Blue

When it's in my native tongue, I"m a fairly fast reader. But with other languages, I tend to be more patient, studious and thorough.. I'd skim through it all if I didn't discipline myself to absorb every word to try and build up my vocabulary.

I've heard that it helps to read things you already like when you're trying to learn a new language. So if you're into sports or something of that nature, picking out a sports article in Spanish might help out since you can put images you're accustomed to, to terms you're trying to learn. Just a thought

Haha, French gets my vote no question. Spanish might be a close second, depending on who's speaking it.. Italian and even English have their moments when the right woman is speaking it to me.

My mother tells me that I didn't speak at all for my first two years and 11 months of my life, then on my third birthday I just started speaking to her in full sentences. She was thinking of getting me tested for possibly being slow, but then all of sudden was bewildered and thought that I might be a genius, lol. Neither thing was so, but it's def an interesting little story to think about.

Very, very important man. I tend to place a lot of emphasis on using the right word in the right way, so as to avoid miscommunication.. especially seeing as that's something it's almost impossible to avoid completely. And that goes for using language in general, not just foreign ones.

The hardest thing for me to do is always speak the language. I can master writing pretty easily, but when it comes to actually conversing.. man. I stumble and stutter, mispronounce words.. I used to have a firm grasp of Spanish, but after years of disuse, I lost it.

Anyone here like that? I'm among you if so. If you've been learning Japanese a while, what kind of difficulties can I expect now that I actually trying to learn Japanese in earnest? And by that, I mean that I'm learning to speak and understand it, instead of looking for English dubs of my favorite anime.. lol

And if you're like me and just starting out, how's it coming so far?

Me personally, I only know a few words.. Can't really construct sentences yet.

I believe in this. I started learning Japanese through hearing Japanese theme songs to my favorite anime shows. The deeper I got into anime, the more I was exposed to the Japanese language and culture. This eventually made me want to pick it(the Japanese language) up as a legit area of study.

I first started learning a second language in about 6th grade. Well, formally speaking anyway. Having been raised in as ethnically diverse a neighborhood as my hometown, I was exposed to a multitude of languages. The most prominent of them were French, Jamaican patois and Haitian Creole. My French isn't polished, but I can write Haitian Creole fairly well.

I used to speak Spanish with semi-fluency, but it's been so long that I've gotten supremely rusty. I was formally taught Spanish in elementary school, which is probably part of why it didn't stick. Book learning and real world learning are completely different.

I used to be this way, using "lol" to end virtually every thought. But I grew out of it. I used to hash tag things a lot on twitter, but I don't do that anymore.

I'll replace "lol" with "haha" sometimes, but generally I've phased it out of constant use. But yes, oh yes, I used to use "lol" to DEATH.

It's a bit long, but it's easily one of my all time favorite English quotes:

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us, 'Universe.' A part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." ~ Albert Einstein

I enjoy that quote because I believe the words to be both deeply meaningful and true.