Languages

[Rain611]

Hi everyone. I made this thread because I love learning languages and have set my sights on my next language hurdle - Polish.

I have been interested in learning foreign (which I know is a relative term here, as I know many of this forums members are not native English speakers) languages since I can remember. It always seemed like a great way to learn about world culture while not being able to leave the states. I started learning German (I have about a 60% self taught proficiency) in high school because I loved German music and I wanted to understand what I was listening to. As well, I have German on my mother's side of the family. I also know a small bit of Japanese and Vulcan (don't judge me), and I know the necessities in a handful of other languages.

I was more or less curious if there were any Polish speakers here would would be willing to help me learn the language and, if not, perhaps we can help each other become familiar or learn about languages that might not be our mother language.

I understand the forum rules state that we cannot post languages other than English without translations, so I intend to do so if I end up using another language here or asking a question about a foreign language.

Any other language enthusiasts here?

 

[UniqTeas]

I have a passing interest in languages as I think most people do. I don't know any Polish, but that sounds like a unique venture!

I speak Spanish fairly well. But I can't comprehend it well while people are talking.

I can order food and drinks in French as well as other light conversation.

And I can swear in Italian... along with a few other select phrases. haha. But I do want to learn more!

 

[Rain611]

That sounds like a great start Uniq.

I was having a conversation with my husband today about how if I was to gain a decent proficiency in Polish (for example if I reached proficiency equal to my German), I feel sorry for my brain lol. I read that for every extra language you know, your brain has to do so much more work to try to decide which response to use from which language. It reminded me of when I would have text conversations with friends and randomly start typing in German. Oftentimes I still find myself using German spellings for how and English word sounds and switching really similar things like 'have' and 'habe' which is it's German equivalent when used with 'I'. Fun times.

 

[UniqTeas]

Why did you start with German? Was it something you always thought you'd like to know or did it begin in school?

My middle school gave us the choice of French or Spanish and I figured that I meet a lot more native Spanish speakers in NY than I do people who speak French, so I went with that. I sat next to a Dutch man on a flight to Amsterdam and he told me once that Dutch is the easiest language to speak if you know English because Dutch is mostly just English words spelled in a long way. Look it up. Sometimes that is true. haha. I am sure it is similar with German as well!

 

[Rain611]

In a nutshell:

I grew up in a not so great environment and like just about every teen does, I got through it largely with music (and also with my art and writing) and the music I was drawn to was Rammstein, which for those who don't know, is a German rock band. At the same time, my 2nd mom (close family friend who helped raise me here and there) already knew some German and was able to obtain learning materials for me. So I suppose in a way, the German language was another form of escapism for me and maybe for that reason I am drawn to traditionally perceived 'rough' or 'aggressive' languages like Russian for example. I can't stand the Romantic Languages, though I did take 2 years of French in high school and maintained an A the entire time. Spanish is one language that for the life of me I cannot retain.

 

[Soul Fist]

Very interesting topic, well my native language is Arabic and I don't know any Polish so I can't help you LOL.

But I'm currently learning Spanish, it's been a month now and I love the language. There are tons of English words there so that helps a LOT, there are few Arabic words but not that much. TBH I didn't choose to learn because of the culture, music.. Etc. I just want to boost my career, Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language in the world so that's why I want to learn it.

The languages that I was really interested on were Japanese and Korean because of Video games and KPOP. But they are EXTREMLY hard, especially since there aren't any classes or courses of these languages where I live, nor I can study them in University... So it's almost imposible to learn them on my own, especially Japanese.

 

[Rain611]

Very cool, Soul__fist. I think as an American it would be hard to learn Arabic because it seems like there would be a lot of sounds to learn that aren't native to English and the writing is totally foreign.

I was only offered French and Spanish is school. I wish they offered German (so I could've started learning earlier) or Russian. If you like I can help you find some Japanese learning resources. I refuse to pay to learn anything lol.

 

[Soul Fist]

Very cool, Soul__fist. I think as an American it would be hard to learn Arabic because it seems like there would be a lot of sounds to learn that aren't native to English and the writing is totally foreign.

I was only offered French and Spanish is school. I wish they offered German (so I could've started learning earlier) or Russian. If you like I can help you find some Japanese learning resources. I refuse to pay to learn anything lol.

Yeah, Arabic is actually listed as one of the hardest to learn for English speakers! Alongside Chinese, Japanese and Korean, even for us natives of Arabic struggle with our language LOL.

