Language Learner's Thread - Cunning Linguists Welcome. - General

[QUOTE=thefreemann;47907436]Anyone remember the Chinese thread :v: [IMG]http://horobox.co.uk/u/casool_1433882956.png[/IMG][/QUOTE] [t]http://i.imgur.com/0EhITZB.jpg[/t] one of these is not like the others

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;47905542]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. [/QUOTE] Japan is basically the poster child of Westernization, and much of that Western influence has roots in Christianity, an illustrative example being modern anti-gay sentiment. I guess it's a good thing to have a plan, but it seems you've never been to Japan and don't actually know that much about it, yet have decided to immigrate there. I encourage exploration but you should really temper your expectations or you'll fall really hard when you eventually experience culture shock.

[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;47913167]Donny. Your flag is american. I'm scare.[/QUOTE] I'm sorry comrade I have been assimilated by capitalist pig clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap

[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] Basically what everyone else said. You need to be able to commit yourself, or else you won't learn a thing.

[QUOTE=Sanjuaro;47914129]Basically what everyone else said. You need to be able to commit yourself, or else you won't learn a thing.[/QUOTE] Yea, I think surrounding and completely immersing yourself in the language is one of the best things you can do to speed up the learning process. If you make it a part of daily life it will go by significantly faster.

[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] just shitpost on a forum that is in the language you're interested like what I'm doing right now

So many languages, so much time you need for each. Then you need to weigh how "useful" it is. Whether than means a job, or just finding people to talk with. Then you actually have to talk to people. I like watching this guy sometimes, usually not the whole thing, but it's interesting how many languages he can speak. (turn on subtitles and skip to 20 minutes) [video=youtube;MtrDeo8IGg8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtrDeo8IGg8?t=20m18s[/video]

[QUOTE=jA_cOp;47913291]Japan is basically the poster child of Westernization, and much of that Western influence has roots in Christianity, an illustrative example being modern anti-gay sentiment. I guess it's a good thing to have a plan, but it seems you've never been to Japan and don't actually know that much about it, yet have decided to immigrate there. I encourage exploration but you should really temper your expectations or you'll fall really hard when you eventually experience culture shock.[/QUOTE] You misunderstand me. I mostly mean my society's obsession with sex. It seems I can't hang around with a group of people without sex being the focal point of every conversation, "drunken game" or whatever. I feel like experiencing a society where people are treated with a lot more politeness and respect (in most cases).

talking about sex doesn't equate to impoliteness or disrespect

[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;47915452]talking about sex doesn't equate to impoliteness or disrespect[/QUOTE] You'd have to live here to understand what I mean, then. I just don't want to bring up kids here. I don't know why everybody is challenging me, but don't mistake me for some dumb weeaboo anime freak or whatever. I'm really serious about this and have been for some time. In two years time I am living in Japan for a year and I will make up my final mind then. Until then, I'm making every precaution I can to get to know the culture and the language. Japan interests me more than any other country, I don't like British culture, so Japan is the best alternative for me, and the most "mentally/spiritually" sound choice out of my options. I'm not expecting a utopia, I don't even like anime or manga as much as a "weeaboo" would, I'm not expecting for there to be samurai living by ancient codes of honour, nor for there to be a scarcity of Mc'Donalds and KFC's capitalism. I just really like it, am willing to learn everything I can about the country and find great enjoyment in the language. I just obviously can't put it into proper "believable" terms why I feel as though I would like to live there. Sorry.

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;47915597]You'd have to live here to understand what I mean, then.[/QUOTE] i don't think i do, though! sex is a pretty common topic in pretty much every western culture, probably even moreso in one like brazil's, and it's definitely something you can discuss with maturity i'm not saying this to juge your life decisions, i'm just saying that if that's one of the main reasons why you're moving, try to keep in mind that it's probably just you who's uncomfortable with the topic and not other people who are being rude and disrespectful by talking about it

[QUOTE=Zukriuchen;47915835]i don't think i do, though! sex is a pretty common topic in pretty much every western culture, probably even moreso in one like brazil's, and it's definitely something you can discuss with maturity i'm not saying this to juge your life decisions, i'm just saying that if that's one of the main reasons why you're moving, try to keep in mind that it's probably just you who's uncomfortable with the topic and not other people who are being rude and disrespectful by talking about it[/QUOTE] no i mean live in my country and know what its social environment is like at the moment. it's something i can discuss with maturity yes, but not every single topic. it's not one of the main reasons, it's a reason. there'll be less of it. can we change subject? there's no reason for such a grilling. i can't exactly articulate every single thought i've ever had about the idea of moving, it's a lot more complicated than i'm making it look. but i shouldn't have to defend myself like this.

