStannard
Wishing you Dave & Jan and everyone else here the very best for 2019.

And Dave, please don't ever send another JibJab card!

Re: Happy 2019

Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 12:14 am
by Willy
Happy New Year to all Forum-friends. Actually, there are not many. Yes, we are in decline, Ken. But not my club. Everybody has paid his membership anno 2019! Up to now I have not renewed my IAC-membership. The reason: I have not received my new card yet. Unless I have made a mistake or I've done something wrong. I have planned to attend SERIAC in Tonbridge and UNICA in Holland this year and I hope I will be able to visit Scotland again in August. Unless the ferry Zeebrugge-Hull has decided not to cross the Channel.https://dialog.theiac.org.uk/dialog/pos ... f=3&t=3813#

Re: Happy 2019

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:13 am
by Willy
In the mean time I have received my twentieth membership card. I am happy with it. I still have my very first one. It was made of light cardboard. On it: "The holder of this card is an amateur and undertakes that any priviliges granted to him will be used with due consideration and that any film, video, or slide/tape production will be for his own private use and not used for commercial purposes without special permission being granted". In 5 languages: in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish!!!! There was one bad thing on this card: making films seemed to be a privilege only for men, not for ladies. On our new card there is no discrimation on it anymore, but everything is in English... Times have changed! I am proud to be a member of the IAC. The English think that all foreigners speak and understand English (teasing... or not teasing). But, I agree the IAC is a British institute. It's not an international organisation. BIAFF is international.

Re: Happy 2019

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:37 am
by TimStannard
(Off topic)
Willy wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:13 am The English think that all foreigners speak and understand English
Rather ironically we have our American cousins to thank for the fact that most of the world does indeed understand English (even if it is the US version). OK, this may have its roots in colonialisation, but I'm sure if it weren't for the US economy, English wouldn't be so widely understood. We're pretty lazy when it comes to learning other tongues (with many notable exceptions). For some reason, the traditional second language taught at English schools is French, which isn't even in the top 10 of native spoken languages and is 5th in total number of speakers worldwide. Probably something to do with the Norman invasion of 1066. My daughter has foregone French to speak the more commonly spoken Spanish.

English is the most widely spoken langage worldwide so it is a natural choice as a second language for much of the world although Chinese might prove more useful internationally in the coming decades. But what constitutes "Chinese"? One of our members has a wife of Chinese stock and, as proved on a recent visit there, the Cantonese speakers and Mandarin speakers do not understand each other (or claim not to).

Re: Happy 2019

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:04 am
by Dave Watterson
Languages! Aaargh.

In my role as President of UNICA I have to make sure that everything is in English, French and German. (That tells you where the UNICA organisation started.) But in practice I also get messages in other European languages, in Korean, in Russian, in Georgian, in Macedonian and more ...

Why can't we all agree to speak Klingon?

But Willy sums it up: the IAC is British, while BIAFF is international. We promote BIAFF in English, French, German and Dutch. Maybe we should recruit Martine to do Spanish textx.