Anyone here study/know languages beyond your first? How’d you learn it? How do you retain it?
I know (some) Arabic. I try to study a few times a week. I read/listen to Aljazeera and BBC.
Google translator plus 3 years of Spanish in HS. And chasing hot Argentinian women on Miami beach!
I’d like to move to another country to learn another language. Maybe studying structure for a year or so before.
I’m fluent in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese. Learnt a bit of Polish, Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian. Still working on my Japanese.
I had no other choice when I was young. My parents were nomads. I had to adapt or suffer.
It helped in the long run. I still travel relentlessly and need to communicate with the locals during business meetings.
It’s a beauty to go to some places and overhear some people badmouthing me in languages they assume I cannot understand. Their astounded face when I put them back in their place in their language or slang, is evermore deliciously epic. Like bubbling chocolate running down an erect cock before suction.
[quote]Captnoblivious wrote:
Google translator plus 3 years of Spanish in HS. And chasing hot Argentinian women on Miami beach!
I’d like to move to another country to learn another language. Maybe studying structure for a year or so before. [/quote]
I’m curious. How great a difference is there in the dialects of Spanish just in the states?
[quote]DarkNinjaa wrote:
I’m fluent in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese. Learnt a bit of Polish, Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian. Still working on my Japanese.
I had no other choice when I was young. My parents were nomads. I had to adapt or suffer.
It helped in the long run. I still travel relentlessly and need to communicate with the locals during business meetings.
It’s a beauty to go to some places and overhear some people badmouthing me in languages they assume I cannot understand. Their astounded face when I put them back in their place in their language or slang, is evermore deliciously epic. Like bubbling chocolate running down an erect cock before suction.
[/quote]
I don’t care if anybody else posts in this thread. It was a success.
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
[quote]Captnoblivious wrote:
Google translator plus 3 years of Spanish in HS. And chasing hot Argentinian women on Miami beach!
I’d like to move to another country to learn another language. Maybe studying structure for a year or so before. [/quote]
I’m curious. How great a difference is there in the dialects of Spanish just in the states?[/quote]
I’m from Texas and speak a li’l Spanish. Never been to Spain, but have traveled through the country (West coast mainly) and even the Spanish from state to state is markedly different. Take Texas and Cali: both border states but the slang and even certain words are COMPLETELY different. And this is probably obvious, but the difference between Spanish in different countries (Columbia vs Honduras for example) is pretty big. It’s mostly slang and general dialect, but it’s enough to throw you off.
Also, speaking Arabic is incredibly impressive. I’m told it and Mandarin are the two hardest languages for westerners to learn.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Also, speaking Arabic is incredibly impressive. I’m told it and Mandarin are the two hardest languages for westerners to learn.[/quote]
Thank you. I’ve heard that Korean is very difficult as well. I think the hardest part of learning a non-western language is letting go of many of the notions we carry concerning how language should behave.
It’s hard to believe that Spanish could vary so greatly from state to state, but I suppose English does the same thing.
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Also, speaking Arabic is incredibly impressive. I’m told it and Mandarin are the two hardest languages for westerners to learn.[/quote]
Thank you. I’ve heard that Korean is very difficult as well. I think the hardest part of learning a non-western language is letting go of many of the notions we carry concerning how language should behave.
It’s hard to believe that Spanish could vary so greatly from state to state, but I suppose English does the same thing. [/quote]
Korean writing is a trip. There’s no way I could pick that up. I’m told that English is actually the hardest language to learn. We have all these concrete phonetic “rules” that we break ALL THE TIME, not to mention our ridiculous slang. It has to be really frustrating for those that weren’t born into it.
Have your parents speak to you in language other than your mother tongue while at home. The ability to learn another language is a skill best learned at a young age.
My mother tongue is one language, my parents spoke to me in another and French class is mandatory in Canada from grade 3-9.
I believe the reason I found French class so easy (to the point where I was skipping grades in French) was from already knowing how to speak 2 languages.
Anyways I know this advice isn’t the most helpful for you, but if you ever have kids and want them to be bilingual, start’em young.
[quote]DarkNinjaa wrote:
I’m fluent in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese. Learnt a bit of Polish, Chinese (Mandarin) and Russian. Still working on my Japanese.
I had no other choice when I was young. My parents were nomads. I had to adapt or suffer.
It helped in the long run. I still travel relentlessly and need to communicate with the locals during business meetings.
It’s a beauty to go to some places and overhear some people badmouthing me in languages they assume I cannot understand. Their astounded face when I put them back in their place in their language or slang, is evermore deliciously epic. Like bubbling chocolate running down an erect cock before suction.
[/quote]
The more we learn about you, the more fascinating you become.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Have your parents speak to you in language other than your mother tongue while at home. The ability to learn another language is a skill best learned at a young age.
