I'm currently learning Ebonics. Why? Because it has a musical intonation, fraternity and a liberal vocabulary.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=khcTL_XGU9M
http://youtube.com/watch?v=khcTL_XGU9M
What Languages Are You Currently Studying?
Xie, you are learning-really learning.
I almost want to laugh when I read posters who come from an IE language complaining about romance languages and how difficult they are.
They must not know the path with almost no cognates.
I do take into account that some people have pronunciation problems, but there are so many "givens", so many "free" words when studying a language in one's own group or even in the bigger family.
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I didn't look at your clip, but if you want to study Ebonics, well, that's up to you.
I almost want to laugh when I read posters who come from an IE language complaining about romance languages and how difficult they are.
They must not know the path with almost no cognates.
I do take into account that some people have pronunciation problems, but there are so many "givens", so many "free" words when studying a language in one's own group or even in the bigger family.
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I didn't look at your clip, but if you want to study Ebonics, well, that's up to you.
Spanish has been my primary language of study for about 4 years.
I've studied Japanese and still do so casually, but I don't like it as much as in the beginning. I don't know, but besides the word order (which I'm not a fan of) it has something to do with the manner and rhythm in which people speak (mainly the uptight polite form). It also seems lacking is diverse vocabulary when I want to express myself. One example: if something is really good or really bad they use the same word "sugoi!"
I've learned to appreciate how expressive and causual English really is.
Sorry for the rant.
Other than that, I was trying to decide between French and German. I'm interested in both, but I think French is a little more appealing overall for me, so I'm going with that. I'm also interested in Chinese (at least spoken), but probably won't have much time to study much of it beyond the basics.
I've studied Japanese and still do so casually, but I don't like it as much as in the beginning. I don't know, but besides the word order (which I'm not a fan of) it has something to do with the manner and rhythm in which people speak (mainly the uptight polite form). It also seems lacking is diverse vocabulary when I want to express myself. One example: if something is really good or really bad they use the same word "sugoi!"
I've learned to appreciate how expressive and causual English really is.
Sorry for the rant.
Other than that, I was trying to decide between French and German. I'm interested in both, but I think French is a little more appealing overall for me, so I'm going with that. I'm also interested in Chinese (at least spoken), but probably won't have much time to study much of it beyond the basics.
Sí, el japonés es bastante molesto, hay demasiadas reglas con respecto a la puñetera formalidad. A mi mujer japonesa la he forzado a aprender español para que yo no tenga que perder mi tiempo con su idioma pesadillesco.
mac:(Other than that, I was trying to decide between French and German. I'm interested in both, but I think French is a little more appealing overall for me, so I'm going with that.)
Would you please tell us how you think about both French and German in all the respects. Thanks! And I'm deciding between French and German too.
Would you please tell us how you think about both French and German in all the respects. Thanks! And I'm deciding between French and German too.
<< Sí, el japonés es bastante molesto, hay demasiadas reglas con respecto a la puñetera formalidad. A mi mujer japonesa la he forzado a aprender español para que yo no tenga que perder mi tiempo con su idioma pesadillesco. >>
Tengo una amiga japonesa que conoci cuando estudiaba en Mexico. Ahora ella habla espanol muy bien y tiene un novio mexicano. Quiza sea tu? Ja!
<< Would you please tell us how you think about both French and German in all the respects. Thanks! And I'm deciding between French and German too. >>
I was looking at various factors. I want to learn one more major European language, so naturally the next on my list is French and German. I'm interested in them for cultural and historical reasons. Both have many speakers in Europe (German the most) but I think French has a larger spread including second language. Also, French has a larger international presence. Both have spelling irregularities (more French) but some sounds in German are especially difficult for me (the ch and dipthongs?). Not a fan of the 3 genders for "the" or those really long words in German either. And last, IMO French sounds better and looks more attractive than German ;) Although it's fun to see where many of the common words in English came from (German).
Bottom line, I think French will be a little easier for me to learn and might be more useful overall. Hope my opinions help.
Tengo una amiga japonesa que conoci cuando estudiaba en Mexico. Ahora ella habla espanol muy bien y tiene un novio mexicano. Quiza sea tu? Ja!
<< Would you please tell us how you think about both French and German in all the respects. Thanks! And I'm deciding between French and German too. >>
I was looking at various factors. I want to learn one more major European language, so naturally the next on my list is French and German. I'm interested in them for cultural and historical reasons. Both have many speakers in Europe (German the most) but I think French has a larger spread including second language. Also, French has a larger international presence. Both have spelling irregularities (more French) but some sounds in German are especially difficult for me (the ch and dipthongs?). Not a fan of the 3 genders for "the" or those really long words in German either. And last, IMO French sounds better and looks more attractive than German ;) Although it's fun to see where many of the common words in English came from (German).
Bottom line, I think French will be a little easier for me to learn and might be more useful overall. Hope my opinions help.
>>>Both have spelling irregularities (more French) but some sounds in German are especially difficult for me (the ch and dipthongs?). Not a fan of the 3 genders for "the" or those really long words in German either.<<<
French has plenty of weirdly spelt letters, though most are pretty predictable. French also has two genders. But I'd really say you should be learning French somewhat faster since it has no case endings, and a lot of vocabulary is quite transparent for the Anglophone learner. French should have more tenses, though. As for sounds... I'd say their inventories of phonemes are of similar size, nothing terribly bewildering.
If I were to tackle both all over again, I should have chosen French first for the huge discounts I could enjoy before I could attack German with both the English grammar and cognates and the renaissance French vocabulary. For me, French is a very natural gateway language for an awful lot of languages, because many international words are "French"/Latinate but rather French-like.
French has plenty of weirdly spelt letters, though most are pretty predictable. French also has two genders. But I'd really say you should be learning French somewhat faster since it has no case endings, and a lot of vocabulary is quite transparent for the Anglophone learner. French should have more tenses, though. As for sounds... I'd say their inventories of phonemes are of similar size, nothing terribly bewildering.
If I were to tackle both all over again, I should have chosen French first for the huge discounts I could enjoy before I could attack German with both the English grammar and cognates and the renaissance French vocabulary. For me, French is a very natural gateway language for an awful lot of languages, because many international words are "French"/Latinate but rather French-like.
I wondered why you went for German, Xie. I thought maybe you were doing it for business reasons-even though most Germans speak English well.
"Sí, el japonés es bastante molesto, hay demasiadas reglas con respecto a la puñetera formalidad. A mi mujer japonesa la he forzado a aprender español para que yo no tenga que perder mi tiempo con su idioma pesadillesco. "
This is one of the worst things I have read here. If you are going to be in an international marriage, both people should know both languages. I've seen it both ways. I knew of two Japanese women who never bothered to learn English (husbands were English and Filipino-American) and many men who have never bothered to learn Tagalog, Korean, or Russian. English-speaking men who marry Germans usually seem to know a little German, though.
This is one of the worst things I have read here. If you are going to be in an international marriage, both people should know both languages. I've seen it both ways. I knew of two Japanese women who never bothered to learn English (husbands were English and Filipino-American) and many men who have never bothered to learn Tagalog, Korean, or Russian. English-speaking men who marry Germans usually seem to know a little German, though.
C'mon, normal couples have better things to do than fuss around and teach each other languages. As long as they both can communicate in one language.
Well, I've known couples who only understood the language of the other or used interpreters to make their intentions known and I always find that very odd. In my own family, my brother speaks in one language and his wife in another. That's fine, though, because they can speak both languages. It's less stressful to be able to express yourself in your native language.
I think it shows a lack of interest in the spouse's culture not to learn the language.
I think it shows a lack of interest in the spouse's culture not to learn the language.
I picked Dutch because I've studied a good deal of German and it's close enough to be easy, but different enough not to be too confusing. I'm studying political science and I'm focusing on Central Europe, so Polish and Hungarian would be great to know if I ever ended up in one of those countries.
