jonasv
has no mustache
I can speak Dutch, English, French, German, and read Latin and ancient Greek... I know a bit of Spanish and the tiniest bit of Romanian and Italian as well. Of course, once you know so many languages it's quite easy to understand (at least read) other related languages.
BJ Bignell
Je n'aurai plus peur
I'm a native English speaker, and am currently working on my French language skills. My comprehension in French is quite good, but my apprehension towards speaking in front of others is definitely holding me back.
I also have a basic understanding of how German works, which allows me to get around when I'm in Germany, even if I can't actually have a conversation with anyone. I would definitely like to learn this language.
I am am truly amazed at the number of multi-lingual members that have replied. I am also rather jealous; but, I suppose it's nobody's fault but my own that I don't speak more than two languages.
I also have a basic understanding of how German works, which allows me to get around when I'm in Germany, even if I can't actually have a conversation with anyone. I would definitely like to learn this language.
I am am truly amazed at the number of multi-lingual members that have replied. I am also rather jealous; but, I suppose it's nobody's fault but my own that I don't speak more than two languages.
BJ Bignell
Je n'aurai plus peur
I have started to curse both in English, and in Quebecois French (not necessarily the same as cursing in International French or "France" French). My francophone wife doesn't seem to notice at all when I swear in English. When I swear in Quebecois, I sure seem to get in a lot of trouble...Gabriel M.A. said:
bob cole
Well-known
Foreign Languages
Anyone have some good language learning tips they could share?
The advice already given, to go live in Germany, if you are able, is excellent...
The best advice, which I took myself, depends on whether you are single:
In Spanish, it goes like this:
"Para aprender un idioma hay que dormir con el libro." {To learn a language you have to sleep with the book.}
When I was interviewed before joining The New York Times reporting staff many years ago, I was asked what foreign languages I spoke. I mentioned fluent Spanish and a smattering of other Romance languages...The interviewer said,
"That's nothing...We've got people here who speak Urdu...I'm still looking for him/her...
But whenever The Times ran photographs of people holding placards in foreign languages, The Times always found some staff member to translate them...We even had a Chinese artist on staff who, as a sideline, wrote a cartoon strip in Chinese for a local Chinese newspaper; it was very much like Milton Caniff's "Terry and the Pirates," if anyone remembers the strip...
Anyone have some good language learning tips they could share?
The advice already given, to go live in Germany, if you are able, is excellent...
The best advice, which I took myself, depends on whether you are single:
In Spanish, it goes like this:
"Para aprender un idioma hay que dormir con el libro." {To learn a language you have to sleep with the book.}
When I was interviewed before joining The New York Times reporting staff many years ago, I was asked what foreign languages I spoke. I mentioned fluent Spanish and a smattering of other Romance languages...The interviewer said,
"That's nothing...We've got people here who speak Urdu...I'm still looking for him/her...
But whenever The Times ran photographs of people holding placards in foreign languages, The Times always found some staff member to translate them...We even had a Chinese artist on staff who, as a sideline, wrote a cartoon strip in Chinese for a local Chinese newspaper; it was very much like Milton Caniff's "Terry and the Pirates," if anyone remembers the strip...
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BJ Bignell
Je n'aurai plus peur
When my wife and I were in Paris, people often responded to her Quebecois accent by speaking in English.CraigK said:
In the rest of France, however, her accent was accepted.
robert blu
quiet photographer
mother language is italian, which is where I live. Because of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez (I know, you can imagine my age now...) I learned english (I have also been working for multinational companies where english is the official language). When student I learn a little french. My father was german but it has always been difficult for me to learn this language. To improve my german I made an abo to a photomagazine for a famous german brand to force myself to practice it! I m afraid in future it will cost me a few k euros...
ciao
robert
ciao
robert
SolaresLarrave
My M5s need red dots!
Well...
I teach Spanish.
