Jump to content
Linguaholic

Traveler

Members
  • Posts

    93
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never
  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by Traveler

  1. Yeah, exactly! English is my native language. I never, ever hear anyone say ¨May I...?¨ No one. Ever. It is correct when asking for permission, but I guess ¨Can I...?¨ sounds polite enough that nobody feels the need to say it the ¨right¨ way. And I agree, it does sound extremely formal.
  2. Yes, I definitely agree that foreign languages need to be taught early on and continue through high school. I think the U.S. does a terrible job with this. But then the U.S. basically expects everyone to learn English anyway. It starts foreign language classes in high school typically, makes you take two years of it, and then maybe you have to take one or two in college. It's perhaps the worst way to do things.
  3. It always depends on what your native language is and if you are actually interested or not. People say Spanish is easy, but what if Mandarin is your first language? Then Japanese or Cantonese is easier to learn for you. So I don't think the question can never be separated from the context of who is learning and what their native language is.
  4. I have, but in each case she always also spoke English. And in each case, spoke English well at that. (Well, there is a big benefit to being pinay. Haha.)
  5. Speaking of Mandarin, I have read that a lot of adult English learners in Asia are learning English not to speak with Westerners (usually) but to speak to other Asians on matters of business. I mean, English has a strong presence everywhere, so it is certainly more valuable internationally than Korean or Japanese. So instead of learning those languages, everyone can communicate easiest if they all learn English. This was just something I read though.
  6. ¨Passed¨ in this context means ¨bowel movement.¨ So the cannibal was pooping in this context. Aside from context, there's no way to know if passed means ¨moved by¨ or ¨pooped.¨ But since the joke is about a cannibal and a man, I think it would mean ¨pooped.¨
  7. I've heard of this idea before, but haven't tried it yet. The idea is to get cards or stickynotes, write words on them in your target language, and then stick them all over your house. The idea is that by constantly exposing yourself to these words via interacting with these everyday objects, you'll start thinking of, for example, milk, as leche instead of just milk. Has anyone tried this? Is it effective?
  8. It always depends on what your native language is. If you speak English natively, then probably Spanish or French are the easiest. If you speak Chinese natively, then probably Vietnamese or Japanese are easiest. There is really no universal way to decide what languages are easy or difficult. It always depends on where you start from. That said, being interested in the language and having a purpose for learning is usually what matters most. Languages like Chinese do have easy aspects and are not purely frustrating. In other words, even the ¨easiest¨ of languages have difficult parts and even the ¨hardest¨ of languages have easy parts.
  9. There are thousands at least. Most of them are minor, of course, which most of us have never heard of, but they're there. Check out the omniglot.com site. It has lots of information, so you might find a more specific answer there.
  10. It always depends on where you are. For most Americans, Spanish will be most valuable. For Filipinos, probably Chinese (since they already have English.) In general, though, French is still a good one to learn. It was once the international language and is still spread far and wide. Learning French will give you access to France, parts of Africa, parts of the Caribbean, a bit of South America.
  11. I recommend keeping two notebooks: one for vocabulary and another for verb conjugations. The vocabulary should come easily for the most part since there are so many cognates as most European languages have with each other. The verb conjugations always get me. I think just start with the present, future, and preterite tenses. And then start will regular verbs and memorize the pattern of conjugation. After that, move on to irregular verbs. And of course, practice, practice, practice!
  12. I will travel around Latin America. (I will travel to some places in LA before I am fluent, but once I am fluent I'm sure I will have confidence to go farther.) I also plan for my children to learn Spanish. I want them to benefit from what I've learned as well.
  13. For me, becoming bilingual is a personal dream. It's not that I think becoming bilingual will help me get a better job. I could easily go my entire life without learning a second language. But it's not how I want to live. Plus, I love travel. And I don't like to seem like a completely ignorant tourist. (And I don't like being a tourist at all.) So for me, it is a personal drive.
  14. I just think of it this way: learning a language means you are able to communicate with millions of more people. I don't have a huge economic reason to learn a language. It is just more of a personal dream for me. And with Spanish, it is very useful for me without ever leaving home.
  15. I had plenty of awkward moments living in China. Usually minor things, and I would try but before too long I realized I didn't understand what the other person was saying. It led to some funny and strange interactions.
  16. palabra = word I choose this because when I'm getting into a language, I like to learn the vocabulary that deal with language, writing, etc. because I am a writer and reader.
  17. I haven't watched many, but I really enjoyed Pan's Labyrinth. It's set during the Spanish Civil War and revolves around a little girl's escape into a fantasy world. Actually, I need to watch this one again soon...
  18. I don't know any Arabic, but I have wondered about this before. It looks so small and it all seems to blend together. And if I remember correctly, most of the letters are written differently depending on where they come in a word? I'm not sure what the answer is.
  19. Two cannibals are eating a clown. The first takes a bite, then asks the second, ¨Does this taste funny to you?¨
  20. I can tell one joke in Spanish, but that's it. It's only a simple joke I heard in English and came up with my own translation for. If I could ever read humorous writings in Spanish, that'd be the day.
  21. I think some countries have more slang than others. While others are considered to speak more ¨proper¨ Spanish. Spain uses vosotros, while Latin America doesn't. I think Catalan is widely considered the ¨best¨ form of the language.
  22. I've taught English in China before, so it isn't like your situation, but I think there are some universals. Main thing is to learn to understand what demographic you are teaching. This will determine everything you should do for your teaching. Teaching kids? You'll need to be more of an entertainer. Teaching college students? You can get away with interesting lectures. Teaching adults or businessmen? Might want to go with an academic style.
  23. I keep notebooks for verbs and conjugations for Spanish, and I keep a general notebook for Mandarin. I have used Rosseta Stone for various languages but I don't recommend it. For Spanish, I also use movies and music sometimes. I think a good process is study to gain a base in the language, then practice with native speakers, then study to fill in what you don't know.
  24. Aside from my native language, I can only write in Spanish to any reasonable extent. I enjoy writing in Spanish because it is so easy. Once you know the phonetics, it is difficult to spell words incorrectly. I can also write a few very simple things in pinyin (Mandarin) but I often put the wrong tonal marks.
  25. I have never tried it, but I don't think it would work. At least not for learning. Your mind does not shut down entirely when you sleep, but I do not think it learns things while sleeping. It's more like synthesizing information that is already comprehensible to it. Now if Benny Lewis claimed that this worked, then I would believe it probably!
×
×
  • Create New...