Learning New Languages
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My native language is danish, and most people speak english fairly well. I do so better than most of my countrymen though, and hopefully without the horrible accent. 
I also speak a bit of spanish, recently completed a 12-week course on A-level (equivalent to 3 years worth as a standard class), and got the highest grade possible, yay!
I may learn another language sometime in the future, but 3 is enough for now.
I also speak a bit of spanish, recently completed a 12-week course on A-level (equivalent to 3 years worth as a standard class), and got the highest grade possible, yay!
I may learn another language sometime in the future, but 3 is enough for now.
I looked the program myself and was not impressed. I'd rather just teach him the good old fashioned way...[sub]I'm still daring him to make fun of my accent[/sub]Tinneh said:
I can understand a lot of Norwegian and Swedish when spoken to me slowly, but can only speak a few phrases,(with a very BAD american accent) couldn't write it to save my life though. This is because my grandparents on one side spoke one and the other side spoke the other. A lot.
I took 3 years of German in high school (our school required 3 years of language to graduate) all I can do is count. Though that might be because I got B- the whole way thru and didn't try very hard.
My best friend speaks English, Ponca, and Spanish.
I took 3 years of German in high school (our school required 3 years of language to graduate) all I can do is count. Though that might be because I got B- the whole way thru and didn't try very hard.
My best friend speaks English, Ponca, and Spanish.
Haha. Best way would be to live somewhere where speaking the language you're trying to learn is a necessity. I know that from elimination, not experience:
1. I've had eight years of French Classes because I'm Canadian and I happened to like French, so I kept it as an elective. They can teach you how to read and write pretty well, but speaking and listening skills are VERY poorly developed, in part because it's very rare to get a teacher who is actually fluent in the language. I've been lucky to have such teachers for the last 6 years of my education, but even then, how much do you talk with your teacher? Really?
2. When I was in middle school, I had a Japanimania phase and I listened to a lot of J-pop, and I started memorizing a lot of J-pop, and then I started recognizing words and matching them up to the translations, and then I realized that all J-pop songs revolve around a core of about 100-to-150 words. So I used to be able to recognize a lot of vocabulary, but I couldn't make heads or tails of verb endings because all the "How to Speak Japanese" articles and books wouldn't take me past "-masu" and "-masen." And then I grew out of my phase.
3. My friends this year all speak Mandarin. We would play Mahjong, so I learned numbers 1-10 and the names of the winds. Then, we started going to karaoke, and I spent hours and hours memorizing the pinyin lyrics of some Mandopop songs because I couldn't read the characters. I'm a pretty quick student, but the combination of "speaking Mandarin is not a necessity" and "Hey, I almost understood you that time!" sort of means I'm not going to get anywhere unless I can get some formal instruction to go along with this. (I'm taking Mandarin at U of T next year. >.<)
4. I took three years of Latin. Now I can understand written and spoken Spanish. I just can't speak it or write it.
1. I've had eight years of French Classes because I'm Canadian and I happened to like French, so I kept it as an elective. They can teach you how to read and write pretty well, but speaking and listening skills are VERY poorly developed, in part because it's very rare to get a teacher who is actually fluent in the language. I've been lucky to have such teachers for the last 6 years of my education, but even then, how much do you talk with your teacher? Really?
2. When I was in middle school, I had a Japanimania phase and I listened to a lot of J-pop, and I started memorizing a lot of J-pop, and then I started recognizing words and matching them up to the translations, and then I realized that all J-pop songs revolve around a core of about 100-to-150 words. So I used to be able to recognize a lot of vocabulary, but I couldn't make heads or tails of verb endings because all the "How to Speak Japanese" articles and books wouldn't take me past "-masu" and "-masen." And then I grew out of my phase.
3. My friends this year all speak Mandarin. We would play Mahjong, so I learned numbers 1-10 and the names of the winds. Then, we started going to karaoke, and I spent hours and hours memorizing the pinyin lyrics of some Mandopop songs because I couldn't read the characters. I'm a pretty quick student, but the combination of "speaking Mandarin is not a necessity" and "Hey, I almost understood you that time!" sort of means I'm not going to get anywhere unless I can get some formal instruction to go along with this. (I'm taking Mandarin at U of T next year. >.<)
4. I took three years of Latin. Now I can understand written and spoken Spanish. I just can't speak it or write it.
I learned english by listening to music, series and movies. I want to learn italian and portuguese because I like the accents and because they should be easy since sometimes they sound like spanish.
Si tencontro per strada no riesco a parlarti si mi boca no le parola no riesco ... si podesi amplificare el batido del mio cuore sentiresti un baterista de una bandi metali pesante..
afacciti a la finestra amore mio
(That's what I got just from listeting, I'm positive everything is written wrong)(I know i could google it)
Si tencontro per strada no riesco a parlarti si mi boca no le parola no riesco ... si podesi amplificare el batido del mio cuore sentiresti un baterista de una bandi metali pesante..
afacciti a la finestra amore mio
(That's what I got just from listeting, I'm positive everything is written wrong)(I know i could google it)
If you are going to learn using tapes/books try the Pimsleur brand. They're pretty decent and by chapter 6 it's teaching you how to pick up women. Which, let's face it, is the best reason to learn a new language.
Set aside at least 20 minutes per day for it, preferably more.
Set aside at least 20 minutes per day for it, preferably more.
