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Learning Languages

29-Apr-11 02:29

I've always had a passing interest in learning a second language, but have a horrendous lack of language skills.

In high school and college, I struggled with Spanish. While practicing martial arts I learned a very limited, and highly specialized, smattering of Japanese. I've been told my accent and pronunciation is abominable.

Recently, I've been involved with learning some pieces of Mandarin and some simple characters.

I'm very envious of those who are bilingual.

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happyhumper69

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29-Apr-11 19:37

I took 3 years of French and all I can remember is how to say "Hello, my name is..."

I always thought is was strange that we were only offered French. There isn't much chance of using it here in a small town in the southeastern US. Spanish would have been better...at least I could get a gist of what the migrant farm workers were saying. I also want to learn German...it would come in handy seeing as I work for a company based out of Munich

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_forreal_

30-Apr-11 01:07

I was thinking about learning Spanish.........not that I could give a rats ass about speaking it but only to understand what the Ricans are jibbering about.

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tm4mmtn

30-Apr-11 01:29

I can speak enough german to get by. Not so hot with the Spanish or french. I can swear in both.

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happyhumper69

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30-Apr-11 02:40

I can swear in Spanish

only know "fuck you" in French

...as far as German goes, everything they say sounds like they're swearing

I even know a couple of insults in Japanese

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Agent Incorrigible

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30-Apr-11 02:53

I can count to at least 10 in Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin.

I do a fine, fine imitation of Spanglish!

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happyhumper69

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30-Apr-11 03:29

ok...I can count to 10 in French, Spanish and German

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lesraconteurs

2-May-11 16:28

After five years of French at school I really struggled in France and did even worse in Morocco. I'd really like to improve.

Wouldn't mind learning a bit of Arabic too.

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Agent Incorrigible

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5-May-11 22:29

That's the other thing that bothers me about foreign language education. The modern vernacular seems to not match up well with the language that is taught in the classroom.

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Team Sleep

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23-May-11 23:30

agent, we have a similar problem. the french that is spoken in Canada is very different than french from France... and textbook french doesn't take regional differences into account.

I took french all through elementary and high school, but even now I only know the most rudimentary basic vocab words. it's a shame because, in Canada, many gov't jobs require bilingualism. it is a lot easier to get hired if you speak French and English.

I'm reading a book called How To Learn Any Language by which details many of the problems with the standard academic approach to learning a language. next year I plan to get Rosetta Stone software for French (they always have a sale around new years) but I'm worried since it will be Parisian French instead of Quebec French.

I would also like to learn some other languages but not sure which ones yet!

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Team Sleep

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23-May-11 23:31

oops, that should read "How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber".

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Agent Incorrigible

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18-Jun-11 17:10

I have heard good things about Rosetta Stone, but damn!!! They are expensive.

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T4Texas

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3-Jul-11 15:25

I also struggle with languages alot. I took 2 years of spanish in highschool and didnt learn shit.

But, I spent 3.5 months in south america speaking spanish every single day and after being immersed in it like that I learned more than all my 2 years in highschool! Immersion is key

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just16cm

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2-Aug-11 20:45

Do it like I did:

search a porn-site with a forum in the languarge of your choice

...and a good translation site. BTW google translations ain't worth shit when it comes to translation, exept you need a good laugh

Ok, it will take a while, but it works quite well

Distraction could be a lil problem though

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happyhumper69

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4-Aug-11 22:13

It must work 16...your English is a hell of a lot better than my German

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T4Texas

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8-Feb-12 17:21

Thai is a tonal language like chinese and its hard as fuck to learn.

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renegadeterry

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immersion is the key....

10-Feb-12 08:30

agree with TY.Along the border I we call it tex mex.

problem is you pick up words from south ameerica,central and mexico.Lol, Some aren't exactly the same.

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wellwillthisdo

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26-Feb-12 14:06

My school tried to teach me french, my college tried to teach me german, my company wanted to teach me spanish, I spend a lot of time in Greece. The grammer kills me every time, 15 different words for 'the'? masculine, femanine. Mia bierra (beer is femanine) Ena boucalli bierra (the bottle is masculine). As my Spanish teacher told me, if only our spelling was as simple as our grammer the world would speak English!

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hcf

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28-Feb-12 02:01

T4Texas said: I also struggle with languages alot. I took 2 years of spanish in highschool and didnt learn shit.

But, I spent 3.5 months in south america speaking spanish every single day and after being immersed in it like that I learned more than all my 2 years in highschool! Immersion is key

This is true. I envy people who've gained a good level of English without it, but in truth the methods of language teaching throughout the English speaking world leaves a hell of a lot to be desired.

These days I would say I'm near fluent in Spanish, I have a decent level in Portuguese too (even if the pronunciation does my head in, and often I end either using words that are Spanish or too nervous to say something because I fear doing that! But I'm getting there, slowly).

I did Irish for 14 years in school, and would honestly struggle to put a sentence together. French for 6 years in high school, but again, rubbish at it (another one where the pronunciation and phonetics kills me!). German for two years... not a clue! I did Chinese in my first year in Uni, and wow- if you can get your head around the tones, it's easy. Incredibly simple grammar. But, as with any language, you have to use it or lose it, and alas I fall into the latter camp. The script obviously put me off taking it further, even though I just about managed to get my head around reading it, I found writing it to any level beyond simply passing my course impossible.

I suppose in my experience it's been trial and error, all my aborted attempts have helped me, for sure you start to get the tools needed to make some progress... beyond that, it's really down to finding a language you like, that is reasonably easy for you to learn, and that you're going to use... and that's why Spanish has worked for me.

The immersion effect works too, it's sink or swim. It's a completely different process than classroom learning.

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T4Texas

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22-May-12 03:31

I am up to my eye balls in Spanish now and with a Colombian girlfriend I am learning fast!

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wellwillthisdo

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31-May-12 17:00

T4Texas said: I am up to my eye balls in Spanish now and with a Colombian girlfriend I am learning fast!

The important bits I got from my Spanish teacher was ' una cerveza, por favor ' and the all important 'Con su permiso?'.

WWTD

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Billy_Jackov

Zug-zug

6-May-13 02:46

Atouk alunda Lana.

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Wodja

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6-May-13 10:29

niet, Alana alunda TONDAR, Lar pooka, Gog pooka, oraka, Rok Flok, MACHA!

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Aristarchuss

8-May-13 02:55

Billy_Jackov said: Atouk alunda Lana.

Alana nya ool.

Atouk nya zugzug Alana.

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Aristarchuss

8-May-13 02:57

good god there's THREE of us that remember that language!!!!

We're DOOMED!

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Wodja

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8-May-13 09:58

how can one forget

1 Zillion BC, October 9th.

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Aristarchuss

@Wodes

13-May-13 05:56

Here's a little Cavespeak nugget for your enjoyment.

Sadly, there is no word for "PookaDuck".

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Wodja

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Ari

13-May-13 09:43

I think that list came up short?

There are two werds for "PookaDuck"

and He gets dropped right innit

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Aristarchuss

13-May-13 14:02

Point well made, sir!

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NautyPrincessJ

22-Sep-13 20:01

i took 3 years spanish in high school, it's like everywhere here in so cal

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