Trellum

My goal is to be able to master basic conversational Japanese, since I have been in this country for 3 years and 2 months already. Together with that, I intend to polish my Nihon Shuwa (Japanese Sign Language) abilities while also able to converse in Japanese slang 

In addition, I also plan to leave Japan and relocate to another country. I like to re-polish my Cantonese, Sinhala and when I have spare time (and spare motivation), I'd like to start memorizing the Sanskrit and Ancient Greek alphabets again.

Tis' my goals for 2014.

Happy Holidays,

Antiquarian.

That awesome, antiquarian!  You are living my best friend's dream, btw!  May I ask why you are leaving Japan?  My best friend dreams of moving there, he often talks about that.  Good luck mastering the basic conversational japanese My friend has been trying to learn it for a really long time, so far he has just learnt a few phrases, but not enough! Good luck with everything!  You have some really cool language goals

Nope, no tongue or breathing exercises (even tho I should probably try the breathing ones). I do practice breathing techniques to relax   Those do wonders.  I'd love to hear from someone who has actually tried those exercises   It'd be interesting if they actually work to improve one's speech, not like I'd be able to stick to the routine of practice those exercises often if they prove to be effective... I'm just a woman of a really inquisitive nature

They surely have a language, but it's way more primitive than ours.  I really think they can communicate with each other as clearly as we do with other humans who speak our own language.  We just can't understand them because we are unable to understand their language   It's just an assumption tho.  I have noticed when my dog hears other dogs howling he feels the urge to answer back. 

I could be wrong, but I believe he is communicating with those dogs.  Sometimes I've seen how a dog is in trouble and then he howls or bark and his doggie buddies seem to be showing up from no where to the resuce, lol.  It could be just a coincidence tho.

I must say I'm impressed by the quality of the translations I got from Babelfish.  I tried with a dutch phrase, and it was very correct!  Way better that Google translate.  For some reason I always doubt all the translations done with Google translate.  I just don't trust it, but I might now stick to Babelfish   I'm very impressed!

I don't at all   Since I have an accent as well, and I actually feel much better when speaking with someone who also has an accent, because I know that english isn't his/her mother language either.  My accent isn't very notorious tho, only with some words. But in general isn't (I've been told that).

I try not to prejudge people in general... accent or no accent   I think we live in a society that prejudges too much.  That's why things are going so wrong nowadays.

I never heard tongue exercises were good for that, I had heard they were good for a totally different thing, but not this, lol.  I really fail to see how a flexible tongue could help you to pronounce a language better, I guess is possible in theory, but in practice?  I've to see that in process, hehehe! 

I guess it can help so you don't get tired after repeating the same phrases over and over   Specially if you are using a Pimsleur course!

I had a hard time learning to read as a kid.  When I was just learning english on my own the first thing I started doing was reading, I did it before even attempting to speak the language with others.  Actually I used to read several phrases over and over... just to practice.  For some reason reading english seemed easier than speaking it, mostly because I had to just read one word after another.  Speaking a language seems harder because I need to build phrases on my own quite fast.

I'm a good listener in general, but I suffer from ADD, so staying focused is really hard at times. I need to work on my lack of focus I guess, the only way to do that is taking medication for that    By the way, sometimes you might be a great ''listener'', but most of the time the issue lies on the fact you might suffer from comprehension issues.  It's rather common, I also have it.

It took me 6 months to start building phrases that made sense in english.  Not bad I learnt this language on my own. It took me 1 year to gain fluency in the spoken form, and 2 years to almost master it.  I'm currently on then process to master it.  I just need to work on my weaknesses, like for example expanding my vocabulary and learn new phrasal verbs.

I'd say learning a language is a lifelong process, because once you learn it you have to keep on using it so isn't lost! If you don't, then it will be lost! 

I doubt I ever will, specially because I've been speaking spanish for most of my life, so there is no way I'll forget that so easily. All those who leave for a years to another country and then go back to their country and pretend they have forgot the language... are nothing but a bunch of wannabes.  Specially if they lived in their native country for a really long time.

They just like to feel more interesting, so everyone they meet in their country ask them where they come from and they can start talking about themselves.  That kind of people are very hungry for attention. That's the main reason they like to pretend they have forgotten their mother language.

Well, some people seem to feel quite impressed when they find out I speak english quite well, but they look even more impressed the find out I learnt it on my own.  In my opinion that's not such a big thing. I learnt english on my own... it just happened.  I know it's weird, but it just did. 

I think it's even more impressive when you meet someone  who speaks more than 3 languages. Nothing impresses me most than a guy who can speak 5 languages Now that's something to shocked at.

Here is an article I read recently.  It's about spanglish   Apparently the The Royal Spanish Academy will add the word ''Espanglish'' to new edition of their dictionary!  That's a big move.  A lot supporters will surely be happy after reading this!  Here is the link to the article: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/10/158570815/puedes-believe-it-spanglish-gets-in-el-dictionary

By the way, if you are not familiar with the term ''spanglish'' then you will surely appreciate this article.  Because they talk about the origin of spanglish and where is spoken most.

I think most people have heard the term ''spanglish'' at least once in its life. If you haven't... well, let me tell you that spanglish is a mix  between english and spanish.  A lot people speak it in the US, but I've heard is also spoken in other places.

I must admit I'm not very fond of it to be honest... I'd never use it!  For me it would be easier to stick either to english or spanish, but it can come in handy when you forget how to say something in english or spanish.  I guess that would be the only adventage of using that language.  Other than that... nah!  I don't hate it tho, but it gets on my nerves when people uses it everyday (my cousins do).

What are your thoughts on Spanglish?

