Qamra

Yay! It said I should learn Arabic I'm already learning Arabic so I guess I know where I'm going.

I wouldn't mind learning Latin either but I know I won't use it in life. Shame, such a beautiful language.

I know some people that have that problem and I feel similar way.

It's a bit harder to think and read aloud in the same time. I often end up not knowing what I read at all

But sometimes in goes another way round - I read some sentences loud to help myself understand them better. Yeah, I'm confused

It all depends on the person I text. If it's a close friend that I text a lot, we usually don't bother with using full words or punctuation marks. I do use internet shortcuts and abbreviations but I still keep my grammar correct.

I try to read as often as I can. I switch from reading books in Polish to English and I translate every single word I don't understand. My work is pretty mundane and I would never learn new words if I didn't learn on my own, using the same words all the time... I also try to make friends with intelligent people and discuss various matters to make myself sound better and learn new words.

Through exposure to severall media, I think one can begin to grasp certain differences among languages one does not speak. For instance, I don't speak a word of Mandarin, Korean or Japanese, but I think I can easily identify each by sound.

There is this great website that tests your ability to pick up languages by sound. Try it, it's addictive:

http://greatlanguagegame.com/

I love the link, thank you! How have I not stumbled across it earlier?? It's funny how many things we learn by accident listening to radio or watching TV. Thank you

I often hear some talk or music in foreign language and, though I never learned or spoke this language, still can tell what language it is. It's easy with popular languages, like French, Italian or German, most of people know the sound of them, but how about less known languages? Does it happen to you?

Can you see the difference between similar languages even if you don't know them?

Oh yes. I work in transport so I meet a lot of people from different countries.

Sometimes I get to talk to lorry drivers and they are often not very friendly. I once had a German guy who didn't even speak a word in English and he was mad at me cause I didn't know what he wanted. I learned German at school and tried to work the situation out but I don't know transport/machine/truck related words. In the end I had to send him to security because I don't need to deal with rude shouting people.

However people think it is acceptable to say "He suicided." The proper way to say it is "He committed suicide," because it suicide is not a verb.

Do people really say 'suicided'?  :amazed: That's just so wrong. Fortunately I never heard anyone saying that.

It depends on the language but it's always harder than you thought it would be.

It's easier when you have native speakers and culture around, much harder if you don't take classes and do everything at home, having internet as only source.

I used to translate from Polish to English and the other way round for my parents and foreign boyfriend.

My parents don't speak English so I was translating everything they were saying. It's not fun, trying to keep up with everything, especially when there is slang and jokes.

"I'm wearing the dress that I love."

"I'm wearing the dress which I love."

Or, sometimes, I'm wearing the dress I love...

I never know which to use. It's easier in speech, no one really cares, but writing takes more considering.

I used to put pics including the world all around the house when I studied for German tests at school.

I put some sticky notes picturing words on my desk, fridge, above the bed. It really helped me, especially with more difficult words. Maybe you could give it a go

General

3. I don't think you know me, but I do know you very well.

لا أعتقد أنك تعرفني، لكن أنا أعرفك جيداً

This one is deliciously creepy!  :grin:

Thank you for this post, now I have something to spend few hours practicing.

Oh all those toilet words! I started working at my company two years ago and one guy asked me where the loo was. I had no idea what he meant  :grin: Just say 'toilet', people, for god's sake.

I also don't understand why Americans refer to toilet as 'restroom'. You don't rest there. You just do your business. I thought 'restroom' would be a place where you have your break or something.

I sometimes do, I always felt embarrassed at my German skills at school.

Also, sometimes my co-workers have a laugh at my English when I happen to mispronounce some word. They can be really mean and it makes learning harder because I'm afraid to try and you learn by trying.

Oh well 

So far I've only been truly successful with English.

I thought it would take 3-4 years. 12 years past and I'm still so far from perfection...

Every time I start learning, I imagine it will be quick and easy. It never is.

I've been here for couple of weeks and I'm impressed by your energy guys.

I like learning and reading your posts makes me a bit ashamed of how lazy I've become lately.  :speechless:

What motivates you to learn language more intensively?

How can you put jokes and idioms to different language on the spot?? That's challenging  :amazed:

Once I translated the whole film for my friend, she wanted to watch some niche movie in English and couldn't find subtitles anywhere. It took me few days to get it all transcribed and put into a text file!

It was fun but god, I'm not doing it again.

I want to make sure my future children know at least 5 languages.

Sounds crazy, but this will provide them a good start in life, better job and money.

I just don't know which ones yet lol. Time will show what languages are needed the most, but one of them will definitely be Japanese or Chinese.

I know one guy at work.

He is Serbian but speaks English, Russian, Polish, Hungarian and German all fluently. He traveled a lot and met many different people, also has close German friends and Hungarian wife. His Polish skills are great and he claims he only learned it from co-workers!

No idea how he manages it all but his knowledge (not just about languages but also culture) is really impressive.

REQUISITION it is for me... This word came up as commonly used by our new system at work and it's killing me already. I got it right maybe 1 time out of hundred, Outlook spelling saves me every day. I just can't remember it.

It reminds me of the conversation between Shireen and Davos in Game of Thrones - 'Why is there G in night? - I don't know, there just is...'

(video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ix_sHfwBJw )  :grin:

Many languages are written as they are spoken and it does make life easier... but the difference between spoken and written English is the reason I love this language so much!

Talking with natives helps a lot. I have English boyfriend and I work almost only with English people (all in London). I noticed a huge change after 2 years and I was told by many people how much I improved.

I know I'm getting a bit of London/Cockney accent and I absolutely love it! I'm hoping to come through unrecognized as a foreigner in 5 years lol.

I'm reading your replies just now and I'm kind of relieved I'm not the only one!

I also mix languages up, if I talk to someone in Polish and they say a word in English (like a song title, name etc), I will automatically switch to English. It's funny but sometimes makes me feel silly.

Oh yes I did  :shy: I started learning Swedish and then I just gave up out of laziness and lack of materials. It was back in Poland around 7 years ago and I didn't have my own PC. It was hard to get find a good source to learn from. I had one book that was written in 80s lol. I just thought it will need to wait for better times, but then life got busy and I never came back to learning Swedish.