LauraM

I enjoy being able to read books in a different language -- Spanish, in my case, and to a lesser extent German. It's especially gratifying to read literature, even if I need to use the dictionary a lot to do so. It may take a while, but it's worth it to me to be able to read a work in the original language well enough to appreciate the beauty of that language. Being able to converse with others has also been enjoyable. It can feel a bit intimidating, but getting over the initial fears is rewarding and gives me a sense of accomplishment. I also enjoy listening to the radio, watching television programs and seeing movies that are of interest to me that I would not otherwise have had the chance to experience. I think back also to seeing movies in Spanish and not having to read the subtitles and being able to focus completely on the cinematography and the sound . That was gratifying as well.

I'm curious to know if any of the native and non-native English speakers here have studied the works of Shakespeare. The English of Shakespeare -- Early Modern English -- of course is different from our contemporary English and so it has its challenges for all of us. Have you studied in school or on your own? Has studying Shakespeare helped you in your mastery of English? What works have you particularly enjoyed? Have you taken part as an actor in a Shakespeare play? When I was in high school I studied Shakespeare quite a bit and read several of the major plays, including "Hamlet," "Romeo and Juliet," "Macbeth," "King Lear" and others. We also studied some of the sonnets. I found the language quite fascinating overall.

Yes, this topic has had a lot of discussion on the Internet. Here are just a few sources. There are lots of others. I found these interesting as they also provide some background info. http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/g11.html http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_none_singular_or_plural http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/questions-and-quandaries/grammar/is-none-singular-or-plural

This is a great topic. Books and book authors have been among the most enjoyable topics on this forum, I think. I'm curious to see the replies from both the non-native and native English speakers. My favorite books include some of the classics. In particular George Eliot's "Middlemarch" is one of my all-time favorites. I also like Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights." My modern era and contemporary favorites include Don DeLillo's "White Noise" and Jayne Anne Phillips' "Black Tickets."

Actually "none of us" is plural. The confusion arises because the word "none" can mean either "not one" -- which is singular -- or "not any" which is plural. In the example you gave it should be "None of us need a car." That's because the "none" refers to "not any," as in "not any of us" which is a plural entity. Just as you would say "None of the pedestrians need a car," those same pedestrians speaking for themselves would say "None of us need a car."

Yes, I can relate. I find speaking the new language to be the most difficult and challenging. It brings together so many different skills, including pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. You also have to keep pace with the conversation which means you are also listening even as you must formulate the words and sentences to respond. And, as you point out, native speakers are speaking "fast." That's a lot of work for the brain! In contrast with reading and writing -- which I rank as roughly equal as far as difficulty -- I can work at my own pace. I can look up words in a dictionary if and when I need to. Obviously, the goal is to become less dictionary dependent, but in the learning process I find that looking up words also helps me to retain them. It also helps me in learning the fine points of grammar. Generally, I am the type of learner who does best with the written text rather than the spoken word. It's interesting to see the diversity of responses here. It shows that the challenges of each of these components of language will vary from person to person.

Yes, there is such a site for English language phrases and their origins. This one is very thorough and detailed and beautifully organized alphabetically as well as by specific categories of phrases (e.g. nautical, biblical, etc.) http://www.phrases.org.uk/index.html In fact, it's such a great resource one can easily lose track of time exploring all the fascinating details of how these various phrases came about!

I would not let age be a barrier to learning a language. That seems to me to be an assumption that is as negative and invalid as assuming that girls and women don't have the same capacity to learn mathematics and science as boys and men. It is not the lack of ability, but rather, in some cases, that female students are not encouraged to take part in these subjects, although this has been changing in the last few decades. These kinds of negative assumptions and stereotypes impact people's expectations of what is possible and of what they can accomplish. That special facility for learning languages is characteristic of young preschool children. But once we reach adulthood, we are all pretty much in the same circumstance, cognitively speaking, regardless of whether we are 20 years old or 50 or 70 or more. So long as we have the mental clarity, focus, discipline, the interest and the motivation, we can learn another language. And many in this thread have made note of people whom they personally know who have learned languages in middle age and beyond, which is very inspiring! So I would definitely charge ahead, and learn the language you are aspiring to learn.

