pojokers

It slips out from time to time. Whenever I speak Spanish sometimes a friend of mine laughs at the way I say certain things. My french is even worse but I'm working on it.

I think learning through music is a good idea. It's both fun and informative. You really get a grasp of how natives speak and what sentences sound appropriate with what words. The key though is to have a lyric translation so that you know what's going on afterwards.

I want to learn Japanese next. It seems like a really interesting and fun language. I love the culture and the food. I think when you learn a language you really adopt a lot of appreciation for the culture.

Learning new languages is both fun and useful.I honestly can't think of any down sides to learning lots of languages. I'm hoping to learn Japanese next actually. I feel like with learning new languages you also get a new found appreciation for the culture too and that's always good.

Oh, LOL my French still sucks. Is he saying this? "and yes, there are bad American tourists walking (I'm guessing) around me"

That's great. France is definitely on my travel list. Now that I'm studying French I think I understand what you said there (except for the word promenent). But either I'm translating wrong or something is wrong as wowtgp said. Anyhow have fun.

I think Disney movies are really good movies to watch as a new speaker. The dialogue is simple, the story is usually very good and the animation is fun for all ages. I've actually been watching a few French animated films to assist me. I'd suggest Will Smith films as well. Very simple storylines, clean acting and very natural dialogues.

YES!! I love Hemingway and The Old Man and the Sea is one of my favorite novels. Hemingway novels all have a fantastic flow to them and are rather easy reads although also have such deep inner meanings. I;m glad you mentioned this, I knew I wasn't the only one who liked The Old Man and the Sea.

:doubtful: You guys took all the good ones!!

Hmmm, for me I don't hear this misused too much. Sure I hear it exaggerated but there's usually some truth in what they're saying. For example: "You were so sick yesterday. You were LITERALLY throwing up all over the apartment." Of course this person wasn't vomiting everywhere but he/she was throwing up a lot in different places. I believe you though. For some reason people exaggerate excessively. You never know how intense a situation was, it's annoying.

This is a fantastic list. I think it can be used with any language really. I can pick through all of these and improve my French with it. Thanks for sharing.

Agreed. You took the words right out of my mouth. I don't think anyone means to say, "I could care less" nobody's that sarcastic. The phrase "I couldn't care less" is already obnoxious enough haha. There are so many others but I can't think of any. I think using the word "irregardless" is one but that's a whole other problem...

I love figurative language. It can be annoying at times but it really represents a culture quite well. I think rap epitomizes many of these ideas and is some what of a nightmare for foreigners. Phrases like: "That song is hot." Means the song sounds cool and it has nothing to do with temperature. "Chill out." Means to calm down or relax and also has nothing to do with temperature.

Why not!? I think French is a beautiful sounding language and the culture is very unique and rich. I'm learning French for the same reason I learned Spanish, they sound interesting. I don;t have any real profound reason.

That's exciting. I'm especially hyped because now I'll actually be able to understand what the people say (although it'll be minimal). I hope we watch more films down the road.