Language Learner's Thread - Cunning Linguists Welcome.

[Samiam]

[QUOTE=ViralHatred;51743483]To make a long story short for a while I had a Romanian girlfriend and I learnt a few little things but very little and well that has now passed. Her mother is leaving the UK to go back home to Romania and since I harbour no ill will to her or her daughter I'm writing a "Good Luck" card for her.

Now from what I was told by my former partner, Cards aren't such a big or common thing in Romania though whether this is true or not I do not know, but I'm having a little difficulty trying to work out what to say and googletranslate is hardly the best place to work from.

Here is what I have so far:
"La [I]Her Name[/I],
Fost pare bine de cunoștință tu (It was nice to meet you)
Iti doresc noroc, sănătate și bogatie (Luck, Health and Wealth? I was trying to say "Good Fortune")
Călătorie plăcută! / Drum bun! (Safe Travels?)
Păstrăm legătura! (Keep in touch)
Dragoste, (Love)
[I]My Name[/I]"

Any help would be very much appreciated if anyone here happens to be from or know any Romanian.[/QUOTE]

[url=http://en.bab.la/phrases/personal/letter/english-romanian/]bab.la[/url] has a "phrases" section in languages such as Romanian that you can basically copy and paste. Don't worry about getting things wrong, because I'm sure that speaking in her native language will mean a lot. Google translate usually don't completely butcher what you're trying to say as long as you use correct grammar and aren't overly poetic.

You might have some luck with [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/translator/[/url]. Post your letter there and see if any Romanian speakers might be willing to help out.

[ViralHatred]

[QUOTE=Samiam22;51744274]You might have some luck with [url]https://www.reddit.com/r/translator/[/url]. Post your letter there and see if any Romanian speakers might be willing to help out.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for this tip, I found someone who helped me translate better and ended up with:
[QUOTE]Dragă [I]Her[/I], (Dear Her)
A fost o onoare să vă cunosc. (It was an honor to meet you)
Vă urez noroc, sănătate şi drum bun. (I wish you luck, health and safe travels)
Sper să ținem legătura. (I hope we keep in touch)
Cu dragoste, (with love)
[I]Me[/I].[/QUOTE]

[fartparty]

Can you play around with other languages, introducing new slang all the time or is that something unique to english?

[helifreak]

[QUOTE=inebriaticxp;51778272]Can you play around with other languages, introducing new slang all the time or is that something unique to english?[/QUOTE]

Japanese abuses the shit out of slang.

[Sobotnik]

[QUOTE=inebriaticxp;51778272]Can you play around with other languages, introducing new slang all the time or is that something unique to english?[/QUOTE]

pretty much every language does that, unless its a dead one like latin

innovation is the lifeblood of a language

[TaintedTurnip]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm trying to learn Greek for my girlfriend, she's Greek from birth, and she's taught me bits here and there. Wondering if any of you lovely gents could help me out with the best places for learning Greek.

[inaba]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;51778351]pretty much every language does that, unless its a dead one like latin

innovation is the lifeblood of a language[/QUOTE]

This. Slang is pretty much just language that haven't been officially implemented yet

[Samiam]

[QUOTE=LuckyLuke;51779272]Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm trying to learn Greek for my girlfriend, she's Greek from birth, and she's taught me bits here and there. Wondering if any of you lovely gents could help me out with the best places for learning Greek.[/QUOTE]

Duolingo has a Greek course. It's a very good starting point for any language due to how polished it is. Resources for learning Greek are a little bit rare (the language isn't that widely spoken, to start with), but it isn't impossible. I found [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/GREEK/comments/279s9s/so_you_want_to_learn_greek_greek_language/]this[/url] on reddit which seems to have a bunch of helpful places to look. Greek is a bit difficult and obscure for an English speaker, so unless surprising her with a sudden knowledge of Greek is your intention, then it would be best if you got her to help as much as you could. Practice speaking with her (or writing short messages) as soon as you're able.

[YuriNikolai]

Not sure if this has been asked before (a few months late on this one), but i'd like to know this thread's opinions on Arrival (the 2016 movie). If anyone here is a linguist, can you compare the movie's depiction of the profession with the real thing? Obviously there's a difference between another civilization and an ancient human one, but i'd like to hear what you all have to say about it, since i saw the trailer a while ago and am trying to figure out if it's worth watching.
Sorry for off-topic, btw.

[fartparty]

i loved it but i have to say i'm much more of a fanboy for aliens than language so i'm biased

[editline]9th February 2017[/editline]

it had a bit about the "sanskrit word for war" [sp]"a desire for more cows"[/sp] i thought was kind of silly but otherwise the alien language did end up kind of "making sense"

[Griff]

Me and my sis started learning Dutch together on Duolingo and it's pretty fun.

[ashxu]

is there an anki "core2k" deck for chinese? Like a deck of the most chinese phrases or something.

[smallpants]

I've found lately that the easiest way to improve my French is through music. I stumbled across Paradis early last summer, and I'm still figuring out the grammar and vocabulary from the lyrics, making connections to other things I read.

Also, I developed a gigantic crush on the singer, Simon Meny.

I just bought their latest album on vinyl and I'm using their upcoming tour as an excuse to blow my savings on my first trip to France.

send help

[video=youtube;5H4ekRWiW6U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H4ekRWiW6U[/video]

[sp]is there a Paradis fandom?[/sp]

[editline]26th February 2017[/editline]

et j'espere qu'un jour tu me pardonneras

[Rockeiro]

I'm trying to teach myself russian and I've been using [URL="http://learnrussian.rt.com/"]http://learnrussian.rt.com/[/URL] they have good resources and lessons but sometimes they can get a bit confusing, like someone skipped 2 steps while I wasn't looking. Can someone recommend some alternative sites to learn?

[smallpants]

How similar is Portuguese to French? They're both Romance languages but Portuguese seems to have more Latin left in it than French does.

How different is Brazilian Portuguese from Continental Portuguese?

[gast91]

I used to attempt to learn Japanese under the course of a few weeks.
Like may other things, I paid less and less attention to it and eventually gave up.
I would love to learn a third language but I just don't have the attention span to give myself the time.

[vizard38]

Been learning a bit of Arabic and its quite a tricky language. There are a lot of rules in both writing and speaking and its often difficult trying to keep them all correctly. I can create simple paragraphs though more complicated ones are a challenge to construct.

[YuriNikolai]

[QUOTE=Adelle Zhu;51900159]How similar is Portuguese to French? They're both Romance languages but Portuguese seems to have more Latin left in it than French does.

How different is Brazilian Portuguese from Continental Portuguese?[/QUOTE]

Portuguese and French are like english and German IMO. Some similarities but in overall very different, and speaking one won't let you understand the other one.

As for different Portuguese types, keep in mind there are more than just PT-PT and PT-BR, as several African countries have their own variants. The diference between PT-PT and PT-BR is mostly pronunciation and vocabulary, with structure being almost the same. Usually if one won't understand the other, it's just a matter of talking slower and explaining one or another word.

It's a different case for African portuguese, i for one cannot compreehend most of it. But again, it's speech and vocabulary differences mostly.

By the way, One of the 2012 grammar reformulation's goals was making punctuation and some other things equal between PT-PT and PT-BR.

[maeZtro]

So I'm learning Russian and want to be able to have basic conversations this summer with a woman I'm going to meet that I've been talking to for some time now. Any tips on how to learn faster?

I have gone through the alphabet in two days now and learned some really basic words. I'm planning on using both duolingo and memrise everyday for about 30 min as I did today and I've taped Cyrillic letters to my keys on my keyboard.

[Samiam]

[QUOTE=maeZtro;52080732]So I'm learning Russian and want to be able to have basic conversations this summer with a woman I'm going to meet that I've been talking to for some time now. Any tips on how to learn faster?

I have gone through the alphabet in two days now and learned some really basic words. I'm planning on using both duolingo and memrise everyday for about 30 min as I did today and I've taped Cyrillic letters to my keys on my keyboard.[/QUOTE]

The big important thing with Russian is the case system. Russian inflects strongly by case (like Turkish or Latin), compared to English which only has a very small amount of case usage (English prefers word order and the addition of supplementary words). Getting a good understanding of cases and how they are used in Russian will cover pretty much all the grammar you need to know in order to communicate in basic Russian. After that, it will just be a matter of learning a usable amount of vocabulary as well as some idiomatic knowledge, and Duolingo will help you with that.

[url=https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Russian/Grammar/Cases]Wikibooks[/url] has a bunch of good starting lessons to help get you an idea of this concept.

[maeZtro]

[QUOTE=Samiam22;52088178]The big important thing with Russian is the case system. Russian inflects strongly by case (like Turkish or Latin), compared to English which only has a very small amount of case usage (English prefers word order and the addition of supplementary words). Getting a good understanding of cases and how they are used in Russian will cover pretty much all the grammar you need to know in order to communicate in basic Russian. After that, it will just be a matter of learning a usable amount of vocabulary as well as some idiomatic knowledge, and Duolingo will help you with that.

[url=https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Russian/Grammar/Cases]Wikibooks[/url] has a bunch of good starting lessons to help get you an idea of this concept.[/QUOTE]

Thank you very much! I got myself a copy of colloquial Russian and I think it covers cases.

[reevezy67]

Watching the Mulan TV series. 《花木兰》 Shit's fantastic, but it's difficult being so old, some of the words I had no idea about but are actually so simple, like 爹, 闺女.

What I am noticing is that I can pick up words I don't know much easier now, like I can hear a word and instantly know the pinyin, remember it, guess from context the meaning and check a dictionary while still being able to listen and watch the show without pausing and without losing my place.

Intermediate/advanced is a whole other ball game, I feel like I'm starting to get over a huge wall though.

[helifreak]

Picking up words passively is the best feeling.

[Caarle..]

Any tips on learning grammar efficiently? I've been actively using Memrise, Wanikani and other such apps for Japanese for a while now, but getting some grammar practice in seems like such a hassle compared to spending 15 minutes every once in a while to practice vocabulary.

In total I spend probably like 2 hours per day for vocabulary but trying to understand some basic grammar takes me so long and feels so inefficient every time.

For grammar I've been using my 2 Japanese text books and Tae Kim's Complete Japanese Guide.

[helifreak]

[QUOTE=Calkkuna;52123499]Any tips on learning grammar efficiently? I've been actively using Memrise, Wanikani and other such apps for Japanese for a while now, but getting some grammar practice in seems like such a hassle compared to spending 15 minutes every once in a while to practice vocabulary.

In total I spend probably like 2 hours per day for vocabulary but trying to understand some basic grammar takes me so long and feels so inefficient every time.

For grammar I've been using my 2 Japanese text books and Tae Kim's Complete Japanese Guide.[/QUOTE]

Find something you want to read (I picked a visual novel) and read it. My grammar after 80 hours of reading that book took me from being confused to being able to figure shit out. Also can have the advantage of having grammar that's real fucking hard to practice in normal conversation because it's rarely used. Don't recall a single time that a 2 hour reading session after doing a chapter of Tae Kim's guide failed to make me notice grammar I didn't understand before.

Bring a dictionary and have a vocab lesson with relevant words that you'll actually remember.

[Sobotnik]

so far my policy has been to try saying what i want to say by making extensive use of word compounding and the like to string things together and to ask "what is X in finnish/english" in addition to plugging in gaps with words from english or latin

it's a real mess but i can be understood and corrected

my favourite thing so far was I didn't know the word for dwarf in finnish (kääpiö), so i just said "pikkumies" which means "littleman" until somebody corrected me

[Caarle..]

[QUOTE=helifreak;52124152]Find something you want to read (I picked a visual novel) and read it. My grammar after 80 hours of reading that book took me from being confused to being able to figure shit out. Also can have the advantage of having grammar that's real fucking hard to practice in normal conversation because it's rarely used. Don't recall a single time that a 2 hour reading session after doing a chapter of Tae Kim's guide failed to make me notice grammar I didn't understand before.

Bring a dictionary and have a vocab lesson with relevant words that you'll actually remember.[/QUOTE]

I guess I'll just have to sit down and do some good old fashioned studying then. I've learned a lot here already by bringing them up with my coworkers and they explain them to me in Japanese.

Problem with reading is kanji. I tried a while back to read my Boku no Hero Academias and One Punch Mans I had, but every time I ran into a kanji, I was stuck trying to translate it for the longest time. I guess I'll try again as I've learned many since then.
Let's hope there's more furiganas than I remember there being.

[maeZtro]

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;52124306]so far my policy has been to try saying what i want to say by making extensive use of word compounding and the like to string things together and to ask "what is X in finnish/english" in addition to plugging in gaps with words from english or latin

it's a real mess but i can be understood and corrected

my favourite thing so far was I didn't know the word for dwarf in finnish (kääpiö), so i just said "pikkumies" which means "littleman" until somebody corrected me[/QUOTE]

I think this is the best way to learn if you are only interested in talking and can somehow immerse yourself in the language. Children doesn't need to know grammar to learn how to talk.

[U-Lander]

Does anyone have any experience with language immersion? Like not even necessarily education, but jumping off somewhere where you know you aren't ready to fully function in that language?

I am going to a French-language performance school in Belgium in the fall, and I have only taken rudimentary French courses starting in January, supplemented by using Lingvst to build vocab. I just want to hear any perspectives anyone might have regarding jumping in like that.

[helifreak]

[QUOTE=U-Lander;52169660]Does anyone have any experience with language immersion? Like not even necessarily education, but jumping off somewhere where you know you aren't ready to fully function in that language?

I am going to a French-language performance school in Belgium in the fall, and I have only taken rudimentary French courses starting in January, supplemented by using Lingvst to build vocab. I just want to hear any perspectives anyone might have regarding jumping in like that.[/QUOTE]

Not quite the same level of difficulty but I swapped Windows over to Japanese way before I could read good and it worked out pretty great.