>>>I wondered why you went for German, Xie. I thought maybe you were doing it for business reasons-even though most Germans speak English well.<<<
My English should be fairly bad, compared to Germans who use cognates natively, but then you can, by the same token, refuse to learn Chinese even for more self-convincing and self-evident reasons as everybody knows.
I can recollect what I thought several months (or years) ago, but then the old reasons are no longer convincing. I think I've managed to use myself as a guinea pig to see if "I" could learn a new language at all - since, as I implied earlier, I didn't have the idea of foreign language at all (sort of blunt, as I always happen to be *grin*).
I used to think some faint family reasons might work, but I find it impossible to expect any trip to Germany for that purpose anytime soon. I had been promised a trip to Australia (again, with family reasons) when I was a kid, which NEVER took place (sort of making me regard this country as one of my sourest grapes to be reckoned with); I grew up believing that IT is a terribly huge luxury to be able to travel - something that some, like tourists I see every day, think to be rather easy and inexpensive (from the US to the Latin American countries, or from your European home to almost anywhere in the continent), but almost impossible for a mere mortal.
More than a decade after that, it has become rather ironical (self-satirizing) for a language enthusiast NOT to be able to go practically anywhere, even including every other province in my country. I've been officially learning English for 17+ years and Mandarin for 11+ years (only 3 effective), but then it's now _stupid_ to speak of traveling or even talking to natives when I don't practically have the chance, other than "shadowing" on my own, sacrificing loads of time that would let me read more books and meet friends, while sometimes passing like an advanced speaker who has lived in the mainland/Anglophone/Germanophone countries for a long time.
I'd SAY, though, after all, I now find it worthwhile to learn a usable language to enjoy all sorts of entertainment through using the Internet. I'd be glad to do an awful lot on my own, when I STILL have the time to, to acquire a language as quickly as possible, and, well, just remain monolingual as I used to be and enjoy the language across the borders.
I've since had a more "revisionist" view of picking up any language other than (pseudo-)English and Mandarin. Others say Japanese is darn useful (but d'uh! I'm not living in Japan! How many dreadful YEARS would I need to become fluent just to survive in Japan as a Chinese who would probably be discriminated against!?), French is darn romantic (but I think the French live more or less like everybody else does), and German is darn DIFFICULT and BORING (but then German kids don't learn rules and they live happily with their native language)! I "don't" talk trash. I don't talking _about_ the language and the whatnot; I learn it. I'm still having experiments - if I can ACQUIRE (not learn, according to Krashen) a language like this without ever spending an awful lot of money, I'd be glad to learn more and spend less.
I'd be glad to give up what might become a magnificent pastime if my quick-n-dirty methods, drawn largely from the intelligent language-learning "celebrities", would not work. Then, I'd be in the position to say (to fellow natives): yes, folks, it's darn difficult and, above all, expensive to learn languages since you MUST go to the target countries to practice what you learn. I tried terribly hard and it sucks after all. Try if you want to, but don't blame me if you suck.
My English should be fairly bad, compared to Germans who use cognates natively, but then you can, by the same token, refuse to learn Chinese even for more self-convincing and self-evident reasons as everybody knows.
I can recollect what I thought several months (or years) ago, but then the old reasons are no longer convincing. I think I've managed to use myself as a guinea pig to see if "I" could learn a new language at all - since, as I implied earlier, I didn't have the idea of foreign language at all (sort of blunt, as I always happen to be *grin*).
I used to think some faint family reasons might work, but I find it impossible to expect any trip to Germany for that purpose anytime soon. I had been promised a trip to Australia (again, with family reasons) when I was a kid, which NEVER took place (sort of making me regard this country as one of my sourest grapes to be reckoned with); I grew up believing that IT is a terribly huge luxury to be able to travel - something that some, like tourists I see every day, think to be rather easy and inexpensive (from the US to the Latin American countries, or from your European home to almost anywhere in the continent), but almost impossible for a mere mortal.