I can understand that it might be intimidating in such situations, especially if you are among people whom you don't know well. I have felt that way, too, at times. Do you have a friend or acquaintance who also speaks Spanish or is learning Spanish? I know from personal experience that it's easier if you are with someone else in the same situation and both of you were to speak the language with others. The old "safety in numbers" rule, so to speak. Obviously, this may not be the case in every situation -- as there would be times you would be on your own -- but perhaps having someone along those first few times will bolster your confidence for when you try speaking the language on your own.

As an American, I would have to acknowledge that yes, there is that tendency towards linguistic arrogance. While it is not true of everyone, it is a pervasive attitude in American culture and society. Collectively, we Americans take it for granted knowing English and expect the rest of the world to learn the language. And to top it off, there are some Americans who complain if people speak English with an accent! Yet on the other hand, language study in the school system has not gone by the wayside. It never did. I first studied languages in high school -- Spanish -- and continued in college. Along the way I have always met and interacted with Americans who had a passion for languages and for communicating with others and learning of their culture. In other words, they were not just strictly motivated by pragmatic business purposes. And, as you note, more and more Americans are coming to realize the advantage of knowing other languages for business. I'm very glad to see this trend!

Yes, some English words are hard to pronounce even if you're a native speaker, which I am. I sometimes have trouble with "statistics," which is actually a common one that people find difficult. I also have trouble with "suggested," especially if I am saying "She suggested." There are probably a few other words I have trouble with, but those two come to mind immediately. When I do have trouble with a word -- or if it's a new word -- breaking it down into syllables and double-checking which syllable(s) are accented helps a lot. So it would be "stat - TIS - tics."

I'm not sure if this counts as "unusual," but when I was in high school learning Spanish, I used to listen to shortwave radio stations in Spanish at nighttime as I was falling asleep. Radio Havana Cuba, in particular, but other stations if I could tune them in. I had a very small, inexpensive shortwave radio so it was limited as to what I could get. Later on, when I was interested in German, I would listen to Deutsche Welle on shortwave. This was all a part of doing as much as I could to immerse myself in the languages while still in school and not able to travel.

Taking a beginning class whether in person or online might be a good starting point. This can give some overall structure to your studies. Likewise finding native speakers and/or a local or online group of people who are working on the language can be helpful for developing skills. From there you can choose to work on various aspects -- it might be reading in the new language, for instance. I found this very motivating when I was learning Spanish. If there is a particular book that you have an interest in try reading it, using a bilingual edition as well as a dictionary. If you also have an audio book version that is helpful as well. Immersion is also important and again, this is something that helped me. If you have access to media in the language, listen to the radio or watch TV in the language, or movies without the subtitles. There are plenty of online videos and audio as well.

I'm a native speaker of English in the U.S. and surprising as it may seem, as a child and young teen I never really liked the sound of English as compared to other languages that I had heard. In fact, that was part of my motivation to learn Spanish, aside from its pragmatic value. I liked how it sounded when I heard it on the Spanish language TV channels and radio, as well as being out in a store, for instance and hearing people speak the language. I also liked the sound of French which I first heard widely spoken when our family would take trips to Quebec, Canada. Same with German, which I first heard via German opera. Especially as a teen, all these other languages seemed to have a "cool" factor that English didn't have. English seemed very dull and lacking in tonal beauty to me although I did like find some of the various forms of spoken English -- British, for instance -- a little more pleasing.

I remember a storytelling activity in Spanish class in high school. We would collectively tell a story. Each person would contribute a sentence or two to the story and the next person would pick up where that person left off, and continue the story, and so on until everyone in the class had a chance to participate. It was a lot of fun -- and we did a fair amount of giggling. So much fun, in fact, that it didn't seem like a drill or an exercise and yet, it was a great way to practice and improve language skills. I'm sure there must have been other activities but that's the one that I still remember.