Besides, I speak English (yesterday, a colleague said to me he thought I was American because I don't have an accent... or so he says). In grad school I learned French and Portuguese, and retained reading knowledge of both. Right now I'm studying German because my wife (who speaks English, German and Spanish fluently) has family there and we are going to visit them every summer (she says so).
I'd like to add Italian to my list. In fact, while I am working in German for family reasons, Italian appeals to me for professional reasons (great literature!).
Hasta pronto!
I teach Spanish.
Besides, I speak English (yesterday, a colleague said to me he thought I was American because I don't have an accent... or so he says). In grad school I learned French and Portuguese, and retained reading knowledge of both. Right now I'm studying German because my wife (who speaks English, German and Spanish fluently) has family there and we are going to visit them every summer (she says so).
I'd like to add Italian to my list. In fact, while I am working in German for family reasons, Italian appeals to me for professional reasons (great literature!).
Hasta pronto!
Tom A
RFF Sponsor
My native tongue is Swedish and a horrible local version from the South Eastern part of Skane (sothernmost tip of Sweden. This dialect somewhat resembles 17th century Danish and it doas sound like you have yor mouth filled with unchewed herring. German was my first foreign language in school and i can still use it, although I tend to scramble the verbs at the end of the sentences. English was the second language with French being the third foregn language and I can read it and chat amicably in it.
We lived in Paris for a year (1982/83) and I simplified communication by only using present tense as I had no past and no future there. The French have a very logical sense of their language and approved. The woman running the bakery around the corner insisted on correcting my grammer every morning before supplying "le pain de campagne and les pains du raisin".
Swedish and English are now the common languages at home as Tuulikki (my wife) is Finnish and even though I lived for two years in Finland I can only do very basic Finnish "a beer please" and "No more reindeer meatballs". I did work for a while in Helsinki designing coaxial cable plants for Nokia - that could have been the reason why they went wireless!
Of course, being Swedish I can get by in Danish and Norwegian, enough to have worked as a research photographer for a European Concrete Research institute in Copenhagen for a while. Great fun as it meant exposing the front element of a 105 UV-Sonnar on a Blad to flying cement chips from compression testing cement pillars!
I do consider languages as communication with correct grammer being secondary. Most of the time it works, but once in the Eastern part of Turkey my attempt to find a place to buy bread by drawing a nice, round loaf in the sand, resulted in the kids disappearing for a few minutes and returning with the hubcab for a VW bug!
We lived in Paris for a year (1982/83) and I simplified communication by only using present tense as I had no past and no future there. The French have a very logical sense of their language and approved. The woman running the bakery around the corner insisted on correcting my grammer every morning before supplying "le pain de campagne and les pains du raisin".
Swedish and English are now the common languages at home as Tuulikki (my wife) is Finnish and even though I lived for two years in Finland I can only do very basic Finnish "a beer please" and "No more reindeer meatballs". I did work for a while in Helsinki designing coaxial cable plants for Nokia - that could have been the reason why they went wireless!
Of course, being Swedish I can get by in Danish and Norwegian, enough to have worked as a research photographer for a European Concrete Research institute in Copenhagen for a while. Great fun as it meant exposing the front element of a 105 UV-Sonnar on a Blad to flying cement chips from compression testing cement pillars!
I do consider languages as communication with correct grammer being secondary. Most of the time it works, but once in the Eastern part of Turkey my attempt to find a place to buy bread by drawing a nice, round loaf in the sand, resulted in the kids disappearing for a few minutes and returning with the hubcab for a VW bug!
bob cole
Well-known
Foreign Languages
Here, again, people respond differently to Quebecois because, while it's french, it's Canadian french and Parisians find it unbearable to listen to anything they find unreal in their patrician minds...
I learned Quebecois after a fashion as a boy in a textile town in Rhode Island where one part of town-- called Social Coin, or Social Corner -- was the center of Canadian commerce...Main Street was the other part of town for the English speaking people, although the difference quickly faded...
