Are you learning a new language?

[Aquarelle]

The other day I was at the gym and listening to an audiobook and a girl who was there heard that it was an audiobook and when I went to get some water they went too and said to me was I learning a language, I was a bit abscent minded because I was thinking about the audiobook, I'd finished CS Lewis' The Four Loves and moved on to Erich Fromm's To Have or To Be? which has some ruminations on love too in it, and said yes and when she said which one I said "love". Then I realised what I'd said as my water bottle was like full and thought shit, that was so corny, but when I looked up this girl was like love struck or something looking at me with these big eyes and I thought "oh, shit" and "ok bye now" (bye, meow) and went back to cross trainer I'd left.

This story is hilarious, you should have asked for her number . I adore listening to language programs at the gym, it's quite amusing to see the looks people give you when you are repeating random phrases in Irish while on the elliptical machine at a gym in St Paul. Sadly, the Irish YouTube videos I like don't work on my phone anymore for some reason, so I've not been able to do this for awhile.

 

[kyuuei]

I'd like to be able to speak other languages, including gaelic (Irish) which I was deprived off at school (hated the irish teacher, who was an ass and came back as a head master and tortured my brother and was probably a fascist, I'm not kidding about that, think Franco or Peron, not Hitler or Mussolini).

The other day I was at the gym and listening to an audiobook and a girl who was there heard that it was an audiobook and when I went to get some water they went too and said to me was I learning a language, I was a bit abscent minded because I was thinking about the audiobook, I'd finished CS Lewis' The Four Loves and moved on to Erich Fromm's To Have or To Be? which has some ruminations on love too in it, and said yes and when she said which one I said "love". Then I realised what I'd said as my water bottle was like full and thought shit, that was so corny, but when I looked up this girl was like love struck or something looking at me with these big eyes and I thought "oh, shit" and "ok bye now" (bye, meow) and went back to cross trainer I'd left.

You ladies man you!

 

[Lark]

This story is hilarious, you should have asked for her number . I adore listening to language programs at the gym, it's quite amusing to see the looks people give you when you are repeating random phrases in Irish while on the elliptical machine at a gym in St Paul. Sadly, the Irish YouTube videos I like don't work on my phone anymore for some reason, so I've not been able to do this for awhile.

I dont really see the gym as the place for that, I think that there are some people who do use it as a place to hang out and meet people and chat but I dont do that, I dont even use the wee lounge style area anymore, not for reading a magazine even.

There was an occasion on which someone with big head phones was singing something off key and didnt realise it right away but they were cool and laughed about it when they realised what they had done and that they had everyones attention.

 

[Orangey]

I'd like to be able to speak other languages, including gaelic (Irish) which I was deprived off at school (hated the irish teacher, who was an ass and came back as a head master and tortured my brother and was probably a fascist, I'm not kidding about that, think Franco or Peron, not Hitler or Mussolini).

The other day I was at the gym and listening to an audiobook and a girl who was there heard that it was an audiobook and when I went to get some water they went too and said to me was I learning a language, I was a bit abscent minded because I was thinking about the audiobook, I'd finished CS Lewis' The Four Loves and moved on to Erich Fromm's To Have or To Be? which has some ruminations on love too in it, and said yes and when she said which one I said "love". Then I realised what I'd said as my water bottle was like full and thought shit, that was so corny, but when I looked up this girl was like love struck or something looking at me with these big eyes and I thought "oh, shit" and "ok bye now" (bye, meow) and went back to cross trainer I'd left.

Ha, I didn't know you were capable of cute stories.

I'd love to learn gaelic. In fact, I tried when I was in high school, but I dropped it due to my lack of willpower. I think I may try again.

 

[/DG/]

Ha, I didn't know you were capable of cute stories.

I'd love to learn gaelic. In fact, I tried when I was in high school, but I dropped it due to my lack of willpower. I think I may try again.

They offered gaelic at your high school? That's pretty awesome. What country are you in?

I've attempted to learn both Esperanto and Italian, but I have a horrible habit of starting projects and not following through with them.

Does anyone know of any programs to help me review a language before I take a class in it? I'm signed up to take the second semester of Spanish 2 next semester at my university, but I am quite rusty and afraid I will do poorly in the class. Plus, it will be my first college-level language class. I almost want to take the first semester, but then I would have to take the second semester over the summer. Summer classes just sound so intimidating.