Yes, this is something that I also found fascinating when I studied German in college. These words look amazing on the page and they are so descriptive. "Gedankenfreiheit" -- which means "freedom of thought" -- is one that I always liked. But there are plenty of words that are much, much longer.

Knowing Spanish helped me many times over the years. One particular incident that I remember fondly is the annual convention for an international service organization that my parents belonged to. Our entire family was there for the convention (held in Chicago) so it doubled as a family trip. This was years ago when I was still in high school. My parents met some people from South America -- I can't remember which country now -- whom they wanted to converse with and I was able to interpret for them. We must have spent more than an hour or so hanging out. It was my first such opportunity to use Spanish as an interpreter and it stands out in my mind. It was a great experience and I was happy to help my parents out in that way.

We have seen this topic in the General Discussion and in some of the language subforums. So this left me curious to know about what the native speakers and students of Spanish have read and/or are reading. What are some of your favorite Spanish language books and authors? Some of my favorite authors/books are: Isabel Allende (Chile): She has written some amazing novels. My favorites among them are "The House of the Spirits" and "Eva Luna." Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia): My favorites are two of his classics, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera." Pablo Neruda (Chile) -- I've read a lot of his poetry in a variety of collections and editions. One of my favorite collections is the bilingual edition, "Five Decades: Poems 1925-1970."

This is a great topic as it makes us think about all of those rich, colorful and even poetic expressions so common in everyday speech. Here are just a few of the expressions I use and/or have used recently that I can think of .... "Down to the wire" -- completing something or something that concludes at the last minute. "Field day" - when things go extremely well. Example: "I was doing some online shopping and I had a field day; I couldn't believe all the bargains I got." "On the same page" -- when two or more people all agree on something. "Bend over backwards" -- going above and beyond what is expected, especially to accommodate someone.

Yes, paradoxes can be quite amazing and sometimes profound. Here are a few: "The beginning of the end." It is descriptive and makes sense to us -- as an ending can be long and dragged out -- but yet it is also a contradiction. "I know that I know nothing." Likewise, we understand what it means beyond its surface contradiction. There is the famous paradox from George Orwell's "Animal Farm" that I've always liked: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." I think it beautifully captures the socioeconomic tensions and strife of a society.

Yes, I saw that thread! I've read the book only in the English translation and it's mesmerizing from start to finish. I would think it must be even more so in the original language. Yes, reading French literature is part of my motivation to learn the language. I would also like to read other classics, including some of the works of Alexander Dumas "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo " among others. I also want to learn French so that when I go to Quebec, Canada again, I would be able to speak the language. Although I haven't been there for many years, Montreal remains one of my favorite cities.

I too would like to learn German next. Although I studied it in college for a couple of years and even spent a semester at German House on campus, I have become extremely rusty. I pretty much would have to start over. After that, I would like to learn French. I've had a longtime interest in French, partly because I want to read some of my favorite books in the original language, especially Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

I studied German in college. While I never became fluent in the language I was able to read and comprehend fairly well. I developed an interest in German mainly because of my interest in German opera. Both my parents were opera buffs and so I grew up listening and appreciating German opera as well as Italian and French opera. I was fascinated at an early age by the sound of all of these language. I studied Spanish in high school, with the intention of taking German and French later on in college. I did not get around to French in college, but yes, I did study German just as I had planned.

"Catawampus" is new to me so I looked it up; imaginary, fierce animal. I agree; it's an amusing word! It made me think of two other words that start with that same syllabic sound that I always thought were funny sounding: "catamaran" (a type of sailing vessel) and "catatonic" (a state of immobility). They both sound so nonsensical to me, although they are serious words.

Those are all beautiful words! Here are some of my favorites: Eloquent = well-spoken Mellifluous = sweet, pleasant to listen to Resplendent = attractive, dazzling to look at Transmogrification = to change into a different shape or form