We lived in a house with a Belgian machinist and his family living upstairs...He spoke no English; he was brought to this country to repair machinery...One days one of my sisters came downstairs complaining that she was sleepy...My mother asked her if she had eaten anything and she replied: Just a glass of something with the letters A-L-E on the bottle... And this was breakfast time...
It was not uncommon to hear a local Quebecois remark, "I'm hungry, me." J'ai faim, moi.. "I have 10 years, me." Je tien dix ans, moi."
When the textile mills all moved south to take advantage of less-expensive labor, the town changed but I have not followed up...
BJ Bignell said:When my wife and I were in Paris, people often responded to her Quebecois accent by speaking in English.
Here, again, people respond differently to Quebecois because, while it's french, it's Canadian french and Parisians find it unbearable to listen to anything they find unreal in their patrician minds...
I learned Quebecois after a fashion as a boy in a textile town in Rhode Island where one part of town-- called Social Coin, or Social Corner -- was the center of Canadian commerce...Main Street was the other part of town for the English speaking people, although the difference quickly faded...
We lived in a house with a Belgian machinist and his family living upstairs...He spoke no English; he was brought to this country to repair machinery...One days one of my sisters came downstairs complaining that she was sleepy...My mother asked her if she had eaten anything and she replied: Just a glass of something with the letters A-L-E on the bottle... And this was breakfast time...
It was not uncommon to hear a local Quebecois remark, "I'm hungry, me." J'ai faim, moi.. "I have 10 years, me." Je tien dix ans, moi."
When the textile mills all moved south to take advantage of less-expensive labor, the town changed but I have not followed up...
rogue_designer
Reciprocity Failure
I used to pride myself on knowing enough to get beat up or arrested in 6 languages. But now I'm just back to basic English, a bit of French, and some polite niceties in Japanese, Italian and Russian.
I would like to get my japanese up to conversational level. It would also be nice to be able to speak irish gaelic (instead of just struggling through a phrase-book). All the languages I've had brushes with are interesting - and I usually do well speaking, but my grammar and memorization needs work.
I would like to get my japanese up to conversational level. It would also be nice to be able to speak irish gaelic (instead of just struggling through a phrase-book). All the languages I've had brushes with are interesting - and I usually do well speaking, but my grammar and memorization needs work.
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micromontenegro
Well-known
For over 7 years I used to translate movies full time. French, English and Italian to Spanish. Helluva lotsa fun. For even funnier times, I read some Latin, and know some basic Swahili and Fanagalo. Even a little Yanomami. Very little Potuguese (native Portuguese and Spanish speakers seem to communicate in "portuñol" and not really learn each other's language) and Russian. But try as I might, I could never go beyond the "I can order food" stage in German, even after living six months in Zurich.
By the way, IMHO, nothing beats German at cursing time, and the few choice sentences I really use go with that drift. And at least once a month, I dream in French. Go figure.
By the way, IMHO, nothing beats German at cursing time, and the few choice sentences I really use go with that drift. And at least once a month, I dream in French. Go figure.
kevin m
Veteran
Wow, what a melting-pot this place is!
I get by in Hebrew and Greek, but I can't say I'm fluent. Sometimes I watch French movies without the subtitles until my brain starts to hurt. And a few words and phrases in German because my wife is 1/2 German. And for some reason, I can say "Don't shoot, I know secrets!" in Russian. I suspect alcohol was involved.
An earlier poster was right that it's hard to keep up with a foreign language here in the U.S..
As for tips: Read children's reading primers and watch soap operas. No kidding. Soap operas are formulaic the world over. You "know" what they're saying, all you have to do is learn the new grammar and vocab.
I get by in Hebrew and Greek, but I can't say I'm fluent. Sometimes I watch French movies without the subtitles until my brain starts to hurt. And a few words and phrases in German because my wife is 1/2 German. And for some reason, I can say "Don't shoot, I know secrets!" in Russian. I suspect alcohol was involved.
