deyvion

I can see what you mean, wowtgp, but I also understand ashwinr1. Maybe a book cannot make you fluent in a language, but it can provide you with the basics to start out. Whenever I want to learn a new language, I always get myself a book talking about the basics (they use books to teach language at school, after all.) =) This site gives recommendations of 5 books for learning Hindi - Top 5 Hindi Language Books I hope it helps you =)

So, if you are not a native speaker of English - when did you start reading books in English? For me, it was when I was about 12 years old. Like I have said in other threads on this forum, I developed and interest in learning English early and much has been through self-learning. In my school we also had the local library, and whenever I had a break between classes, I went there to read. I started reading books for adults very early, and the books in English fascinated me for some reason, so as I said, I started reading them at around 12. It did not only help me with developing my English vocabulary (I used a dictionary for words I did not know), but it introduced me to a whole other world of authors and stories other than the Swedish contributers. So, again, when did you first pick up and read a book in English?

All the languages I have intended to learn have mostly been started with self-teaching. The only language I went to school for was Spanish, and that is even though my mother is Spanish. The problem there was that as a Native speaker of Spanish, with better fluency and vocabulary of Swedish, my mother could not always tell me WHY something was said as it was, which is what I always want to know. English, even though English being a mandatory schoolsubject, I mostly learned at home from TV and reading. When it comes to Turkish I am all on my own - except from the help I get from my boyfriend and his/my friends.

English is a compulsary subject in Swedish schools. However, I took my education to the inside of my home and started learning English by myself. Even though I went to school with my classmates, the English they were teaching, I had already taught myself - mostly through interest and American TV-shows.

I can understand the importance of surrounding yourself with the target language. I, however, still tend to use English. I am surrounded by Turkish-speaking people all day, and I have been so for 2 months. They all know I am trying to learn Turkish, and they all encourage me to do so by sometimes talking Turkish to me, even though at a very beginners level. I do understand them - and I even know how to answer, but for some reason I shy away and answer in English - because I know they understand English.

This concept of learning a language by learning 10 words per day is something I studied at the university (in English lingusistics). I like the concept, however, to cram 10 words just to be forgotten a few days later is not really the way to go. For me, as I am now in a country which language I want to learn, I go by this concept, but not to the full extent. I try to learn at least one new word every day, but what I focus on is listening to the conversations around me, and as I have heard a word or phrase many times, I ask what it means. I have learned mostly from this. Remembering and learning by repetition is in my opinion better than learning a list of 10 random words. At least for me.

This happens to me all the time. Now that I am in Turkey, my daily language is English. However, since the level of English here is way lower than mine, I tend to change my vocabulary and speaking to the level of the people I talk to. The problem is that this 'bad English' has started to come automatically even though I know the correct use in my head. Even my pronounciation is getting worse even though I speak English daily.

I actually wish that Sweden had that competitive spirit in school. Here 'everyone is a winner', and 'children should not compete against each other'. I would have loved to have competitions such as spelling bee's, etc.

Thank you, that was it, yes. Haha

For some reason I cannot edit my previous posts. Is there something wrong with only my account, or is it like that for everyone?

Thank you all for your answers. @sayitwell: My phones autocorrection is not always the best as I have it set on several languages. I did not notice the typo - I will get right on it!

I was readin a book and came across this phrase: "Get a load of this". What does it mean? In the conversation in the book it came from a person who was about to reveal how much something cost.

Exactly what does "another one bites the dust" mean? I have heard it so many times, but never really understood what it relates to.

That would be Turkish! They have some additional letters, but I got them now. However, every time I feel like I understand something (like grammatical), I ask something to see if it applies - and it doesn't! Compared to Swedish (and English, for that matter), the grammatical system of Turkish is quite complicated unless you are sitting with a university book about it.

My true dream in life is to be a novel writer. I have some really good stories in my head (I know, because I have asked others about it), and my biggest problem is that I seem to only be able to write fiction in English. However, my bad grammar and still too thin vocabulary makes it an obstacle, which is why I want to get better at English.