 

[Orangey]

They offered gaelic at your high school? That's pretty awesome. What country are you in?

I've attempted to learn both Esperanto and Italian, but I have a horrible habit of starting projects and not following through with them.

Does anyone know of any programs to help me review a language before I take a class in it? I'm signed up to take the second semester of Spanish 2 next semester at my university, but I am quite rusty and afraid I will do poorly in the class. Plus, it will be my first college-level language class. I almost want to take the first semester, but then I would have to take the second semester over the summer. Summer classes just sound so intimidating.

Ah, no, I'm from the U.S. I meant that I tried to learn it on my own using books and the internet. My school offered the usual French/Spanish/German, but since we live in a big middle eastern populated area we also had Arabic. That's what I want to learn now, after I fill the holes left from my incomplete German instruction from college.

I honestly wouldn't be worried about your classes. I have taken language courses at two different universities now (and at varying levels), and they've been equally structured (that is to say, equally easy) at the lower levels. It wasn't until I got into upper level German that I got a native speaking instructor who only spoke at us in German and required lengthier/more complicated readings and essays, and that's really when it gets more difficult. Otherwise it's still going to be "Hallo, mein Name ist Sabine. Wie heisst du?" Shit like that even in the second year.

 

[/DG/]

Ah, no, I'm from the U.S. I meant that I tried to learn it on my own using books and the internet. My school offered the usual French/Spanish/German, but since we live in a big middle eastern populated area we also had Arabic. That's what I want to learn now, after I fill the holes left from my incomplete German instruction from college.

Oh haha. My bad. When you said you "dropped it," I thought you were talking about a class. My high school only taught the standard three as well. It's neat that they taught, Arabic, though. I know some people whose high school taught Japanese and others whose high school taught Chinese. I would've liked to see something more "unique" at my school. I mean, come on...who doesn't want to learn Swahili??

I honestly wouldn't be worried about your classes. I have taken language courses at two different universities now (and at varying levels), and they've been equally structured (that is to say, equally easy) at the lower levels. It wasn't until I got into upper level German that I got a native speaking instructor who only spoke at us in German and required lengthier/more complicated readings and essays, and that's really when it gets more difficult. Otherwise it's still going to be "Hallo, mein Name ist Sabine. Wie heisst du?" Shit like that even in the second year.

Well, my instructor is going to be a native Spanish speaker, but what you say is somewhat comforting. I can only hope it will be as doable as you say.

Do you have any tips on how I can brush up on my Spanish, though? Any websites, software, videos, etc?

 

[Orangey]

Do you have any tips on how I can brush up on my Spanish, though? Any websites, software, videos, etc?

Well, like I mentioned earlier, I like the Pimsleur program. It's good, especially if you prefer a more auditory learning style. It helps me A LOT with memorization. Yeah, you have to pay for it, but there are, you know, ways and means to get it otherwise.

I use it in conjunction with flashcard systems like Anki for vocab building and I usually buy a solid grammar reference book. I've not tried to learn Spanish, so I can't recommend any specifically, but those are usually pretty easy to find cheap.

Or you could just buy your textbook/workbook/other books early. If you don't know what it's going to be, email the prof and ask so that you can get a head start.

 

[/DG/]

Well, like I mentioned earlier, I like the Pimsleur program. It's good, especially if you prefer a more auditory learning style. It helps me A LOT with memorization. Yeah, you have to pay for it, but there are, you know, ways and means to get it otherwise.

I use it in conjunction with flashcard systems like Anki for vocab building and I usually buy a solid grammar reference book. I've not tried to learn Spanish, so I can't recommend any specifically, but those are usually pretty easy to find cheap.

Or you could just buy your textbook/workbook/other books early. If you don't know what it's going to be, email the prof and ask so that you can get a head start.

Thanks a ton for the tips.

 

[kyuuei]

I'd love to learn gaelic. In fact, I tried when I was in high school, but I dropped it due to my lack of willpower. I think I may try again.

You would have a convenient online person thinking about learning it as well *cough*@aquarelle*cough*

Summer classes just sound so intimidating.

