Language Learner's Thread - Cunning Linguists Welcome.
703 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Empty_Shadow;47900598]日本語の学生です。
50% of people are bilingual?
That's way more than I expected.[/QUOTE]
It'll be the countries where English isn't their first language, or China (with a population of 1,393,783,836) where it isn't uncommon to know [I]another[/I] dialect of Chinese, I.e. Cantonese of the Yue Chinese branch.
大家好。
最近怎么样？
如果你有一个普通话的问题，告诉我吧！
（但是我不是中国人哈哈。Donny如果这不是正确的，纠正吧）
pls this not might be right but i think it is so yeah if you do know chinese and it sucks tell me
Grammar looks ok. Your vocab is better than mine.
你做非常好
Man i wish i could learn languages easily somehow, it's always been extremely difficult for me to remember vocabulary. Still trilingual tho, but if learning language as a requirement from school doesnt count then bilingual.
Hello :)
[QUOTE=Bumrang;47903241]Man i wish i could learn languages easily somehow, it's always been extremely difficult for me to remember vocabulary. Still trilingual tho, but if learning language as a requirement from school doesnt count then bilingual.
Hello :)[/QUOTE]
Remembering Vocab all depends on how passionate you are about learning the language. Sure it's not as easy as you get older but people still do it. I'm learning Mandarin at 21. That's not old but I don't have the brain advantage of a kid anymore.
[editline]8th June 2015[/editline]
School totally counts.
Before my Japanese degree starts I started teaching myself as much as I can. I started a week or two ago so here is all I know, but if anybody could tell me if I'm wrong in any of it? I've just memorised the Hiragana and a bit of Katakana (but not remembering enough to write, so I will only type what I can write without using a reference (from memory)). Hardly any Kanji yet, but I haven't started that.
じゅぎょう一のにほんご・なませんせい。おはようございます、おはようございました、こんいちは、こんばんは。わたしはいんぐらんど人です。すみません。わたしのなまえはAshleyです。おなめはなんですか？はい。いいえ。いい。とれいいはどこですか？ありがとうございます！（どうもありがとう）このはさけですか？いってだきます。わたしはばかがいじんじゃないです。しょうがない。おやすみなさい。おつかれさまです。
Hopefully I'll be going into the beginners class with an advantage before it really steps up.
I like Japanese with lots of kanji because I can often understand a little even though I know no hiragana or katakana.
The Google translation of what you wrote is pretty funny.
[quote]Lesson one Japanese and raw teacher. Good morning, Thank Good morning, Konichi is, tonight. I am a person England. Excuse me. My name is Ashley. What is Oname? Okay. No. Good. Where is Toreii? Thanks you! Is (Thank you) this Hasa only? to say to you fired. I'm not stupid foreigner. Ginger not. Good night. Otsukare is clients.[/quote]
You should add Pimsleur to the OP as well. It's basically just an audiobook that you listen to for 30 minutes each day. It won't teach you a ton, but it should at least get you acquainted with the basics of a language. I have a couple Serbian friends that were able to learn up to A2 level of Spanish with it, which admittedly isn't a lot, but is still pretty darn good for something you just listen to 30 minutes a day.
Also, anyone else living abroad while learning a language? It's terrifying as fuck to begin with, but once you get used to it then it becomes weird to hear someone speaking your native language.
[editline]8th June 2015[/editline]
What the heck's up with all the people learning Japanese :v:? Are you just doing it for fun? So you can watch anime or play Japanese games? Or are any of you actually planning on visiting the country? Honest question.
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;47905129]Before my Japanese degree starts I started teaching myself as much as I can. I started a week or two ago so here is all I know, but if anybody could tell me if I'm wrong in any of it? I've just memorised the Hiragana and a bit of Katakana (but not remembering enough to write, so I will only type what I can write without using a reference (from memory)). Hardly any Kanji yet, but I haven't started that.
