rgaz83

It looks like the official version may be DELE: http://www.dele.org/ But I'd have to do some actual research to find out how official that really is.

I love the idea of having a place to play word games. There are so many that can be played on a forum! I've seen some forum word games (not for language learning) where the thread goes on for MONTHS. They're addicting!

As for me, I think it really depends. All four are valid, depending on the situation and the subject I'm trying to learn.

Yes, there are no written vowels, but that doesn't mean that there are no vowel sounds. Indeed, the use of nikkud, however sparingly, indicates that there are vowels. There is a huge difference between a language with no vowels and one that just has no vowels written.

As for me, I want to get a better, or at least better paying, job than the one I currently have!

Hebrew has vowels? They just don't tend to be written. At least, that is what I have heard before.

I just downloaded and installed BYKI and half my fonts have changed to a "cursive" version. Kind of annoying. Has anybody else encountered this? If so, did it go away with a restart (I skipped the restart process) or do I have to try to contact the people who made it?

For a more group activity, what about hangman?

I am in America and it's swiftly becoming a thing of the past. Cursive is being pushed aside, in favor of teaching "more relevant skills". I think it's a shame, because I wish I had been taught cursive better. My handwriting is terrible, even though I still write plenty for a variety of reasons.

I know I'm not the greatest speller, but I do try. But there are a lot of people that don't try. I've met so many people who throw up their hands and say "don't blame me for the "typos", that's my spellchecker". My response is: why are you relying on the spell checker so much? True dyslexia is rare, so I don't accept that as an excuse for most people. It doesn't help that I've seen several articles where schools are going to stop grading kids on things like grammar and spelling, so as not to hamper their "creativity". You don't want to make little kids cry, do you? Sigh.

I think the last two sentences actually need commas for them to be correct: Two boys, along with a girl, are going to school. A boy, along with two girls, is going to school.

I'm wondering if it's because it's Asian (and thus exotic to half the world) and also has an easy alphabet. You can't really say the same about Japanese and Chinese (though Japanese is probably more sensible to westerners). Or it could just be because of Gangam Style.

Aside from the different alphabet, it has many similarities to Romance languages and you'll find many familiar words. For example, "restaurant" is "ресторан" in Russian, but it's pronounced more like "ristoran".

Wow, I'm having a hard time even imagining what that sounds like. I'll have to try to find a recording somewhere.

I dabbled in Russian for a little bit (about a week) before I went back to trying to learn a more relevant (to me) language. Here are some of the links I collected in the meantime: http://listen2russian.com/ - Free audio lessons, very nice recordings. http://learnrussianlanguage.net/dictionary/ - A basic English to Russian dictionary. Also has some Russian lessons and, perhaps quite helpfully, a dictionary of obscenities. http://masterrussian.com/ - Includes a list of the 1000 most common Russian words as well as a few podcasts to listen to. http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/index.html The pink drives me NUTS, but if you can get over that, I remember finding the lessons there to be quite helpful. http://www.alphadictionary.com/directory/Languages/Slavic/Russian/ - A list of Russian dictionaries that you can access online. http://russian.speak7.com/ - Basic lessons, but can be useful. http://www.word2word.com/course.html#russian - A collection of other sites that you can learn Russian with (also, a lot of other languages listed).

I like that I get to actually hear what a language sounds like, without trying to track down a native speaker in person. Of course, some of them can be pretty entertaining as well.

That's the whole point behind Esperanto, being able to transcend race and nationality. People lament that it has "no culture", when that's actually the whole point behind it (although, there is Esperanto culture, just not NATIVE). Most people, at least those who only speak one language, tend to think that their native language is THE BEST. Instead of everybody fighting over which is the best, or forcing them to speak the language of their hated enemy, you make everybody speak a language that's more or less in neutral ground. I'm not arguing that Esperanto is the best solution or the greatest conlang. It is, however, the one you'll probably have the most luck with in finding another speaker. Although, you might be able find an Interlingua speaker if you look hard enough, or even Klingon if you go to a Star Trek convention (those two being the next most widely spoken conlangs, according to Wikipedia). :grin:

I agree, YouTube does have a lot of nice options. But it's a mixed bag, especially if you find out halfway through that the person you're watching never actually finished the series. Definitely a good way to at least get started, though.

These aren't always the best quality, I watched one of the Spanish videos and the audio struck me as terrible, but I think this page might be useful to a lot of people here: http://www.learnerstv.com/Free-Language-video-lecture-courses.htm There is English, French, Japanese, Spanish and Korean.

I'm not currently studying Dutch, but I know a couple people from the Netherlands. But written Dutch has always struck me as looking very much like English and that if I could just wake up, then I would be able to understand it entirely. In addition to the common phrases thread, I think you should do another called "You already know Dutch..." and fill it with words that are very close or even identical in English and Dutch. The only thing I can think of right now is vader/father, but hopefully you get the idea.

One of the best books I've seen to study Italian is "Impara Rapidament il Tuo Italiano": http://www.amazon.com/Impara-rapidamente-tuo-italiano-CD-ROM/dp/8841267577/ It was written by actual Italians, not just Americans who speak Italian, so that gives it big bonus points in my book. Of course, there are a few typos/translation errors that I can't recall offhand, but nothing too important. So what is/are your favorite books?

I've dabbled in Italian on and off because I know someone from Italy. One of these days, I'd like to actually go to Italy. (I'd like to travel just about anywhere, but that's beside the point. )

Although I can't speak Esperanto fluently, I don't think it's completely useless. I, too, read the article, or a similar one, about how Esperanto can make it much easier to learn your target language. It may not be as culturally rich as actual natural languages, but there are Esperanto groups you can join and, so I've heard, a "couch surfing" site/service especially for people who can speak Esperanto. I've also heard that it's a lot more popular in Europe than elsewhere. Maybe it helps that I have a friend who is (mostly) fluent in Esperanto? I don't know. If it's a sheer numbers game, why would you EVER want to learn something like Basque, Yiddish or even English? Mandarin Chinese has way more speakers, we should all be learning that. :angel:

After years of being told that "lo siento" was the way to go when apologizing, I've only recently found out that it should typically be "perdon" instead. Except, as others have already stated, when it's for something like a death in the family. Annoying.

There are versions of Sesame Street in many languages. The Spanish one is "Plaza Sesamo". You might also be interested in Destinos: http://learner.org/series/destinos/ It's actually kind of interesting. Then there is Mi Vida Loca: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/ I haven't watched it but, since it's from the BBC, I'll assume it's for Spain Spanish.