CorieHens

I think it is normal for some people to be shy when speaking a foreign language. But being shy like that is a big disadvantage because you learn faster when you use the language. As my husband would tell me with my English, the only way to be good at it is to speak it. You see, when we are in a foreign country, my husband likes to speak only in English but then I would always reply in Filipino which really peeves him at times.

Our college teacher in Spanish language told us that to master the language, all you have to do is use it - speaking or writing and reading as well. But it's sad that we students were not motivated to really learn Spanish in spite of the required 2 years in college subjects. Now I can't even say any sentence except como se llama usted to mean what is your name.

If you are learning 5 sentences like greetings and thank you and welcome, that 15 minutes would suffice. However, you have to take notes and remember the correct pronunciation. But when you say language, you learn it in months or at least weeks if you have a scholarly mind.

As I posted in the other threads, Nihonggo is the only foreign language that I tried to learn.. and failed simply because I didn't have a chance to speak it. With English, it is the medium of instruction in school during my student days so I have the motivation to stick to it. But learning a language for the sake of learning, I don't think it's a good idea. Right now, I am looking for ways to learn a little Vietnamese for our upcoming trip to Vietnam. That trip is my motivation.

In the 1990s, I was trying to learn Nihonggo not for me but for my husband. He was employed by a Japanese firm and Nihonggo, no matter how little, was required of them. In support of that, I study at home. However, I easily forget what I had learned simply because I didn't get to use it. So I guess you really have to speak whatever language you study in order to remember it.

I have read of several people who are linguists. Our teacher in high school said that John F. Kennedy knew 5 languages. Our national hero, Jose Rizal, also knew many languages like Spanish, English, German, French and some others I don't remember. Maybe learning so many language has no limit provided that language is being used. Otherwise the learner will just forget it.

Pardon me but I don't think writing a story using a foreign language is easy. It actually would give the learner a harder time. But in fairness to the idea, I agree that it is fun and not as tedious as learning the ABCs of a foreign language. But I would prefer that the story is a short one like a legend of myth.

Well, from that I understand, we already have the buddy system in this site. I actually had posted in that board for my need of a Vietnamese buddy because I am wanting to learn their language. And with the language sharing, this site looks very promising. I just hope that the community will contribute their share.

Let me check if Weebly has Vietnamese. I need to learn Vietnamese for our trip to that country in September. Just a few sentences would. Thanks for the info.

Based on my experience in Filipino and English, the crux in translation is the usage. Like in the greeting - magangang gabi which can mean Good Evening and also Good Night. Another snag is the lack of direct meaning of a word or a phrase. The word Sayang means something that should have been beneficial but no benefit was derived. It's just one word but kind of long interpretation. And for the most popular phrase, here it is - Pang-ilang presidente is Aquino. It is a simple question in Filipino asking if Aquino is the 1st or the 2nd or the 3rd president or whatever. The question has no direction translation in English.

I guess there's a chance that learning a language via video games will work. However, it will take lots of time because we know that games take time. But for a more efficient method, a tutorial video with demonstrations is the best bet for me. Like showing food and inviting one to eat or knocking on the door and saying the greeting.

Honestly, I still haven't used any digital help in learning a language because there is no need for it. Besides, translator sites did not cross my mind. It would have been a big help when we went to Thailand in 2012, at least we know some Thair words. For now, I am looking at Vietnamese and trying to learn a few sentences and words.

When my husband was trying to learn Nihonggo because he wanted to impress their Japanese boss, I noticed that he has a list of phrases and sentences. The first line has the good morning - ohaiyo, good afternoon - konichiwa, good evening - konbanwa. Now, why do you think I remember those greetings? Simply because I had been practicing those with my husband at the time. That's what I know for the best method in learning a language is to use it. And for best measure, phrases and sentences are better than mere words. In our Spanish class in college, we had memorized 100 Spanish words like boca for mouth, orejos for ears but all the other words, I had already forgotten due to non-use. Again, practice or speaking the language (that you are learning) is the best way for me.

That TH sound is the problem of Filipinos. So we normally say TINK when we mean think and SMOOT when we mean smooth. It may be due to our orientation in English as the medium of instruction (during my time, but now the medium of instruction in schools is Filipino). And since teachers were not really good in pronouncing English words, we were exposed to wrong pronunciation. I grew up (in school) with DESIGHBELL when what I meant was decibel.

I cannot give an advice because it's only who can decide on it. Your problem reminds me of my husband's stint in a Japanese company before. He had a colleague who appeared to be helping him with the Japanese words but in reality that colleague was trying to put my husband down due to insecurities. It was good that my husband discovered that fact early in the game.

We once had some Japanese guests in the office and our boss said that knowing Japanese or Nihonggo is an advantage in dealing with Japanese businessmen. But when I started searching on how to learn the basics, I was stumped because Nihonggo is a simple language, easy to understand but hard to learn because of the idiom. Now I am thinking of researching on Chinese. But what kind of Chinese?

I think Google Translate is a big help for tourists like us - we travel at least twice a year to other countries. But it's only now that I learned of Google Translate so for sure we would be using that in September when we go to Vietnam. With my testing of Google Translate, I found many inaccuracies maybe because the Filipino language has many synonyms like the word GABI to mean evening or night but it can also be a root crop. But still, Google Translate is a positive for me.

When I was in school, we normally use comma in this way - apples, oranges, and pears. But in my professional life in the office, and even in the newspapers and magazines, I see a different way in using the comma - apples, oranges and pears. Which do you think is really correct as far as English grammar is concerned?

Hello from the Philippines. I am your volunteer translator if you want to learn Filipino.

If you are planning a tour in the Philippines, why not learn Filipino to amaze the Filipinos themselves? People here would cheer whenever we hear foreigners say Salamat (thank you), just one word eh? And if you know some more, that would be a great novelty for a tourist. Just post your question here for a proper translation. Salamat po (thank you, ma'am/sir).

We are going to Vietnam in September for a tour. I would like to know even a little Vietnamese particularly conversational like how a tourist would say the following: - Hello, good morning (afternoon, evening), thank you, welcome, how much, etc Maybe you can post in this thread so the others can also learn from your post. By the way, I am a Filipino and this is my first encounter with Vietnam and its language.

Age 7 is what we call age of reason. Learning language before that age is ideal because the mind is fertile and quite virgin in terms of vocabulary and speech knowledge. Since the medium of instruction in schools at the time was English, we were taught some English in the house. From my experience, the so called conversational English is the easiest to learn like... 1. Greetings - good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good day 2. What is your name - may name is... 3. Where to do you live - at live at (number, street, town). Those were the basics that I remember when we children were taught by our parents on conversational English. And the word meanings are to follow.