When I studied English linguistics last year at the university they focused a lot of time at this exact topic. Like previously stated, many believe that knowing several languages from an early age can make children confused, however, it has been shown in studies that children knowing more than one language actually develop a better understanding for language and for abstract thinking - they can 'connect dots' better. However, it is important that if parents want to teach their children more than one language, that they are enough sure in their own language and that they stick to it. Otherwise, they CAN get confused. For example, if my boyfriend and I had a child now and decided to teach him/her Swedish and Turkish, I would speak the Swedish, and he would speak the Turkish. Since my Turkish is not so good still, if I would teach the child MY Turkish, it would not have a good outcome.

I have a big, big, BIG English dictionary (it is needed for school), and I have a small English-Turkish dictionary. I like the English/English dictionary the best, mostly because it contains so many words and definitions. The Eng-Tur one is so small, and it does not contain so very much. I will try to buy a real one in the near future, especially since I went out and bought a book in Turkish to try to translate it.

It's a fun game, but I must admit I did not reach over 400 points. I think I can get addicted to this game, haha.

I can see what you mean about wanting to learn as that is a key factor to actually learning a language. However, the world is today globalized, and no matter where you live, you will likely have something in your life that extends over the boarders. Therefore, I think it would be good if colleges made foreign languages intergral in the programs. The target language could be one that is most needed in the area that you study.

Welcome to Linguaholic, Limon! =) Your fluency in both English and Spanish will make you a huge resource to this community. =) May I ask if you are trying to learn a new language?

This will be an interesting add-on to the forum, but a very resourceful one! I think many of the members will gain from this, and I am glad you thought about it. =)

There are three reasons why I want to learn Turkish: 1. - I will probably move to Turkey next year, and to a part of Turkey where I cannot expect people to speak English. 2. - Being in a relationship with someone where English is the medium of communication, and where one has almost a beginner's level, makes much get lost in translation and misunderstandings often arise. Therefore, I want to learn Turkish. (He will go to Swedish school this winter, so at least I can try to learn his language also, especially considering #1.) 3. - My boyfriend's mother does not even speak Turkish, she only speak Kurdish, and I would really like to speak with her and not only rely on bodylanguge. If I know Turkish, I have a large group of people who can teach me Kurdish also.

Welcome, Ariel! I am happy to see you on board, and as a fluent speaker of English and French, I believe you can be a huge resource in the English and French sections, as well as finding resources in the Chinese and Japanese sections. See you out there! =)

For me it is speaking, but also listening. Speaking - whenever presented with the chance to speak Spanish, or any of the other languages I am learning, I choke up. Sometimes I do know the correct reply, but I get too insecure. Listening - native speakers speak fast and sometimes takes away letters. Therefore, whenever I listen to a language I am learning, I miss out.

English lets us all meet new people and communicate with them, even though at different levels. However, believing English will convey everything is not always so smart, especially not when the other person of the conversation is a beginner of English. So, as I have stated in several posts, my boyfriend is from Turkey, and thinking about funny language situations reminds me of the night we went out the first time about 1,5 years ago. We were out on a club and I still did not know his name (my friend and I had been with a larger group where he was in also, but I had not talked to him). I had asked him one or two times, but the loud music was making it hard for me to hear what he said, so when he said he would put his number in my phone I got secretly happy, because I thought it would be too embarassing to ask his name again. The name he typed in my phone was 'Darling'. And I just decided that I would let it go. We would probably not meet again anyways, so why did it matter what his name was? However, two days later we were still together, and I still did not know his name - so I had to ask his friend to not only say his name, but also spell it out. The funny thing is that his name is like the most common name in all of Turkey. How this is a funny language situation is not really about the language itself, but a factor that many forget because they believe that English will get them anywhere. Cultural differences, and also societydifferences, vary so much that the information that is transmitted in the English may be understood differently in a conversation. Like when I for example accidentally told him that I make about 30,000 dollars every month because I calculated wrong. In Turkey, Swedes are seen as rich, so he did not correct me.