Greg, do you remember me? i'm Vincent, the occitan, like you.
I ask you because like me you are french - and occitan ;) And I noticed you speak a pretty good english (I don't know if the others will think the same) and I'd like to know which method you used, perhaps the Antimoon method, who knows? I read a lot of books in english but I must deal with books in other languages too, spanish books overall, so that'll explain why it is easier for me to speak spanish.
But I'd like to know your own experience. I hope it won't disturb you.
Merci d'avance - salutacions occitanas
wak wak wak !thank for your replies wak wak wak !
Feeling ignored, are we, Vincent?
I thought about pretending to be Greg so that you'd get a response, but decided against it. But while you're waiting, I'll tell you that I am a native English speaker who thinks that Greg's English is very good.
I too have actually specifically thought to myself, "wow, greg's English is excellent." In most cases I would've assumed he was a native speaker from his writing, as he seems to use pretty natural-sounding forms and sentence constructions. Not to overly flatter or embarrass you, greg, but I had also noticed your English was great.
Well, Vincent, I think your English is quite good as well. But, I'm not a native speaker, so my opinion is not 100% relevant.
hmmm,I think Greg is a bit shy about this,all this attencion....you know.
Estimat vincent, (I do remember you)
I’d like to call myself Occitan but I simply can’t for at least two good reasons. First, I don’t speak Occitan. Worse : unlike English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin and Indonesian, Occitan is a language I’ve never heard – except once or twice, and that was a long time ago (without knowing then what it was) and more recently thanks to a link provided by an Antimooner. To this extent, my knowledge of Occitan is tantamount to my command of Wolof or Klingon : nil. Another reason why it’s difficult for me to identify with Occitanity is that I perceive myself as a Frenchman primarily – Southern French to be more specific. Not that Occitanity and Francity are incompatible (they aren’t) : it’s just that my background isn’t Occitan. That said, I don’t feel French exclusively : I’m a European and a citizen of the world. Hexagonality is dull and dreary ! I have more affinities with nomadising Germans or Spaniards than with sedentary French people. I eat neither frogs nor snails and I’ve met many Northern Americans who’ve read much more French literature than me. In fact, my motherland is Southern France, not France. This is my way to be an Occitan. I appreciate the good life in the Midi : nice people, good food, natural beauties, contrasted landscapes, splendid weather, rich history and countless traditions. It’s an area of two seas, three massifs and two valleys crossed by so many people(s), now and in history.
Spanish and Italian – not English – were the very first foreign languages I got acquainted with. However, English is the very first foreign language I’ve ‘learnt’. I also learnt German, Latin and Spanish during my time at school. Needless to say that my ‘level’ was very low – especially in German. There is one thing I feel certain of : meeting natives (in France or abroad) has always been the best way to significantly improve my command of any language (except Latin of course…). Later on, as I grew older (in non-Anglophone environments), I found out that reading and writing in English were the safest ways to make a further qualitative leap towards self-confidence and autonomy. Unless you are talented as most polyglots are, there is no secret : you have to be regular, patient, curious, optimistic and longtermist. As always, imitation is the first step to understanding and progress. This is why reading good stuff or things you like will be rewarding. This approach may be similar to that of Antimoon. My guess : you need to love the language and you need to love learning.
Finally , as I said in other threads, I don’t think I speak English. I speak MY Latinate, Frenchified English and that’s fine by me.
/me laughs about the "Frenchified English" part. ;)