• Language Learning - Parlez-Vous français?
    760 replies, posted
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39074890]Italki is for a long term skype partner. There's plenty of french people to talk with. If you just want to talk to a random french teacher, then Verbling is suited for that. It's chat roulette for language learners. [editline]3rd January 2013[/editline] Especially russians :v:[/QUOTE] russian players in world of tanks are fucking assholes I was shoved off a bridge by a russian teammate, and he teamkilled another american as well.
How much do you learn from watching shows in the language you want to learn for say, an hour a day with English (or whatever your native language is) subtitles?
[QUOTE='Rain [Amber];39090277']How much do you learn from watching shows in the language you want to learn for say, an hour a day with English (or whatever your native language is) subtitles?[/QUOTE] depends on the delta between the speaking pace of the target and your own language.
[QUOTE='Rain [Amber];39090277']How much do you learn from watching shows in the language you want to learn for say, an hour a day with English (or whatever your native language is) subtitles?[/QUOTE] Not much at all, unfortunately. It really only becomes useful if you're at a high enough level not to need subtitles. [editline]5th January 2013[/editline] All the Russians i have met in real life so far have been disrespectful and rude. I went for a holiday in Thailand, to find that the town (Pattaya, fuck yeah!) had been taken over by Russians. I wansn't that pissed off until i saw Russians treating people in the street, bars and the hotel like dirt. I had an excellent chat with a Thai woman i had met on our last visit. She is a really nice person, taught me some Thai basics that i have forgotten. She told us how the Russians are "Arseholes". She also went on to tell us about how shitty they were to her personally, and how bad they were to other hotel staff. Especially the poor room service people. I'm not saying all Russians are Arseholes, but the ones in Pattaya are at least. Fun-Fact: On that Trip i met Lars from Metallica, some dude from The Scorpions in a random blues bar. Leo's blues Bar, to be exact. That was a fucking excellent night.
I actually go to school with a Russian dude and he tells me that back home people are "Cold and rude."
You guys should add esperanto to the op. It's neat, I wouldn't mind writing the description for you
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;39097263]You guys should add esperanto to the op. It's neat, I wouldn't mind writing the description for you[/QUOTE] Well it looks like The Aussie is banned so when/if he comes back maybe :v:
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;39097263]You guys should add esperanto to the op. It's neat, I wouldn't mind writing the description for you[/QUOTE] Cxu vi parolas gxi? Mi fojon lernis Esperanton, estis tre facila sed mi neniam uzas gxi. :v: [QUOTE=Slacker996;39064586]i want to learn russian Any useful links other than the links in OP?[/QUOTE] [url]http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Russian[/url] You can also search other books on Scribd or Amazon, can't really help in that because I use a Brazilian book. For practicing, use Interpals, [URL="http://rus.ruvr.ru/radio_broadcast/"]listen to russian radio[/URL] and [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd7EjvDHwQw"]Russian[/URL]/[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY7-hqtSpTY"]Soviet[/URL] [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd6U26XSdG0"]music[/URL]. I can also recommend you gaming videos if you like them (Gagatun and UselessMouth are pretty good although I can't understand much)
I've never been able to roll my R's. Through years of learning Spanish it sucks that I can't pronounce rr in a word so it sounds authentic. Is there any way to learn or will it just come with time?
Stick your tongue on your alveolar ridge, the area between 4 and 5, and blow air, but try to keep your tongue on the ridge while blowing air. [IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Places_of_articulation.svg/220px-Places_of_articulation.svg.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;39097263]You guys should add esperanto to the op. It's neat, I wouldn't mind writing the description for you[/QUOTE] I could easily write the description. Although i'm no expert on the subject, i would love more user generated content in this thread. Although it ticks me off that Finnish thread has 5x the unique views as this thread. Maybe my terrible OP scares people from not only posting, but attempting to read it.
Somebody post like a guide on how to roll your Rs, I also really want to learn this for my German.
You must be learning Austrian-Swiss German then, Germany Germans don't roll their Rs.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39116505] Although it ticks me off that Finnish thread has 5x the unique views as this thread. [/QUOTE] Not everyone is interested in learning a language, heh.
Any advices on korean? I want to learn an asian language, but i still can't decide which.
[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;39122117]I want to learn an asian language, but i still can't decide which.[/QUOTE] 1. Why do you want to learn an Asian language? 2. What will you use it for? 3. Any Asian country you're particularly interested in?
[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;39122117]Any advices on korean? I want to learn an asian language, but i still can't decide which.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't from a usefulness standpoint. I think Korean only has something like 80 million speakers or around that which is quite low compared to other languages. Japanese has the biggest support base/learning base out of all the Asian languages (I have no idea why) so you'd be able to learn it easiest, and Mandarin Chinese would be best if you're looking to put it on a resumé (Cantonese if you ever want to speak in Hong Kong or southern China). You could also be a special snowflake and learn Malay or Tamil or another southeast Asian language if you had some killer dedication, as there aren't many resources for them.
1. Why do you want to learn an Asian language? I'm not even sure, probably just for the heck of knowing an asian language. 2. What will you use it for? Probably just to chat over internet and access some asian websites. I think time will give me more uses. 3. Any Asian country you're particularly interested in? China. I'm mostly interested in Chinese/Korean/Japanese. Which one is the easiest?
Wikipedia says Korean has 78 million speakers, Japanese has 125 million, China's unlisted (though there are 1.4 billion people living in China and I'd assume ~3/4 speak Standard Chinese, along with those that speak Chinese in Singapore and SEA). Malay has 40 million native speakers (215 million non-native) and Tamil is unlisted. Cantonese has not many speakers at all. [editline]6th January 2013[/editline] Whoops, there goes my automerge. Japanese would be easiest. If you're interested in China I suggest Mandarin.
