Gelsemium

I don't think there is a bad reason to learn a languages, knowledge doesn't occupy space so I'd love to speak all the languages out there. Attending a class just to get A's when you know the language is a different matter though.

Yeah, not far from the truth lol! When you want to speak your native language, but you only know how to say it in another language!

Actually yes, everything around me seems to be in English so I really can't complain, I have a lot of working materials and I am constantly practicing, I just have to listen to the radio or watch TV.

I thought that this was true regarding Japanese, but only in classical or ancient texts, I think that modern Japanese is already written in a western way or am I wrong? I think it should require a whole lot of training to write Arabic for example!

I don't dread exactly anything, for me it's a challenger that I hunger for, but at the same time it's like a huge mountain we have to climb so for me it's the big picture, the whole process and not something in particular.

I think that happens to me too. Just recently I was reading Andre Agassi auto-biography and I could imagine everything he wrote there, I case that's the art of a good writer.

It is right Florie? I would expect that there could be an universal sign language, but I've learned recently that it's not the case.

Yeah, sometimes it's not the content part that gives us issues, but controlling the students, especially if they are kids. I don't know what's wrong with kids these days, they seem to be hyperactive!

Actually my wife loves to be in the car listening to CDs in English while she read the lyrics, so in this case it's pretty effective and we both entertain ourselves and learn at the same time.

Hey there wolf, nothing like seeing a 13 year old passionate for languages already! I hope you enjoy being here, looking forward to seeing you around.

From what I've understood, sign language is nothing more than a "transcription" of the sounds of a certain language, that is why there are so many sign languages as regular languages. Or am I wrong here?

Ahah, good one, but I don't think there is a more suitable language to swear than others. I think that the key to swearing is to do it with emotion lol and that is regardless of the language we are speaking in.

I don't think I would be confident to teach English because I am not a native, so I don't think I would excel at it. Having this said, I do love to teach, so maybe I give it a try if it was at a basic level.

Yeah, maybe practice is more adequate than learning because if we don't know nothing about the language we will not be able to learn anything through the music.

I agree, if you are in an environment where the language is spoken you will have that part made easy. If you're not sure, it's harder and it will be easier eventually to learn how to read and write.

I love certain Indian accents of Indian people (from India), they remind me of Appy from the Simpsons and I find that amusing. I'm sure that not all the Indians speak like that though lol.

Really good thread, great expressions here! I was just looking how to say when the goalkeeper makes a poor defense, it's conceding a howler right?

There is quite a debate here in my country sometimes, because some purists of the language disagree that we use so many English words instead or the Portuguese ones, I tend to agree, not to the extreme though.

LOL, nothing like escaping the scene, calling a cab and go back home! :grin: Or instead just go to a local Chinese store and buy a charger for the phone...

Hey there Quil, welcome to linguaholic! As Polish and Brit I think you'll love being here because all we discuss (mostly at least) is about languages! I hope to see you around.

I think that this would depend on the level you would have reached. I think that if we had studied the language we would pick up a lot of it being immersed in the country, so our study would prove to been worthy.

I'm with you tika, no question that for me speaking is the hardest, it's like the act that sums up everything you've learned and you have it or you don't. Also, speaking involves a correct accent and that's something hard to achieve.

I'm Portuguese so we have some words in English. Also, there are quite a few English expressions that sometimes express better what we want to say, so I use the. English is really turning into a global language.

Actually I've always felt pretty confident when speaking foreign languages, even if I speak poorly I try to communicate the better I can and I ask for advice. Being shy will not help my language skills.

I don't see it that way really, as long as someone can express themselves, there's no problem is the grammar is not correct. Some people didn't have luck to receive education and we can't see them as inferior because of it.