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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 13:23:09 GMT -5
Everyone loves coffee~! =D Sort of. I had no idea what else to put in the title.
This is the general spot for those aiming for multilingualism (or already have achieved it), as well as those just fond of studying their own further. Here, we can ask each other for advice, make suggestions, discuss classes, and talk about our efforts in working towards proficiency in all those awesome foreign tongues. French, Spanish, Chinese, Hebrew, Russian, Tagalog, Latin, Zulu--all language discussion is welcome. :3
*mettant des tasses du café sur les tables, j'ecris sur un tableau les recettes du jour*
That said, here are a few questions to start us off. ^^
1. What languages do you know?
2. What languages are you learning?
3. What languages do you want to know?
I'm only fluent in English, but I'm working towards proficiency in French. If I manage to learn that, I'd like to learn Russian, too. It'll be hard, but...eh. xD Language is one of my favorite subjects in school.
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Jun 17, 2011 16:00:01 GMT -5
I know English (that one should be obvious), French (albeit somewhat rusty), Cantonese and Mandarin (although for the latter two, I have a lot of difficultly understanding them as it's been a while since I had lessons, even though I am Chinese). And yes, there is a difference between Cantonese and Mandarin (probably two of the hardest languages that one will ever learn as a mispronunciation will screw you over as one word will have different meanings, depending on how you pronounce the word). Oh, speaking of Mandarin, please don't ask me to translate the various 'swears' used in Firefly (yes, I've seen it) as I have no idea.
Informally, thanks to various animes, I know some basic Japanese, but that's one of the languages that I want to know.
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Post by Tam on Jun 17, 2011 16:23:21 GMT -5
Languages! =D Do you serve hot chocolate?
I speak English, I have a decent working understanding of French (although I'm much better writing it than speaking it — and my spoken French can be extremely colloquial, since I started off copying people my own age), and I know the basics of Latin. I want to get better at French, and I'm interested in picking up Spanish or German somewhere along the line as well. Probably both. =D
As a matter of personal preference, I'd rather know a little bit of a whole bunch of languages than be perfectly fluent in three or four. Strange, I know. But I like the idea of being able to grasp a general sense of what's going on around me, no matter where I go in the world.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 16:42:02 GMT -5
Interesting stuff! =D Also, is anyone here interested in linguistics? I finished reading How Language Works recently, and it really makes me want to study in that field, at least a little bit.
Il y en a deux tasses près de la fenêtre. ^_^ J'ai mis des guimauves dans eux.
That makes sense. I agree that it would be useful to know a smattering of essential vocabulary in many languages. My brain wouldn't work well with it, though, so I'm afraid of mixing up words from each. xD Especially with the closely related ones.
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Post by Omni on Jun 17, 2011 16:48:37 GMT -5
I'd also like to request hot cocoa instead of coffee. I know English. I think that's a given here. I'm endeavoring to learn Japanese, though I could stand to put more effort into it.  I have an interest in learning German. I also know bits of Latin, Greek, Spanish, French, and maybe a few other things, but I don't think it's enough to count. I'm guessing we can discuss our methods and resources for learning? |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 16:49:25 GMT -5
I'm guessing we can discuss our methods and resources for learning? Sure! That's just fine. |
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Post by PFA on Jun 17, 2011 16:52:36 GMT -5
Ooh, count me in.  I only speak English, but I'm learning Japanese, and have a casual interest in a couple things like German and (I blame Torkie for this) Spanish. |
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Post by Omni on Jun 17, 2011 16:53:06 GMT -5
Interesting stuff! =D Also, is anyone here interested in linguistics? I finished reading How Language Works recently, and it really makes me want to study in that field, at least a little bit. Oh yeah! I do have some interest in that. Especially after that time I went over a Quenya course and essentially condensed it. That thing went into how the linguistics work in detail, including the history of the language. Talk about being hard-core over a fictional language. Speaking of which, I don't think this counts, but you could say I've studied Quenya (LotR Elvish). I did it mostly for role play purposes, and in this case, I know the grammar better than the vocabulary, which is the opposite of how it normally goes for me. X3 |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2011 17:09:44 GMT -5
Ooh, count me in. I only speak English, but I'm learning Japanese, and have a casual interest in a couple things like German and (I blame Torkie for this) Spanish. :3 It mildly concerns me that I have now memorized how to say "I am in pain" in German, though. >__> <__< (I blame PFA for this) |
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Post by Lizzie on Jun 17, 2011 17:18:04 GMT -5
I'd also like to request hot cocoa instead of coffee. Me, too. C: (although Godot would like it here)
I only really know English. XD; I'm learning Spanish, Malay, Japanese, and my mom is teaching me German. Spanish is required in school; Malay I picked up because of Sarn and Scar; Japanese is thanks to PFA, Omni, and anime; and German is because some of my ancestors are German. Also, because of Tork and PFA. I really want to know all of the above learning ones, plus French and Danish. ^_^ Yeah, I want to know a lot... |
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Post by Celestial on Jun 17, 2011 17:18:17 GMT -5
Oooh, I'd like to join if you have free tea and cake! ^^ I'm fluent in English and Russian (although my Russian is sadly slipping due to lack of use. Which is annoying as it is my first language). I know a few fragments in French thanks to school.