More than a decade after that, it has become rather ironical (self-satirizing) for a language enthusiast NOT to be able to go practically anywhere, even including every other province in my country. I've been officially learning English for 17+ years and Mandarin for 11+ years (only 3 effective), but then it's now _stupid_ to speak of traveling or even talking to natives when I don't practically have the chance, other than "shadowing" on my own, sacrificing loads of time that would let me read more books and meet friends, while sometimes passing like an advanced speaker who has lived in the mainland/Anglophone/Germanophone countries for a long time.
I'd SAY, though, after all, I now find it worthwhile to learn a usable language to enjoy all sorts of entertainment through using the Internet. I'd be glad to do an awful lot on my own, when I STILL have the time to, to acquire a language as quickly as possible, and, well, just remain monolingual as I used to be and enjoy the language across the borders.
I've since had a more "revisionist" view of picking up any language other than (pseudo-)English and Mandarin. Others say Japanese is darn useful (but d'uh! I'm not living in Japan! How many dreadful YEARS would I need to become fluent just to survive in Japan as a Chinese who would probably be discriminated against!?), French is darn romantic (but I think the French live more or less like everybody else does), and German is darn DIFFICULT and BORING (but then German kids don't learn rules and they live happily with their native language)! I "don't" talk trash. I don't talking _about_ the language and the whatnot; I learn it. I'm still having experiments - if I can ACQUIRE (not learn, according to Krashen) a language like this without ever spending an awful lot of money, I'd be glad to learn more and spend less.
I'd be glad to give up what might become a magnificent pastime if my quick-n-dirty methods, drawn largely from the intelligent language-learning "celebrities", would not work. Then, I'd be in the position to say (to fellow natives): yes, folks, it's darn difficult and, above all, expensive to learn languages since you MUST go to the target countries to practice what you learn. I tried terribly hard and it sucks after all. Try if you want to, but don't blame me if you suck.
I forgot.
Another important reason that I started to learn was, actually, that I took it darn seriously and did it in an institution, ending up learning that I should not have done so. It was a disaster, an awful disaster. That has been a prophecy suggested by every intelligent language-learning celebrity, but since my English was too bad, I couldn't get the hang of "learning intelligently" and language learning in general. I spent an awful lot of money and time to try a language in vain, and so I believe I can well speak of what cautions one should consider seriously... but the intelligent, polyglot Anglophones and Europeans have talked enough about it.
Ultimately, it's game of understanding human nature and spending money. If you are sociable and spend money wisely, you would win after all, or else you would fail like the ranting monolinguals. I've only dabbled with Sunzi's Art of War, and I've already learnt that: the best strategy is to win without even mobilizing - but everybody knows, of course, that you must have the ability (intelligence) to do so. Accidentally, German happens to have become a good, potential tool for that purpose, unlike some other "sundry" languages you may learn in your leisure time but which wouldn't be as promising - since you can't go further beyond the basics.
Another important reason that I started to learn was, actually, that I took it darn seriously and did it in an institution, ending up learning that I should not have done so. It was a disaster, an awful disaster. That has been a prophecy suggested by every intelligent language-learning celebrity, but since my English was too bad, I couldn't get the hang of "learning intelligently" and language learning in general. I spent an awful lot of money and time to try a language in vain, and so I believe I can well speak of what cautions one should consider seriously... but the intelligent, polyglot Anglophones and Europeans have talked enough about it.
Ultimately, it's game of understanding human nature and spending money. If you are sociable and spend money wisely, you would win after all, or else you would fail like the ranting monolinguals. I've only dabbled with Sunzi's Art of War, and I've already learnt that: the best strategy is to win without even mobilizing - but everybody knows, of course, that you must have the ability (intelligence) to do so. Accidentally, German happens to have become a good, potential tool for that purpose, unlike some other "sundry" languages you may learn in your leisure time but which wouldn't be as promising - since you can't go further beyond the basics.