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Linguaholic

Firelily99

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Everything posted by Firelily99

  1. I'm not a big fan of smileys but these are pretty cool and unique compared to some that I have seen.
  2. It is a bit of a stereotype that Americans only speak English but then again its also a truth. Many other countries make it mandatory that students learn a second language and start teaching it at a young age. I wasn't taught a second language (Spanish) until I was in high school and remember very little of it. Schools now days offer more than just Spanish or French, no doubt aware of the nature of business these days and the need to speak other languages.
  3. I think some of the native languages of North America are extremely difficult as are many of the Asian ones. I'm not all that familiar with languages from Iceland, Finland, or Denmark but they too strike me as being difficult.
  4. When I was younger I really didn't have much motivation to learn a new language. I wasn't that interested in being a student to begin with and a new language simply required too much work. Now I really want to learn them and find it to be of great benefit for improving my overall memory, energy, and learning skills. The brain has to be exercised in numerous areas or we will lose it as we age.
  5. I am a native speaker of English and would be glad to help out in anyway that I can. Its commendable when someone is trying to learn another language and its not an easy thing to do.
  6. I agree that the capacity of the human mind is limitless as far as learning, its time available to learn something that can be limited. If I am going to learn another language I want to learn it well and not short change myself. Learning a new language can be time consuming and I have other subjects that I am trying to master right now.
  7. I love to cook and am trying to learn Spanish; I haven't tried any Spanish cooking, mainly because I'm really into Italian and Chinese cooking right now. I do love Spanish and Mexican cuisine though and I'm sure that I will try cooking some of it in the near future.
  8. We had French when I was in junior high school and then a choice between French and Spanish in high school. I wasn't motivated to learn either until college when I retook Spanish. The school system I went to now offers other choices besides French and Spanish which is nice for the kids and the public library offers conversational Chinese and Italian.
  9. Its a big difference learning a native language as a child and learning something new as an adult. To begin with we don't have to translate anything, we simply learn how to speak it and write it. Its a natural process when we are children just as learning how to walk or dress ourselves is.
  10. I feel its important to know language origin, its fascinating to learn the cultural background of a language that I'm trying to learn. Its incredible how many different languages and dialects are in the world, how many cultural nuances are involved in speaking them.
  11. Knowing and practicing good grammar is extremely important to me. Over the years I felt like my grammatical skills, both orally and written, had gotten rusty and in need of some work. I have been working to improve it and have started to see some positive results. What's the point of learning a language, especially a native language, and not use it well.
  12. The town I live in is actually the borough of a larger town. For many years it was a mill town and not only do the old mill still exist they have been rehabbed into spaces for artists. The whole layout is quirky and one cannot appreciate the uniqueness of it unless they are on foot. Many of the houses were built in the mid 1860's and I love the look of them with their porches and carriage houses.
  13. I can't think of any, all of the ones that I'm familiar with have been posted! I'm surprised to see that more haven't been posted, it seems like there should be more of them.
  14. If I have taken the time to learn the material then its a "no worries" attitude. If I haven't studied for the exam then I do the best I can, kick myself in my can, and make sure I put out a better effort the next time.
  15. Alas is an outdated word that is only useful for crossword puzzles and Elizabethan poets. Whilst is another word who's time passed many, many years ago.
  16. By far its speaking it because of having to translate from my native language to the new one. I'm still at the tedious yet necessary early stages of trying to get the basics together.
  17. I don't think that I am far enough along in my new language to dream in it. I'm still at the point where its slow and I'm constantly having to translate. In time I expect that to happen, just not now.
  18. I love listening to other languages and try and figure out where they are from. It is incredible how many different languages and dialects of those languages exist world wide.
  19. I don't have a problem with words being abbreviated as long as I can get an idea of what they are trying to say. After all, texting is supposed to be a quick message although I have friends that really run on and on. The thing that I have trouble with is the use of punctuation marks as symbols - I have no idea what they mean!
  20. Children are amazing learners and the earlier they get started the better. I taught American sign language to two three year old kids and they were unbelievable in how quickly they picked it up.
  21. Speaking is most definitely the most difficult to learn to do. My brain seems to freeze on me and I find myself constantly trying to find the words I need.
  22. We had to learn French when I was in junior high school. I wasn't terribly motivated to do it, mainly because I wasn't very motivated to be in school. Later on I took Spanish and did much better because I was motivated to learn it. I do remember quite a bit of French, it occasionally bleeds into my Spanish when I can't think of a word.
  23. I've never had this happen and hopefully it never will. I try to be careful of making assumptions like that because it would come across as racist at best, just plain thoughtless at the least.
  24. I don't have a problem with multiple choice exams provided that I have studied the material. They can be an easier way of taking a class in that through a process of elimination and answer will show itself. Plus the percentages of getting the answer are higher than with an essay exam, either you are right or wrong with an essay.
  25. I have had people get upset when I didn't know their language. It wasn't an angry kind of upset, it was closer to a frustration. Understandable that they would feel that way, I've been there myself. Its fascinating to meet people from other parts of the world only to find that we can't communicate as much as we would like.
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