Languages

[Paj!]

I've thought about languages a lot since coming to Uni. Not only am I in London as opposed to the MUCH less multi-cultural Scotland, but Uni obviously brings in people from all over the world. Next year I'm living with a Dutchman, and Italian and an Englishwoman.

 

So yeah, it's made me really sad that we English generally don't give a shit about learning other languages, and when we do, it seems to be given much less importance, since "everyone else learns English"...

 

Anyway. Tonight I started learning basic phrases in Afrikaans. Which I want to learn. And while I have relatives in South Africa, I don't have any immediate plans to go there. I just felt like it. It's quite similar to Dutch so will see what my friend thinks of my progress. (Hoe gaan dit? Goed, en met jou?)

So this thread can be about anything language-based. What do members outside the UK think about languages? etc etc blah balh

[The fish]

I'm planning to do German (and History) at University when I go back, so I'm trying to improve my vocabulary at present. I plan to either live in a German-speaking country or take an OU German foundation course whilst living elsewhere next year, though preferably both. Also, given where I'm currently living, I'm picking up basic bits of Turkish. Şerefe!

[Eenuh]

I've thought about languages a lot since coming to Uni. Not only am I in London as opposed to the MUCH less multi-cultural Scotland, but Uni obviously brings in people from all over the world. Next year I'm living with a Dutchman, and Italian and an Englishwoman.

 

So yeah, it's made me really sad that we English generally don't give a shit about learning other languages, and when we do, it seems to be given much less importance, since "everyone else learns English"...

 

Anyway. Tonight I started learning basic phrases in Afrikaans. Which I want to learn. And while I have relatives in South Africa, I don't have any immediate plans to go there. I just felt like it. It's quite similar to Dutch so will see what my friend thinks of my progress. (Hoe gaan dit? Goed, en met jou?)

So this thread can be about anything language-based. What do members outside the UK think about languages? etc etc blah balh

 

I like languages. Still trying to get better with English. I can read and write it, but listening to it and talking are still difficult. Still need (English) subtitles when watching films.

 

I dislike that I forgot all the French I ever learned. Wish I still knew how to use it. Maybe someday I'll brush up on it. Also want to learn other languages, like Spanish. Italian is nice too. German would be useful but I don't like it much (despite it being a lot like Dutch).

 

As for Dutch, it's not an easy language I think. Afrikaans is a bit of a simplified version, in that the verbs stay the same no matter if it's I, you, him/her etc. Or at least I think so.

If you want some basic Dutch to start with, I set up some stuff on my site once for Jim. It's not much but yeah.

http://www.inespee.com/dutch/dutch.html

[Paj!]

I will look at your site, thanks.

 

It was the "HGHGHGHG" noises that crop up in Dutch/Afrikaans that worried me, as well as the rolling R's, since I don't think I can do them (I had speech problems in my past, AND a tongue-tie, which I think would affect the latter), but practicing tonight, I CAN do the guttural "hgh" noises if I try hard enough.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

It should be obvious to most people who know me that I love languages and the study of them. Ancient Greek and Latin are what I'm studying (not at the moment, but this autumn), and I'd also like to get a degree in English (which is probably my favourite language).

 

I've studied German, but I fear I've forgotten a good deal of it by now.

[Iun]

It should be obvious to most people who know me that I love languages and the study of them. Ancient Greek and Latin are what I'm studying (not at the moment, but this autumn), and I'd also like to get a degree in English (which is probably my favourite language).

 

 

Until you learn the difference between "crap" and "awesome" you're only ever going to be held back... I've tried explaining it to you several times:

 

"The Sequels to The Matrix Were Crap"

 

Now you try it!

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Until you learn the difference between "crap" and "awesome" you're only ever going to be held back... I've tried explaining it to you several times:

 

"The Sequels to The Matrix Were Crap"

 

Now you try it!

 

Iun ... is ... a ... dipshit ...

 

Hey, this is easy!

 

[Eenuh]

I will look at your site, thanks.

 

It was the "HGHGHGHG" noises that crop up in Dutch/Afrikaans that worried me, as well as the rolling R's, since I don't think I can do them (I had speech problems in my past, AND a tongue-tie, which I think would affect the latter), but practicing tonight, I CAN do the guttural "hgh" noises if I try hard enough.

 

Yeah I think the G and H sounds are quite difficult for non-Dutch people to do. As is the R. Very different from the English one. Guess it will take a lot of practice to get it right. I'm sure there's sound files online for you to learn the sounds from though.

 

It should be obvious to most people who know me that I love languages and the study of them. Ancient Greek and Latin are what I'm studying (not at the moment, but this autumn), and I'd also like to get a degree in English (which is probably my favourite language).

 

I've studied German, but I fear I've forgotten a good deal of it by now.

 

Latin is great. I studied it for 6 years and miss it quite a bit. I loved translating texts. Or going to Italy and seeing all the Latin on the old buildings etc. =)

Only did Ancient Greek for a few months, as an introduction in school. Only three people in my school studied it for the entire six years heh. It seemed nice, but I had enough with just Latin. =P

[Cube]

I never really liked languages. I think that was because I was forced to do them throughout school In my school half the students did French and the other half did German. Nobody got to choose - it's simply that half of the houses did one, the rest did the other. I was made to do French and I hated it.

 

I think the main problem is that schools teach you to say utterly trivial things. Like whole lessons to teach people to say "I am", "She is", "He is", etc. Which is pointless as there is a universal language for that: point and say your/that person's name. And they spend ages on "how are you" and responses which you're not likely to use. Teach us a bit about France, teach us phrases that we would use if we were ever to go over there. Make us WANT to go over there and speak the language.