It's great that your schools offer to teach you a lot of foreign languages, and there are diversity. Where I live, all they teach us is English and all the courses are for English. You can't find other languages even French and Spanish I really wanted to learn them earlier but oh well glad for Internet haha.

And thanks a lot for your offer, it's cool you learned Japanese.. How did you learn it? And what's your level?

 

[Rain611]

I'm not that skilled at Japanese. I was learning it with my husband and then his job got busy so he stopped and eventually so did I. I can recognize a fair amount of spoken Japanese words but yea... I wouldn't say I'm very educated in Japanese.

Any time I learn a language I look online for free resources and they are usually not hard to find. That's why I find it hard to pay to learn any language.

 

[Soul Fist]

I'm not that skilled at Japanese. I was learning it with my husband and then his job got busy so he stopped and eventually so did I. I can recognize a fair amount of spoken Japanese words but yea... I wouldn't say I'm very educated in Japanese.

Any time I learn a language I look online for free resources and they are usually not hard to find. That's why I find it hard to pay to learn any language.

I see, TBH learning Japanese is way too hard to do it on yourself. I don't know about you but I need a teacher or someone else to learn with me because everything about it is so hard, the writing, grammer, everything. It will take me years and to be honest, I'm not patient at all LOL. And it's too late now because I already started Spanish and I'm deep into it now XD.

And yeah just like me, I don't like to pay for anything especially when it comes to learn a language. I've learned English in just communicating with others in forums and Twitter, I didn't pay for anything LOL.

 

[Rain611]

Yea, admittedly I pick up languages extremely quickly as long as I don't start procrastinating. I learned both Japanese writing systems in a couple of days (total) and I even learned a bit of Kanji. Same with the Russian alphabet, I learned that it a few days Generally when it comes to foreign vocabulary, I can learn around 10 new words every day, give or take depending on the day. I can say with confidence that not everyone can absorb languages as quickly as I can because I've tried to learn with other people and they are never as fast (which is fine, the way I see it, everyone has their strengths - there are things like math for example that takes me ages to learn) even though I am self taught.

Where I tend to lack is keeping at it after years because my life has always been such that it changes very drastically in short timespans so inevitably something will happen that more immediately requires my attention and so I have to take a break from learning the new language and then I find it hard to go back. I think German has been the only language to kind of survive this since my proficiency is fairly high, although I've reached a point with it where exposure to actual speakers on a regular basis would probably be a lot more effective than book work so to speak. I think I need a German penpal

 

[UniqTeas]

Asian languages are typically harder to learn as well since they put the predicate first followed by the subject after in most occasions. Traditionally, a lot of sentences in Chinese and Japanese sound the way Yoda would to us. haha.

Rain - That is interesting! When my step-dad first moved in with us, we would listen to Rammstein all the time. But never once did I try to understand them. No sprechen sie deutsche for me. But, ich bin ein Berliner, sure.

Soul Fist - Wow - Your English is amazing! I had no idea it wasn't your normal language. Where are you from?

 

[Soul Fist]

Yea, admittedly I pick up languages extremely quickly as long as I don't start procrastinating. I learned both Japanese writing systems in a couple of days (total) and I even learned a bit of Kanji. Same with the Russian alphabet, I learned that it a few days Generally when it comes to foreign vocabulary, I can learn around 10 new words every day, give or take depending on the day. I can say with confidence that not everyone can absorb languages as quickly as I can because I've tried to learn with other people and they are never as fast (which is fine, the way I see it, everyone has their strengths - there are things like math for example that takes me ages to learn) even though I am self taught.

Where I tend to lack is keeping at it after years because my life has always been such that it changes very drastically in short timespans so inevitably something will happen that more immediately requires my attention and so I have to take a break from learning the new language and then I find it hard to go back. I think German has been the only language to kind of survive this since my proficiency is fairly high, although I've reached a point with it where exposure to actual speakers on a regular basis would probably be a lot more effective than book work so to speak. I think I need a German penpal

Yeah, totally! It's so hard even for me to keep practicing everyday because our lives change regularly, I tried to learn multiple times in the past and I always end up forgetting the language and lose interest. Especially if they are these Asian languages, I lose interest quickly, that's way I went to easier languages like Spanish. Now I try my best to motive myself because I have a goal now, and it's to boost my career

German is a very cool language, I love the way it sounds! It's very close to English but yet very different LOL. I've heard it's harder than romance languages but I don't know why? That's really strange

Asian languages are typically harder to learn as well since they put the predicate first followed by the subject after in most occasions. Traditionally, a lot of sentences in Chinese and Japanese sound the way Yoda would to us. haha.

