Preya_M

That's true some of what they say don't translate well with subtitles. I think it's great for learning the basics of a language, like saying greeting and parting phrases. You can also pick up on many words like this. I find it very helpful with Hindi movies and Japanese animation shows; you can pick up on the language pretty fast.

The person thought that you got disconnected? That's pretty funny. It's one of the most embarrassing things to happen especially during a speech or a presentation. Has this ever happened to you in any of those cases? it's happened to me numerous times and each time probably more embarrassing than the next because you’d think that I'd learn by then to take notes with me.

I'm from Canada, English is one of our national languages (next to French) so yes, it is taught in school. English is mandatory from elementary school all the way until high school, where we learn to write essays properly rather than the "sandwich" approach. You can continue learning English through University and earn degrees in them as well.

My mother said that my first words were "mama" and "dada", she said that "mama" came first though, pretty typical words for children nowadays I guess. Apparently I spoke them when I was around the age of 1 and a half. I learned to walk on my 1st birthday as well.

I mean everyone as in the world. It may not seem like a realistic thing now, but because of immigration and time-space convergence the world seems to be getting closer than it was before. People are losing languages because English is becoming more predominant; a majority of the world is attempting to learn English rather than other languages. There are those few cases in North America that people attempt to learn other languages other than English. Languages will be lost along the line somewhere in the far future I believe and it's saddening.

I don't know the methods that others use when attempting to learn a new language, but I use movies and videos with subtitles. By reading the subtitles I can learn what the said phrases mean and I can mimic the way they are said. One example would be Japanese, the language is so vast with so many grammatical and pronunciation rules; when you hear it from simple shows you can understand how to use them. Do you use subtitled videos as well to learn new languages?

A "buffalo"? That's interesting; I've never heard that phrase before. We usually call people a "sloth" here. I think that I will do a little experiment with my friends and see what they think about me calling them a "buffalo." :punk:

Have you ever been engaged in a conversation with someone and then you just forget a word? I was talking to my friend the other day and my mind became blank, I was saying something, but I wasn't sure what word I had to use. Has this ever happened to you?

I'm one of those guilty of "over-using" it. I use it a lot, even unconsciously; it can be a little embarrassing. I've been teased about it numerous times by my boyfriend, but I just can't help myself from using it. "Lol" lightens my mood and I tend to joke around a lot in person, so I think it fits my personality.

I've used Google Translate a couple of times, but only when I was looking for singular words. It's not perfect with its translations when it comes to sentences. I tried using it once for a French assignment and the sentence made no sense to me, I ended up doing it manually with a good old French-English dictionary.

I would also say "um" a lot during presentations, it came to a point where my friends counted the number of times I said it, and the results were embarrassing. I tend to injure myself a lot by walking, I stub my toes numerous times around the house and whenever I do so, the strangest things come out of my mouth, but the most frequent one is "holy jumping monkeys!" Not exactly you're everyday phrase, but that's what I say.

My favourite English quote would have to be: "keep moving forward" They're 3 simple little words that have had the biggest impact on my life. I've had so many ups and downs in life and when these disappointments happen to me, this quote is what keeps my head up high.

I would say that languages all sound different. You can sometimes pick out what language people are speaking by the tone of their voice and how fast they speak. Like Japanese for example, it sounds a little lower in my opinion compared to the Chinese language. English and Hindi, they sound completely different even without the accents.

Many people consider French to be the language of love, but I personally think Italian is. I love how words sound when they say it and how things just roll along their tongue. My boyfriend and I would call each other "caro" and "cara" and so I feel a connection to it as well. It's very sweet. :love:

I agree with you, it bothers me as well. By texting like that, you usually forget how to spell words and your spelling becomes pretty bad. I know so many people who can't spell simple words because they text using shortcuts; words like "somthing" instead of "something," not knowing that there is indeed an "e." It's heartbreaking to see how technology has changed the way of life. Research was also done, the more your text and use computers, the worse your handwriting gets.

I have to agree with the majority in this thread, definitely starting your child earlier would be the best. Their minds are fresh at that stage and they can pick up things faster than you would as you age. A friend of mine talks with their child in Hindi, while his wife speaks English. The child is about a year now and she can distinguish the languages quite well, I am witness to that.

I'm an English tongue and know the basics of French. If I were to pick another language to learn, it would definitely be Japanese. I'm very interested in their culture and I love how their tongue sounds. So many different words and syllables for everything, so many characters. I think it's pretty cool.

Some people in today's world know 6+ languages. Sadly, I'm not one of them (I only know 2 languages, and they're fairly similar), but I find it very fascinating how they can do that. How do they do it? How many languages do you know? Do people often confuse each language and mix them up some times?

I am also from Canada myself. I don't think that I have an accent, but when I go to foreign countries apparently I do. We're all different and I guess it depends how we grew up; if our families talked in an Indian accent, we would primarily grow up with a hint of that accent as well.

I would accept it, but then I would also let them know about the benefits. They're my children, yes, but I don't want to cause strain on their minds, everyone is limited somehow. I'll leave the decision up to them.

I don't think it's necessary, but then again I think that it depends where you are. If you're from say China and come to Canada, you'll have to learn English. I think it also depends on the profession you're in. If you're working as a Sales Associate in say a Little Italy Village located in a bigger city, then I'd say it would be necessary to speak more than one language, primarily being English and Italian in this case.

I noticed that many immigrants who have children in countries such as Canada and the United States, can't speak their mother tongue. Many don't want to learn and/or many have forgotten because they're used to speaking English. What do you think about this growing situation? Do you know your mother tongue? At the rate that the "New World" is going at, do you think that at some point in the far future everyone will be speaking the same language?

I would have to say the word "brouhaha" - meaning to cause an uproar. The first time I heard the word I thought it was made up so I actually went on Google to look it up. It turns out that it was an actual word! Still to this day when I hear someone say it, I start to giggle. It's pretty funny with the "haha" ending.

Hello! Bonjour! Hola! Aloha! Namaste! Buongiorno! Ciao! Konichiwa! Vanakkam! My name is Preya and I adore learning new languages. I try my best to learn about the various cultures that have blessed Toronto for many years. In my opinion one of the best ways to learn about other cultures is to learn common greetings in their mother tongue. I'm not a dictionary of greetings, but I try to remember what I can. I hope to learn more from all of you.