hoodoowytch

I went deaf. That's what motivated me to learn ASL and other various forms of Sign Language. I can learn to read various languages fairly easily too, sort of translating them into English in my head as I go. Obviously, some are way easier to learn to read than others.

Hmmm...I too, had never really given it much though as to what is the proper descriptive writing form for writing about furniture. It really doesn't do much other than fill up a room and act as backdrop to the action that may, or may not, be taking place in the room it fills space in.

Well, come to think of it, I've spent hardly any money on specifically learning a language. I tend to use resources like a library and the internet. I read a lot so I spend money on books all the time, but the only language resource one I ever bought, and still own, was specifically on learning to read and write, Ancient Egyptian.

I think most of the words and things from other languages I have learned have come from reading, voraciously, fiction and non-fiction...and I am picky about who I read from both sides. LOL

Big fan of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Jim Butcher, Carl Hiaasen, Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas series, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of books, and various fiction books as well as non-fiction books ranging from outdoor survival to sewing. We have a pretty good sized library of our own. 

Surprisingly, some people find my accent hard to place and I can only suppose because it might have changed a bit since I lost my hearing.

I have a very southern accent. I was born in Georgia, just outside of Savannah proper. My mother moved me and my siblings up to Kentucky when I was about 4 years old...so that move didn't exactly "improve" that southern accent in the least.

When my hearing went, my speech started to slowly deteriorate because I couldn't really hear myself anymore and maintaining normal decibel levels for speech became extremely difficult. SO, when I got hearing aids, I took some online speech therapy lessons my audiologist lined up for me. Certain that the person who did the "learning to read lips" bit for pronouncing words properly was definitely from the U.K. and probably spoke very proper English. I find it very easy to read lips of people from the U.K...particularly folks from England.

This might account for this one doctor asking me where I was from. I told them Georgia...and he was surprised. He said he thought I was from some place in England. I thought that was so funny. I've never been out of the U.S. in my life...although I would love to travel the U.K. 

Hmmm...I always thought that making a sort of growling sound with the r was pretty easy as that is what a rolling r sound used to sound like to me before I went all deafie. I used to roll my r's as a kid for the fun of it and it drove my mother nuts. LOL

Never occurred to me that it would be something hard for anyone to do.  :confused: Glad to hear that you seem to be getting the hang of it too. 

Thanks diprod and jfab! I don't know anything about Vimeo, (but I will check it out), and definitely check out the stuff on Youtube. I don't do a lot of youtube because the CC program thingie they use really sucks, but since they have the sign language stuff on there I will check it out. 

Those seem to be a bit harder to find. Anyone know of any good resource materials for learning these forms of Sign Language?

Childhood traumas. On our 6th grade english class, our teacher made us repeat that sentence out loud one by one. Nobody got it right, and she didn't reveal until the very end that it was a tongue twister, not an actual phrase we'd ever need.

Teachers can be brutal like that sometimes. *snigger* I had a teacher that so hated the word "ain't" she would take a wooden ruler and rap whoever said "ain't" on the head rather smartly with it. It stung pretty good too.

That was in the 70s. Now it's considered child abuse and we have armed guards in schools across the country. Funny ol' world...ain't it? LOL

Thanks for this link! I think this is going to be a big help for me learning to at least read and write Irish Gaelic better by making it easier to learn the basic grammatical rules of the language a bit easier. it's the spelling that tends to be the hardest part and not know the words and language are arranged for indicating certain ideas. It's a bit different than most other languages I have ever tried to learn.

To my understanding, Sengoidelc is like... ancient Irish Gaelic, basically? Although, I consider myself somewhat of an etymology/philology fan, because networking the word origins rather than make it more to memorize actually help to memorize and recognize new words with possibly similar origins as other words because a mental network is catchy...but I haven't come across a dictionary that said so-and-so Irish Gaelic word originated in the Sengoidelc for... so, I might be wrong. Or using the wrong dictionary.

You mean like Manx? I am not sure how the word, Sengoidelc, is pronounced...but I do like the way it looks. Looks like the name of an Elven language...rather pretty looking word.

I am going to have to do some more research into it...I haven't found a lot, at least, not that I can understand anyway. LOL  I am wondering if the this David Stifters book would be a good buy? http://www.amazon.com/Sengoidelc-Old-Irish-Beginners-Studies/dp/0815630727

I am learning to read and sign in the Standard Irish Gaelic. I can't hear, for the most part, and so learning to speak the language would prove to be a fair bit trickier.  It's extremely difficult for me to hear all the little nuances of pronunciation with a language now. So, I content myself with learning to read and write in them...makes it fun for reading old manuscripts in the language they were written in.

Because I wanted to.  I like languages....especially dead ones. I like words... they are important to me.  I'm a writer...it's what I do to pay the bills and put food in my belly. 

I have so much going on that it's easy for me to get distracted right now, but for me focus isn't too awfully hard. My hubby says I get scary when I get focused and am as single minded as a buzz saw. 

Block out sound. (Easy for me... I'm a deafie.) Turn off all phones, TVs and shut yourself into a room if you have to. Set aside 1/2 to 1 hour everyday to study and STICK TO IT.

Hope this helps. 

For the last few years I have often dreamed in sign language. I still hear sound in my dreams, but for whatever reason I have taken to using ASL in my dreams a lot. Maybe it's my way of coping with facing the rest of my life in a silent world?  :confused:

I have to say, it does make for an interesting difference in the dream-scape. 

Flip, flap, flop. Flop, flap, flip. Flipper, flapper, flopper, flopper, flapper, flipper!

Annoying, I know. 

I have to use a book. I can't hear. I have to use sight to learn as sound doesn't really work for me. Learning to READ a language is a LOT easier than speaking it. I can speak, not a problem as I wasn't born deaf, but I use a lot of sign language because most times it's just easier than trying to modulate the volume of my voice.  (People kind of get put off when you're screaming at them!  )

I wouldn't say using a book to learn to speak another language is the best way to do it, but it sure works great for reading and spelling.

I personally find it difficult to practice speaking when just starting to learn a new language, as I feel quite self conscious "chatting" to myself. Therefore to counteract this problem, I translate and sing my favourite songs. I find this is an excellent method to help become more fluent.

Do you have any helpful "tips" to enhance your language learning ?.

That is an awesome idea! Unfortunately wouldn't work for me...(I'm deaf/hard of hearing)...and so learning to speak another language is a bit trickier for me.  I am trying to figure a way I could learn to speak some languages I tend to really like...but since most of those are dead languages it's a bit more of a tricksie deal trying to speak them.

Not sure how someone like me could go about learning to speak a language.  Any suggestions?

I honestly do not know, Hedonologist, as I have found it very hard to find anything for immersion into Irish Gaelic language. Since I live here in America, it's REALLY hard to find anything. Haven't got the foggiest clue as to where you might be on the big blue globe, but I understand the problem.

What is RTE?

Oh WOW! This is just awesome! Honestly, I have no idea who Avicii is, but this is just amazing. I haven't heard the original song so I guess I just got spoiled to this version instantly!

The boy singing has a really pretty voice. I cranked my hearing aids to listen to it and was pretty blown away by it. Fantastic! Thanks so much for posting this! I think I am going to see if I can download it.  :grin:

For me, the interest got started when I heard Enya back in the 80s. I was a teenager then and my hearing was intact. I found the lilt and sound of the language very beautiful. It reminded me very much of the Elven languages in Tolkien's books.

When I lost my hearing some years ago I quit my studies in languages because I couldn't hear them anymore and I got in a bit of a funk for a while.  However, I realized I could learn to read and write them if I wanted. So, I went back to the Celtic languages.

What got you interested in Gaelic?

I've read that Sengoidelc is a good supplement to understanding the etymology of some vocabulary words. Does a parallel study in Sengoidelc help in any other way? Or has the grammar and syntax changed enough that, to ever actually be able to hold a conversation, better stick to modern Gaelic?

What is Sengoidelc? I've not heard of this particular language. How does it relate to modern Gaelic? Is it similar to Manx? I was given to understand that both Scotch and Irish Gaelic came from Manx? Is my information in regards to the Manx wrong? 

So glad this subforum is here!  :grin:

I think that sounds just find Admin! I shall check out this part of the forum post haste! I hadn't ever made it down that far as of yet. Just been slowly working my way down the forum. 

YAY! Gaelic! Such a pretty looking language too. My hubby actually took Latin when he was in high school many, many years ago. I know a little bit of Latin and Gaelic...and I think Latin might actually be easier. LOL

I tend to use a little bit of anything and everything that is available where ever I can find it. I use online materials a lot. Plenty of websites for learning various languages. Books, exposure to a different written language nearly everyday in various places and so on. I tend to just sort of soak it up as I go along. 

I don't know about you, but I get annoyed when people use short-cuts when chatting and texting. I don't really say anything but I really gets me. They change what to wat, you to u, great to gr8, wait to w8, good morning to G-AM. Knw wat i myn? What do you think about this 21 century trend?

I utterly LOATHE this stuff. The complete and utter lack of any respect for the language is just...ARGH! I have made it clear to folks who know me that when someone texts me then they need to use proper words and grammar...and spell as best they can. 

It just irks me that it seems that kids coming up aren't bothering to even learn to spell or write properly anymore. They don't try to talk properly either. They tend to talk in that texting lingo that's all abbreviations. 

I suppose that English, like so many other languages throughout history, will one day follow some of the dead ones into bare remembrance with no one around who speaks it. Looks like the possibility may well have begun.

As most people have said, incorrect grammar is a complete turn off. As soon as you see something with incorrect grammar, it sticks into the back of your head and just makes you think, "seriously?". Grammar makes everything sound coherent and makes it clear to the listener than you obviously do know the language.

Exactly. I have a pretty good vocabulary, but I don't often get to use it while speaking. I often have to 'dumb things down' a bit. The part of the world in which I live people don't tend to read much, or at all, and grammar skills tend to be pretty poor.  It's predominately Nascar and wrestling redneck types and plenty of hardcore religious types who often have the view that "...too much book lernin' and it git's you away from gawd..." mentality.  The sort whose spoken grammar goes something like, "yew ain't gonna git none of my beer you sumabitch!"  (Writing hillbilly grammar and accent isn't easy!  )