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lushlala

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Everything posted by lushlala

  1. It's interesting to see how diverse everyone's preferences are! Back when i was learning French and Italian, I didn't have access to as many resources, and I wish I did. Maybe that's why i tend to prefer the traditional method of learning over and above anything else, you know the textbooks and classroom situation? But on the recommendation of this community, I've been having a casual look at the iTalki website, and I'm really liking what I see. It's teeming with all sorts of resources that I can't wait to tap into. Now if only I could find the time
  2. I agree with Trellum on this one. Even though it may look good on paper, I don't think I'd welcome the idea of a universal language. Our language, culture and our little quirks from country to country are what sets us apart and makes life more interesting. I believe this gives life its different shades and burst of colour. To me, having one universal language would make the world a very dull place. Also, i wonder how feasible it would be really? Because given our differences brought about by geographical location, culture, beliefs, lifestyle, intonation, pronunciation etc I believe that even if there were 1 language, we'd add our own nuances and take some things out of that language to make it workable to each part of the world; so that you might find out of those different variations would emerge our own unique versions of said language, which I believe would in turn mean someone from the Northern hemisphere may not necessarily understand someone from the extreme South. I doubt very much that this a possibility, even if we were to look at it hypothetically.
  3. Funny how the brain works, huh?! It's like we learn rude words/expressions more easily because of their nature, because of the shock value, because the are more interesting IDK. I think that's why they also tend to stick better. I have a Danish uncle who swears like a sailor, and apparently he learnt English from a bunch of Americans who would swear all day long. Somehow that seemed to work its way into his brain and even as his proficiency improved, he never bothered to clean up his choice of words. He's a very dry sort of guy, and somehow, i don't see him changing now. In fact, he thoroughly enjoys his colourful language, even as awkward as it can make others around him.
  4. Don't beat yourself up too much, Trellum, we all say hurtful things in the heat of the moment from time to time! I know the sad thing's that you can't take it back, but if your fiancé has forgiven you, you need to try and move on from it too. I too have over the years learnt to breathe and keep a cool head before reacting, and this has really helped me stay calm. The bottomline is, we're all human and we will stumble and make mistakes from time to time. I hope that thing between you guys get better
  5. It's widely known that a lot of people will know the swear words, rude expressions and phrases in a foreign language, but not much more than that. For instance, as hard as Setswana is a hard language to learn, a lot of expats seem to easily pick up and and have no trouble at all in remembering all the rude words and expressions. Why does this seem to be the case? Is there a scientific explanation for this? Just curious. TIA for your responses
  6. Wow @Trellum, that's a curious situation, and one that's not very common i don't think. When i get emotional or angry, more often than not, my brain forgets to filter or censor my speech. I think that's very lucky for you, because it sounds to me that you're more calm and collected and aren't given to exploding. That's when horrible things can be uttered without the hope of ever reversing it. So good on you
  7. It's very important and does help accelerate the learning process. Well, this was the case for me in both my French and Italian learning experiences. For instance, I remember going to France for 3 months in my second year of learning French at university and learning more in those short months than I ever did in the 2 years prior. But then of course, different things work for different people. Some people may not necessarily like this. I liked it all the more because it was more than just learning French as I was totally immersed in the culture, and this is the ideal situation for me personally. It's not the only way of learning a foreign language but it's certainly one of the most effective IMHO. -and of course the cherry on top is being able to interact and converse with all the natives, and who better to learn from?
  8. I agree with posters who say where there's a will, there's a way. I strongly believe It depends on how big your desire is to learn is, really. But i also think if you're struggling to find the motivation, you've done the right thing asking the Linguaholic community to share some ideas with you, and I hope you can glean something useful from the contributors. In the past when I was learning languages, I had all the time in the world and was also very passionate and eager to learn. So it never felt like a chore at all. I was also driven, motivated very eager to learn. So your problem may in part be due to lack of enthusiasm. I hope you find the answers that you seek
  9. If I were to advise anyone, I'd say go off your interest, your needs and go from there. I may be passionate about Danish, but that doesn't mean it'll be of interest to the next person. -and for me, the best way to remain passionate about learning a language is to be truly interested in it for whatever personal reason you have unique to yourself. I also don't think it's possible to say 1 language is easier than another, because we all have varying abilities for different languages depending on many different factors including our own native languages. For instance, in my experience, a lot of the Americans I know seem to find learning Setswana fairly easy to learn, whereas Brits just can't seem to get their heads around it. I can't understand why it's easier for them, and none of our friends can explain it.
  10. Haha @kaiiren...your post made me laugh out loud; the bit about 'berating whoever....in an upperclass English accent' ! But on a serious note, thanks a lot for explaining this in such an eloquent way. It does make sense, when you think about it. I asked a particularly fesity French friend of mine why she always swore in her language, even though she speaks fantastic English. -and her simple answer was that it's just a lot easier and quicker for her, but couldn't explain any further than that. But now thinking about what you said, I can absolutely see how that would work.
  11. Oh dear....yes, i've had this happen to me when I was younger. My step dad is Danish, and I've always been fascinated by foreign languages. I'd listen to him and his Danish friends speaking Danish, and I wondered if I could learn. I thought for sure I could, how wrong I was haha Well, my poor dad tried to casually teach me, but I quickly lost interest, mainly out of frustration as i found it extremely hard to pronounce the words. To start with (sorry dad and all Danish people out there), I don't find Danish (and all Scandinavian languages for that matter) very 'attractive' languages. Danish was too far removed from anything I knew or had ever heard at the time. So i threw the towel in. So in my case it was definitely not my brain rejecting the language, but me running scared hehe
  12. I just find the whole thing stupid and the very height of bad manners, and there's no way I'd ever mock or laugh at someone for having a really broad accent. Most people have worked really hard to get where they are with their language skills and have had to probably drum up some courage to speak their chosen language. The last thing they need is for some hare brained person to take the Michael out of them, often people who can only speak 1 language....their own. I think I'm lucky that people from Botswana tend to have a fairly neutral accent. I lived in the UK for years and worked in a few contact centres while there. Most customers would compliment me on my good command of the English language ( a bit weird because I've spoken the language virtually all my life, but ok LOL) and would struggle to place where in the UK I was from. Or those who sussed out I was not British would be lost as to what part of the world I was from. Needless to say, it came in handy as an ice-breaker.
  13. Same here, NATASHA.....LOVE French and Italian I used to prefer French, but once I fell deeply in love with everything Italian, Italian took over haha Interestingly, I found Italian easier to learn than French. To me, Italian is especially easier to pronounce, I guess because it has a lot of similar sounds to some you find in my own language. I mean both do the male and masculine thing, so if you've got a handle on the French masculine and femininine nouns, I'm sure you won't struggle I have to say, when i first realised that was the case with French, I really struggled, as it's unlike any of the languages I grew up speaking; Setswana (my language) and English.
  14. Wow, congrats first and foremost on making the move to Japan and learning the language. How long have you been out there, learning the language? I bet the country and its people are beautiful Yea, I know what you mean about getting all tongue tied in interviews. That used to happen to me a lot during my spoken aspect of my French lessons. Although I did well at the writing, I would freeze up and break out in a sweat haha My professor seriously liked the 'play interviews' and would push me harder than some of my classmates because he felt that I could do a lot better. Sadly, his vote of confidence only served to put me under immense pressure. Good luck with your Japanese, I'm sure you'll do great
  15. Hehe @Saholy...that really cracked me up! I don't think I've ever had any hilarious moments in my learning process, but I'm certainly familiar with saying totally the wrong thing, or even worse, the very opposite of what I mean to say. I agree, the thing to do during those moments, is to laugh at yourself, move on and learn from it. I think it's these lighter moments that actually make learning a little fun, which to me is instrumental in my learning process. Fingers crossed nobody come on this thread questioning the validity of this sort of discussion Honestly, some people can either be dense or simply need to lighten up. Thanks for the post @Mameha and for the giggles @Saholy I can't wait to see what other people have experienced!
  16. This is certainly very interesting, but not something I've paid much attention to! My husband and I do copy each other's way of talking and tend to use the same sort of expressions and terminology. But like you say @anna3101, it's not helped some people on the verge on divorce. Could it merely be that people have been together so long that in the end it's inevitable that they start to talk and behave in a similar fashion? IDK
  17. I agree with you, @NATASHA.....This does apply a lot, but not quite across the board. It certainly was the case with me. I have always been interested in French and Italian and went out of my way to learn both. It certainly does help to have interest in the history, the culture and the country in general, and I personally feel it enhances my passion for learning said languages. However, like Saholy says, there are other reasons for which people have to learn languages, including in some cases, survival. I'm glad that the reason I leant French and Italian was purely through design, and my love of those two languages and culture.
