ollie

I've been in language classes that were taught in mostly in the language it was taught in. I think it's a great idea, because that's how you improve with a language -- using it consistently.

Google translate is frustrating, it's so bad sometimes. I use it for one or two words at a time, and even then it can mess up. I would not at all recommend it for full sentences, or using it for an actual class or anything.

Duolingo is fantastic. It has an app, too, so you can learn stuff if you're just out away from home. I highly recommend it.

For example, Spanish spoken in Mexico and Spain. French in Canada and France. Or English in America and Australia and England. My favorite in English is the word "hospital." I'm always used to saying things like "I am at the hospital, I am going to the hospital." But anyone I've spoken to who is from England drops the "the." "I am going to hospital, I am at hospital."

I know English and have taken Spanish and am currently learning French. It's remarkable how related the three can be, and how similar French and Spanish are. If I hadn't taken Spanish before, I would be having a lot harder time learning French.

I used to know an exchange student from China, and every now and then we'd go drink downtown. He was so cool to hang out with because whenever we'd see someone with a Chinese character tattoo, he'd tell me either the real meaning or what other implications there were behind the word.

French, definitely. I really like saying Je vous aime! The vous part just kind of rolls off my tongue in a really pleasant way.

It is a start, but it is imperfect. There's a debate over "an hour" or "a hour", but from what I can tell it's more of a dialect thing.

This drives me insane, too. It goes up there with the wrong uses of "there" "their" and "they're". But even worse, because you get the hint of an extra "o"!

I find myself to be a very fast reader. I blow through books really fast, especially when I find one I can't put down. I'll carry it everywhere, and do tasks with one hand, a book in the other.

Locum was a Swedish company, and one Christmas in the 90s they sent out Christmas cards with their company name, but replaced the "o" with a heart. So it read: l<3cum

I use it for single words, but for phrases and sentences, it can get really, really wonky.

I've heard Japanese is extremely hard, but I've never tried to pick it up myself. It's on my bucket list, I'd like to visit Japan one day, and it'd be nice to learn a little bit before then. But I don't see myself being fluent anytime soon.

Maybe not so much a part of the study of the language, but the study of the culture. I suppose maybe it might teach you a word or two, or about slang and terms in the language. Plus, good food is good food!

I. Refuse. To. I don't mind if people do, but for crying out loud, I'm a male in my mid-20s with a career. I'm not typing that unless it's ironic.

Those people you see holding their cell phones out pointed at themselves while they take a picture? That's a selfie. Short for self-portrait.

There are some song lyrics that you read without any music and think, "oh, that's not bad." But the trick in some cases is to hear them. There's lyrics that work so well with the music or the singer's voice that it just punches you in the gut or breaks your heart in a way that it can't when it's just on paper.

My favorite: doppelgänger.

Anything by Mark Twain. His words had such sarcasm and bite and still resonate today in so many ways. Makes me wonder what's actually changed. I love all his quotes but one of my favorites recently has been this: Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge.

I would really like to know how this came about as an idiom. The cat one, I imagine a cat scratching your throat, making it hoarse. Being hungry as a hungry wolf, that makes sense. But the end of the beans meaning it's useless? I love that, but it makes me ask so many questions about the phrase's origin.

There are always areas of any city, even in the Midwest, where you can practice or hone your Spanish skills. You might have to go out of your way in order to find it more in daily life, but when you do, I think people may be more impressed with you.

Depends. I think it will give you an edge on anyone else applying for a job you may be -- depending on where you are. In the southwestern states, I think knowing Spanish will help you immensely. Want to move up in a company that deals a lot with products made in China, or with electronics made in Japan? Obviously knowing those languages will get you noticed by the higher ups. Is it necessary? No. Will it hurt? Absolutely not, it can only help.

I am attempting to learn French right now, but other than that, I'd love to brush up on my American Sign Language. It's a little harder than I'd like to find someone who wants to practice/knows the language at all, however.

Watching a movie in a different language is an excellent idea. In a classroom or with a tutor, they're slowing it down for you some, they know you aren't a native speaker. In a movie, obviously the actors aren't patronizing or compromising for you. It's a great exercise.

You're going to have quite a bit of a leg up re-learning something as opposed to learning it the first time. I know as I am trying to re-learn Spanish, some things are just like I'm learning them for the first time -- they seem to take a white to stick into my brain. Others, I'll see it, have to look up a meaning, and they click like they hadn't ever before.