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Linguaholic

Trellum

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Posts posted by Trellum

  1. Well, I guess spanish was brought to mexico by the spaniards when they decided to rule over the indigenous people of mexico.  They mixed with them, converted to catholicism and taught them spanish.  I think our accent is really nice :)  I don't say this only because I'm mexican, but also because our accent is one of the most neutral ones out there.  Plus is really pure, so pure it sounds nothing like the spanish spoken in spain! 

  2. It really depends on the country we are talking about, because there are countries in which the people who live in there really hate english!  Like for example France... I had a really horrible experience there! I was stuck at the paris airport, the airport employees were so rude... some of them pretended they spoke no english!  I'm not saying all of France is like this towards english, but the people in that frigging airport were!

    My country isn't still very english friendly... which is funny because we live next to the US!  One would think most people would be able to speak english here, but no!  I blame it on our educative system! 

  3. Ah not as many as I thought I'd know by now when I was 16 years old, lol.  I have learn only 1 new language in the last 10 years, and that's just english.  Right now I'm trying really hard to learn Dutch because I might be moving to the Netherlands, since I have no EU passport it a requirement for me to learn Dutch.

    I'm trying to hurry up a little, I was planning to start learining it after my trip to the Netherlands, but I think it would be wiser to at least learn a few phrases before my trip on january.  I think that would allow me to learn more and more dutch words :)  After this the count of languages I've learnt will rise to 2 ;)

  4. HAHAHAHA!!!! Hell yeah!!!  I did, when I was in France!  I was stuck in their airport and I had a really bad time because most of the employees over there seemed so mad I couldn't speak french... only english.  One of them (the cleaning guy) even assaulted me verbally like I just did something horrible... totally insane.  The other employees were super rude too, most of them answered in french and pretended they didn't speak english.  Yes, even the employees working for continental airlines (I always liked that airline) pretended they spoke no english.

    I was so desperate, I ended up in that airport because I missed my flight (weather issues) and I had no idea what gate I was supposed to get to in order to catch my flight.  I had been awake for 2 days, I was tired... and scared, and instead of offering me a helping hand most of them ignored me... and even insulted me.

    I found only one nice person who helped me to find my gate, and no it wasn't an employee it was just an old french man who was kind enough to help me out! I hope G-d bless than man wherever he is!

  5. Now that I think about it, I might have learnt how to pronounce most of the words I use on a daily basis when I speak english thanks to the TV.  When I started learning english on my own I was just 16, and I've always been a TV junkie, so I must have picked up a lot words this way.  After all I never took classes or had contact with other speakers when I was learning the language.  I think music helped me a lot as well.

  6. I've been told I have no accent in my mother language, because people in the place where I live have a very distinctive accent from the one the people from the south of Mexico has.  I've been told by both people from south and north of mexico that I have a very neutral accent.  But when I speak english I do have an accent, and this is more than normal I think. 

    My accent isn't very strong tho, very few people notice it... but they usually do after a while, because there are some words I really find tricky to pronounce.

  7. That's awesome.  How old are you now?  I'm also on the same boat, well the only difference is that I'm not in the Netherlands yet, but I might be moving there soon.  I'm actually going there next year... I have my ticket already!  My flight is on january 27. So right now I'm starting to feel more and more motivated to learn the language!

  8. Has anyone over here tried the Pimsleur Dutch course?  Was it of any help to you?  I'm asking this because I already have this course, and so far I think this course is great.  Mostly because I need to start speaking Dutch soon, right now I'm not worried about spelling and grammar at all.  I just want to start speaking the language... some useful phrases.  Please share your experience with this course, and if you have any suggestion... feel free to let me know :)

  9. Hi Nicky!  Thank you so much for the lenghty reply!!  I'm starting to feel really motivated to start learning Dutch... I think the best way to show my love is with my actions rather than my words.  So I might start learning Dutch soon, I was doing so before, but I lost my motivation (plus I work full time). 

    I'll try to take at least 20 to 30 minutes everyday... I have my Pimseleur course already, so I better use it :)  I really want to show him I'm willing to learn the language, and maybe impress his parents :) 

    Thanks for sharing your story :)  I hope my lovE story ends the same way as your mom's. 

  10. I guess you can learn a few words by just watching your favorite ''Telenovelas'', but I'd not expect to get a lot from it.  This is great for people who are not serious learners, specially if you are thinking you can learn spanish by just watching that.  But as a complement it can be really helpful :)  Because if you already know some spanish, you can pick some new words or even full phrases!

  11. Yes, I believe they are a bit, but at least they have a reason behind that... after all english is an international language.  So expecting most people to be able to communicate in it isn't as bad as it sounds, actually is to be expected.  I'm a native spanish speaker, but whenever I travel to another country I always assume and expect I'll be able to get by with just english :)  So english speaking people shouldn't feel so bad about it. 

    But if you want to speak about arrogance... look at the french people (not all of them, of course), but in my experience it seems they always expect you to know french.  I had an awful time once when I was stuck at their airport, and I knew no french... I was treated so badly by a lot employees!  Only because I dared to speak english, lol.  There is no excuse for that kind of arrogance...

