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Linguaholic

prettylittleliar

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Everything posted by prettylittleliar

  1. If we're talking about 100% fluency, then I'm a single language user. I wish I could say I was one of the other two options though. If I could go back in time, I would start learning other languages at a very young age and hopefully by now by able to speak at least three or four languages fluently. It's such a brilliant skill to have.
  2. I have heard similar language switching with my gaming friends. A lot of them are from different parts of Europe and therefore speak English as their second language. When we play as a group, we all speak in English, but from time to time people who are from the same country will switch to their first language to discuss something together. And then they can just switch back to English in the most natural way. It's always impressive.
  3. If it applied to me, I definitely would. Learning languages at a young age is so valuable - I wish I'd had the opportunity. I'm English and live in England though, so my native language is my daughter's native language too. I have taught her French from a young age though, even though it's only a second language to me.
  4. What markers of understanding do you need to meet to say that you are fluent in a language? I feel like it doesn't matter how proficient I am in a language, I will always see more to learn and I don't know if I'll ever feel comfortable saying I'm fluent.
  5. When you watch the youtube videos or TV shows, I assume you don't have subtitles? If there are subtitles I would tend to just focus on those and not really listen to the words. I'm interested in trying this out. Do you have an idea of roughly how many videos you would need to watch to start picking stuff up?
  6. I thought the reason people got au pairs was so that they could learn a bit of the au pair's language? Did they not attempt to learn any English at all while you were there? I just thought that instead of getting an au pair, who comes with a language barrier, it would be preferable to get a nanny if you weren't planning to learn the new language.
  7. I know that you can learn languages in a lot of different ways, and that most of the courses (perhaps ones you take online or via apps) don't require you to take exams and thus you receive no certification. Some people like to have a record of their achievements for their resumes though, and might choose to take exams to prove their aptitude. I was considering whether or not to take some exams for my CV and was wondering if anyone else has done similar despite not taking a formal classroom based course? I know you can pay to take exams usually. Has anyone done this or considered it?
  8. Brilliant! I have signed up and really looking forward to participating. Thank you so much for sharing. I really like the idea of studying Japanese. It is a beautiful language to listen to, even though I don't understand what I'm hearing. My brother learned Japanese after becoming obsessed with some Japanese movies and cartoons, and now visits Japan fairly regularly. I would like to get a basic knowledge of the language and join him next time he travels
  9. I love the idea of being able to talk to anyone, anywhere, simply by swapping a language to one we can both communicate in (even if only at a basic level). I'm fortunate that my first language is English as it is so widely spoken, but I don't want to be obnoxious and think that everyone else should learn my language to communicate with me, and not vice versa. I also like the idea of eventually being able to travel the world, or relocate to another country, without having to worry about how I will communicate important things in emergencies.
  10. I think that is generally what most people who learn English do - imitate the American accent. I think it is easier to imitate the American accent anyway, as most countries can access TV and movies from America with subtitles in their own language, so they get much more accustomed to hearing that accent than any other English speaking country's accent.
  11. I think it stems from high school, where you were forced to have awkward conversations with people and neither of you wanted to look too much like you were willing to "commit" to the course, but I have a deep rooted embarrassment when I try to speak French. I would like to join an evening class at my local college but I know that a level of speaking would be expected, even if not at first, and I blush and suddenly struggle to pronounce things that I know how to pronounce when I'm on my own. I was wondering if anyone else has any experience of this and how you overcame it?
  12. I don't know much about Latin, though I know much of what we speak today is based on the Latin language and I think that's the part I would be most interested in. Words which have strong roots from Latin, and how they have evolved. Also common Latin phrases, the types you might find on coins or in the middle of poems or novels, that kind of thing.
  13. Hi, I took your survey and hope my answers are helpful in some way or another Like the above poster, I always like to see the results of surveys, so please pop back to this thread and share them when you have collated all of the data. Good luck!
  14. I don't view the preservation or recovery of extinct languages as anything of great importance to be entirely honest. If I try to picture recovering an old language, it makes me think of discovering dinosaur bones or fossils. I think I could look on an extinct language with interest, pleased that there were experts in the world who had archived it and presented it to me, but I wouldn't go to any great lengths to learn the old language or study it any further (much as I don't with dinosaur bones and fossils). They are a thing of wonder and intrigue, but I don't think it's important enough to me to want to do something about it.
  15. At high school, we were put at a disadvantage because our Language department was constantly changing, with staff regularly leaving - thus, we would rarely have the same teacher for more than two weeks at a time. When it came to selecting which groups people would be put into ("sets"), I wasn't put in as high a set as I would have liked, despite feeling I was more than capable of being in the highest level group. Eventually I was "promoted", and then I really started to love learning the language. I only wish I'd carried on studying it after school!
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