Well, I am German. I started learning english in class 4 - though only basic "fun" stuff like fruits and animals. From year 5, I was in a bilingual class - history, politics and geography were taught in english to us and we got twice as many english lessons as normal kids. So, by now, I'm fluent and the best one in my english "Leistungskurs". But you know what really made me learn english? The internet. English Wikipedia articles are often longer and better than german ones. Movies, games and books are made for the english-speaking market, the voice-acting is so much better. Information always comes first in english. That's what really motivated me - information. Communication. Most of the modern world is speaking english. I would feel cut off from the outside without english. Later, when I was able to understand all the Wikipedia stuff and the informations I was looking for, I found something different to motivate me. Colloquial language. "You ain't goin' nowhere, pal." And Shakespearean english. And the cultural connotation of words.
So, I guess finding the right motivation is the most important thing about learning a new language.
(You know what's a shame? I can analyze Huxley's Brave New World, but I can barely say what I want for dinner. We never use this everyday-normal-life-stuff in school.)
So, I guess finding the right motivation is the most important thing about learning a new language.
(You know what's a shame? I can analyze Huxley's Brave New World, but I can barely say what I want for dinner. We never use this everyday-normal-life-stuff in school.)
Pretty much this. You'll end up speaking it so often, you're constantly learning new parts, and making the parts you know stay put.WrongSprite said:
The best way for me to learn new ones is usually to just expose myself to them constantly, until I pickup what each thing means. You know, kinda like how I learned to speak my native language in the first place.
The best way is to live there, that's how I learned English after all.GrinningManiac said:
My languages:
- English: Duh. My writing could use some improvement though, since I never have to use it on a day to day basis. Even though I have no english, american, etc. blood, and though I haven't lived in an English-speaking country in 7 years, I still think English. I probably always will, which is quite strange.
- German: My "best" language. I speak, read and write like a native, probably better than most natives, actually.
- Swiss-German: I understand perfectly and can differentiate between the many dialects, but when I speak it, it just sound embarassing, even though I'm half-Swiss and have lived here almost 7 years, which is just a little sad. I really need to learn it, since most people here think I'm actually German when they meant me.
- Danish: I speak it, though my vocabulary is limited, I'm terribly slow at reading, and I can barely write. Basically just enough to speak with my relatives. This actually lets me understand Norwegian fairly well and just a teensy bit of Swedish.
- French: 5 years of school. I'm getting better and better, though my chances at practical use have been very few so far, I'm surprised how good I've gotten at reading it. I might try my chances at a real novel at some point soon.
- Italian: 2 years of school. Again, I'm improving quickly, which is good, since I'll need to pass tests in it within the next 2 years, so I need to be ready. Easier than French in my opinion, considering how far I've gotten in 2 years, compared to my 5 years in French. Important, since my family owns a house in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland.
- Latin: 3 years of school, a joke nonetheless. This may give me some bragging rights, but I've forgotten most of what I've learnt in the past 2 years, which is, quite frankly, a little sad. Oh well.
This may make me look like some kind of talent when it comes to languages, but the fact is, I was forced to learn all of these by circumstance, and I have no real talent, or even interest, when it comes to learning languages. It all just comes down to the strange coincidences of my heritage and youth.
I actually think the Danish accent sounds pretty cool. Better than most, at least when I hear the politicians speak it.Hafnium said:My native language is danish, and most people speak english fairly well. I do so better than most of my countrymen though, and hopefully without the horrible accent.
*sigh*
The problem with me, is that I'm naturally an English speaker
This puts me at a disadvantage BECAUSE:
1. Most of the world speaks enough English that I would be too willing to be lazy and give up. If I spoke, say, German, or French, I would learn other languages, as I would be in contact with other continentals more than I am as an Englishman
2. English is a very complex, confusing language (apparantly), and when I was learning Spanish, I kept trying to insert all the English grammar into Spanish structures.
It is, for example, is just 'es' in Espana, but so is 'is' and so on. I kept asking people for the words for English grammar, but I kept forgetting they don't exist in Spanish
I suppose the real benefit of a basis in Spanish is that the entire of centeral/southern America is open to me, and so is Italy, because they're quite similar on a basic level
The problem with me, is that I'm naturally an English speaker
This puts me at a disadvantage BECAUSE:
1. Most of the world speaks enough English that I would be too willing to be lazy and give up. If I spoke, say, German, or French, I would learn other languages, as I would be in contact with other continentals more than I am as an Englishman
2. English is a very complex, confusing language (apparantly), and when I was learning Spanish, I kept trying to insert all the English grammar into Spanish structures.
It is, for example, is just 'es' in Espana, but so is 'is' and so on. I kept asking people for the words for English grammar, but I kept forgetting they don't exist in Spanish
I suppose the real benefit of a basis in Spanish is that the entire of centeral/southern America is open to me, and so is Italy, because they're quite similar on a basic level
My spanish and japanese is very basic, I wish I have more time to learn though.GrinningManiac said:
How do you pronounce that?jedstopher said:
Is it: Kkkrkch*-al-lah ?
*the "ch" sound"
...that sounds a lot like the Arabic "Allah!"
The one thing I've learnt about Arabic so far is that if there's a variant on a saying that uses the word GOD, they use that instead
instead of "I hope so", they say "Imshallah" - "God Willing"
I agree, it's get hard when you have to remember the grammar, terminology etc etc and to always remember the diffrent gender base names.GrinningManiac said:
It's so confusing T.T
but...I'm getting good and could maybe have a basic converstaion.