GennevierAnderson

That seems more complicated than I'll ever be able to understand. How do people understand that kanji if it doesn't mean the same thing every time? Also, the average Japanese uses Kanji or Kana?

I remember how confused I was when I first learned English by the word "like" because it was used as a verb which stated you loved something and also used as a term of comparison just like in this example: cats are animals just like dogs. The first mean of the word I have learned was the verb, and it was pretty confusing.

Well, generally speaking you can't correct someone's pronunciation without being a little rude, as the simple thing of being corrected by someone else is a little annoying. However, it's better to do it the straight way, especially if it's your friend we're talking about, and it is not a lot older than you are. Elders seems to be harder to correct, at least by the younger ones, as they have that proud of being older.

I have found that I learn languages best when I am surrounded by that language I'm trying to learn, for example if I am in a country full of people speaking it or I'm playing an online game with all the menus in that language, it helps me a lot. Also listening to some music in that language helps me get used with the pronunciation.

Today's word of the day is: masa - mese (plural) table - noun Am o masa rotunda. - I have a round table. Am cumparat o masa noua. - I have bought a new table.

This statement is based on the fact that there are multiple grammar basics in the languages of the world, and by the time you learn at least 3-4, it is a lot easier to learn new ones, than it was when you only knew 1, because you are already familiarized with a grammar structure which is alike the new one. Does anybody here agree with me on this? I know people who learned about 7-8 languages, or people who know 2-3, but none of this people seems to be knowing the figures in between.

Probably this is one of the best ways out the to familiarize yourself with the word pronunciation of a language. I remember myself listening to a lot of American music, until a certain point when I realized I know the perfect pronunciation for a variety of words, but I also have no idea how to pronounce several words which are used less times than others. However, there can be a clear point where learning through music is a bad idea, as there are a wide set of artists, mainly they're American, which intentionally denatures the pronunciation of a word in order to make it sound cooler or to make it rhyme.

It definitely helped me on a professional level, as I am using today English as a second language, being the language I use at work. I am also looking into expanding my knowledge of Spanish and German, mainly for career but also because of personal interest. I do believe that learning multiple languages becomes easier by the time you learn more than one, and also it is beneficial for you brain, keeping it active, healthy and even young.

This topic hasn't been updated in a long time, I guess I have to be the one to do it. Today's word is: scaun - scaune (plural) chair - noun My chair is new. - Scaunul meu este nou. The chair is broken. - Scaunul este rupt.

This is literally crazy how the dialect Kana of Japanese can take about 90 minutes to learn, or am I mistaken something? Also, what is the reason of this difference between Japanese Kana and Japanese Kanji? Why does one can be learned in 90 minutes and the other in at least 90 days?

Never heard about the name or the pronunciation "catsup", even though in my country it is pronounced wrong most of the times, people would say something like "catcha" or even "kitchup", I have rarely heard a single person but me pronouncing it "ketchup", but again, I have never word the term "catsup".

Wow, these are pretty funny situations, I don't think I've ever found myself into one of those situations, but however I once misused an English word when I was talking with my Bulgarian girlfriend, I said that she had a "crooked" smiley, which in Romanian would be "strengaresc" and would be something completely different, like an intelligent and sly smile, but I simply googled the word at that time, and I thought that crooked was the exact translation. She got pretty upset over that and I didn't even understand at the moment how much I have offended her, it was only after she explained the word to me (even though I had a pretty good English myself, I didn't know the word), that I understood how much of a mistake I did.

When it comes about learning an Asian language I have been always interested in learning Japanese, but I just can't find that possible at the time being. I can't even understand their alphabet, and the way they read and write is exactly the opposite of how I am used to. How much time do you think it would take me to learn their alphabet? Also I've realized that they do not have a standard one like the Latin alphabet for example, they can write a word using a single symbol, how is that even possible?

I remember how back when I was in the 5th, I would have got a 3/10 as a grade at English, because I was terrible at it, I couldn't even tell my teacher the verb "to be" at all persons. However, I can't remember exactly when or how, somewhere along the way, my knowledge in English got pretty advanced without doing any intensive effort, I guess that this was simply because of the internet and because of all of the games I've played online back then. In the 7th grade, my English teacher (it was another one), sent me to the school phase of English Olympics, from where I even qualified for the next phase, and even at that phase I was just 8 points below the next round, which was the city round. Then I realized, that somehow, I got pretty good at English in only 2 years without ever realizing how I managed to do that. Did something similar to that happened to you too?

I also practice it on a daily basis, mostly online and in writing as in my country there are very few places where I find myself into the situation of talking in English. I usually spend all my afternoon and night practicing my English online, and I have the belief that it became something like a secondary language for me, as I might be using it as much as I use my native language in a normal day, the only difference is that I do not speak it as much, but I definitely write it even more.

Yeah, sometimes it can be pretty hard to find your own words in English, especially if a tragic event took place for you. I have found myself into that situation more than once in my life, and I can tell it was kind of embarrassing, with everyone looking at you, knowing you have a very good level of English, and you just can't find your words.

It is easier to learn from non-native speakers indeed and you brought up a very good point, one who has grown up learning the rules of the language more intuitively than by the book, can't explain them all and can't be as meticulous as someone who learned that language the hard way. I remember how I had once an English teacher which couldn't speak Romanian, even thought my class understood what she meant most of the time, we simply weren't moving forward with our English level. Also, there were a few problems of communication as she had that stupid accent specific to British people.

I guess that this is simply the way human mind works, we tend to be more interested in things which have a sexual connotation or things that we know are taboo, therefore our mind tend to remember those easier. I remember how the first question for someone who knew a foreign language when we were kids would've been "hey, do you know how to swear in that language?" and then, we would've simply overused those foreign expressions over and over, without really understanding what they meant.

A few months ago, I was reading a book by Ian Flemming, one of the James Bond series. I remember how stunned I was that I not only found there translation mistakes (I recognized them as a lot of expression from English are translated different into Romanian, there they were just mot a mot translated), but I have also found very bad grammatical errors in Romanian, errors which are not admissible at all for a person who graduated high school. The book was released few weeks ago, so what could I have done then? I did not think anyone else would care so I did nothing, but if you happen to find such errors in a book, look at the last page and first to see, because there somewhere must be the translator name, after that, search him on google and you might find him, try and contact him about the mistakes.

I believe that it's all related to your native language, based on your native language and even your second language, you get a different level of difficulty when it comes about learning new languages. For someone speaking Spanish, it would be a lot easier to learn Italian or even French as they are proven to be all descendants of the Latin language. On the other hand, for someone whose first language is Mandarin, it'll be very hard to learn the French language for example, as first that someone must get used to the Latin alphabet and to the different morphological structures in French language. So it's all related to your first language and the region you've been born.