An earlier poster was right that it's hard to keep up with a foreign language here in the U.S..
As for tips: Read children's reading primers and watch soap operas. No kidding. Soap operas are formulaic the world over. You "know" what they're saying, all you have to do is learn the new grammar and vocab.
bob cole
Well-known
Oddball said that Moroccans aswell have no problem understanding Quebecois. Strange that.
Moroccans know a bit of several languages...For many years it was French and Moroccan civil servants spoke both Arabic, French and maybe some English and Spanish... When I was in some Moroccan city some years ago, I saw a few Arab street urchans and, instinctly, without giving it much thought, I said something to them in Spanish...And they instantly responded...Spain used to own a couple of tiny enclaves south of Morocco or may still do...
Moroccans know a bit of several languages...For many years it was French and Moroccan civil servants spoke both Arabic, French and maybe some English and Spanish... When I was in some Moroccan city some years ago, I saw a few Arab street urchans and, instinctly, without giving it much thought, I said something to them in Spanish...And they instantly responded...Spain used to own a couple of tiny enclaves south of Morocco or may still do...
smiling gecko
pure dumb luck, my friend
the wonder of it all...
the wonder of it all...
wow...so many great insights about language, culture and life experiences in this thread!!
thank you ossifan, colinh & kevin m for mentioning children's books. it reminds me of some yet-to-be taken advice from solares about my trying to improve my spanish. he recommended i start reading spanish language comic books. now that i think about, i think i see why reading those and children's books would be very helpful. over the past year or so i've taken to reading children's books to my five year old grand daughter. the illustrations generally reflect what the text is about. aarrgghh!! d-ohh!! thank you again , solares. next time i'm home i'll pick up a few. kevin m, i'll try to catch some spanish language soaps next time i'm home. meanwhile i'll keep tuning in to spanish langauage radio. i occasionally visit a couple of french photographers websites and that sort of helps. russian photography sites remind me how little of the cyrillic alphabet i remember and how paltry my vocabulary & grammar skills are.
i did discover (a generally) french language station on my xm radio (#100) and i catch some of the lyrics and some of the text as it scrolls across my reciever.
on my most recent trip to L.A. i also discovered a local fm radio chinese station...perhaps it was also vietnamese and a few other asian languages as well. whew...i think i understood about ten words.
francisco: aquí está una expresión realmente provechosa en italiano: dove è la stanza da bagno? o : dove il gabinneto?
kevin m: one of my favorite movies is the french language version of "cyrano" with gerard depardieu. first off, it's a great movie and secondly, with the english sub-titles (and pause and rewind) it's great way to "see" and hear the language.
joe: i am still trying to get english wright...i mean right.
_____________________________________
breathe, relax, smile and enjoy
_____________________________________
hasta la vista, voyez-vous plus tard, daskorava, fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen,, adeus para agora, la revedere, shalom, zaijian & later y’all
“...patience and shuffle the cards.” miguel cervantes
kenneth lockerman
NEVER FORGET BESLAN
www.neverforgetbeslan.com
www.neverforgetbeslan.org (under construction)
the wonder of it all...
wow...so many great insights about language, culture and life experiences in this thread!!
thank you ossifan, colinh & kevin m for mentioning children's books.
it reminds me of some yet-to-be taken advice from solares about my trying to improve my spanish. he recommended i start reading spanish language comic books. now that i think about, i think i see why reading those and children's books would be very helpful. over the past year or so i've taken to reading children's books to my five year old grand daughter. the illustrations generally reflect what the text is about. aarrgghh!! d-ohh!! thank you again , solares. next time i'm home i'll pick up a few. kevin m, i'll try to catch some spanish language soaps next time i'm home. meanwhile i'll keep tuning in to spanish langauage radio. i occasionally visit a couple of french photographers websites and that sort of helps. russian photography sites remind me how little of the cyrillic alphabet i remember and how paltry my vocabulary & grammar skills are. i did discover (a generally) french language station on my xm radio (#100) and i catch some of the lyrics and some of the text as it scrolls across my reciever.
