[QUOTE=bunnyspy1;33496764]I respect you guys because you learned a new language at a young age. I barely know spanish even though it's taught in school.[/QUOTE]
You gotta get on that, bro :v:
[editline]29th November 2011[/editline]
Err I mean--¡ponéte las pilas y aprendé, gringo!
[QUOTE=bunnyspy1;33496764]I respect you guys because you learned a new language at a young age. I barely know spanish even though it's taught in school.[/QUOTE]
's not like spanish is necessary or anything.
I learnt English because i liked the language AND because it was on most of my entertainment like movies, music and videogames.
Truly wanting to learn something helps a LOT to learn it faster and easier.
1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?
I don't freaking know, it was just a freak burst of knowledge one day, probably from all the English online games I used to play. I do consider myself fluent.
2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?
I think both are equal, maybe written is better than spoken.
3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?
Never, except during English classes of course.
4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?
That freaking lack of a starting question mark makes me forget about them when I have to write a question in Spanish.
9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?
As already stated, I learnt from online games, but it all bursted out randomly one day. It was a bit difficult, trying to manually translate anything anyone said.
[editline]30th November 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Pretiacruento;33497770]Err I mean--¡ponéte las pilas y aprendé, gringo![/QUOTE]
"You gotta get on that, bro" would translate to:
''¡Tienes que ponerte a eso, chaval!", "bro" being replaced by "hermano" if you'd like.
[IMG]http://www.facepunch.com//fp/emoot/eng101.gif[/IMG]
1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?
From school. No, I wouldn't.
2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?
I type better than speak, and my typing is terrible.
3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?
Very rarely, I don't usually need it outside the internet.
4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?
The diferent pronunciations.
76. (Got this idea from Yzoo) When thinking, do you think in your native tongue or English, or a bit of both?
Sometimes. How would I not do that if I've been using internet for years.
This is a very informative thread.
I liked reading about how all of you learned English.
1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?
I started learning around in primary school, really basic stuff. Plus TV and english media. If an age is required, I'd say around 6 or 7 years old.
I consider myself fluent. I have taken the 3 last exams from Cambridge, FCE, CAE, and CPE, and was approved in all of them.
2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?
I type better than I speak. I actually rarely speak, because there's no need for it at all, while I type everyday here on facepunch, for example.
3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?
Not that often. Now that I moved to a new country, I started using it a bit more to talk to other people who came from other countries and such, but other than that theres absolutely no need for it.
4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?
About the language, I'd say pronunciation is tricky, since 1 word can be read in 2 or more different ways. For example read, or bass. It doesn't make sense, but you have to live with it. Another thing would be using phrasal verbs and idioms, which are the key to fluent english. If not in the right mindset, they're hard to understand.
9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?
I'd say most of my english came from TV and videogames. I used to spend a lot of time watching tv and playing, and that's how I learned the basics I guess.
76. (Got this idea from Yzoo) When thinking, do you think in your native tongue or English, or a bit of both?
It totally depends on what language was I exposed the most during the day. Sometimes people speak in a certain language for so long I start thinking in the same language after a while. If I spend time on the internet, I'm bound to start thinking in english, as most of it is in the same language
I don't know how many others on here were in a similar position, but here's my reply:
[release]
[B]1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?[/B]
Around 7 or 8. When I was in first grade I needed the multilingual Spanish teacher to help translate. I also had a lot of help from a tutor. I'm very fluent in English, now. Actually, English was so much more involved in my life that I kind of forgot a lot of Russian language due to lack of practice, like the alphabet, spelling and grammar.
[B]2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?[/B]
I speak and write about the same, though sometimes I can mess up while talking.
[B]3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?[/B]
Everyday, considering I live in the US.
[B]4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?[/B]
Other than occasional pronunciation fuck-ups, nothing really. Grammar is notoriously frustrating for everyone.
[B]9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?[/B]
This question kinda applies, since I learned it mostly through a private tutor and a helpful Spanish teacher. However, a large chunk came from interaction with other kids.
[B]76. (Got this idea from Yzoo) When thinking, do you think in your native tongue or English, or a bit of both?[/B]
I think in English the vast majority of the time.
[/release]
I am jealous of you guys, I have some sort of fucking learning disability when it comes to learning a new language. I have tried to learn Spanish several times and I keep on forgetting words and such, then a lot of things don't make sense to me.
