What languages would you like to learn?
<<So you're saying that if I learned Japanese right now, I would sound like a native in adulthood?>>
No, if you were 5 years old now and somebody teaches you Japanese possibly you would speak like a native Japanese in the future. But you are not late to achieve a good level if you start now being a teenager since it's supposed that human being loses his skills to learn while he is getting older.
Why yes, as a youth, my brain is sharp(er) than it would be at say, age 50. But, I certainly can't pick up a new language like Japanese as easy as I could as a small child. But, yes, I understand what you are saying.
I'd like to learn how to speak Mandarin. It'll become useful in the future.
Also, I'd like to learn Italian formally. I speak Spanish fluently, and though I'm not fluent in French, I've been learning it in school for six years, so I can communicate with Italians relatively well.
About accents, I learned to speak English relatively late in my life and I've only spoken it for five~six years, but people think I was born and raised in the United States. I have almost no accent whatsoever. I have a very strong belief that shedding my Japanese identity was the main reason for this.
And Latin-Anglo-American, I strongly suggest you learn Japanese. You should have a fairly easy time with pronounciation 'cause you speak Spanish.
« I went through a phase a couple of years ago when I was really interested in Japanese culture and history. »
I think everyone has, lol. ;)
In addition to those that I am already studying - German, Korean, Arabic, Australian Aboriginal languages, a Slavic Language, plus many others.
Presley, yes. Japanese pronounciation is a piece of cake. And the grammer, although totally alien, is also relatively easy in nihongo. But the vocabulary is not even Indo-European, and thus completely alien to somebody like me. Spanish is easy for an English speaker, as much of the vocabulary is almost identical to English, except with a different pronounciation, and a vowel or a -cion at the end of the word. You can't say the same for Japanese.
Yes that's true. But I think the point that is trying to be passed across is that if you really want to, it can be done and these difficulties won't matter as much. If there are English speakers who can master Mandarin Chinese, then Japanese should come much easier, even if you have to learn vocabulary from scratch.
But that shouldn't be too hard, because you have to do it for just about every language anyway. For example, you may think that just because most words in Spanish end in -ción, they translate to English by changing it to -tion, you can never know for sure. Población doesn't translate as Poblation. And the vice versa is true as well. Auction doesn't translate to Aucción.
Well, durh.
Japanese is such a strange language, but you already speak four languages, so it won't be as difficult as learning to speak it with one language to begin with. It's also probably good for your brain to learn languages that are "unfreakinlievably" (Peggy Hill) different from each other.
Ruso, inscribí Ruso en la Universidad este semestre, y me parece un idioma muy padre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
«If there are English speakers who can master Mandarin Chinese, then Japanese should come much easier.»
As someone who speaks Japanese from birth, and is now learning Mandarin, I would disagree. Chinese grammer is almost ridiculously simple. I'd say it's very similar to Indo-European languages in certain aspects - cut and dry.
Japanese, and to some extent Korean, has a horrible system in which there are no vowels or verb conjugations. The worst thing about Japanese, in my opinion, are the particles. Vocabulary sucks as well. It's notorious for homophones. The verb tenses are pretty weird and complicated too.
Some parts of the grammar are easy. Like, you can change a sentence from a declarative statement, to an interrogative statement by merely adding "-ka" at the end, along with an questioning intonation in your voice. That is actually easier than the English method in most cases.
That's true too Presley, maybe it's just me, but the thought of having to memorize a different character for every word you want to say, (and even saying it is hard, with different tones changeing the meaning) is just mind puzzling for me. Especially since the characters can get VERY complex. Although Japanese has Kanji symbols, it also has a phonetic system and diacritical marks which, in my case, would make it easier to learn.
But I suppose if it were Pinyin Mandarin vs. Japanese, I would say Japanese is harder simply because of the grammar. From what I hear, there's no "Two children" but "Two child" in Mandarin.
I am interested in learning tagolog. please assist me.
thanks
Steve, can't you just learn from your wife?
Leean
I'd like to learn in order:
1-French
2-Italian
3-Russian
4-Greek
and no other. Just these 4 ones.