on my most recent trip to L.A. i also discovered a local fm radio chinese station...perhaps it was also vietnamese and a few other asian languages as well. whew...i think i understood about ten words.
francisco: aquí está una expresión realmente provechosa en italiano: dove è la stanza da bagno? o : dove il gabinneto?
kevin m: one of my favorite movies is the french language version of "cyrano" with gerard depardieu. first off, it's a great movie and secondly, with the english sub-titles (and pause and rewind) it's great way to "see" and hear the language.
joe: i am still trying to get english wright...i mean right.
_____________________________________
breathe, relax, smile and enjoy
_____________________________________
hasta la vista, voyez-vous plus tard, daskorava, fino al prossimo tempo, auf wiedersehen,, adeus para agora, la revedere, shalom, zaijian & later y’all
“...patience and shuffle the cards.” miguel cervantes
kenneth lockerman
NEVER FORGET BESLAN
www.neverforgetbeslan.com
www.neverforgetbeslan.org (under construction)
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BronicaLee
Established
For me definitely going to Germany on exchange student status made all the difference! Funny though, when I first got there the family wanted to talk in English all the time, and I wanted to speak German. We worked it out and I still look back on that time as a huge learning experience. Currently I'm fluent in German, Latin, Swahili, working on Italian and just recently gotten the Gaelic bug.
It's more of a challenge than I thought.
You should immerse yourself in the environment you want to learn. Live it, learn it, speak it.
It's more of a challenge than I thought.
You should immerse yourself in the environment you want to learn. Live it, learn it, speak it.
stumar
Frustrated Photographer
Gabriel M.A. said:
This is one thing that amazes me, probabaly only because i speak only engilsh, im always am in awe of my Greek friend when he's in full flow Greek to someone and then turns to me and instantly switches to English, in an extreamly good Scottish dilect too he also curses in Greek now thats funny, the facial expressions and hand gestures are just as important apparently!! I often wonder what he thinks in or dreams in even!!
P.S Maybey i should finish learning English first, my spelling is awfull!!!!!
Stu.
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DougK
This space left blank
I'm a native English speaker and I used to be reasonably proficient in German (three years of it in high school and another semester in college). I can't speak it very well now, but I still occasionally dream in German. I really should bone up on it but for some reason I'm really fascinated with French right now and just bought an instant immersion French course for my Mac. I also managed to pick up a smattering of Latin and Greek during college, not enough to speak the languages but enough to get me by during my ancient history classes.
I think the best language class I ever took was when I was in ninth grade. My school had a really cool one-year program called "Foreign Language Experience". We took four weeks of Spanish, four weeks of French, four weeks of German, and three weeks of Italian, along with a week or so of Portuguese, a week of Swedish, and a week of Japanese. The focus was on mastering basic communication skills that a traveler would need in that country, but for that short period of time we were immersed in whatever language we were studying at the time. I didn't realize how much of it really sunk in until I went to Mexico a few years ago and was still able to get by. Most useful class I ever took.
We just don't put enough of a premium on learning other languages here in the US, which I find sad; it really opens up your world view. My fiancee and I have decided that whatever else our future children do, we want to make sure they're fluent in at least one language besides English.
I think the best language class I ever took was when I was in ninth grade. My school had a really cool one-year program called "Foreign Language Experience". We took four weeks of Spanish, four weeks of French, four weeks of German, and three weeks of Italian, along with a week or so of Portuguese, a week of Swedish, and a week of Japanese. The focus was on mastering basic communication skills that a traveler would need in that country, but for that short period of time we were immersed in whatever language we were studying at the time. I didn't realize how much of it really sunk in until I went to Mexico a few years ago and was still able to get by. Most useful class I ever took.
We just don't put enough of a premium on learning other languages here in the US, which I find sad; it really opens up your world view. My fiancee and I have decided that whatever else our future children do, we want to make sure they're fluent in at least one language besides English.