1. As soon as I started playing games, that was before I was 10 (I'm not sure, my notion of time sucks), because my older brother was already a gamer and taught me a lot of computer shit when I was very young
2. I believe that typing is much easier, though I haven't had much time to practice speaking it, I've only been to the US once, and even there I didn't have many chances to speak it as I was always with Brazilians
3. I actually think in English 50% of the time, for some reason, much like some other people in this thread. Maybe it's my way of practicing it. Other than that, I also like to sing along when listening to music I enjoy, but not much more than that.
4. Sometimes I keep wondering "wait, is this sentence I just wrote correct?" and stuff like that, but nothing else, really. It's an easy language.
9. I learned it from the internet mostly; I remember that my English used to suck, but it suddenly got much better after I started playing games online and actually interacting with other people. I went to an English school after I already knew some of it, though.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';33498256]I am jealous of you guys, I have some sort of fucking learning disability when it comes to learning a new language. I have tried to learn Spanish several times and I keep on forgetting words and such, then a lot of things don't make sense to me.[/QUOTE]
I picked French at my school. Even though I've been learning for years, and my vocabulary and sentences have improved, I still feel uncomfortable using it. I think it depends on how you're learning it and where you're learning it from. Learning a language early helps, as well as being forced to use it very often as opposed to just learning it in a school.
[editline]29th November 2011[/editline]
Actually I think this website was posted in another thread. It's helpful: [url]http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html[/url]
[B]1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?[/B]
-I started learning it when I was 12 years old. I'm fully fluent and handle a vast vocabulary.
[B]2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?[/B]
- I can speak and type it equally well, I have a really good pronunciation and a somewhat british accent (my english teachers were british, so it stuck with me)
[B]3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet? [/B]
- I always think in english and speak to myself in english. Most of my friends speak english as well, so I speak with them too. I work as a receptionist at a hotel so I usually have to speak in english.
[B]4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?[/B]
- The "r" in certain words such as "Girl" "World". Also the non-sensical pronunciation rules for each letter. For spanish speakers it's often hard to get a good pronunciation as pronunciation in Spanish is pretty straight forward, all letters sound the same all the time, "A" will always sound as "aa" and not "ei" or other variation.
[B]9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?[/B]
- I learned the basics at an english academy, but mostly on my own watching TV in english with subtitles off and listening to music in english. I'd say learning english has been one of the things I've enjoyed the most and in comparisson to Spanish or French, English is pretty fucking easy I'd say.
[editline]30th November 2011[/editline]
Also, something that I hate about english:
[B]NO GENDER DIFFERENTIATION[/B] [I]FUCK..[/I]
It creates too much confusion when using plural pronouns. Also no way of indicating if you're talking about a friend (girl) or boy as for some reason english speakers decided to call their lovers boyfriends and girlfriends.
1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?
When my mom told me to say mommy.
2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?
I don't have a wide vocabulary when speaking due to having such a short time to think.
I type errything.
3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?
Everyday.
4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?
Nothing.
9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?
My mom man.
[B]When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?[/B]
Around 4th grade I think, although most kids my age were pretty confident in basic English by then. We hardly ever dubbed children's programs back when I was a kid so I learned a lot from just watching cartoons and reading subtitles.
[B]Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?[/B]
I'm definitely more comfortable with writing it, my accent makes me stumble over words a lot since Icelandic doesn't have that thing where emphasis on certain letters varies on where it is in the word, if that makes any sense.
[B]How often do you use English when not on the Internet? [/B]
Hardly ever.
[B]Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?[/B]
Exceptions to rules, takes a lifetime to wrap your head around if you're not a native speaker.
[B]For Scandinavians, kinda off-topic but: how many other Scandinavian languages do you know? I ask because apparently more than a few of you guys can speak at least one or two other Scandinavian languages with at least basic conversation level. Do you get a sense of that?[/B]
I can read Swedish and Norwegian adequately, I struggle with Danish though. I never really get the chance to communicate with either Norwegians or Swedes so I'm not that good at keeping a conversation going, I can write in either languages mostly by guesswork by comparing what I know of each. The majority of Icelanders are completely fluent in one or more though.
[B]When thinking, do you think in your native tongue or English, or a bit of both? [/B]
It varies actually, if I've learned about topics or concepts solely in English then I'll usually use the English terms for them in my head.
I enjoy spotting loan-words and such between Icelandic and modern English since they both have some common roots.