じゅぎょう一のにほんご・なませんせい。おはようございます、おはようございました、こんいちは、こんばんは。わたしはいんぐらんど人です。すみません。わたしのなまえはAshleyです。おなめはなんですか？はい。いいえ。いい。とれいいはどこですか？ありがとうございます！（どうもありがとう）このはさけですか？いってだきます。わたしはばかがいじんじゃないです。しょうがない。おやすみなさい。おつかれさまです。
Hopefully I'll be going into the beginners class with an advantage before it really steps up.[/QUOTE]
頑張ってアシュリーさん
漢字はむずかしいでも。。。
あなたは’負けない！
ＮＥＶＥＲ ＧＩＶＥ ＵＰ
[quote=hiragana]がんばってあしゅりいさん
かんじはむずかしいでも。。。
あなたはまけない！[/quote]
[QUOTE=Sanjuaro;47905356]
What the heck's up with all the people learning Japanese :v:? Are you just doing it for fun? So you can watch anime or play Japanese games? Or are any of you actually planning on visiting the country? Honest question.[/QUOTE]
I'm learning Japanese because I'm planning on emigrating there. That's after I work there for a year though in 2017/18.
[QUOTE=Sanjuaro;47905356]
[editline]8th June 2015[/editline]
What the heck's up with all the people learning Japanese :v:? Are you just doing it for fun? So you can watch anime or play Japanese games? Or are any of you actually planning on visiting the country? Honest question.[/QUOTE]
All of the above
anime is cool, japanese video games are cool, japan is cool
I can already understand a fair bit of anime, I'm working on getting to the point I can play games in their native language, and I plan to go to japan once I have enough dosh for a holiday.
Always wanted to pick up a second language, and having the added perk of being able to watch raw anime and play unreleased games gives it a pretty solid advantage over other languages.
Also it actually has a really interesting structure which I find enjoyable to practice, I'm really glad I learned it instead of picking up a language closer to english
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;47899500]I'm not sure specifically but it's one of these:
Aichi Prefectural University
Akita International University
Daito Bunka University
Hokusei Gakuen University
The International University Of Kagoshima
Kanda University of International Studies
Kinjo Gakuin University
Kumamoto Gakuen University
Kurume University
Meio University
Mejiro University
Mie University
Mukogawa Women’s University
Nagasaki University of Foreign Studies
Nagoya University of Foreign Studies
Nagoya Women’s University
Oita University
Osaka International University
Ryukoku University
Seinan Gakuin University
Toyo University
Utsunomiya University
Yamaguchi University[/QUOTE]
Don't go to Nagoya if you can help it, it's shit. If you go somewhere on the west coast of Honshu or in Hokkaido, i hope you like snow, the whole area is stupidly beautiful though. If you end up going to Kyushu know that you can get a return ticket by ferry to Busan, South Korea for about a hundred Euros. South Korea is sick, well worth it, and the trip only takes three hours.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;47905422]Don't go to Nagoya if you can help it, it's shit. If you go somewhere on the west coast of Honshu or in Hokkaido, i hope you like snow, the whole area is stupidly beautiful though. If you end up going to Kyushu know that you can get a return ticket by ferry to Busan, South Korea for about a hundred Euros. South Korea is sick, well worth it, and the trip only takes three hours.[/QUOTE]
I do love snow! I hate the cold, though! Where are the warmed areas?
Also add wordreference to the OP. If you learn any sort of language it's excellent. There's also the Assimil series of language courses, which are fucking excellent and a lot of them are the gold standards in regards to learning various languages (French, for example. Not surprising since Assimil is a french company though).
здравствуйте!
So anyone else trying to learn Russian? I'm actually in Daugvpils, Latvia studying abroad.
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;47905437]I do love snow! I hate the cold, though! Where are the warmed areas?[/QUOTE]
Its kinda weird, i was in Kanazawa in winter where it was snowing almost constantly, yet the weather never dipped more than a few degrees below freezing.