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raid
Dad Photographer
We teach our girls Arabic and English, and when they get a little older, I will teach them German. It is amazing how naturally kids absorb languages. Dana, my older daughter, knows by instinct to speak only English with other people, but she can speak Arabic with us. My wife reads to them stories in Arabic and I fabricate stories in English.
Raid
Raid
MelanieC
Well-known
I'm American and my parents are from Korea. When I was growing up, we spoke only English at home because my parents were afraid that my brother and I would have trouble in school if we lived and thought in Korean. My parents were both fluent in English, and my mother's English has always been perfect, with no accent at all unless she's angry about something. My grandmother, who did not speak English, lived for us for several years and so I can say some very basic (VERY basic) household type things in Korean -- and I understand a lot -- but that's it. I am generally afraid to even order food by name in Korean restaurants because I have an American accent and Korean people are often not shy about making fun of a Korean-American who can't really speak Korean. I regret not being able to speak Korean and keep meaning to take classes someday. If I ever visit Korea again, I'll just be another tourist who can't read the signs or say anything intelligent.
I took French in high school and two semesters in college. Much to my surprise, when I actually got to France for the first time it turned out I'd actually learned something and I was able to complete most of my dissertation research in France. I have been to France several times to do research, and also had to use French when I was did research in Italy because the people I was working with did not speak English and it was the only language we had in common. My CV says I am "proficient" in French, which I think is a good way to put it. I can understand spoken French pretty well (not in Montreal though -- man, is that a weird accent or what) and I can get around but I am not good enough to have complex abstract conversations in French, although I get better after I've been there for a while. My accent is pretty terrible, and I've found that native French speakers have an easier time understanding me if I just use a flat American accent, rather than attempting the French accent. I can read pretty well in French, especially scientific literature where most of the important words are the same as in English.
I know how to say "I don't speak [insert name of language]" in a number of languages including Italian, German, and Croatian.
I took French in high school and two semesters in college. Much to my surprise, when I actually got to France for the first time it turned out I'd actually learned something and I was able to complete most of my dissertation research in France. I have been to France several times to do research, and also had to use French when I was did research in Italy because the people I was working with did not speak English and it was the only language we had in common. My CV says I am "proficient" in French, which I think is a good way to put it. I can understand spoken French pretty well (not in Montreal though -- man, is that a weird accent or what) and I can get around but I am not good enough to have complex abstract conversations in French, although I get better after I've been there for a while. My accent is pretty terrible, and I've found that native French speakers have an easier time understanding me if I just use a flat American accent, rather than attempting the French accent. I can read pretty well in French, especially scientific literature where most of the important words are the same as in English.
I know how to say "I don't speak [insert name of language]" in a number of languages including Italian, German, and Croatian.
RdEoSg
Well-known
well its just English for me at the moment.. Took Spanish in high school and can read a menu but thats about it...
Now however, I am supposed to be learning Polish! I'm going to marry a little Polish girl so yea, it has been demanded! You do NOT want to piss off a little Polish girl let me tell you! So far I can swear a bit, I can say hello, good day, thank you, please, sorry, and the important things like Kiss, I love you, Goodnight, and my personal favorite, Pupa! Which would be the cute way to say a girl's butt
Her father found it hilarious when I went to Poland for a visit and each morning told him thank you instead of good day! It's not my fault they like to use 29 letters per word with only one vowel!!!
Now however, I am supposed to be learning Polish! I'm going to marry a little Polish girl so yea, it has been demanded! You do NOT want to piss off a little Polish girl let me tell you! So far I can swear a bit, I can say hello, good day, thank you, please, sorry, and the important things like Kiss, I love you, Goodnight, and my personal favorite, Pupa! Which would be the cute way to say a girl's butt
Her father found it hilarious when I went to Poland for a visit and each morning told him thank you instead of good day! It's not my fault they like to use 29 letters per word with only one vowel!!!