Odd, alot of you guys seem to be saying that it's a pretty easy language when my German teacher says that it's actually one of the more difficult ones to learn, mostly due to all the weird bullshit rules.
[B]1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?[/B]
I naturally spoke a little english around the age of 6, but I started learning at 8
[B]2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?[/B]
More comfortable writing it, I can't pronounce words well.
[B]3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?[/B]
Most of the time.
[B]
4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?[/B]
Pronouncement mistakes, I get confused with grammar.
[B]9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?[/B]
I guess TV when I was a little boy, since I don't know any other languages yet. It was easy.
[B]
76. (Got this idea from Yzoo) When thinking, do you think in your native tongue or English, or a bit of both? [/B]
I think in English. I get confused when I think in my native tongue.
[QUOTE=Tark;33499693]Odd, alot of you guys seem to be saying that it's a pretty easy language when my German teacher says that it's actually one of the more difficult ones to learn, mostly due to all the weird bullshit rules.[/QUOTE]
It is pretty hard if you're getting into the nitty gritty, but it's that way with most languages.
I found German pretty easy to pick up because of its structure, but I'm sure if I dove deeper there would've been rules that threw me off guard.
[QUOTE=Sgt. Lulz;33497974]"You gotta get on that, bro" would translate to:
''¡Tienes que ponerte a eso, chaval!", "bro" being replaced by "hermano" if you'd like.
[IMG]http://www.facepunch.com//fp/emoot/eng101.gif[/IMG][/QUOTE]
Tiene razón el Sargento Risaz :v:
i feel incapable of learning language
i'd like to know at least one other than english
[b]1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?[/b]
I don't know, probably around 8-9. I'm not fully fluent, but almost.
[b]2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?[/b]
I'm pretty sure I type it better.
[b]3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?[/b]
Not very often.
[b]4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?[/b]
Nope.
[b]9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?[/b]
I was always browsing English websites, watching TV in English with subtitles and listening to music in English. I learned from all this over time.
I wasn't forced to learn it at all and never thought about it, so it was pretty unintentional.
I already knew most of what was taught at school.
[b]76. When thinking, do you think in your native tongue or English, or a bit of both?[/b]
Mostly in English, but sometimes in Russian and Hebrew.
Also, I'm not even as fluent in Russian and Hebrew as I am in English. Every single object has a gender and there are millions of variations for one word.
[QUOTE=Tark;33499693]Odd, alot of you guys seem to be saying that it's a pretty easy language when my German teacher says that it's actually one of the more difficult ones to learn, mostly due to all the weird bullshit rules.[/QUOTE]
It's simple because:
- No gender differentiation
- No pronoun specific verb conjugation, and easy past tense conjugation (most verbs in past tense are verb+ed)
It's hard because:
- Non-sensical pronunciation
- Weird perfect present and perfect-past tense rules
In spanish for instance, conjugation of verbs is pretty fucked up:
[B]Verb "ir" (go) in present[/B]
yo (I) [B]voy[/B]
tu (you) [B]vas[/B]
el/ella (he/she) [B]va[/B]
Nosotros (we) [B]vamos[/B]
Ustedes (you) [B]van[/B]
Ellos/ellas (they) [B]van[/B]
[B]In past:[/B]
Yo [B]Fui[/B]
Tu[B] fuiste[/B]
el [B]fue[/B]
nosotros [B]fuimos[/B]
ustedes [B]fueron[/B]
ellos[B] fueron[/B]
[B]in future[/B]
Yo [B]iré[/B]
tu[B] iras[/B]
el[B] ira[/B]
nosotros[B] iremos[/B]
ustedes[B] irán[/B]
ellos [B]irán[/B]
See? it's something different for almost every pronoun and time, instead english is more straightforward.
here's a little observation from an english only speaker. why would an object ever need a gender? the assigning of gender to a chair or a cup is just convoluted.
also, as barttool posted, having a dozen words for every different form of something as simple as "go" does not make any sense.
in english it's go, goes, will go and went and they all make sense in their respective places.
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;33500631]here's a little observation from an english only speaker. why would an object ever need a gender? the assigning of gender to a chair or a cup is just convoluted.
also, as barttool posted, having a dozen words for every different form of something as simple as "go" does not make any sense.
in english it's go, goes, will go and went and they all make sense in their respective places.[/QUOTE]
It's just particularities of the language, they don't have a logical explenation, but that's the way they have evolved. And I personally prefer to have gender differentiation, at least when talking about people.