I'm not currently learning any languages but I'm considering taking night classes in university in Japanese and German, if I have time. I'm also going to brush up on my Russian and with luck pick up some linguistic skills in the process.
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Post by linsay|ahdodadodaday on Jun 17, 2011 17:39:18 GMT -5
aaaah, this is perfect for me <3 What languages do you know?english and mandarin. canto i can understand to an extent but yeah...so colloquial x3 What languages are you learning?french and latin i've done for six years and classical greek i did a six year course in two years (stupid school :K). i did do german for three years but i dropped that as soon as it stopped being compulsory  and i've been doing japanese for the past year ^__^ What languages do you want to know?russian! we have so many russian teachers (as in nationality not those who teach russian ) at our school and...it's hard to explain, inside joke i guess, but i love russian so much. we have a russian club at our school but it kind of failed because the teacher who ran it is a key stage coordinator so she was never there |
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Post by Omni on Jun 17, 2011 17:59:47 GMT -5
I'm guessing we can discuss our methods and resources for learning? Sure! That's just fine. Sweet.  EDIT: This is mostly assuming you're going for personal study, but could probably supplement classes. Okay. First off, for any language, I'd recommend getting a grammar guide of some sort. A dictionary just isn't enough. Even if you don't have the patience to go through the guide in detail, it helps to be able to grasp the essentials. A dictionary would be second on my list. Make sure it's a good dictionary though. Also I'd recommend looking up anything that you're not sure about. My next suggestion is getting some reading material, especially if the writing system is one of the less-simple ones. (Japanese for example. Those Kanji seem to confuse anyone who has had virtually no experience with the language, and it can be annoying explaining the difference between it and Chinese so often.) Anyway, if you're religious, or don't mind religion, I'd suggest an online Bible, in English as well as in the language you're trying to learn. Of course, emersion is always a good way to learn, but if that's not reasonable, my next suggestion would be a fluent (or at least conversational) speaker to practice with. Also, anything along the lines of lessons or lesson-materials. Speaking of which, podcasts are often a good way to learn. It can be hard to find a good one that really walks you through the language and explains things, though, so you may want to ask people for recommendations. One good group to subscribe to is Radio Lingua Network, which have series of courses done in small chunks, such as the (appropriate for this thread) 'Coffee Break' series which have lessons meant to fit within the length of a coffee break. From what I've seen, these 'coffee break' lessons are still fairly comprehensive, and they'll even touch on cultural info. So far, they have Coffee Break Spanish and French, though they have similar-looking courses for German (should grab that...), Italian, and even tricky English verbs. They also have a slew of 'One Minute' courses where they teach you the basics of the basics ('Hello,' 'Good bye,' how to count to 10, etc.) and the lessons are literally about a minute long. Ooh! Gaelic!Anyway, since it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine (and natives hate when you get the two confused), here's a little something to help you understand the Chinese/Japanese thing that I mentioned. Basically, the Japanese originally got a writing system from the Chinese, who used symbols for meanings and concepts. (This would be why they get confused so easily.) After awhile, they started making phonetic writing. History turned certain ways, and now they use a combination of both. | Writing type | Example | Explanation | | Kanji | 枝 | Kanji means the symbols from Chinese Han. From what I can tell, most of the meanings are the same as in Chinese, or similar. Nowadays, about 2,000 to 3,000 are really used. Children are taught the most common symbols first. They are often complex-looking, but not always, and can be broken into pieces called 'radicals.' | | Hiragana | えだ | The main writing system of Japanese. It is used for most of the language. Most written words are made of either Hiragana, or a combination of Kanji