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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 17, 2008 12:25:50 GMT 9.5
Completely random question, but I'm curious. I'm really frustrated by the fact that here in America we pretty much ignore foreign language and teach very little of it. I've taken french for almost 4 1/2 years now, but I know if I went to France I would really struggle. I am no where near fluent because the foreign language classes we do have are a joke. I'm starting to learn Japanese this year. I understand that its probably easier for Europeans to learn certain languages since they are all really close together(they just have to take a train or something to the country right next to them) and we're way more isolated over here in the States. English is used by almost everyone now, but I still wish I were fluent in a couple languages anyways. So I'm curious to know what country you are from and what languages you speak??? How many years of school? Are you fluent? All the details. whatever you think about languages.
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Post by schaffner15 on Nov 17, 2008 16:10:43 GMT 9.5
Arwen17, NO entiendes espanol? Sole Speeka da Inglish ? Non compus mentos ? Kappish ?
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Post by Incapability on Nov 17, 2008 18:21:52 GMT 9.5
Well, I'm from Germany. (Duh.) Thus, I'm fluent in German (Double Duh.), and I am passively fluent/actively by-scraping in our local dialect, which sounds a bit like a mixture between German, Dutch and Swedish. Apart from that, I had 9 years of school English, two of them at an advanced level, and I take quite some pride in being fluent in writing and ok when speaking it. I had 7 years worth of French, and again, two of them at an advanced level. I guess I'm fluent enough in that I can usually find a way to express what I want to say, both in writing and speaking, though I am more comfortable speaking it. I'm in my second year of studying French at university, and am thusly hoping that I will vastly improve before my five year run is over.
I took about a year's worth of Spanish a few years ago, but I've forgotten almost everything. I think that if I went and sat my ass down for a few weeks, I might survive a holiday with typical phrases such as "Where is X?" and "I'd like to order beer and a paella."
My other university subject is Latin, and I am already quaking in my boots when thinking of the next semester, where the cosiness of 4 years (three of them in school) of passive knowledge and usage will have to turn active ... In order to pursue my Latin studies, I had to take two semesters worth of Greek and then take an exam that would pronounce me fit to fight my way through a Greek text of average difficulty with the help of a dictionary (alas, no such gadgets in Latin exams ...). Luckily, I passed at first attempt, unlike a friend of mine who is now repeating both courses. And that's it, basically. For now. I plan to learn Russian at a later point, possibly when I have settled into my job and have time to spend on such things.
On your theory that it's easier for Europeans to learn foreign languages because of a closer proximity: I don't think that learning a language is easier for some people than for others based on geographics. It's rather that, here in Europe, we have more incentive because in most cases, our language is only spoken in our country, and if ever we want to go abroad, or even work for a bigger company, a good bacic knowledge of English is the very least that is expected. French, Spanish and, lately, Russian and Chinese or Japanese are much in demand.
I have made the experience that some peoples are more willing to learn and speak a foreign language than others. On our student exchange with France, almost everyone was constantly speaking French (unless they were cheating and resorting to English), no matter whether they were in France or in Germany, because the German students were usually better at French than the French students were at German, and everyone took the easy way out. I have yet to think of a reason why Germans seem more willing than others to slip into the 'other' language, but I think it has to do with German being considered a 'hard' (as in difficult, though it probably does sound harsh) language, and the conversation therefor slipping into the other language. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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Post by Mandy on Nov 17, 2008 19:24:31 GMT 9.5
my mother tongue in french but I speak english and german.
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Post by Maellowyn on Nov 18, 2008 4:57:36 GMT 9.5
My mother tongue is German of course... In school I had English and Russian. The problem is if you don't use your skills regularly they vanish one day again. I didn't use Russian for a long time now... At the Moment I'm learning Old-Greek at the university - but next year I will change to Latin - I need that more for my study. In my Karate-training I also get to know some of the basic Japanese words that are needed for it. As a hobby I used to teach myself Hieroglyphs and Gaelic - I have to say that doing this freely is much easier than learning a language if you have to. Mostly when it comes to grammar I'm loosing every bit of fun that I have with learning - but in languages like Ancient-Greek or Latin it is most necessary for the understanding :-( I wish I had more time for languages. I know some words in most of the European languages but of course I still can't claim to speak them all. But this forum here is of course a wonderful method to practise my English :-)
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Post by Incapability on Nov 18, 2008 5:02:13 GMT 9.5
You learned Ancient Greek in a university course BEFORE you learned Latin ?!?! I feel for you. Deeply. I knew Latin grammar when I entered that course, and I struggled immensely.
