spacetimecontinuum

It's fairly safe to say all of us here are eager to be at least bilingual, but if you had to say, what do you think is the best number of languages to know?

If there are roughly 230 countries on the planet, I wish to know ALL the languages, even the "click" ones. What could be a more awesome Super-Power than being able to communicate with everyone?? That even beats the ability to fly, I reckon. :wacky:

Well I know you can learn roughly a thousand Italian, French and Spanish words in 10 minutes, just by changing the suffix. Any English word which ends with TION are easily converted.

I kind of get a kick out of finding the origins behind a word. Thats why I am learning Sanskrit before Hindi. For example, Namaste is a compound of "nama" and "ste", meaning, "I salute you". In modern Hindi, it simply means "Hello".

I rest my case.

That's interesting, I did not know that about Namaste. Yes, so like you learn Sanskrit, knowing Latin is like having a key to unlock the "mysteries" of other words, which is always going to be useful.

I agree, this is exactly my opinion. Simply knowing Latin is enough to get an eyebrow raised.

Ego conveniunt. Haec est mea sententia. Plane scire Latine satis impetro an supercilium resurrexit.

(Translation: What I just said) (Used Google Translate)

Yes, Scio posse dicitur quasi arcana verba reserare.

Upon further consideration ,not sure outside of the Vatican what use speaking Latin would be, but in terms of knowing it so that I can read it, this would certainly be valuable.

That would be an emphatic YES!

De Omnibus Dubitandum! And I feel knowing more Latin would help me understand the root of so many many languages, especially my Mother tongue English, which is an ongoing mystery, new surprises pop up weekly.

I've never heard of this game, it sounds interesting anything which expands and helps you to retain vocabulary can't be a bad thing.

I think it's useful to have as many tools as possible to aid you in learning a language, audio, video, aural, oral, whatever it takes to help it sink in.

I believe they are interchangeable, however, as a Native English speaker "even though" feels more natural in that sentence, it just flows better. Sometimes with English similarities, one just has to make an Executive Decision, lol.

My most effective language learning experience was in college, and I'm guessing I'm not alone here.  There are a lot of benefits to being in a class when learning a new language.

Would you ever go back to school to learn a language? Perhaps not to major in it and get a degree, but just to take language courses as a non-admitted student?

I would love to learn in a classroom setting, as I feel that what I'm learning will sink in better, as I will be "forced" to converse with other students and also mistakes which shouldn't be made, will rooted out at an early stage by the teacher, I would hope.

Not mention that I think it would be fun, which is important, because if one feels like they are doing advanced Calculus and dreads coming into class, you'll begin to hate the language.

Well I've definitely fallen in LUST with persons who have spoken another language. For me to be truly in love,  real, clear communication has to be present, a language barrier would make a relationship-which is already difficult- even harder work...for me personally.

I'd definitely say Spanish is the most valuable. It is quickly becoming a universal language. It might even surpass English one of these days. Educators must know that it is on the rise because Spanish is mandatory in a lot high schools these days.

I think there's good chance Spanish will surpass English, in the United States, in the next 20 years, but not worldwide...that trophy still goes to Mandarin.

Possibly, but I lived in Scotland for 5 years and never learned...so???

Is it mandatory for some languages to possess this skill?

Dips unto this thread to see if I will get my ESPERANTO answer here...

Does on this board have a passing familiarity with this tongue, in so far as they speak it with other people?

I have always noticed something when writing in English: when I write a difficult word (or any word for that matter), if I spell it correctly I feel some sort of innate satisfaction/approval kind of feeling, confirming that I wrote it right. While, on the other hand, when I write a word wrong, I get a feeling too, but this one tells me I spelt it wrong.

Due to this, when I'm unsure about the spelling of any word, I just write it in as many variations as I can, and every time, one of them felt 'right' and it turned out to be so.

Have any of you ever felt something like this? Or am I just weird?

You're weird...just kidding.

I find as Native English speaker I get tripped up on the easiest(relatively)words. For instance there are two words that I literally have to think about  for 45 seconds or more, how to spell them...they are RHYTHM and EGYPT, yet I could spell onomatopoeia at gun-point. Strange how our brains work...or don't.

Hands down, this one: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taa_language

Read the Grammar and Phonology description and you will know why.

Wow! plus I'd never even heard of the word ethnonym.

Sometimes I think that English must be the most fiendishly difficult language to learn because of all the homonyms, idioms and words which contain letters which are not pronounced eg: psycho, aesthetic, phlegm...I mean the pitfalls seem endless.

But then I look at at Arabic and Mandarin and my brain starts to cave in on itself. :wacky:

Speaking of which, whatever happened to ESPERANTO?, this was an artificial language which combined many European languages, are there any speakers if this on this forum?