Rain - That is interesting! When my step-dad first moved in with us, we would listen to Rammstein all the time. But never once did I try to understand them. No sprechen sie deutsche for me. But, ich bin ein Berliner, sure.

Soul Fist - Wow - Your English is amazing! I had no idea it wasn't your normal language. Where are you from?

Thanks, I really feel flattered ^___^. I'm from Saudi Arabia! Funny thing is that I never went to any of the English speaking countries, nor did I have any good teaching.. It was just all in my own, thanks to the Internet! I used to communicate with people on Capcom forums, because of my love for Resident Evil and other games of Capcom I had to improve my English, so I could share my opiniones, read news.. Etc. Some people were making fun of me and my English in that forum, but I didn't listen to them and they couldn't break me XDD. I'm telling this story to all of you who think their skills in a certain language are weak, don't be discouraged! And don't listen to haters, I used to make a lot of mistakes but I eventually improved

 

[UniqTeas]

That's very cool! We have a very diverse population of people from all around the world, and it makes the conversation all the better for it. If I even TRIED to write in Spanish, it would come out like I was infected by a Las Plagas victim. So I am always super impressed when people can speak another language so fluently.

I have no accent at all either in my English. When I speak in normal conversation, I could be a part of the FRIENDS cast or The Office or most typically American sitcoms. At least people in the Southern states get to say fun ass things like, "Y'all" and "My cousin is looking kind of cute today." Jealous. Of everone. haha

 

[Rain611]

I generally hide my southern accent pretty well unless I'm tired or I watched a show or movie with a southern character. I'm pretty susceptible to temporarily picking up accents that I hear for some reason.

 

[Soul Fist]

That's very cool! We have a very diverse population of people from all around the world, and it makes the conversation all the better for it. If I even TRIED to write in Spanish, it would come out like I was infected by a Las Plagas victim. So I am always super impressed when people can speak another language so fluently.

I have no accent at all either in my English. When I speak in normal conversation, I could be a part of the FRIENDS cast or The Office or most typically American sitcoms. At least people in the Southern states get to say fun ass things like, "Y'all" and "My cousin is looking kind of cute today." Jealous. Of everone. haha

Sure! That's the beauty of this forum, we are all from different backgrounds.

LOOOL you got me with the las plagas joke XDDDD, you made me curious to see your Spanish level

And I love Southern accent, I think it's beautiful. I don't know why some Americans tend to hide it?

 

[Rain611]

Sure! That's the beauty of this forum, we are all from different backgrounds.

LOOOL you got me with the las plagas joke XDDDD, you made me curious to see your Spanish level

And I love Southern accent, I think it's beautiful. I don't know why some Americans tend to hide it?

I hide mine because there is a stigma surrounding the accent here in the states. Generally speaking, the more southern the accent the lower your intelligence is perceived to be. This is not true of course, but comedians such as Larry the Cable Guy don't do the accent any favors.

 

[Soul Fist]

I hide mine because there is a stigma surrounding the accent here in the states. Generally speaking, the more southern the accent the lower your intelligence is perceived to be. This is not true of course, but comedians such as Larry the Cable Guy don't do the accent any favors.

Hmmm I see, maybe they think Southern accent is too old and not modern, so that makes you less educated. Of course that's their opinion not mine XD.

Even here in my country, people who live in villages and live with camels have that dialect that others think is less modern and less educated. Because they are far from the city XD< I've always lived inside the city

 

[Rain611]

That seems about right. Interesting that that is the case in other languages as well.

 

[UniqTeas]

I love a good Southern Accent. It has a certain attractiveness to it (even if you're from Florida haha). When I am in Southern Cities (New Orleans, Nashville, Orlando), I love hearing the real people around me and ordering the local food because it has a certain charm to it. I don't always love being asked where a Yankee like me comes from, but hey, I guess it comes with the territory. haha.

Y mi espanol no esta bien, pero yo soy un estudiante muy rapido. Quiero visitar paises como Spain, Mexico, o otro paises in America Centro aprender mas.

I hope that was correct? I will put it in to Google translate, but NOT change a word if it is wrong. haha