 

Everybody in the school also had to learn Welsh and I wish it would go away. It's a dead language. The strange "CchlCchlCchl" (which is what the letter "ll" sounds like) noises are horrible, the alphabet (a b c ch d dd e f ff g ng h i l ll m n o p ph r rh s t th u w y) looks awful. A lot of "modern" Welsh words include "hoci", "bws" and "tacsi" are just re-arranged English words - making it even more pointless.

 

And what is bizarre is that Jones is one of the most common surnames in Wales. Now go back to the alphabet and have a look to see what letter doesn't exist in Welsh.

 

Welsh just seems like a colossal waste of money. Who on Earth decided that all signs which say "Flintshire" must also contain the Welsh version of the word. Which is "FFlintshire". Seriously, who does that help?

 

I have nothing against learning languages. Only the way that some are forced down our throats and how they're taught. Yes, keep Welsh lessons as an option. Just don't force it down us everywhere: it'll be preserved for countless generations by people who WANT to preserve it.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

Latin is great. I studied it for 6 years and miss it quite a bit. I loved translating texts. Or going to Italy and seeing all the Latin on the old buildings etc. =)

Only did Ancient Greek for a few months, as an introduction in school. Only three people in my school studied it for the entire six years heh. It seemed nice, but I had enough with just Latin. =P

 

I agree. There's also something truly fascinating about reading all those famous old works in their original language. It's like taking a journey back through time to the roots of our culture.

 

I never really liked languages. I think that was because I was forced to do them throughout school In my school half the students did French and the other half did German. Nobody got to choose - it's simply that half of the houses did one, the rest did the other. I was made to do French and I hated it.

 

I think the main problem is that schools teach you to say utterly trivial things. Like whole lessons to teach people to say "I am", "She is", "He is", etc. Which is pointless as there is a universal language for that: point and say your/that person's name. And they spend ages on "how are you" and responses which you're not likely to use. Teach us a bit about France, teach us phrases that we would use if we were ever to go over there. Make us WANT to go over there and speak the language.

 

Everybody in the school also had to learn Welsh and I wish it would go away. It's a dead language. The strange "CchlCchlCchl" (which is what the letter "ll" sounds like) noises are horrible, the alphabet (a b c ch d dd e f ff g ng h i l ll m n o p ph r rh s t th u w y) looks awful. A lot of "modern" Welsh words include "hoci", "bws" and "tacsi" are just re-arranged English words - making it even more pointless.

 

And what is bizarre is that Jones is one of the most common surnames in Wales. Now go back to the alphabet and have a look to see what letter doesn't exist in Welsh.

 

Welsh just seems like a colossal waste of money. Who on Earth decided that all signs which say "Flintshire" must also contain the Welsh version of the word. Which is "FFlintshire". Seriously, who does that help?

 

I have nothing against learning languages. Only the way that some are forced down our throats and how they're taught. Yes, keep Welsh lessons as an option. Just don't force it down us everywhere: it'll be preserved for countless generations by people who WANT to preserve it.

 

A lot of anger I sense in you.

[Jonnas]

Being a Portuguese kid with Venezuelan family has left me fluent in both languages. Spanish is not hard to understand for a Portuguese person, but speaking it properly is a different issue entirely, so I'm glad I speak both languages fluently.

 

I was also exposed to a lot of English from an early age: I took some childrens' english courses as a toddler, the primary school I attended happened to have an experimental english course for kids my age, I loved watching Cartoon Network and playing videogames, and I'm still from the time cartoons (like Ducktales) aired subtitled instead of dubbed.

By adolescence, I was already fluent enough to distinguish accents. My high school English course merely served to polish some rough edges and give me decent grammatical knowledge.

 

In high school, I learned some basic French. Enough for me to understand most of what I hear, and speak a bit slowly, but nothing too fancy (that Gentlemen's mafia write-up still came out nicely, right? ).

I'm sure that I could manage if I ever moved to France, though.

 

I can understand Italian to some extent, but that's only because of the similarities with Spanish and French. I can't speak Italian.

 

I'm now learning German, but I'm still on the most basic course. I do hope I can go to Germany in 2012, but there's still a long way to go.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Jonnas

[Raining_again]

I'm "learning" japanese through watching a lotta subtitled animes... not intentional but enjoying nontheless.

 

 

I'm really not a languagey type person.. my head was always on mathematics in school, rather than literature.

[Frank]

I'll be studying French, German and Japanese in College so, yeah, I lovey some languages.

 

Can't be forgetting my good old language Irish either

 

I'd love to learn Italian and/or Russian in the future too I love how leaning new languages helps my English so much too.

[Jonnas]

I'll be studying French, German and Japanese in College so, yeah, I lovey some languages.

 

Damn, now that's ambition Just...don't start with Japanese

[Vokfets]

I'd love to learn Italian and/or Russian in the future too I love how leaning new languages helps my English so much too.

Because of my learning of other languages I finally learned to really understand nouns, etc. Yes I'm 15 years late but it's stuff like that (and how to find the mean, median and mode) that never stick in my head.

It's a wonder how I'm at University.

I would have liked to learn French if Secondary School didn't ruin it for me by teaching it poorly.

I'd love to learn German, only because I've visited the country about 5 or 6 times when I was young and I'd like to go back sometime. Not to visit my God infused aunt though, there was a real nice looking girl there... she was quite a few years older than me and ended up in a mental asylum.

I guess Japanese is good enough for now.

[Iun]

Iun ... is ... a ... dipshit ...

 

Hey, this is easy!

 

 

Now you see... there's something so incredibly wrong with your spelling of "Man-God"...

[Magnus]

I like languages. Still trying to get better with English. I can read and write it, but listening to it and talking are still difficult. Still need (English) subtitles when watching films.

Flink doesn't come with subtitles, so I think you're probably underestimating how good your English is.