• Language Learning - Parlez-Vous français?
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My dad bought this for me today, without me knowing. [url]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Take-Off-Spanish-Book/dp/0198609159[/url] It looks really good.
[QUOTE=Maruhai;37052576]I understand Italian people and I only learned Spanish for two years.[/QUOTE] Really? I can't even understand [i]Spanish[/i] people for the most part and I've been taught Spanish for three years and French for one. Once I know what the word means I can usually always conjugate it and stuff, but my actual functioning vocabulary is on par with most Spanish-speaking three-year-olds. :v: I'd have to rate myself an A1 in both languages, sadly.
Does anyone have any tips on spelling in German? I find it so hard to spell out a word I hear in Rosetta Stone.
Can I get a litre of cola?
[QUOTE=Hell_Kyrone;37142592]Does anyone have any tips on spelling in German? I find it so hard to spell out a word I hear in Rosetta Stone.[/QUOTE] First learn the differences in letter pronunciation then just sound it out like you would English? I mean we use the same language, save for the occasional umlaut and ss or ß.
[QUOTE=Hell_Kyrone;37142592]Does anyone have any tips on spelling in German? I find it so hard to spell out a word I hear in Rosetta Stone.[/QUOTE]This can sound silly, but practice the Alphabet first. Make sure you know all the sounds, a-z, ü, ö, ä, ß, ie, ei, and so on. It's fairly simple. You might need to practice by reading too.
True, well thanks you. :D
[url]http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html[/url] is back up now
I found a useful video for who wants to learn the rolled Italian "R" [video=youtube;rFzS8J4-cUY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFzS8J4-cUY[/video]
If someone want to practice their Italian and Italian pronounciaton I can help you out through skype. Italian mother tongue with C2 english, B1 spanish and A2 german. PM if interested!
So I'm looking at apartments in Germany, and thanks to Google translate just sort of picking a translation and sticking to it, I got confused by all the ads I saw. An example: "WG 3 (2 women and 0 men) looking for a wife or husband." Needless to say I was curious.
Is it possible to learn Japanese to a fluent level (or at least a level where you can communicate properly) without taking actual classes? (and without buying hella expensive software or website access) I'm probably going to seriously start learning Japanese next year but for now I'm picking up small tidbits of the language. I've been playing this game called "My Japanese Coach" on the Nintendo DS. It's nothing intensive but it teaches you the basics like pronouns, how to say common words and basic sentences like "Today is Saturday" (kyou wa doyoubi desu)
[QUOTE=ashxu;37297703]Is it possible to learn Japanese to a fluent level (or at least a level where you can communicate properly) without taking actual classes?[/QUOTE] no unless you actually go to japan
[QUOTE=ashxu;37297703]Is it possible to learn Japanese to a fluent level (or at least a level where you can communicate properly) without taking actual classes? (and without buying hella expensive software or website access) I'm probably going to seriously start learning Japanese next year but for now I'm picking up small tidbits of the language. I've been playing this game called "My Japanese Coach" on the Nintendo DS. It's nothing intensive but it teaches you the basics like pronouns, how to say common words and basic sentences like "Today is Saturday" (kyou wa doyoubi desu)[/QUOTE] I used to play the DS game, it's better at teaching you the characters than words and phrases in my opinion.
So, I've read the OP, but I still have no clue what program to use for learning to read and write Japanese. I'd prefer to do one of the half an hour a day lessons, bringing the amount of time I spend a day learning to an hour. So, for anybody currently learning or has already learned Japanese reading and writing, what are you using? Is it good for a beginner? Money really isn't a problem. My uncle is currently learning, but he's using Rosetta Stone, so I guess I can't really ask him.
What you're asking for is Rosetta Stone. However, because it's only a half-hour per lesson, you won't learn it well.
[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;37043351]The Mandarin language isn't hard, its just different. I wouldn't say its guttural, but the tones can be hard to pick up if you can't hear them well. It is a VERY practical language regardless of business/travel (at least in the U.S.) because there are more asian immigrants than hispanic immigrants now. Also to Chezhead, one of OP's websites said its like learning a business logo. We do this all the time in the west: [url]http://blogs-images.forbes.com/greatspeculations/files/2012/06/300px-Starbucks_Corporation_Logo_2011.svg_.png[/url] [url]http://blog.shoemetro.com/images/Nike-800.jpg[/url] [url]http://www.findthatlogo.com/wp-content/gallery/pepsi-logos/old-pepsi-logo.jpg[/url] None of those images give any indication on how to pronounce them but you know what they mean just because you've seen them so much. And although reading is still rather hard regardless, its very rewarding because the writing system is the same all across China. Learning how to write will let you communicate with any Chinese dialect. Also, I [I]highly[/I] recommend if you want to learn Mandarin by yourself that you get an audio program as well because you need to be able to hear the tones (in English we use tones to indicate mood) [U]and[/U] that if you try to read pinyin like english it won't work. Its another language just like Spanish or German, and the letters are pronounced differently.[/QUOTE] As a native Chinese (Mandarin) speaker, you are correct. The tone of whatever you're saying is extremely important. This is the kind of thing, where if you mess up the tone, it becomes a whole different word. Here's an example. You might need language packs if you see boxes. mā má mǎ mà 妈 麻 马 骂 ([url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin#Tones]shamelessly stolen here. you can hear how it sounds like in the audio clip[/url]) The first word means "mom" (as in 妈妈) Second word has different meanings when used differently. It can be a noun, verb or adjective. As an adjective, it means "numb". Third means "horse". The last one is a verb, to scold. Most new non-native speakers don't bother with the tones, I've noticed. It'll screw up what you are saying and it can make understanding your speech very, very difficult. I struggle a lot when American actors in movies speak in Mandarin and it sounds terrible because they read it as it is and there's no tone (example: Limitless, last scene, at the restaurant). There are only 4 tones you need to worry about, and it's the same style for most words save for some special cases. You can see the accents to differentiate which is what. So for example, a sentence with a lot of similar hanyu pinyin, 我的妈妈骂那匹马 (my mother scolded that horse). Wǒ de māmā mà nà pǐ mǎ. Also, I took a look at French. Can't get those throat-y R sounds right.