  12. There are many words that roll of my tongue easily, both in english and spanish.  There are several words in both languages that don't do so much, like for example: credibilidad, absorcion, teeth, booth, tooth, etc.    It would be so hard to name them all, but I general I have no problem with the pronunciation of a word, as long as there is no a ''th'' sound in the ending.

  13. Your best bet would be finding other students of the same languages you are studying online, then set weekly online conversations.  I did that with a guy from Israel, it was really nice and fun... we were both interested in practicing our english, so we actually developed a friendship.  I'd not go after native speakers tho... since they might not be very interested in a language exchange with you.  It's better to pick students :)

  14. I find motivation in learning when I remember that I truly need to learn dutch in order to be able to be with my boyfriend in the future. We are moving to the Netherlands to be close to his family, and since I'm not a EU passport holder I'm required to learn Dutch.  Today I decided to start studying Dutch again, I just want to prove him I'm willing to do this and also how much I love him.  I'll not see him or talk to him for a few days... so hopely after that time I can come back knowing a couple new dutch phrases :)  People are motivated to learn a new language for different reasons... you must ask yourself why you want to learn one.

  15. I really think the ladino language is dying... and that saddens me deeply.  In case you didn't know, the ladino language is a mix composed mostly by hebrew and spanish, but words in many languages are also used; depending on the location of the speaker.  So if we are talking about a speaker living in Turkey, then his ladino will have a lot turkish words! 

    Sadly this language is no longer as used as it was before, most of the people who speak it live in Israel and are real minority!  Most of them are quite old, and some of them haven't been succesful passing this language down, mostly because the younger generations prefer to speak hebrew every where.  Some places are offering classes for people who are interested in learning it tho, but to be honest I prefer to use spanish. 

  16. I'm personally affected by this, since I'm a person with sephardic/ashkenazi ancestry on my mother's side, and it seems that ladino is dying... now mostly only the old people speak it.  It still is spoken in Israel by some sephardic minorities, but this language it's losing its ground against Hebrew!  As for yiddish... well, there still are a lot people who still speak it, specially the ultra orthodox jews living everywhere, but mostly in Israel... so not worried about that one at all!

  17. I started learning english by mere coincidence, to be honest I have no idea why I started doing it; it just happened.  I guess it was destiny pushing me to do so, and I'm very thankful for that, because if it wasn't for the fact I learn english, there is no way I'd have been able to take adventage of the oportunities I've found; english has been a real helper!

    Right now I'm learning dutch because I want to live with the man I love for the rest of my life, and in order to do that, I must learn the language (it's a requirement). I'm not a big fan of dutch or even like the idea of learning it, but I have no choice, this will be the language of my babies too :)

  18. It took me 6 months or so to learn english, at least to write it, but it took me an extra time to find someone to practice it with... plus finding the courage to do so, lol.  I was so nervious when I first started speaking english out loud.  So the real question is... how long will you spend polishing it?  I learn english fast, but I spent years polishing it; both the written and spoken form.  Learning a language is a very complete process that requires a lot effort and time! So don't expect quick results.

  19. The best way to learn and practice new words (for me) has been making lists of words by categories.  Like for example verbs related to cooking, once I get that list I try to use those new words as much as possible.  Building phrases on a notebook with them can be really helpful as well! 

    You can create your own methods, but this one is great for people who are more the memorizing by writing type.  If you are not, then you can create your own cards with images and text.  Then print them, I use that special material they sell at the stationery stores to coat my cards and protect them, this material comes with a special glue.

  20. I believe that those who say that knowing english is not important are completely delusional and live in denial! No wonder your friends don't think it's important... it's just they don't know to speak it!  They might have no interest in learning it either, so they are just trying to excuse themselves by saying knowing english is not important. 

    Truth is english is super important, I've met very ignorant people who have dared to compare english to french, lol!  I was like woah... it's like comparing a shark with a seal (no offence!), because english is a very international language.  Actually is thanks to the fact I'm bilingual that I could land a really good job some years ago.  I actualy couldn't be more grateful :)  Learning english has opened so many doors for me!!

  21. I have never tried to learn two languages at a time, because learning one language at a time is hard enough, so learning two would prove to be such a challenge, plus this approach is not the most efficient one!  I believe that when you want to learn a language you must focus on that language only.  Right now I'm trying to learn Dutch, but I'd also like to learn Hebrew.  For now I'll just focus on Dutch, because even tho I have no real desire to learn it (I have to tho, because I might be moving to the Netherlands soon) I must focus on it. 

  22. Hey there!!!  I'm so glad you took the time to reply to this!!!  I might be in the very same situation you are now, I might be getting married to a dutchman soon, and that's why I want to learn some Dutch.  Unfortunately I have no EU passport :(  So yeah, I guess I'll be forced to learn the language :(  It seems the dutch goverment isn't a big fan of integration :( They are so strict!

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