I feel that English is still the most valuable language to have in your arsenal. English is necessary for many jobs. It is also the most widely spoken language, so you will have higher chances of meeting someone who also speaks it. Furthermore, English is almost compulsory if you want to use the internet for anything at all.

How can English be the most widely spoken language if there are nearly one and half billion Chinese, not to mention one Billion Indians and there are 7 billion of us on the planet?, so when one factors in all the other non-English speaking nations, I don't think statistically it is the most widely spoken language. It's definitely the most "establishment" language on the planet, I'll give you that.

Hm, well I haven't tried to learn French yet, but I definitely think Spanish has been a helpful foundation for learning Italian, as they do have a lot of similarities. Sometimes I get tripped up on it though, because I'll instinctively go with the Spanish term where there are definitely some key differences between the two. But overall I do think it's helpful.

Yes, I imagine that Spanish and Italian words have similar prefixes.

Or I could just get on in life by speaking the way many British people have for decades, by just adding an O onto the end of every English word, to communicate when they go on holiday.

"Errr, excusee, where is the toilet-o, ahh and the restaurant-o, oh and would you so kind as to get me a beer-o?

Gosh, how have our European brothers and sisters tolerated us for so long, lol.

Sign language is always quite beautiful to observe. When I see two hearing impaired people communicating, it's always a delight, but I try not to stare. :angel:

It would be nice if more of us had the option to communicate with signs, it would cut down on the daily cacophony of voices and tongues, one has to endure.

Italian and French become exponentially easier to learn??? They call these the "Romance Languages" I believe, what do you think the foundation language is for making the others easier to pick up. Yes I know about Latin and Greek etc, but for the polyglots amongst you, do you think the question I posed is correct?

For instance I know there is some cross-pollination with some of the Scandinavian languages like Swedish, Danish, Norwegian etc and they are able to make themselves understood to one an another, even if just on a basic level.

Is this true if you're a Spanish speaker who visits Italy or France?

I would have to say my favorite accent is by for an English accent because of how useful and enjoyable it is to listen too. I would always be interested in learning this accent.

What would be the point of learning this accent? Are you an actor or do you think by being in possession of it , it will further your position in society?  Just curious.

First of all, you did sound a little upset. And I do know you from Adam. My posts were two separate posts. Anyway, lets let bygones be bygones.

I agree Ariana. Japanese does sound extremely professional. Complicated, too!

Yes, some aspects of french are a little nasal, but a true, elegant french sounds delicious to the ears. English, I don't associate to be very posh, as I live in an area not-too-rife with beautiful speech  :bored: However, I see what you mean. Michael Caine for the win!

Again, that is a lot of information you THINK you have extrapolated from me based on that post and once again it's presumptuous. If I were not "CALM" or "UPSET" as you think I was, believe me you and everyone else would soon know about it, in fact I couldn't have been in a better mood when I posted.

I am on this forum first and foremost to LEARN from other people, secondly to impart any information I wish to share, I don't just post for the sake of posting.

A more productive and salient response to that post might have been: "So spacetimecontinuum, why do you think that? or please site some references?", etc, etc, not  "calm down"...it's patronizing, rude and shuts down reasonable discourse.

I respond to threads that I'm interested in, full stop, period. I enjoy the dialogue and exchange.

If you personally wish to only read dull, bland, insipid replies, I suggest you start a forum called pleaseboremetodeath.com, where I'm sure all your personal needs will be met. ROTFL.

Gee, calm down, spacetime!

Anyway, to me, French, as a language, sounds sophisticated. More specifically, Edith Piaf's French Accent. Stunning.

I'm curious, what is it about my post which makes you think I'm not calm??, lol. I'm just stating fact. That is very presumptuous of you I must say, considering you don't know me from Adam.

This sounds like a promising endeavor, I look forward to checking out your site, as Spanish is one of my languages of interest.

However, I'm afraid I can't help you with semi-colons, I never know where to put them myself and I'm a native English speaker. :wacky: I can help with commas and apostrophes, that's about it.

Well I have a British accent and I live in America, having this accent in this country is akin to having a super-power, I've literally just had people stop in their tracks to watch and listen to me talk, it's quite ridiculous.

The only reason British is considered sophisticated and the be all and end all, is because of years of brutal colonialism and domination. England, the UK, Great Britain, whatever you choose to call it, it was the STANDARD for everything, even if this standard was imposed with an iron fist.

Anyway, the sun has truly set on the British Empire, so am surprised that this accent can still wield so much power??!!. This probably has to do with Hollywood  more than anything else, if you want a top notch villain, make sure you cast a Brit, if you want a touch of je ne sais quoi, cast a British person and so on and so on, so the illusion of British sophistication and omniscience is perpetuated 100% by the country who the U.K begat.

Funny isn't it?...but not funny, ha ha. :speechless: