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CorieHens

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About CorieHens

  • Birthday 10/23/1962

Converted

  • Currently studying
    Vietnamese
  • Native tongue
    Filipino
  • Fluent in
    English, Filipino

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  1. I happened to meet a colleague from Zamboanga in one of our work assignments in Cebu. She is good in English so her Chavacano is only for our amusement. But I find that Chavacano has many words that are similar to Spanish. But I find it a beautiful language with that mix of origins.
  2. I was in Vietnam a few days ago and naturally I would want to learn some bits of their language. Unfortunately, the moment I speak (in English) it seems that the people are turned off. The only ones who cooperated were the staff in the hotel where we stayed. But outside, the Vietnamese seem to abhor the English language.
  3. I agree with this. I also think that the best way to learn a language, particularly for the children is to talk with a native speaker. When we were in Vietnam last weekend, I was able to befriend the owner of a boutique shop so I had learned to say a few phrases like CAM ON to mean thank you.
  4. I have just got back from my trip to Vietnam and the only phrase I had learned is CAM ON which means thank you. However, most people there know the phrase thank you so it seems that it is a useless phrase to learn. By the way, Vietnam is a good place, clean nice people although sometimes I don't feel safe.
  5. Although not seriously, my target language is Vietnamese which I have zero knowledge. I know there are sites that offer free tutorial but I am still so busy with my work. My reason for learning Vietnamese is our trip to Vietnam on Sept 25, yes, later this month. And since it is only for a tour so my needs would only be conversational Vietnamese like greetings and other simple and basic sentences and terms.
  6. We used to have Spanish subjects in college but it was taken off the curriculum some decades back. From what I know, Spanish is still an elective subject, meaning you can take those subjects and earn units for your course. In the years before I was born, Spanish was prevalent and spoken by many. But it was overshadowed by English particularly because English was the medium of instruction in schools.
  7. In grade school, English was the medium of instruction in school so it is understandable that we had a difficult time in the first years of our schooling since Filipino is our native language. What gave us problems was the pronunciation of the TH, F, and the A syllables. Thought, fourth or forth, worth, those are difficult words to pronounce. The simple word data was taught to us as day-ta but in the later years we pronounced it dae-ta and again in the digital age it was back to day-ta. In your second language, what difficulty have you encountered?
  8. It depends on the language to study because like English, I would prefer to study it offline because there are so many materials online already. Now I am trying to learn a little Vietnamese for our trip to Vietnam this month and the only resource available is online. If only I know a Vietnamese here, I would ask for help because my only needs are simple conversational Vietnamese.
  9. This may sound funny but this is a true story. We have what we call English carabao where the speaker is not well versed so he commits mistakes in grammar and pronunciation. That was common in people in rural areas. One actor named Joseph capitalized on that and he pretended that he speaks real English carabao. He became popular with that gimmick until his movies were all hits. His full name is Joseph Estrada. He became the president of the Philippines in 1998 and now he is mayor Manila.
  10. I actually have no experience in learning a language seriously but I have a close friend whose business is teaching English to Koreans. They are planning to put up a website that would provide tutoring. It would have syllabicated English words for easier reading with a corresponding audio for the pronunciation. But they want it to be a membership site that charges a fee. Their reason is the quality of teaching they will provide. Fair enough.
  11. In the middle east, the hiring of a domestic help is primarily for the house chores but most of the housemaid from the Philippines are also being used as tutors for English. It is a neat scheme of getting 2 in one package. And the best thing is that Philippine housemaids are good in English because it is their second language.
  12. Pardon me for saying this but some wise guys try to invent words and pass it off as traditional when in fact they are not. Those terms may be in the dictionary but who is the authority on dictionary? You will be mocked if you are going to use those invented terms. Do you know pook-sapot? Pook is place or site and sapot is spider's web. So technically that is correct but I assure you that pook-sapot is not a legit term.
  13. Isaac Asimov is my husband's favorite author. He would gobble Asimov's books in the bookstore although he hesitates when the price is quite high. For me, I prefer easy and light reading like the literature of old. I still remember the story of Satan and Sam Shay which is a comic story and funny character but with depth.
  14. With stories, I still prefer the printed form like books or magazines. I usually read at home when I have nothing else to do like on a dog day afternoon. But most often, I read at night before bedtime. One book lasts for months with me since I am a busy person with a daytime job and a home to care for at night.
  15. A child learns language the fastest because he has focus and good memory. As any subject of learning, the easiest way to learn is to practice. You cannot learn how to ride a bicycle unless you have tried it. So for language, it is the same technique - use the language, converse using that new language and you will learn fast.
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