Dora M

I find online tutorials very effective. I have been enrolled in one for over a year now to improve my Spanish skills, and I really enjoy it. They have pictures and quizzes, puzzles and all kinds of entertaining things that are fun and make me remember everything easily. Also you get to meet others and can chat with them, learning new things in an interesting interactive way.

I always make an effort to speak politely and use well chosen words. Actually, it's not much of an effort at all. At the same time I don't want to sound too "strenuous" and try and keep the conversation relaxed. The way a person talks makes an immediate impression on me and gives me clues as to their background and "social standing". I don't particularly like that word "social standing" but it tends to describe well what I am trying to say. When I talk in another language, I am particularly eager to make no grammar mistakes. I always ask people to correct me if I repeat the same mistakes.

I really like listening to Spanish people talking in English. Their "r" sounds so powerful and curious in English. I also enjoy the melodic English of Italians, in my ears it sounds wonderful. Then there is the Scottish accent that I find intriguing and inspiring in a strange way, I don't know quite why.

I text the same way I write a letter, only I leave out the capital letters. I don't like too many abbreviations and short cuts unless I am in a hurry. For me personally it's almost like a sign of disrespect towards my friends and family to bombard them with "text lingo". I rather keep my message short and to the point instead of writing a small novel using short cuts.

When I was still studying at college, I would often get stomach cramps from the stress I felt before exams. Even though I was always very well prepared and didn't have to fear much at all, something irrational would take over in my head and gut that interfered with my ability to concentrate properly, hence I would make silly mistakes during exams. Even to this day I get nervous even just thinking of having to pass some kind of test. I literally need to prepare myself mentally and emotionally for the task.

I always have to double and triple check on "lose" and "loose" and "lying" and "laying", or "lie" and "lay". Those words always get me.

I like to what I call "germanify" a lot of things, which means I take English words and turn them into a hybrid between German and English. A whole new language has evolved in my home due to this bad habit of mine. And only those who know me very well, can actually understand these words when they occasionally slip out during conversations.

I never thought about the satisfaction you can get from the sound of a word. I think for me it is more the meaning behind certain words that give me a good feeling. Such words would be: "eternity", "love", "solitude".

Oh yes, I have been making up words since I was a kid. I like fusing words together and create double meanings. I have a special vocabulary with my boy-friend, which is a mixture of German-Spanish-English experimentation that only we understand.

I never use "LOL" at all. It irritates me, and also annoys me when others use it in a conversation with me. But I am polite and bear with it. I think it's too fake most of the time. I much prefer someone telling me how they feel or a simple "haha or hehe".

When reading out loud, I tend to be on the slow side. But when I read quietly, I absorb the text very quickly. I am also a very fast reader of books, usually starting on the back page. After that I read the beginning and often flicker through to the middle, just quickly brushing over a few sentences. If I am deeply interested in a novel, I start at the beginning and let the story unfold slowly.

Synergy: the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects... says the dictionary. A while ago I came across an interesting guy called Marcus Santamaria who is teaching Spanish in a more unconventional way. He calls it synergy. Apparently it is a method of teaching Spanish that is based on patterns, and he claims that one needs only 138 words to be able to get by in the Spanish language. Have you heard of this method? Does it work?

I find in most of my travels that the most useful language is always English. It seems to be the second language of the majority of people whom I have encountered. Wherever I went, I have always been able to find my way around by speaking English with others. I even get addressed in English in my home country, where people speak German. So, I would say it is definitely English.

I am learning Spanish, and I really like cooking. So I thought why not combine the two and improve my language skills by having fun with old and new friends, preparing a delicious meal, discussing Spanish and Latin American food and other vital subjects. Being an entrepreneur, I actually even thought about making a bit of money with it. What do you think? Would you come?

Ah, smileys make my world go round. Quick, we need to insert a grinning world smiley. I think all these little emoticons are a wonderful invention to add a bit of fun and soul to online conversations. I actually find myself using them in handwritten letters as well. Only they look much better than the standard lot. :wacky: I can tell the mood of my friends immediately by the abundance or lack of smileys that they use.

I don't plan anything much in life. Languages come along with the people I love and the countries I visit. I want to learn new things wherever I go, and language skills sure helps a lot with that. Who knows where my destiny will take me next. I hope into the far south of Spain. :-)

Somehow I don't think that that will happen. Perhaps it might take over in the business sector where it will be an advantage to know Manadarin, but I can't really see it taking over on a every day basis or being taught in school as a second language. But then, who knows, perhaps in the near future it might be compulsory for aspiring company employees to speak Chinese if they want a job.

I had an attempt at learning Italian. I really love the Italian people and their culture. I still want to learn decent Italian, but not alone at home or in a class. No, I would like to go and spend a year in Italy and absorb everything. :-)

I did both. I learnt in a class with 15 others. And some years later I studied by myself at home with audio tapes and textbooks. I had a language partner on Skype to practise with, and that went very well. I would send him my completed tasks from the textbook, which he corrected and returned to me. I made quick progress and can now speak and write in that language really well.

I am really happy with English. You can still communicate reasonably well in English even if you have only a very basic knowledge of the language. And I am often amazed how quickly children pick it up, even my uncle, who never spoke any other language than German, surprised me the other day with: "Hey, what's up?" If it was up to me, I would want a language that is a combination between a universal sign language and supported by English.

Yes, I must be a prime example for learning a language for love. I started studying Spanish because of my partner. I wanted to be able to discuss with him every possible topic and never be stuck for words to bring across a concept. Not that I am ever stuck for words anyway. :-) I have learnt so much about his culture and background by understanding his language.

I tried it, but it didn't really work for me. I started mixing up the words and grammar and had to think really hard whether a specific rule belonged to one language or the other. I realised that I can only concentrate on one thing at a time if I want to become really good at it.

For me it is an ongoing study. Even though I can write and converse fluently in several different languages, I still think that I have a lot to learn. I like to be able to talk with people about every subject and, I admit, when it comes to exploring certain more rarefied or academic subjects, particularly in the Spanish language, I find my vocabulary doesn't quite measure up yet. So, I just keep on learning. :-)

In the beginning when I met my partner, we had a few language difficulties when trying to express certain philosophical ideas or exploring deeper psychological aspects. Often, I would try and convey an idea to him that he understood but seemed to miss the finer points of it. So we started solving these difficulties by using key words that either he or I would string together so that a picture would emerge and give a better idea what we were trying to get across to each other. I find it quite amazing how much you can actually learn from trying to explain something to another that you don't even give a second thought any more. You start questioning things again and are able to see them from new perspectives.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I remember when I first started learning to read and write I could only memorise the alphabet in pictures at first. A for apple, B for bread, and so on. To this day I have that pictorial alphabet in my mind. When I started learning English in school, I remembered new vocabulary words if I created a mental picture of them, even better, when I doodled an associating image next to the word. I figured that I could almost tell an entire story word for word if there were pictures to underline it. In college, when I took up French, the teaching methods seemed very "dry" and boring to me. There was nothing creative or challenging about it. I was urged to just learn everything by heart and pass the exam, that's it. As a result of this soulless type of teaching, many students didn't pass their tests. I myself, had to look for other ways and means to keep myself interested and motivated in learning French by reading children's books and short stories for teenagers.