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;47916648]no i mean live in my country and know what its social environment is like at the moment. it's something i can discuss with maturity yes, but not every single topic. it's not one of the main reasons, it's a reason. there'll be less of it. can we change subject? there's no reason for such a grilling. i can't exactly articulate every single thought i've ever had about the idea of moving, it's a lot more complicated than i'm making it look. but i shouldn't have to defend myself like this.[/QUOTE] There's no need for you to defend yourself. Your reasons are your own and I'm thinking it's just easy to see the flaw in most people's dream of living there. From what I've seen most people would be better off taking a trip for a few weeks instead of living there because they have no idea how the country works. The things that are beautiful about it are easy to see but no so much it's own political, economical and social issues. If you're not trying to make your life an anime then you're the minority and should acquaint yourself with a different set of problems that will make you miss your country of origin, even if you've made a good choice in life by emigrating. People are critical because you're the result of your culture, deciding there's a better fit for you sounds naive. Sorry for continuing the subject. Japan is not a country made of rainbows and butterflies. I hope you experience all there is to it for yourself. Good luck.

none of that was meant to be a jab at you, especially at you moving, sorry if that's the impression you got. i just felt your criticism was unnecessary, but yeah let's get back on topic

[QUOTE=littlefoot;47916952]Japan is not a country made of rainbows and butterflies.[/QUOTE] ???

i think he just meant that as a general "don't think it's going to solve all your problems" way but let's not get too much into life advice territory

[QUOTE=Teddybeer;47916644]Menschen, wissen Sie Bücher in der Deutsche Sprache was nicht schwer ist für Anfängers. Still had to cheat a little but getting there.[/QUOTE] Lookup german graded readers, to find some of the ones they read during school.

[QUOTE=Teddybeer;47916644]Menschen, wissen Sie Bücher in der Deutsche Sprache was nicht schwer ist für Anfängers. Still had to cheat a little but getting there.[/QUOTE] My wife is scratching her head trying to figure out what you're trying to say :v:. I'm assuming you're just starting to learn?

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;47915390]You misunderstand me. I mostly mean my society's obsession with sex. It seems I can't hang around with a group of people without sex being the focal point of every conversation, "drunken game" or whatever.[/QUOTE] This will be an issue of whom you choose to hang out with, and that will be the case in Japan as well. There's no reason to believe that Brits are in general more "obsessed" about sex than Japanese, whatever you mean by that. [QUOTE=Cypher_09;47915390]I feel like experiencing a society where people are treated with a lot more politeness and respect (in most cases).[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Cypher_09;47916648]it's not one of the main reasons, it's a reason. there'll be less of it.[/QUOTE] I don't think these beliefs are well founded. In fact, many Japanese have similar views about about Britain, imagining it more polite and respectful (stemming from cultural memes like the "English gentleman", culture of "ladies first", images of fashionable ladies as well as generally Western ideas of individualism and equality) and thus a target of interest for people who are disillusioned with the issues of Japanese society. Both cases are testaments to Japan and the UK as cultural superpowers and how potent their cultural output can be on individuals. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but I think you can empower yourself by exercising some care, which is what prompted me to post. [QUOTE=Cypher_09;47915597]I just don't want to bring up kids here. I don't know why everybody is challenging me, but don't mistake me for some dumb weeaboo anime freak or whatever. I'm really serious about this and have been for some time. In two years time I am living in Japan for a year and I will make up my final mind then. Until then, I'm making every precaution I can to get to know the culture and the language. Japan interests me more than any other country, I don't like British culture, so Japan is the best alternative for me, and the most "mentally/spiritually" sound choice out of my options. I'm not expecting a utopia, I don't even like anime or manga as much as a "weeaboo" would, I'm not expecting for there to be samurai living by ancient codes of honour, nor for there to be a scarcity of Mc'Donalds and KFC's capitalism. I just really like it, am willing to learn everything I can about the country and find great enjoyment in the language. I just obviously can't put it into proper "believable" terms why I feel as though I would like to live there. Sorry.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Cypher_09;47916648]can we change subject? there's no reason for such a grilling. i can't exactly articulate every single thought i've ever had about the idea of moving, it's a lot more complicated than i'm making it look. but i shouldn't have to defend myself like this.[/QUOTE] I don't think anyone has criticized or attacked you. I know at least I have intended no such thing. For what it's worth, I don't see you as a weeaboo or anything like that, in fact I greatly respect your courage for being willing to leave home in search of yourself or adventure or whatever it may be. Not everyone has that. I've seen a lot of people with unrealistic expectations come to Japan and experience a lot of hardship because of it. I posted because I emphatize with your situation. You are free to consider it unwelcome, but it is an open forum. Don't get me wrong, I hope you'll continue with your plan and come to Japan. However, the less baggage you bring the easier it will be to settle in, and that includes your strong perceptions of Japan.

It's a shame people that study Japanese get a bad rap, it seems like an interesting language. I chose Mandarin instead because of that, if I had a strong inclination toward Japanese in the first place I wouldn't have cared but on a level playing field I chose Mandarin for fear as being looked down upon. I actually wanted to learn Korean but it wasn't available at my Uni. Either way, I'm really happy that I chose Mandarin, it's super interesting. But there are still people that look down on me for learning it. If I tell someone I'm learning Chinese most of the time their mind instantly goes to me wanting to find a Chinese girlfriend. It's a question I've had to deny so many times now and it annoys me. [editline]10th June 2015[/editline] Actually the real reason I want to go to China(Or Taiwan) is for the adventure. