elles-belles

I like to study in quiet places mostly but it shouldn't be extremely quiet as I turn to loose focus when that is the case. I enjoy studying with some background music as well as it relaxes my mind and gets me more focus for some reason. I suppose then that my ideal study place would have to be semi quite and semi loud!

I agree with you to a certain point sidney, yes slow learners need much more attention and should be giving a chance to learn at their pace. However what of someone who like I stated previously is excellent at writing a certain language but still struggles with the oral bit of it? Do you think that particular person should be allocated to the 'slow learner' class anyways just because of that factor?

I have never actually had a phone conversation in a foreign language I wasn't comfortable speaking but I think I would like to try that just so I see how far I could go with talking to a native speaker over the phone! Maybe it is just me but I think a phone conversation would be so much better that speaking face-to-face with a native speaker and biting your tongue because you can't articulate your thoughts or can't pronounce certain words right. With a phone conversation you can get away with quite a lot obviously at the risk of ending up not having understood a word of the conversation you were attempting to have! With that said, I would still like to try it, of course it would have to be with someone I am comfortable with preferably a friend!

I have made a few friends that speak the language I am interested in and although I wouldn't say that we are close friends when it comes to them helping me with the language they have always availed themselves and still do. I don't find it hard to converse with them because we all speak English, that makes communication easier and more open! None of them speak my native language either so really when it comes to talking about important matters or discussing each others problems we stick to the language similar to all of us but throw in a few sentences from theirs in an attempt to help me learn quicker.

This has always puzzled me in the most awkward of ways. I have a few friends who come from households where they speak different languages and yet still seem to live well together and understand each other perfectly! When I say various/ different languages I mean a situation where the man speaks say for example Spanish, the woman Portuguese and the children end up speaking Italian. They converse pretty well with each other but in their different languages. This has been said to be a helpful or strategic way of learning multiple languages at the same time without the strain of having to actually go to school. Do you know people like this and have you even thought this possible?

I agree with a few of the posters that learning a language through language roots can be tedious and time consuming especially since learning a foreign language is already so taxing in terms of having to grasp all the different vocabulary and grammar. It is however also a good method of learning a new language, only for someone who is advanced and obviously very passionate about that particular language they are learning.

I agree with you here, it is a type of learning through recognition and clearly you are a visual person. When you write things out your memory recognizes them as how they are and gives you that signal of approval or correctness so to say! I know that I have to write things down in order to remember them otherwise they won't be stored in my memory for a long time, in actual fact they get chucked in the short term if I don't write them down first or while I am learning them.

Yes, I find that being angry or upset has a high impact on ones linguistic ability. It's funny though because with me it seems to be the exact opposite. I think that I've spoken English for such a long time that somewhere somehow I lost some confidence in speaking my mother tongue especially amongst people or peers who I know speak it at it's most fluent. So I usually stick to English even when I am angry or upset but at the back of my mind all the things I want to say start off in my mother tongue.

I completely agree with you on this one! Acquiring a foreign languages accent really shouldn't be a primary goal or even a goal at all if you can articulate well and are able to converse with the native speaker of that particular language with ease! Of course as most of the other posters pointed out, if your own accent if overbearing even when you are speaking in the foreign language then you ought to most definitely try your very best to adopt that particular foreign language's accent. I think that it's always nice to keep your own accent and be able to speak to native speakers and understand one another.... I say this because honestly speaking, learning a new language is difficult already without trying to imitate accents on top of that!

I agree with you, it must be rather difficult to shape them differently however wouldn't just grouping people in different segments in terms of oral and written be best? I mean if I am 'fluent' in a certain foreign language but still struggle with putting my thoughts down on paper would it not be better to go with my strength rather than horn in on my weakness? Basically what I am saying is that it really maybe should be up to the individual, some people are fast learners whereas some are not... so slotting people in these levels should be something done by both the institution and the individual equally! I understand that the system brings some order and some progression but I really feel that sometimes it does more harm than it should be doing.

I think that accents are just adorable... I love them! I particularly like the French accent on both men and women especially if it is deep routed! I find that they sound so cute. I appreciate the American accent as well and the British Northern accent is not too bad either.

Oh wow, this is very interesting! These monkey's must have a high IQ and seem to be rather emotionally intelligent too! I had actually never seen research done along this topic! Thanks for the share.

I agree with most of the posters, there isn't a straight forward associations to the actual word but you can use thoroughness, acumen, expertise and the likes of dedication in the stead of professionalism!

You should try out englishpage.com. I haven't used it before but I have heard that it has some good things. Google should also give you more options.

I agree with the points you make,the classroom is very limiting especially since there is a pattern used in teaching certain languages. In comparison with learning a language from say speaking it at home or hanging around native speakers classroom learning restricts the intuitive way of picking up certain dialects within a particular language.