Peninha

I think we are done from studying when we can read, when we can speak and when we cam write, we're done, that's it. From studying! Now we need to keep on practicing if we want to progress further and don't lose what we have learned.

It's really hard to answer this question because I don't remember my dreams very often, but it has happened for me to dream in English (I am Portuguese) and it's fairly normal as I speak English during the day as well.

I think that this depend if you are in the country or not. If you're in Japan learning Japanese, possibly speaking is the easiest part because you hear it all day. But if you are in your native country speaking will be the hardest.

I do remember one time two friends of mine making fun of my English, I really don't know why, they don't speak that much better than me. I think that as long as we can communicate, who cares how we sound right?

People speak differently according to their education and experience, that's pretty normal. I don't think it's another kind of English, it's just who we are, language is a tool and we use it as we know or please.

If we are talking sounds only I love Celtic and Chinese melodies, but when lyrics are concerned I think English is the best language, I've picked up a lot of vocabulary listening to songs in English.

LOL, that's true, when it's one we can understand. A translator most of the time considers itself a poet too and so he not only translates, but adapts too, so we end up reading a version more than the original text.

I always prefer to read the originals because there's always quite a bit that is lost in the translation...

Do you prefer to read books in it's original language or the translations?

Religious texts are really hard to read, especially if they aren't in your native language. It's a good language exercise, we will surely learn a lot of new words and structures.

My kid brought some homework and one of that homework was to read some texts to make interpretation easier. This made me confuse because I think that when we read aloud we don't understand as well as if we were reading to ourselves. Did I miss something here?

When learning another language there's always a personal or a professional need, getting a new or better job or just to be able to speak the language of those we love. Some do it as a hobby too, but for me the first too reasons would make me learn a new language.

I think that probably every country in the world teaches English at school. Is there any country that you're aware of that doesn't do it?

I actually have songs in more than 15 languages on my mp3(including korean, chinese, indian, romanian, etc.). I love to listen to songs that I like, language is secondary. And then it's even more satisfying to find the translation of a favorite song from whatever language, and add the meaning to the song.

It's like a magic trick, that adds another layer to the song. I love that. And that can actually get you started on learning that language as well. That's how I started learning English.

This is pretty interesting actually, how did you get in touch with songs sang in so many different languages? I'd like to say the same, but basically I listen songs in English, Portuguese and some Spanish and that's pretty much it. And Gangnam style of course.  :grin:

Online tutorials are great and serve their free purpose well, they help us learn some parts of the language and consolidate vocabulary, but I think it's really hard to learn a language based on that only.

As I've learned on my own and on the go I think my main difficulty is the grammar and making a lot of orthographic mistakes. I think these faults will never go away until I study a Spanish grammar!

I have no direct goal to which I can relate my fluency on Spanish, I might get a job in Spain one of these days, so for that knowing the language would surely be necessary, but for now I'm just trying to do my best at it.

Everything comes with practice and before you know it I'm sure your ear will be trained for the language. Sure, it's necessary an effort, but with the help of teachers or audio tapes you'll surely make it.

I think that the best way for you not to forget your native language is to practice it here on the forum or simply read a book in Spanish, if you do that I'm sure everything will come back to you.

The most mediums we have that help us to learn a language, the better I say. Learning a language is such a long and complex process that I think that listening to music will help for sure to pick up the correct sounds.

Yo pienso que tengo aprendido lo español de España, pues soy de Portugal y somos paises vecinos. Pero no tengo aprendido de ir a la escuela, las lenguas son muy parecidas e aprendi de leer y conversar con españoles.

Me gusta esta pregunta, ya que hay un plato latinoamericano llamado “Tamal” que me enamora. Es una masilla rellena de rodajas de vegetales, cuya receta original trae algún tipos de carne en el medio; pero yo definitivamente prefiero los Tamales vegetarianos. Finalmente creo que lo que le da el toque secreto a esta receta es que es cocido dentro de una hoja de mata de plátano. Deliciosos…

Que haces una descripcion deliciosa Dora! Eso parece un poco como los crepes chineses, es asi o san muy diferentes?

Que no conozco Michael Cera, de onde es el? A mi me gustan peliculas de aventura y documentarios, se aprende much a ver documentarios.

Hey there Peter, welcome to the forum! Why are you learning Sanskrit? That sounds like being something really hard to learn and you probably don't have many friends to talk it with? 

Hey there Megan, welcome to linguaholic! How is life in Moscow? I imagine it must be really hard being there trying to learn Russian. Best of luck!

I am a relatively fast reader especially if the subject interests me, I can read a book in a few weeks no problem, but if I don't like it might take me several months.