I feel ridiculous trying to speak another language to a native speaker that isn't native to English. I think that's one of the biggest problems I have; my attempt to sound authentic just bombs terribly. A fat tongue and bass-heavy voice also does not help...
For most languages you're realistically not going to sound like a native unless the only thing you're doing is practising 8 hours a day. I know Benny from FI3M has confused native Spanish speakers before but to my knowledge that's it.
[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;39122278]1. Why do you want to learn an Asian language? I'm not even sure, probably just for the heck of knowing an asian language. 2. What will you use it for? Probably just to chat over internet and access some asian websites. I think time will give me more uses. 3. Any Asian country you're particularly interested in? China. I'm mostly interested in Chinese/Korean/Japanese. Which one is the easiest?[/QUOTE] Make sure you have a passion for what you want to learn. While learning a language may be easier then what you have learned in school, it still requires dedication and time commitment. Don't skimp on it. In regards to the easiest i'll make a list, because i love lists. Korean: Surprisingly the most difficult language out there. Most Koreans always try to speak english with you, there can be hundreds of different verb conjugations depending on many factors. Koreans tend to blur their words worse then Australians. It's another two alphabet system. Hangul, and Hanjas, borrowed Chinese Characters. Room for momentary gain is low. Chinese (Mandarin): Easier then you think. For example, learning to spell a word is kind of like learning a character. Tones aren't that big of an challenge either. If I say. You speak Chinese. But if i raise my voice at the end of the sentence, it becomes. You speak Chinese? It's more complex then that of course, but that's the gist of it. Learning Mandarin is rather chic and it has HUGE momentary gain. Syntax is rather simple, verbs never change form either. No conjugation, no declination, no masculine or feminine, no singular nor plural forms. Speaking is easy, taking about a year. Reading will take you 3 or 4 years though. But by then you would have already mastered the verbal language. Japanese: See-OP. Don't go for Korean imo, try Japanese or Chinese. [editline]7th January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Disseminate;39125084]For most languages you're realistically not going to sound like a native unless the only thing you're doing is practising 8 hours a day. I know Benny from FI3M has confused native Spanish speakers before but to my knowledge that's it.[/QUOTE] I've been complimented on my accent before. I think it's due to how much listening i do. If you constantly listen, you will unconsciously start speaking that way.
Chinese: Would be my best option since it's the only language with a decent school where i live and i also study german at this school. Korean: Nowhere here to learn this, unless i want to teach myself. Japanese: There's a very cheap state school, but very far from my house. I guess i'll go with chinese then. But deep inside my level of interest in Korean is higher than Chinese. [editline]7th January 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Disseminate;39125084]For most languages you're realistically not going to sound like a native unless the only thing you're doing is practising 8 hours a day. I know Benny from FI3M has confused native Spanish speakers before but to my knowledge that's it.[/QUOTE] I know a german that lives here in Brazil since ever(20~30 years). Even though he does large speeches multiple times a day(He's a priest) you can still notice his accent.
[QUOTE=JaspertheDoxie;39118132]You must be learning Austrian-Swiss German then, Germany Germans don't roll their Rs.[/QUOTE] Also, how about this for esperanto for the OP? [U][B]Esperanto[/B][/U] Difficulty: 1 out of 5 A little language you may or may not have heard of, Created in 1887, designed to be an international language, a secondary language everybody could learn. And yet retain their original language and culture. Not quite a chic language but if you happen to meet one of the 2-10 million speakers of esperanto, you will definately make friends with them. And you could consider it more useful than say, latvian, where all the speakers are concentrated in a small area, Esperantists are all over the world. Grammar consists of the same word order as english, and nouns, adjectives, verbs are all recognizable on sight by the word ending, including which form they are used in (Such as past or present tense). There are no exceptions to the grammatical rules, which can be learned in a matter of weeks. There are also no genders, complex verb conjugation, none of that! Vocabulary consists of about 2000 words, new words are formed by chaining two or more together, a real bonus here though is that you will recognize many words on sight, ESPECIALLY if you know latin. And esperantists tend to be very helpful if you somehow have any problems. If you wish to give this a try, [URL="http://pacujo.net/esperanto/course/"]click this link[/URL] and sign up for the 10 lesson email course, which also includes a vocabulary list. How's that?
[QUOTE=The Aussie;39125167] If you constantly listen, you will unconsciously start speaking that way.[/QUOTE] Oh... talking in your sleep probably isn't good
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;39126439] How's that?[/QUOTE] That's much better then what i've been doing. Thanks!
You should add [URL="http://lang-8.com/"]Lang-8[/URL] to the OP, it's very useful for practicing and you also help other people.
If anyone needs help with Romanian, I can help (although I doubt anyone would bother with it. Even though it's a Latin language, most people don't mention it).
[QUOTE=thelurker1234;39126439]I don't think north germans just go with the normal english R, I can swear they don't. but they roll it much less. or whatever the fuck. I cant roll it in german yet. Also, how about this for esperanto for the OP?[/QUOTE] You took me out of context. Germany Germans don't roll their Rs, NOR do the English rhotic R. Their R is guttural, the sound that has gained them the reputation of being a harsh language.
[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;39126134]I guess i'll go with chinese then. But deep inside my level of interest in Korean is higher than Chinese.[/QUOTE] Take Korean then. You'll excel at whatever interests you.
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