The warmer areas are in the south, so Kyushu and Shikoku (Although fucking no one lives in Shikoku). Tokyo is actually pretty good for the weather, about 0C in winter and the mercury can climb to 30C in summer. I love Tokyo, but its very easy to get swallowed up by the mammoth city. Shit makes London look like a country town for christ sakes. Very indifferent, but there's a strong gaijin population so you wont really be alone. On the flipside, you'll resort to using English a lot more often then not, and living in a more rural area (Akita for example, although that still has 1.2 million people in the prefecture, but it's rural by Japanese standards.) will force you to use Japanese and give you a strong motivation to learn it, otherwise you won't really be able to communicate. If you are truly going to Japan for the language purposes (and i'd argue cultural purposes, that's why i'm probably doing JET after i graduate and trying to get placed in somewhere like Aomori prefecture), go rural, if you just wanna have fun in a foreign country, make some friends from sweden (legit a million swedes in Tokyo no idea why) get fucked up in Shibuya every few days, go to Tokyo. There's nothing wrong with either option, it just depends on what you want to get out of your exchange.
[editline]9th June 2015[/editline]
I kinda got sidetracked from a very simple question and ended up handing out unsolicited advice, whoops. It's worth noting that places like Akita (so in the north) still do climb to 30 odd degrees during summer, and drop somewhere below just freezing in the winter. Japanese temperatures are pretty uniform i've found. Really the "warmer" areas of the south only drop to like, 5C in winter instead, and go up to 35C instead of 30C or whatever.
[QUOTE=The Aussie;47905499]Its kinda weird, i was in Kanazawa in winter where it was snowing almost constantly, yet the weather never dipped more than a few degrees below freezing.
The warmer areas are in the south, so Kyushu and Shikoku (Although fucking no one lives in Shikoku). Tokyo is actually pretty good for the weather, about 0C in winter and the mercury can climb to 30C in summer. I love Tokyo, but its very easy to get swallowed up by the mammoth city. Shit makes London look like a country town for christ sakes. Very indifferent, but there's a strong gaijin population so you wont really be alone. On the flipside, you'll resort to using English a lot more often then not, and living in a more rural area (Akita for example, although that still has 1.2 million people in the prefecture, but it's rural by Japanese standards.) will force you to use Japanese and give you a strong motivation to learn it, otherwise you won't really be able to communicate. If you are truly going to Japan for the language purposes (and i'd argue cultural purposes, that's why i'm probably doing JET after i graduate and trying to get placed in somewhere like Aomori prefecture), go rural, if you just wanna have fun in a foreign country, make some friends from sweden (legit a million swedes in Tokyo no idea why) get fucked up in Shibuya every few days, go to Tokyo. There's nothing wrong with either option, it just depends on what you want to get out of your exchange.[/QUOTE]
Akita sounds appropriate for me. The gaijin population doesn't bother me, although it would be nice if I did see one or two every now and then. I want to be forced to learn Japanese. I'm not just going for language purposes, I'm moving for social and spiritual changes. Heavily westernised society doesn't suit me. It would also be nice to see a country uninfluenced by Christianity and Islam. I may even study Aikido. It's just a shame I'm not completely bonkers for anime and manga, but I'm sure that'll change once I see more than Naruto. The politeness, the respect, peace and quiet, modesty, discipline, tradition, history, art, music, sports.
On my exchange year (I hope I get my own apartment) I will be assimilating myself as much I possibly can into Japanese society, exploring, making friends and learning. Then I'll come back for my final year at university, finish that, then start looking for a job back in Japan ASAP.
I swear, Duolingo comments for Spanish are so cute sometimes. There are so many people who tend to overthink things like grammar, or word ordering instead of just accepting it. Awhile back I attended Spanish classes at the Goethe Institute in Santiago, and I had an Australian classmate who kept stopping class to question every single phrase the teacher told us, trying to understand every fine detail, instead of just accepting that it is the way it is and moving on.
Would any other Duolingoers want to add me as a friend on it? It'd be nice to have some language learning buddies. My username on it is Sanjuaro.
[QUOTE=Sanjuaro;47905550]I swear, Duolingo comments for Spanish are so cute sometimes. There are so many people who tend to overthink things like grammar, or word ordering instead of just accepting it. Awhile back I attended Spanish classes at the Goethe Institute in Santiago, and I had an Australian classmate who kept stopping class to question every single phrase the teacher told us, trying to understand every fine detail, instead of just accepting that it is the way it is and moving on.
