Chris_A

Apart from the fact that I can talk to and understand different people from different cultures, knowing more then one language can also help you when you are looking for a job. Many companies nowadays prefer people who can speak at least 1 additional language to their native tongue. It also helps when traveling for sure.

In my country, companies are always on the look out for people who know German very well. I think that has to do with the fact that a lot of German companies outsource here in Romania, and need native level speakers. They pay really well, also.

I also mix American and British English together. I don`t really know why. Maybe I had different teachers who preferred one over the other, and so I got comfortable with both. I did not know that there is actually a difference with Australian English as well. Very interesting.

I have not tried this yet, but it is definitely a good idea. This way, everywhere you go, you see a word or a sentence in the language that you are trying to learn. It should work to make learning that language easier for sure, as those words that you see every day are bound to stick with you after a while.

It does not really affect me in any way, since I do not currently study a language over the Internet. But I never really liked Winter time in general. Now it is starting to get dark at 17:30 already, and I hate it.

Good to know. Thanks for the info. And I totally agree with the fact that its better to receive paid tutelage rather then free. Professionals always take it more seriously. I will definitely check it out.

Wow, Dutch seems really related to German. For example "Wil je wat eten" in Dutch is the equivalent of "Willst du was essen" in German. Although the other sentences not so much. It seems Dutch is a mixture of German and English, maybe.

Definitely not unreal, for sure. Kids learn really fast and can learn languages really fast as well. The important thing is to teach them when they are still young. Since I saw that your native tongue is Spanish and you are fluent in English, that would already mean your kids would know those two by default, just by being brought up with those two languages. Learning Dutch then, would be a piece of cake.

Never heard about it. Do they do it for free? Do they charge you? I`m sorry, but I`m really new to learning languages over the Internet.

There are definitely a ton of crazy ways to memorize words and sentences in a different language. But don`t worry about it, if it works for you. The important thing is to actually learn what you want to learn, no matter how crazy your ways are.

Thank you. The thing is, it all came naturally to me, because I was brought up in those different environments. Would I have lived only in 1 country all my life, I would not have been able to learn and master these languages for sure. Especially German. And yeah, my mother is Hungarian and my dad is Romanian, so I already had a two language upbringing since I was a kid. That was definitely a huge bonus for me.

Yeah, I think Skype would be a good platform. I just have to find a teacher who would be able to teach those languages over Skype.

You basically use the standard vegetable fare for soups, like celery, carrots and parsley root. Then you add the cow stomach meat, bones for cooking, and let the whole thing cook for at least 2 hours. After that, you add an egg and sour cream mixture to it, and season it well with salt and pepper, along with crushed garlic. Then you add something to make it sour, to taste. That`s about it.

I like Italian as well, and I really want to learn that language, along with Spanish, because they are so closely related to Romanian. I might give Finnish a shot as well, out of curiosity, just to see if it would be easier for a Hungarian native speaker to learn that language.

While I haven`t started to learn Japanese yet, I`m definitely planning to. Reading and writing will be a challenge for sure, but I think pronunciation and generally, speaking the language, might be easier then learning other Asian languages. Japanese, to me, sounds pretty European.

That`s so cool. We this type of meal in Romania as well. But over here, we make a soup out of the cow stomach, with vegetables and sour cream. It is one of my favorite soups.

As for what is special about my language. Well, Romanian is the closest related Latin language to actual Latin. It is even more related to it, then Italian, although Italian comes pretty close. And as other posters said, my native language Hungarian, is one of the hardest to learn for a foreigner, simply because it has no language family, except Finnish, which is also very hard to learn. I could not have learned Hungarian, if I have not have been brought up with it.

I think learning to speak a language and learning to read and write it, are two different things altogether. You can learn a language by listening to it and then repeating the words, associating what you have heard with a meaning. But actually learning to read and write it, is totally different. Take for example, Chinese. I bet you could learn it pretty ok, if you would live in China and had to do with it on a daily basis. But actually learning the script, would take you many more years to achieve.

Very interesting. I didn`t know that at all. But from you example, I find it still pretty complex. I mean, a simple thing like "Hi!" looks like that. Awesome.

For sure! But if I would ever go out and learn Chinese or Japanese, I would definitely learn it from a local or native. Seeing as how complex their script is, I wouldn`t want to have it otherwise. But it is really hard to get a proper Asian teacher in my part of the world, I think.

I can definitely understand why Latin wasn`t popular in schools. It is a very complex language and very hard to learn. Especially for people, whose mother tongue is Germanic based, or has nothing to do with Latin languages in general. I know Romanian, and my language is very related to Latin, and I still had problems learning the language in school. So I can only imagine how hard it would be for a Norwegian, for example, to learn it. As for Mandarin and Cantonese being popular, well, I would love to learn those languages as well. I just love Chinese culture in general.

That`s exactly it. First watch shows and series with subs that are in your own language. Then, once you feel you have a grip on the language, put on subs that are in the language of the show. And finally, you will see that you can understand the language without using subs at all. It might take a while, but this method surely works.

I usually use a combination of apps, programs or even audio files, which teach you how to pronounce certain words and such. Also, there are really good books to be had, which start you off at zero, and give good tips about how one can learn a certain language.

I think it can never be too late to learn a new language. You just have to be diligent about it, work hard, keep at it and then, eventually, you will master it. This has nothing to do with age or anything else, really, just your own dedication to what you want to achieve.

I think every image is an entire sentence, in Japanese and Chinese. I still wonder how kids over there are able to learn to read and write so fast. It should require years to learn it normally.

I think so too. Lawyers usually have to learn a bit of latin as part of their education, but it is really cool that the person you know actually knows how to speak it. I think some latin teachers from high school know how to speak it as well. But there are very few people all in all, which makes it a really cool language in my opinion.

Think about the fact, that one day you will know a language that other people don`t know. That, in itself, is a huge advantage in society, and the more languages you know, the better. You can also land really good jobs if you know more then your native language, so it is really important to stay motivated and go through with it when learning.

Both languages are really cool, but I personally would go for Japanese. It is much more exotic and I think fewer people know Japanese then they do  French. Also, if you would go into the translation business, Japanese is much more sought after then French. But you could also learn both and why not?