and Hiragana. Hiragana shapes tend to be on the simple side, and often have a lot of loops and curves. | | Katakana | エダ | Could be considered a secondary writing system of Japanese. It's used for words from other languages, it can be used as italics, it's often used for sound-effects, and is usually used for computer/robot speech. Katakana is also fairly simple, but is mostly defined by sharp angles and mostly-straight lines. Katakana and Hiragana are collectively called 'Kana.' | | Romaji | EDA/eda | Roman letters, plain and simple. These are mostly used for technical terms, related to science and computers. When used in Japanese writing, it is always uppercase. When used in phonetic transcriptions, it's generally lowercase except for those aforementioned technical terms and what would otherwise be written in Katakana. |
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Post by Gelquie on Jun 17, 2011 18:09:59 GMT -5
Languages are fun. ^^
I'm fluent in English, of course. The only other language I know really well is American Sign Language. I took 5 semesters worth of the class, though I still have a ways to go before I can become truly fluent. I still mess up on some words.
I kind of know French from taking two classes worth of it in high school, but I didn't follow up on it in college. I forgot a lot of the vocabulary, but I can still understand some of the phrases. If I wanted to become fluent though, I would take the class.
As for languages I'm interested in? Well, "all of them" probably wouldn't say much, since I don't really have the time to learn all the major languages in the world. But I'm interested in a bunch of languages, with Spanish high on my list. German is also on my list, but mostly because a lot of the old scientific journals (like, back in the early 1920s) were written in German. Back then, if you wanted to be a scientist, you may as well take German or you're not going very far. It's not quite like that nowadays, but it may be useful if I want to look at old documents.
I also like the Asian languages, but I would need a lot more time on my hands to learn that, since it has a completely different alphabet and a completely different way of writing. I know a few Japanese words from what I've picked up, but that's a very tiny fraction.
As for my method of learning, I prefer classrooms. I like learning to read and write it and I'm best at that, but my pronunciation still needs work, and I have a quirky habit that unless I'm in a classroom, I'm probably not going to work too much on my pronunciations. I need to be forced into conversations. ^^;
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Post by Tam on Jun 17, 2011 18:20:45 GMT -5
Interesting stuff! =D Also, is anyone here interested in linguistics? I finished reading How Language Works recently, and it really makes me want to study in that field, at least a little bit. Il y en a deux tasses près de la fenêtre. ^_^ J'ai mis des guimauves dans eux. That makes sense. I agree that it would be useful to know a smattering of essential vocabulary in many languages. My brain wouldn't work well with it, though, so I'm afraid of mixing up words from each. xD Especially with the closely related ones. =D J'adore les guimauves! Merci! And yeah, that's definitely a concern with that approach. xD; I already occasionally mix things up between French and Latin. It's really fun to start to see the connections between languages, though. Oh, and I forgot to mention this earlier, but along with Spanish and German I'm also really interested in learning Ukrainian. ^_^ A lot of my family came from Ukraine, and my community and upbringing were full of the Ukrainian culture. I kind of feel like it's my duty to carry at least some of that culture on to another generation. ...The only thing holding me back is that I'm a bit scared to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. xD; (Oh, and also... as a bit of a preemptive reminder... Proboards doesn't like us to communicate on the boards in any language other than English, so it'll be best to keep the non-English exchanges in this thread to a minimum. I think little snippets will probably be alright... just as long as we don't start having full-blown multilingual conversations. ^^  |
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I only speak English, but I'm learning Japanese, and have a casual interest in a couple things like German and (I blame Torkie for this) Spanish.
and i've been doing japanese for the past year ^__^