Would any other Duolingoers want to add me as a friend on it? It'd be nice to have some language learning buddies. My username on it is Sanjuaro.[/QUOTE]
I will once they make a Japanese one. I only used it for French German and Dutch but I've stopped using it now. I was so addicted. Still, I'm like the guy you mentioned, I need to know every meticulous detail, even the etymology of the word and where it came from.
It's all about memrise now for me :v:
Well, the best way to get a Job in japan post uni is the JET programme. It will almost certainly fling you out into the sticks to teach all ages japanese kids English as an "Assistant Language teacher". You get a hefty salary and a guaranteed job for up to 5 years.
Anime is sorta shunned in adult Japanese society, everyone and their mum reads Manga though. If you are doing Japanese now, you really should be reading Manga. No matter how new you are, read Yotsubato. It's aimed at younger kids in Japan so what little Kanji there is is pretty simple, and even then it has the equivalent in Hiragana floating over the top of the word. It's harder to find untranslated than not, so good luck with that.
[QUOTE=Sanjuaro;47905356]
What the heck's up with all the people learning Japanese :v:? Are you just doing it for fun? So you can watch anime or play Japanese games? Or are any of you actually planning on visiting the country? Honest question.[/QUOTE]
Japanese is the most popular language at my Uni too, I assume because of their culture and entertainment. But that's actually a big reason I didn't go with Japanese. It's almost too popular, I wanted something different. Not that there's anything wrong with studying Japanese of course.
I hope to study Chinese in Taiwan next year.
[editline]9th June 2015[/editline]
Who knows maybe I could find some work over there after Uni. But I'm not sure I'd be a very good English teacher and other jobs are supposed to be hard to find.
[editline]9th June 2015[/editline]
While I'm at it here's Chinas national anthem. 小苹果
[video=youtube_share;d59boCs31uM]http://youtu.be/d59boCs31uM[/video]
If anyone needs help with Chinese grammer and stuff I can probably help out. I speak it on a daily basis
[QUOTE=/dev/sda1;47901949]大家好。
最近怎么样？
如果你有一个普通话的问题，告诉我吧！
（但是我不是中国人哈哈。Donny如果这不是正确的，纠正吧）
pls this not might be right but i think it is so yeah if you do know chinese and it sucks tell me[/QUOTE]
its 沒有
also hi guys i speak canto mandarin and english
i know how to pronounce spanish
Anyone remember the Chinese thread :v:
[IMG]http://horobox.co.uk/u/casool_1433882956.png[/IMG]
i want to learn another language but i don't know if i'll be able to really dedicate much time to it. i know it doesn't sound like a good idea but has anyone here tried learning a language without committing themselves to it and if so, how did that go?
I just realized that i'm weird. Its 3 AM, I have an english project due in 10 hours and im sitting here all like "Fuck yeah i'm gonna learn Japanese!" Granted, i'm really going to try to learn Japanese but hold your horses Megaman1811. English first :v:
That's not weird, often when you need to be productive you are productive but not in the right thing.
I very often put off assignments/studying and just study Chinese instead.
[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;47912069]i want to learn another language but i don't know if i'll be able to really dedicate much time to it. i know it doesn't sound like a good idea but has anyone here tried learning a language without committing themselves to it and if so, how did that go?[/QUOTE]
Learning a language takes a significant time commitment. You you don't have time to learn every single day, you'll just forget things and go round in circles.
[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;47912069]i want to learn another language but i don't know if i'll be able to really dedicate much time to it. i know it doesn't sound like a good idea but has anyone here tried learning a language without committing themselves to it and if so, how did that go?[/QUOTE]
You need to commit yourself to learning a language to actually learn it. But that being said, if you start studying a language you will either love it and as a result commit yourself or you wont get very far anyway.
The best way I think is to take an introduction class, of course not everyone has the time or money but it's a lot more fun learning in a class than it is doing self study. University/college is good for this because you can usually take it as an elective, that's how I became interested in Mandarin.
I've also heard [url]https://www.italki.com/[/url] is a good site for finding teachers to teach you over Skype. Though I'm not sure of the cost.
Even if you can't attend a class try it out anyway, see how it goes.
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