youre still using IE? *cough* :) 

sometimes I reall think I have a blah-blah-fish sticking in my ear. ;-D

@beberlei: I use both Firefox and IE (btw, if you do not use IE you can't see the funny bubbles when you load this site...). When using IE I pretend to be wu-wien.ac.at so I can read many journal articles (NBER, JSTOR, Taylor & Francis, ...) for free. Unfortunately, this requires me to log-in every half an hour. So it's good to have two browsers around. And as you will have noticed, this excellent translation tool doesn't work with Firefox..

@hedgefundguy: I do not want to miss the sex I had while giving private classes in Spanish... but maybe you are right.. learning German doesn't make sense. I think I often do not have sex in Austria because I speak the national language. A so a Schas. 

Clearly one very good reason to learn a foreign language is to score babes. Accents are sexy. It makes everything you say sound more exotic, more significant. This implies you must therefore insert yourself in a place where you speak differently, even if it's a regional shift in a common language (eg, Australians in America). 

This is me [ firstsentence (mp3, 282 KB) ] speaking Spanish with a slight German accent (Version 1) and with a heavy English accent (Version 2). Speaking Spanish with an English accent sounds terrible. ;-D

Sentence: Para muchos, el único encuentro personal con la globalización es cuando observan el origen nacional de los productos que compran en las tiendas, ya que sólo los trabajadores en la industria manufactuera (siempre una minoría) sienten directamente el viento frío de la competencia internacional. 

I think I often do not have sex in Austria because I speak the national language.

@Mahalanobis: How often have you been at bars or clubs during the last 4 weeks?

My personal impression is that the share of friends of mine who have a girlfriend from a foreign country is increasing (that means the couple does not share the same home country) while the share of friends of mine who have a domestic girlfriend is decreasing. 

As long as your friends domesticated... just kidding. Here is a simple explanation: Your friends were fed up with having to compete with Joe Public in clubs and bars so they looked for a better way of meeting girls. Most of them went to exchange student parties. Am I right? ;-D.

Having a girlfriend from a different country must be fun (at least you learn another language) but there are trade-offs too. Can you express your feelings in a foreign language? To put it differently: Could you discuss, say, Nietzsche with her? Probably not. 

Compared to earlier decades people (even students) are traveling more frequently. For example, when counting my travels I realized that I have been to 12 foreign countries within the last 3 years. In three of them I stayed longer than 3 months!

If one restricts himself to one country for finding a girl one reduces the time he can find a girl and reduces the sample from which he can choose/be chosen from. Hence, the probability of getting laid diminishes.

BTW, what is the bad side of not being able to express one's feelings? Honestly, who wants to discuss Nietzsche? I think it is an advantage. For verbal conflicts one needs to express his problems more or less clearly. Doing that in a foreign language one could have a hard time. This language (= fight entry) barrier, I believe, leads to a higher probability to accept the circumstances than to go for the discussion. Furthermore, small issues can be attributed to cultural differences. 

but it could also lead to more misudnerstandings 

Come on, I thought you would come up with an explanation why foreign (mostly from CEE countries) women have a competitive advantage (e.g. compared to Austrian chicks they don't watch such trash soaps as "Sex in and the City" or "Desperate Housewifes" and therefore don't bluntly overestimate their net worth ;-DD). An now you are saying that you have a foreign girlfriend because you have been abroad most of the time... That doesn't say anything about your preference order.

If one restricts himself to one country for finding a girl one reduces the time he can find a girl and reduces the sample from which he can choose/be chosen from. Hence, the probability of getting laid diminishes.

I wish I had the time to mine the Austrian sample more often... ;-D. Is there really a reduction in the sample size? When attending conferences, lectures or when going out I always meet different people. I guess the probability of getting laid having fun is higher abroad because it's much easier to start a conversation. At home the intentions are always as clear as a slap in the face (I am borrowing here from Wittgenstein ("Klar wie eine Watschn") ;-D). Abroad you have much more possibilites to open a conversation (In a foreign town you just have to ask a group of girls where the nearest bar is and chances are high that you can come with them... but whom am I telling... Maybe it should be said at the outset that we always had different utility functions. I've always been myopic and used hyperbolic discounting rules when going out. I guess you always kept the long-run in mind (Even though we had different utility functions we ended up in the same state most of the time - single and completely intoxicated ;-DDDD).

This language (= fight entry) barrier, I believe, leads to a higher probability to accept the circumstances than to go for the discussion.

I've always said to my girlfriends what once a high-ranking Austrian priest said to me:

I explain, but I do not discuss. ;-DDD 

@ berbelei: "but it could also lead to more misudnerstandings"

Good point, still more misunderstandings don't mean more trouble due to the increased efforts of expressing oneself in a foreign language.

@Mahalanobis: They do watch such "trash" soaps.

"They bluntly overestimate their net worth."

Research has shown that humans often value recognition and respect higher (or the most) than monetary incentives. Other research has shown that the most important factor in mate selection for women is the degree of daredevilness the guy is willing to take (the more risk loving and the braver the guy the more attractive he is). I will follow up with references.

Furthermore, I know smart and gorgeous women who have no boyfriend (or crawl back to their old boyfriend) asking themselves why they cannot get a nice guy. As much as I could figure out, main reasons were absolutely stupid pick-up lines and deadly boring first conversations from the side of potential "candidates". 

Research has shown that humans often value recognition and respect higher (or the most) than monetary incentives

Should I be respected or should I respect the potential candidate? :-D

Other research has shown that the most important factor in mate selection for women is the degree of daredevilness the guy is willing to take

I have heard about that. But it concerns one-night stands and not mate selection for long-term relationships. This makes sense.

stupid pick-up lines...

My favourite pick-up line: Are you a model too? 

If you're as hot as Michael is, who needs a foreign accent to impress? Those cheekbones are a gift from God!(http://twoday.net/static/mahalanobis/images/psychomahal.jpg) 

In case this wasn't meant as a joke (horses have such cheekbones, don't they? Wiiiieehh!! ;-D) I would be happy if you pass this information around. Please let me know (asap!) when you find a woman (age cohort 18 - 64, should be willing to finance my lifestyle) who comes to the same conclusion after viewing this image. 

I wonder if this subtile multidimensional joke is understood by people who don't know you. Talking about appearance, intelligence, self reflection and even self criticism combined with a critique of society's attitudes in one sentence consisting of 5 words ... who will get all the issues?


"I have heard about that. But it concerns one-night stands and not mate selection for long-term relationships. This makes sense."

Who says it makes only sense in the short run? In the paper I have read there was no line about one-night stands but only about long-term relationships. Their reasoning was counterintuitive, however, it made sense. 

No joke - if that pic came up on hotornot.com, I would give it a 9 (to get a 10, you're going to have to be wearing a short-sleeved Abercrombie polo and a hemp necklace, if I understand the way these things work). I don't think you need my help with the women, when your Spanish students are lining up for the sex! 

You'll find a whole collection of the top multilingual translation tools on the internet on Lingo24

Hope this helps,
Adina