There are countries where several languages are spoken, my country is one of those lucky ones.  Is believed 291 languages are spoken in Mexico nowadays, it would be 298, but 7 languages are not stinct.  This info was taken from the The 16th edition of Ethnologue. It's important to note that most of those languages are indigenous ones.

There are some languages I wasn't expecting to see in that list tho:  Afro-Seminole Creole and Plautdietsch.  I think it's really interesting!  The latter is a language spoken by the german diaspora in Mexico.  I actually live a few hours away from a place that is filled with german immigrants, they speak this language

Amazing, isn't it?!  I only speak one of those 291 living languages! I'm talking about spanish of course

How many languages are spoken in your country?

I don't do that at all, but my language has a lot words that are used in english as well.  I know some people who speak spanglish, but I'm not a big fan of this hybrid.  Since I'm not a big fan of 'unofficial'' languages (they are often misspelled by the speakers).

My ancestors spoke a very interesting dialect named ''ladino''.  It's a mix of spanish and hebrew, with words from other languages thrown in. This language is dying slowly, but there are some people in Israel who still speak it.  I'd love to learn it, but I don't have the time for that, plus I don't think I'll ever use it after that

That sounds awful, capa   I'd be really upset if they did the same to the spanish language!  I bet it was really confusing when it just started. It's crazy they do something like that.  I mean... isn't the beauty of many things in the differences between one and another? 

I'm apalled by this decision. I'm sure some words have changed a lot, right?  Specially the way they are pronounced, right?  What a pity! Do you know why they have done this?  There must be a really good reason to do such a thing! I don't think they just did it so ''both languages are written in a similar way''. I hope there is a good reason for that!

Field trips sound like a really great idea actually!  But as other posters mentioned... money is a big concern most of the time.  This shouldn't be a concern for all those wealthy school out there tho, but there is NO way your average public school will have the means to do it... unless they think of a way to save some cash for that trip (as a team project for the whole class; everyone cooperates with some money each week).  That's the only way I think this could work. Otherwise, nope. 

My second language is english, but I'm well past the stage in which I used to get nervious whenever I had to talk with a native english speaker.  The anxiety was there, it really was!  I used to get so nervious back then, I felt so shy people would think my accent was weird or pronounce things so badly I'd be laughed at.

This feeling is no longer there. But I have the feeling I'll get it again, but this time with Dutch! It might not happen today or tomorrow, but soon!  Specially when I move there!  I'll try not to use english at all once I move there.  Ah well, at least I'm older and wiser!

I feel very frustrated right now with Dutch in general, but what upsets me the most is the pronunciation of most words!  Gosh, the words are spelled in a way you could never guess how it should be pronounced!!! Is it me or this language has way too many consonants together?!  It's nuts!!! 

This is one of the aspects that frustrate me the most about this language. I wish I had to learn norwegian instead   For some reason learning norwegian was so easy, and the pronunciation of the words was so natural. I noticed this since the start. Dutch is the opposite   No idea what I'm doing!

Uhm, this is a really hard question.  Both languages have their own quirks that make them specially challenging!  I was really interested in learning japanese when I was younger (a teen), but I never managed to do it.  I'm no longer interested in learning it, but I have a friend who is very interested in learning it. He says japanese is a really challenging language to learn! 

Our love for the japanese language started with anime   It was thanks to anime that I learnt a lot japanese words, same for my friend.  He's way more advanced than me tho; he even bought a course! You can tell he is really passionate.  As for chinese... I've never even tried learning that one.  I guess learning to write chinese can be really hard! 

I just read Japanese is in no way related to Chinese, but the japanese language uses a lot chinese characters.  I really think the answer to this question depends on your mother language and the other languages you have learnt.  But to me the hardest to learn is chinese!

My second language is English, so I guess the right answer is ''Merry Christmas''.  My third language might be Dutch,but I have no idea how to say merry christmas in Dutch yet   I should have asked my boyfriend today, lol.  I just googled the answer tho, but I came across a lot potential answers, not sure which one is the right one. But I do know how to say merry christmas in Norwegian: God Jul!

I'd include to that list ''arabic''. There are plenty of arabic speaking countries in the world, and also a lot immigrants of arab origin live in Europe and America.  I actually read a while ago that there are around 500,000 palestinians in Chile!  Can you imagine?  They left the country a while ago, right before the Turkey forces were kicked out from the country (by them).

So there is no doubt arabic should be added to that list  

I'm actually guilty of this I do it all the time, I love using ''comfy'' quite too often.  Specially when referring to my boyfriend's bedroom (he just bought several things to make his room feel and look more cozy  

Uhm I also like using words like ''veggies''. I don't know why, I guess I do that because it sounds really cute and nice... very colloquial, you know?  That being said, nope, I don't mind when people use english language that way... this is way better than the abominations young spanish speakers are doing to spanish.

The best way to mantain your vocabulary is to prevent further loss   At least that's what I think.  What I do is using as many english words as possible everyday, I try not to use the same words too often; I try to push myself a little too hard sometimes so I don't start forgetting words.  So in other words: practice, practice practice!

Seriously, the old saying: ''use it or lose it'' is really true when it comes to languages and retaining knowledge in general. Finding an online partner to talk with often in english has also helped me

I'm not good at this at all, to be honest I'm struggling really bad right now trying to learn dutch!  I get carried away by the circumstances and I just stop trying.  I don't have time for this right now, but hopely soon I'll find another job that leaves me with some extra time to do what I enjoy doing

I guess my main motivation to study is the fact I really need to learn dutch, because I will be moving there soon.  I'm actually going to be traveling to that place quite soon... in just a few weeks!  Pretty nervious! 

But if I have to study during really tough times (ie, I have time, but something bad just happened), then there is nothing that can really motivate me. Like when they gave me a really bad diagnosis some years ago