I ended up liking them better.. More frequent classes, and more face-time meant, honestly, no more rapid of a pace than high school, but I found it very beneficial for things that require a lot of rehearsal like math and chemistry. I could see that being beneficial in immersing yourself into a language study. Mini-mesters and summer semesters are what I look forward to, I wish I could set up the year like them. But, different strokes, and all that.

 

[Cimarron]

Oh yeah, I forgot I was in the process of learning some (tentatively), thanks for reminder. Allegedly, was aiming for Polish, Hebrew, and Neapolitan (Italian if impossible).

 

[FDG]

Oh yeah, I forgot I was in the process of learning some (tentatively), thanks for reminder. Allegedly, was aiming for Polish, Hebrew, and Neapolitan (Italian if impossible).

Since when is Neapolitan a language...

 

[Aquarelle]

Since when is Neapolitan a language...

Since the 15th century, it would seem
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/neapolitan.php

 

[FDG]

The article uses "dialect" and "language" in an interchangeable fashion, which is...wrong, from a linguistic perspective. The only real italian "dialects" which are also a "language" on their own are Sardo and Friulano.

 

[Aquarelle]

I'd love to learn gaelic. In fact, I tried when I was in high school, but I dropped it due to my lack of willpower. I think I may try again.

You would have a convenient online person thinking about learning it as well *cough*@aquarelle*cough*

Let's all learn it together! I really, really like these You Tube videos for basic Irish:

Unfortunately there is only one beginning lesson posted; after that the "filmmaker" seems to have jumped to the intermediate class.

One of the major difficulties with learning Irish is that the dialects spoken in the South, North, and West of Ireland differ drastically, and I'm convinced that no one actually speaks the (somewhat artificially) standardized dialect (Caighdeán Oifigiúil) which is taught in schools in Ireland, so one has to make sure to use learning materials from the same dialect. And to complicate things further, it's not always indicated which dialect a certain method is using (I think the video posted above uses the Western dialect, though it could be the Caighdeán).

(I did a master's program focusing on the history, politics, etc of the Irish language. )

 

[Aquarelle]

The article uses "dialect" and "language" in an interchangeable fashion, which is...wrong, from a linguistic perspective. The only real italian "dialects" which are also a "language" on their own are Sardo and Friulano.

Well, it does state that most people would actually call it a dialect, and linguistically it's actually kind of a murky area, as officially the definition between a language and a dialect is that dialects are mutually intelligible, and languages are not. But that's a bit artificial because a lot of people would say Spanish and Italian are mutually intelligible, but they are different languages. Sometimes language is a political construct, as well. Also, some of the ancient languages that are now considered dialects are now being given language status for the sake of preservation. Evidently Neapolitan was given language status in 2008.

EDIT: Ack, why did that double post when I edited it!

 

[Eckhart]

C#

Oh wait, you don't mean those languages.

 

[1487610420]

I am learning French right now as well! I'm finding pronouncing the words is, as stereotypically is the case, difficult for me but I am enjoying it a lot. Right now I am just looking up youtube videos for free (Learning French with Vincent, he's got the most adorable voice ever), trying to watch french shows with english subtitles (Kaamelott is particularly funny, but I can only find 3 episodes so far with subtitles), and I'm reading a couple corny kids-esque books but I'm getting a lot done. (Learn French in 10 minutes a day, and a flip-book quiz.. I have no partner, so I just do both sides lol.)

My love of my life @phobik showed me livemocha.com where you can play with their software for free in exchange of helping others with their reviews for tokens to spend learning. I'm loving it so far. The iTunes audio, which are you using?



My friends are making fun of me for not trying Spanish since I live so close to Mexico.. But it's another language with a lot of pronunciation, masculine/feminine rules, etc.

[video]http://videoclip-online.com/video/53bbe4bd519ec4b/Dexter%E2%80%99s-Laboratory-The-Big-Cheese[/video]

 

[kyuuei]

[video]http://videoclip-online.com/video/53bbe4bd519ec4b/Dexter%E2%80%99s-Laboratory-The-Big-Cheese[/video]

One of the best episodes ever! (next to the one done by a kid) Every time the higher-ranking French soldier would try to talk to me I'd reply with this. He stopped talking to me pretty fast.

 

[1487610420]

One of the best episodes ever! (next to the one done by a kid) Every time the higher-ranking French soldier would try to talk to me I'd reply with this. He stopped talking to me pretty fast.

Bwahaha, epic.