Something I like about spanish is that it's a very precise language. You can describe exactly what you're talking about in few words. Also the punctuation rules are pretty useful for differentiating words that are written and pronounced the same but mean different things Example:
[B]Se[/B] - it's an auxiliary word for reflexive verbs (these exist in french and italian, as far as I'm concerned) for instance [B]Se afeitaba - he shaved himself[/B] (see how you can say more with less words?)
[B]sé[/B] First person present tense conjugation of the verb [B]Saber[/B] (to know)
That little accent tell each other apart. And also, accents work to know which syllable of a word has the strongest voice tone. for instance:
[B]pague[/B](imperative of the verb [B]pagar[/B] - To pay) or [B]Pagué[/B] (first person past tense conjugation of the same verb)
Gee, I think I'm getting a little out of hand with the spanish lessons :v: (I enjoy linguistics very much)
1. When did you start learning English? Would you consider yourself fully fluent now?
when I started school everyone was speaking english instead of french so I had to pick it up pretty quickly. I'm better at english now than my native french
2. Can you type it better than speak it, or vice versa?
no not really
3. How often do you use English when not on the Internet?
about 50/50
4. Anything particularly weird or frustrating about English you know of?
AP stylebook says no oxford commas but I think they're better.
9. If you didn't learn English from school, how did you learn it? Was it difficult?
it wasn't from school so much as because of school. It wasn't difficult, I hadn't been speaking that long at all at the time
75. For Scandinavians, kinda off-topic but: how many other Scandinavian languages do you know? I ask because apparently more than a few of you guys can speak at least one or two other Scandinavian languages with at least basic conversation level. Do you get a sense of that?
n/a
76. (Got this idea from Yzoo) When thinking, do you think in your native tongue or English, or a bit of both?
I don't really think in a language, I wasn't aware that people did. I think in thoughts.
Really I'm more-so speaking from the point of view of an American born, English only speaker. I was talking about objects having gender differentiation. People and anything that actually has a gender should obviously be referred to as such, but assigning a gender arbitrarily to an object just seems silly and pointless.
As for Spanish, and this is my opinion, what good is it to be able to use less words if you practically have a different word for each tense? For a non-native speaker it's just hard to learn, hard to remember and it doesn't help how poorly it's taught here anyways.
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;33500905]Really I'm more-so speaking from the point of view of an American born, English only speaker. I was talking about objects having gender differentiation. People and anything that actually has a gender should obviously be referred to as such, but assigning a gender arbitrarily to an object just seems silly and pointless.
As for Spanish, and this is my opinion, what good is it to be able to use less words if you practically have a different word for each tense? For a non-native speaker it's just hard to learn, hard to remember and it doesn't help how poorly it's taught here anyways.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but if it's your native language, then all those problems are moot, and it's actually useful. The thing I hate about english, as I said before, is that there is no fluid way of explaining that you're talking about a he or a she when using general nouns like friend, attorney, doctor etc.. You'd have to stop and explain "A woman doctor" or something along those lines. Instead in spanish you can easily differentiate with doctor/doctora, abogado/abogada (attorney)
Something that does makes me cringe however, in french, [B]countries have genders[/B]. If you think giving objects genders is illogical think about giving countries genders, and it's not like there are rules for assigning the gender, it's all arbitrarily chosen, you have to learn them by heart. What the actual fuck.
well you're now referring to titles of people, which i can understand. I would say that objects are just as arbitrary. For example, why would the female gender be any more appropriate to assign to a computer than the male gender? It's simpler to just consider the object genderless.
countries having genders is pointless, yes.
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;33501057]well you're now referring to titles of people, which i can understand. I would say that objects are just as arbitrary. For example, why would the female gender be any more appropriate to assign to a computer than the male gender? It's simpler to just consider the object genderless.
countries having genders is pointless, yes.[/QUOTE]
Worst part, is that you HAVE to learn the genders, because it influences how certain phrases are written
Je suis allé [B]au[/B] Panama (I went to panama). It's [B]au[/B] and not [B]en[/B] because it's masculine and starts with a consonant.
School
I'm impressed by all the non native english speakers who speak it so well. Some speak it better than I do sometimes... English just seems like it'd be so hard to learn. So many irregularities in pronunciation. That's why I like Spanish, There aren't really any irregular pronunciations, just conjugations...and even those have pretty easy rules.
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