Dame6089

As someone who has taken many Spanish classes and have learned about many dialects, I would have to say Cuban Spanish or Basque Spanish.

A lot of Cubans sound like they have their mouth full when they speak. It is indiscernible sometimes.

Basque on the other hand is just really different from your typical Spanish. I can't understand any of it. I feel like it is a completely different language.

I would disagree that immigrants are losing their mother tongues. I work with kids, many of whom are foreign. Their parents still mainly speak their mother tongue and struggle with english. Due to this, their kids learn english in school, but still learn their mother tongue at home. It actually works out for the kids because they get to become bilingual naturally.

I catch myself saying "scuse me" a lot. Not sure this is a mispronunciation as much as it is my dialect. I know it is "excuse me", but I have generally slurred it to "scuse me" my entire life. As long as people get the idea, I don't think it matters much.

Honestly the most fun is when you start to get good at the new language. It isn't as fun when you are just memorizing words and rules. When those words and rules start to become second nature, it becomes fun to learn because you don't feel like it is work anymore.

When I was in college and had Spanish classes every day, I would find that I would talk to myself in Spanish. Despite that, I always would translate on the fly by thinking of what I wanted to say in English then translating it to Spanish. This obviously delayed me, but I found it easier to think in my native tongue.

Nice idea! I love podcasts! Any particular Spanish podcast that you would suggest? I wouldn't even know where to start looking. Thanks in advance.

In general, I enjoy learning languages. I took many Spanish classes in college because I was good at them and they boosted my GPA. Now that I am out of college, I would like to stay sharp. I hope that one day I can visit a Spanish speaking country and not just be your average clueless American tourist.

For me, pronunciation is the hardest part. I understand what all of the words are supposed to sound like, but I can't seem to make them sound right when I speak them. I took many Spanish classes in college, but the hardest one for me was the pronunciation class. I couldn't roll my "r"s and everyone else in the class could. It was embarrassing to struggle so much.

I was told this all through grade school. Yet, I somehow never managed to pick up on all the words that break the rule. I think it is still a good rule. You just have to remember that it only applies to the words that have the "ee" sound.

I for one, would never be able to spell receive correctly without that rule.

Technically, I started learning Spanish in 8th grade. I honestly can't say that it started sinking in until I was in college though. My Spanish speaking improved tenfold after only 3 years of Spanish classes. The previous 5 years of Spanish were borderline useless.

I have the same kind of dreams! Good to know that I'm not alone.

I also feel like I am fluent in my dreams. I wonder if anything I say while dreaming is actually correct, let alone fluent.

I never noticed it until college, but I definitely have a Pittsburgh accent. I sometimes get called out on how I say certain words. I never thought I spoke Pittsburguese, but I guess I do after all haha.

I would love to hear an American accent from an outsiders perspective. I have no idea what the defining characteristics of our accent actually are. 

Of course! Who am I to force a child to learn something that they have no interest in. Languages are fascinating to me, but some people just don't enjoy them. Some people also have a lot of trouble learning other languages and therefore don't ever learn a language.

If my future child wants to learn another language, great. If not, that's fine too.

Wow you guys make a great point about the comfort factor. I never thought about that, but I have to agree. I distinctly remember can't waiting to get back to English after a long Spanish class or project.

I guess nothing can ever replace your native tongue.

I had a book that taught you all of the strokes for each character. After practicing a few times, I would write the character on a flash card to use later. It really is just repetition. See it enough and you will eventually lock it in your memory.

That's a really great idea. I used to know katakana when I was younger, I mainly used flash cards to learn it though. If I ever decide to get back into it, I will definitely try this idea.

Thanks for the tip!

Back in the day, I knew all of the Hiragana and Katakana. It is just memorization really. Use flash cards if it helps.

Kanji, on the other hand, is a whole different beast. Way too many characters for me.

It isn't necessary, but profanities are unavoidable. One way or another, you re going to be exposed to profanities if you are around native english speakers.

I for one love profanities and think learning them are one of the more fun aspects of learning a language.

Do you still enjoy speaking english after you learned another language? I still enjoy English, but I can definitely see some of the flaws in the language now.

What are your thoughts on this? Still love english? Hate it? Sound off in the comments!

If you are new to the language, I would start with some flash card to learn the most basic words. However, if you are a more than a beginner, I would suggest reading some short stories.

My upper level Spanish courses in college were based around short stories. The great thing about short stories is that you will be exposed to the terminology of whatever topic the book is about. For example, my Spanish class read some stories about the Chilean mines. We learned a lot of words that were used to describe the mining industry and culture.

Yes! As a native English speaker, German sounds very aggressive. In fact, most German speakers sound angry to me. There is something about the flow of the language that sounds like someone is getting scolded every time they speak.

The funniest and probably most difficult English accent has to be the creole accent that you hear in the deep south in places like Louisiana. I can't imagine having to interact with people using that accent every day.

Some of the guys on the show Swamp People use it. Anytime they speak, subtitles come up haha.

I can't lie, I use this a lot. I know that it means "laugh out loud", but mentally I don't view it as that when I am texting. I just use it as an interchangeable word for "haha". As I get older though, O imagine that I should probably start to remove lol from my text dictionary. It just seems very kiddie to me.

Hmm, it's interesting to me that some of you have had success learning through music. I have had the opposite experience. I am decent in Spanish, but find it incredibly difficult to understand most Spanish songs.

I guess I am just used to the way certain words are pronounced and get confused when they are enunciated differently through music.

My favorite English phrase is probably "Speak softly and carry a big stick" from Teddy Roosevelt.

I love this phrase for various reason. Firstly, Teddy is one of my favorite presidents and I think this phrase encapsulates what he was all about. Also, I just think it is a generally good phrase to live by. Don't go around looking for trouble, but be prepared to defend yourself should trouble come after you.