Je parle francais et le fromage.
[QUOTE=Apache249;37300657]Je parle francais et le fromage.[/QUOTE] Oui, vous ete' el pinata no kawaii desu ne~ Mio pene ce firma HON HON HON HON
I appear to have discovered Chinese Omegle. [url]http://moluren.net[/url] [I]I can't google translate this shit fast enough[/I] [img]http://puu.sh/WwmK[/img] [quote]Stranger: Hello... You: Hello Stranger: In the United States, so far... You: u wot m8 Stranger: what?? You: Canada Stranger: Oh, I understand Stranger: M/F Stranger: "That is it now would" [google translate sucks] You: I am slave [meant to say "I am a girl/woman"] Stranger: What's your QQ? [chinese IM client] Stranger: What's your QQ? Stranger: Woman Stranger: Just the [QQ login] Stranger: You're trying to say you're a woman. You: Eat shit! [disconnect][/quote]
[QUOTE=Apache249;37300657]Je parle francais et le fromage.[/QUOTE] Vraiment ? Les fromages ont-ils une conversation intéressante ?
[QUOTE=Disseminate;37300844]I appear to have discovered Chinese Omegle. [url]http://moluren.net[/url] [I]I can't google translate this shit fast enough[/I] [img]http://puu.sh/WwmK[/img][/QUOTE] S: Hello Y: Hello S: You're in America. That's rather far. Y: u wot m8 S: what?? Y: Canada S: Oh oh, I get it now/I understand now. S: M/F S: What time is it over there? Y: I'm a slave. S: Do you have QQ? S: Do you have QQ? S: Female. S: Just the numbers/login id/username (can't tell). S: Are you trying to say you are a female/woman? Y: Eat shit. (he thinks you are trying to say you're female because the word 奴 (slave) is similar to 女(woman)
[QUOTE=Disseminate;37300072]What you're asking for is Rosetta Stone. However, because it's only a half-hour per lesson, you won't learn it well.[/QUOTE] Hmmm, I think I might just use it for the reading and another program for speaking. Thanks for the help.
Are languages in the OP rated according to difficulty? Russian is way harder than Japanese in my opinion. Anyway I'm trying to learn Norwegian and Swedish. They seem to be fairly simple languages but it's really hard to learn through study material instead of being in the country itself, I always have my doubts if the speech they use in text books would sound natural to a native :v: Probably because I took Japanese classes for a year and when I actually got to Japan I realised NO ONE speaks like that ever.
[QUOTE=Zanpa;37300944]Vraiment ? Les fromages ont-ils une conversation intéressante ?[/QUOTE] Oui, c'est très intéressant de parler avec les fromages.
Les fromage est muy bueno
[QUOTE=KlaseR;37326963]Les fromage est muy bueno[/QUOTE] 我不懂。。。
So, how difficult would it be to get a well paying job in Japanese translations? I have a talent for languages, so I was thinking of majoring in linguistics. Does it have any good career applications?
I've been playing MindSnacks (for french) on my iPhone. Pretty damn good. Basically flash cards in game form. It's also available in a few other languages, Spanish, Chinese, etc. It's a free app to download from the app store but you need to purchase the levels in the app. You get the first one free, and there are 50. You can get around this by using iAPcracker if you jailbreak.
[QUOTE=Levakama;37339241]So, how difficult would it be to get a well paying job in Japanese translations? I have a talent for languages, so I was thinking of majoring in linguistics. Does it have any good career applications?[/QUOTE] I'll tell you what many denies: A major in linguistics won't lead you anythere by itself. Languages are like a tool that has to be accompanied to a good hand-- by this I mean that you have to accompany your language knowledge to a know-how of something else. You won't get a office place if you don't know about either economy / marketing + languages. You won't become a teacher without another major in something educational research releated (and trust me you don't want to, most unrewarding job ever with the higher unemployment% too). You can become either a direct translator/book translator, but it's hard as hell and not for many. Either that or receptionist at a hotel (but tourism isn't important everywhere). At the end of the day knowing many languages is a surplus you can show you have on your Curriculum Vitae which may give you one more chance at getting a job against somebody who know just one language. But by itself will lead you nowhere, unless you live next to BFE where one person every 200 square kilometers speaks english fluently. I speak for personal experience, it's two years I got a degree as 'business specialist correspondent in foreign languages' (just european languages) and all I did are little translations ENG-ITA / ITA - DEU or DEU-ITA and got a place as website curator and translator + answering the phone (in ENG and SPA) for foreign calls in a nice office but for A MONTH AND A HALF and without a regular contract. Now studing in a language university and doing the whitewasher. My objective is to get the highest level in english (I'm now studing for the CAE) then open a bed&breakfast of mine. Hope this answers to your second question, can't tell about japanese tho, but the situation must be very, very similar. Then again it's uncomfortable to think that you might work you ass off to study english and japanese and else then somebody with a jap mother and eng father moves in your state after having lived in russia and is straight better than you at all them effortless.
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