Traveler

I don't study enough. But I get frustrated trying to listen because it really does seem so rapidly spoken. I am more confident reading it, and so-so on speaking. I'm a higher-level novice I guess. Sometimes I feel lower-intermediate. I have enough of a ¨base¨ in it that I won't regress too much I think...but progressing is definitely a problem. I should probably work on increasing my vocabulary and regular verb conjugations until I am ready to move on.

I don't really do this...although sometimes a book will really seem to jump out at me, as if it is a personal message. Always great when that happens...

I do have a problem imagining while reading, though. I love to read, but sometimes, if I have something on my mind, my mind will wander and I can be on the same page for minutes...

I thought that ¨cheque¨ is just the British, Canadian, and Australian and New Zealand version of the word. Isn't it still in common use in those countries? That is in reference to a bank check, I mean. In the U.S., it is ¨check,¨ and I've never encountered any other spelling here.

I'm not currently paying for language classes, but in the past I have paid $10 for a lesson. (About 1 hour.) I'm not planning to again, though. I like self-study and language exchange. Plus I like making friends or taking free lessons from an employer.

I think the concept of it is universal. But specific forms of sign language are not, of course. The concept is probably universal since what else would people do to communicate if they can't talk? I can't think of anything more logical than using hand signs...

I'm reading Thoreau's Walden right now. It's a simple, beautiful book and he was a great observer of the world. It is a wake-up call to live life simply and beautifully, and to fully live a good life. 

No sé qué hacer. Leer un libro, quizás...

¿Qué vas hacer?

Thanks, I'll be sure to check out the site and favorite it. I'm always in search of handy resources for my language learning.

OP, surely you didn't lose all of it, though? I mean, there must be a ¨base¨ point which you don't really lose. (Maybe you just need to refresh though.) I never became fluent in Spanish, and I've gotten very rusty over time, but I could always recall things I learned before. Or at least most of it.

That they are mostly ¨ugly Americans.¨ That they don't usually like to learn other languages. (OK, that is true.) And in lots of Asia, that only white people can speak English natively.

I remember teaching English in a foreign country is a good career and the pay is much bette than if you teach English in a foreign country.

What?

Anyway, I did. Just finished recently. I went to China. And now I've got the travel bug and the desire to make this a career. I want to visit many countries.

Since you are teaching to your child from such a young age, he should have no trouble picking up all the languages. The more languages your child will learn, the better. Why would anyone want to exclude any? Teach them all! It will be very rewarding later on.

I am surprised that a lot of people make the mistake. Funny, because I doubt most people would have trouble spelling ¨definite¨ or ¨finite.¨ And yet when you add an ¨-ly¨ on the end, it becomes difficult for many.

I mean, is English too focused on ¨concreteness¨ so to speak. Is it too focused on objects and not enough on descriptors and such? It seems to me that English is more attuned to things like science because of its ability to be precise. (To be fair, I think at least any European language is about the same.) When I started learning some Chinese, and hearing things in English from my Chinese coworkers, I was surprised at how vague Chinese can be. It made me wonder how scientific research and other precise endeavors worked in China. I don't know enough in Chinese to say conclusively. Perhaps vagueness is the norm, but is changed for precision when need be.

I forgot where, but I once read this strange theory about English - that it was developed as a creole to make science, math, counting, etc. very easy for traders to communicate better. Seems a little crazy.

Thoughts?

I like a lot of songs from Manu Chao, or at least the ones in Spanish. Especially ¨Me gustas tu,¨ which is silly but simple so it is easy to listen to. It is hard for me to understand most songs in Spanish, so I stick to a lot of simple ones. I like Shakira's music also, but I have to look up the lyrics and follow along. And of course, I love ¨La Bama,¨ any version. I can actually sing that one since it is easy.

Me gusta mucho de la comida de Mexico, o la comida que es parejo Mexicano/Estadounadiense. Me encanta todos en las restaurantes: burritos, tacos, enchiladas, tortillas, frijoles, y otros. Es muy bueno por la salud, aunque no todos la comida. Caundo yo come en un restaurante Mexicano, pienso es muy en paz. Me encanta mucho, y voy uno tiempo en un semana.

Oh, chico...I have a lot of goals for this!