  18. I have to agree a little bit with you on mainstream music. Not all of it is any good. Granted, I don't have as much of an aversion for it as you do, but sometimes I wander why people like certain music. I guess it's a case of different people, different taste. I listen to some not so mainstream music, maybe not underground per see, and I almost feel sorry for people who listen exclusively to mainstream music because the amount of decent ear candy out there that won't ever reach the masses is just amazing!
  19. Oh, don't get me started on German! I have a couple of German friends and listening to them speak their language is enough to give me a headache hehe. I'm not that familiar with the language, but I have always thought it would one of the most difficult languages to learn. So I believe everything you say LOL But I bet, no I have confidence you'll do just fine. I get the feeling that your aptitude for languages is higher than most. So just keep at it and good luck getting your German to where you want it
  20. Eh @Blaveloper, I'm not sure why you saw the need to rehash what you just said as if i didn't get it. Because regardless of how you view it, that was my assessment of the whole thing; for me, based on what you said because I know my own strengths. At no point did I suggest that you said it was impossible, that was in reference to me. -and in actual fact, I said it sounds almost impossible. Or must I be so anal as to hash out and rehash everything I put on here LOL?! Don't be twisting it, mate. Plus try not to over analyse everything, you start to lose the true meanings of statements if you fall into that habit Sheesh, sometimes interacting on here feels like pulling teeth, honestly. Anyway, I hope it's clearer now?
  21. @sonamaa14, I think you're truly blessed to have had this growing up. I have quite a few British Indian and Pakistani friends, who grew up in the UK and very seldom visit those countries, yet their families made sure they learnt all these Asian languages. I really like that and strongly believe it shows their integrity as their pride in their cultural heritage. I know that this is a free world, but i just cringe when I see parents with kids who can't speak a single word of their mother of tongue. I think it's very, very sad; but maybe that's just me IDK. That's very interesting, anna3101! I find that especially interesting because I've heard that Russian is one of the hardest languages to learn. I wonder how that works in reverse; say where someone whose mother language is Russian and they have to learn a language such as English, for which the structure and syntax is so rigid.....I wonder how difficult of a transition that would be for them?
  22. Great topic, @Saholy...gives you food for thought haha On a serious note, I do wonder how much of this is just the placebo effect, too. I include a lot of the so-called 'brain food' in my diet but my memory is beyond shocking! I even take supplements to account for some of the shortfall in nutrients. I know there's much more to the ability to learn than just remembering things, but even still, I just don't know. However, I can't argue against the nutritional value of these foods. @lingualbabe....that's an interesting angle your husband's gone for, although it's also one I've heard from other people before! BUT I'm pretty sure that any amount of alcohol is more likely to impair your reflexes and your concentration, rather than improve them.
  23. Wow, thanks for posting this, @anna3101 I'm not even going to lie, I never knew there were tests of this nature. I find it very interesting and will be sure to take one of them. I think I'll probably go with test 2 since it's the one that seems to me to have the best logic. That third one sounds to me like it's trying to trip you up LOL I'm quite busy with work right now, but as soon as I have a little window, I'll be sure to take it.
  24. OMG @Blaveloper, that sounds almost impossible LOL I like the way you say 'Chinese is no different from reading English! Maybe because it's no big deal to you, as you know all these languages! Chinese must be extra hard, if you feel that even Latin, Japanese and Russian 'alphabets' are easier by comparison. Well, I can only take my hat off to you for having some knowledge of all these languages.
  25. This discussion is taking a very interesting turn LOL I have to say the idea that we all think in our mother tongue doesn't apply to me too. As weird as it may sound, I spend a lot more time speaking English than my own language. I'm not sure why that is, but by extension, my thought processes play out in English too. If I mutter something under breath, it's almost always in English. I've observed that we all seem to be giving varying answers, so maybe there really is something in the theory that the OP put out. It just DOESN'T apply to ME AT ALL.
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