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Post by Maellowyn on Nov 18, 2008 5:10:06 GMT 9.5
Yeah but I hope that so Latin will be much easier for me, because it is based on Greek - but the grammar sucks really :-( !!
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Post by Kathleen on Nov 18, 2008 9:35:18 GMT 9.5
I understand that it's a little sad that Americans don't learn foreign languages, but I think one reason is that we already know English. We don't really have a reason to know another language as English is so common. I wish I knew some other languages. In school I took Spanish, but I haven't thought about it in a while.
On a side note, I think I've said this before, but Incapa's English is fantastic. It's actually embarrassing that a German knows English better than probably most Americans lol.
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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 28, 2008 11:20:32 GMT 9.5
Why do you guys learn Latin and Greek? Because they are dead languages, what use are they? I know a friend who took some very basic Latin in college because she was going to be a nurse and many medical terms are from Latin. It is very astonishing to Americans how well non-natives speak English. I've met plenty of people on the internet that their English is so accurate I don't even realize its not their mother tongue unless they tell me. on a side note: Does anyone know a good french forum? I feel like I always have trouble finding a good french chat room where they are actually people in the room. Since I'll likely only be taking Japanese in college I am going to lose my French if I don't find a way to use it. my favorite languages in order: 1. Japanese 2. Italian 3. Finnish (OMG! It sounds like LotR elvish seriously!) 4. French 5. Romanian 6. Russian 7. German 8. Gaelic/welsh/Irish stuff The only asian language I'm really crazy about is Japanese. I have read that Tolkien created his elvish languages by basing them off Finnish and Gaelic etc. but when I listened to Tarja Turunen it was amazing how similar the sounds were. Also, I'm a big fan of most of the romance languages. I came to like Russian after listening to stuff like T.A.t.u, fullmetal alchemist song. I didn't use to like German at all because of its harsh sound, but I finally came to the conclusion that its "different." And its got a unique beauty of its own in being "different." The only three languages taught at my school are Spanish, French, and German. Unfortunately, almost everyone always chooses Spanish, if they decide to take any language at all, because its not a requirement to graduate. I listened to German Wicked Elphaba sing defying gravity in a youtube video and she was amazing. Die Hexen Von Oz!
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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 28, 2008 11:36:52 GMT 9.5
I feel like I can't find a good french forum, but also can't find something I enjoy talking about in french. I'm googling in french some anime/manga forums to see if I can find anything. I feel like most of what I enjoy talking about is available in English so I've had no reason to try to use french. There's been a few websites, games specifically, that I've come across in the past that I wished I knew German because there was no English equivalent, but I don't have that happen with French. '
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Post by Mandy on Nov 28, 2008 18:24:07 GMT 9.5
on peut parler en français si tu veux lol ^^
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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 28, 2008 21:09:44 GMT 9.5
mais seulement si on a quelqu'un a parler francais avec. si ne personne parle francais, donc ne personne comprends. lol desolee, mon grammarie et orthographie est mauvais
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Post by Incapability on Nov 29, 2008 5:56:20 GMT 9.5
Nous pourrions toujours ouvrir un nouveau thread pour y parler en francais ...
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Post by Tosca on Nov 29, 2008 7:50:06 GMT 9.5
3. Finnish (OMG! It sounds like LotR elvish seriously!) That's because it's the language it was based on. I'm trying to learn, er, the basics too, but there are no classes here at all. Just self teaching books and Finns you meet on the internet.
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Post by Arwen17 on Nov 29, 2008 8:49:57 GMT 9.5
oui, ouvrir un nouveau thread!
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