Once I become fluent, I want to look at a long term job and life in a Latin American country. Probably Mexico, but I want to explore them all. I am learning Latin American Spanish, also. That means travel and exploration first, which is very important to me. Spanish is the only foreign language that I have any confidence in learning, so this is very important to me. I may even search for a novia in my travels, once I've figured where I really want to be. And once I am good enough, I want to write in Spanish. For, me, though, it will probably mean translating my English-written novels.

Google translate is awful! Please don't rely on it, especially for longer translation. And when using any translator, always write as simply as possible. I don't recommend things like Rosetta Stone. It's more for extroverted people I think and it takes a lot of dedication. Plus, once you get to more complicated ideas, you'll need outside help anyway.

Get a good paper dictionary and textbook, and use an app like Scritter to study. I'm old fashioned. I keep language notebooks and don't use apps. Either one is fine, but most people will probably prefer apps these days.

I taught English for a year in China. I was in Northeastern China. I enjoyed it for the most part. Teaching in China is not really difficult, although sometimes coworkers will try to ¨help¨ too much, including teaching English in bizarre or flat-out wrong ways. Better to get your coworkers doing other things so you can do your job...haha.

Traveling in China is easy; China has a great train system. Third-tier cities are cheap to live in and getting around a city in a taxi is very affordable. I made about $1500 a month in China and saved about $1200. China is great for saving money.

Outside of the main cities, it is cheap to live, and not so crazy. I would avoid villages for living because conditions will be rough and there won't be anything to do.

I know I was surprised when I found cognates in Chinese. There are a lot more than I thought. (Most of them are places/countries, but still. ¨Coffee¨ is almost always a cognate.

And always watch out for false cognates.

This is also a good argument for why languages should be spread and not kept to themselves. This will gain them more cognates over time, leading to an easier language for others to learn. English, French, Spanish, German, etc. were so good at this. That must be why the last three international languages have been European!

English can get a bit overly dramatic, can't it? It's like how we say, ¨I'm starving!¨ just because we are hungry. I wonder if many or most languages exaggerate like this, or if this is more of an English thing? Does anyone know?

I do some of these things, mostly freelance writing and e-books. Indeed, it is not as easy as it seems. I've written two novels and numerous articles. One thing most don't realize is that being a writer is usually a minimum wage job. Most people think of Hollywood, TV, or Newspapers/Magazines when they think of writers. Most writers do not have such glamorous jobs. I'm still a novice. My goals are to get bigger and better writing gigs and to get a traditional book publishing deal.

Chinese will likely never become the international language because the Chinese do not spread around the language. In East Asia, there is also much more of a tendency to consider your language only for your people. Having lived in China, I can confirm this. Some people don't like foreigners using Chinese. This seems to be changing a lot with the younger generation, though.

The British spread their language around and that is a key part of making a language international. China either is or will soon be the largest English speaking country. Let that sink in. Not only is Chinese not on track to become an international language, it is heavily contributing to keeping English on top. English learning is big business in China.

Well, I'm not the most knowledgeable, but I will try.

Pinyin is widely taught in China now, and it uses the Latin alphabet, just like most European languages. These are approximate forms of what Chinese words would look like if spelled with the Latin alphabet. I'm not sure if the phonetics of Pinyin were designed to be similar to English specifically. Anyway...

Well, certain combinations of letters in Pinyin are always pronounced certain ways. For example, the letter combination ¨ang¨ is pronounced with the 'a' sounding like 'ah.' Whereas English speakers would look at it and do an ¨ay¨ sound, like Fonzie. So he is likely doing it because in his language, those letters together would sound different than how they would in English.

Chinese people tend to bring that kind of pronunciation into English. It is a difficult habit to break.

I keep a language notebook, writing things down by hand. (Helps retain in the memory better that way.) When I watch movies on DVD, sometimes I put on subtitles in Spanish, or set it so the movie uses the Spanish dub. I usually do this with movies I have watched a lot and know by heart. That way I don't have to stop and try to remember what they were saying in English.

Other than that, a little TV in Spanish, which I started again recently. And some music. But I find music the hardest, so I listen to slow ones when I can, or look up lyrics online and try to follow along.