My mother tongue is one language, my parents spoke to me in another and French class is mandatory in Canada from grade 3-9.
I believe the reason I found French class so easy (to the point where I was skipping grades in French) was from already knowing how to speak 2 languages.
Anyways I know this advice isn’t the most helpful for you, but if you ever have kids and want them to be bilingual, start’em young.
[/quote]
How would you rate the quality of language classes in Canada?
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Have your parents speak to you in language other than your mother tongue while at home. The ability to learn another language is a skill best learned at a young age.
My mother tongue is one language, my parents spoke to me in another and French class is mandatory in Canada from grade 3-9.
I believe the reason I found French class so easy (to the point where I was skipping grades in French) was from already knowing how to speak 2 languages.
Anyways I know this advice isn’t the most helpful for you, but if you ever have kids and want them to be bilingual, start’em young.
[/quote]
How would you rate the quality of language classes in Canada?[/quote]
You mean the government mandated French classes from grade 3-9?
Just as good as any other public school classes. The kids who want to learn do, the kids who want to screw around don’t learn a thing. There are also a bunch of French immersion private schools here. A lot of the kids who attend those schools are fluent in French by their teens.
We also get a lot of international students who come here for the specific purpose of learning English. We especially get a lot of Japanese at least from what I’ve seen.
I want to learn a new language. This is going ot one of those questions that has no concrete answers and just opinions but what language would be the most pratical to learn?
[quote]pgtips wrote:
I want to learn a new language. This is going ot one of those questions that has no concrete answers and just opinions but what language would be the most pratical to learn? [/quote]
Honestly I think anyone would agree that the best way to learn a language is to move to a play where you don’t have any choice but to learn. Survival is the best motivation for learning anything.
Other than that, find a teacher. You can learn a lot from books and whatnot but if you’re not speaking with someone who knows the language, there’s a lot you’re going to miss.
I tried Rosetta Stone once. It seemed like a decent program, but again, it doesn’t hold a candle to direct cultural contact.
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
[quote]pgtips wrote:
I want to learn a new language. This is going ot one of those questions that has no concrete answers and just opinions but what language would be the most pratical to learn? [/quote]
Honestly I think anyone would agree that the best way to learn a language is to move to a play where you don’t have any choice but to learn. Survival is the best motivation for learning anything.
Other than that, find a teacher. You can learn a lot from books and whatnot but if you’re not speaking with someone who knows the language, there’s a lot you’re going to miss.
I tried Rosetta Stone once. It seemed like a decent program, but again, it doesn’t hold a candle to direct cultural contact. [/quote]
Yea I agree with you on the immersion. i started learning polish this summer with blokes I was working with but it was al just playfull and I only learnt how to offend people.
I have a friend who’s giving me Rosetta Stone to learn dutch which should be good
[quote]pgtips wrote:
I want to learn a new language. This is going ot one of those questions that has no concrete answers and just opinions but what language would be the most pratical to learn? [/quote]
Depends on where you’re at. I’m ashamed at myself for not being fluent in Spanish being from Texas. But take Raj for example, being Canadian he probably has no practical use for speaking Spanish, but he’d be lost without French. If you want to do it strictly for your enjoyment, find something that appeals to you.
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
[quote]pgtips wrote:
I want to learn a new language. This is going ot one of those questions that has no concrete answers and just opinions but what language would be the most pratical to learn? [/quote]
Honestly I think anyone would agree that the best way to learn a language is to move to a play where you don’t have any choice but to learn. Survival is the best motivation for learning anything.
Other than that, find a teacher. You can learn a lot from books and whatnot but if you’re not speaking with someone who knows the language, there’s a lot you’re going to miss.
I tried Rosetta Stone once. It seemed like a decent program, but again, it doesn’t hold a candle to direct cultural contact. [/quote]
This. Textbooks don’t teach slang, inflection, context, etc… I picked almost all the Spanish I know from Mexican buddies and working in restaurants/bars. One of my brothers is completely fluent and learned it all from working as a mechanic his whole life.
[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
[quote]pgtips wrote:
I want to learn a new language. This is going ot one of those questions that has no concrete answers and just opinions but what language would be the most pratical to learn? [/quote]
Depends on where you’re at. I’m ashamed at myself for not being fluent in Spanish being from Texas. But take Raj for example, being Canadian he probably has no practical use for speaking Spanish, but he’d be lost without French. If you want to do it strictly for your enjoyment, find something that appeals to you.[/quote]
Thats a very good point, I’m doing it strictly for enjoyment, but I’d also like to put it to good use, I think I’ll have a chance to learn Chinese at uni cause there is a very large ammount of chinese students at my university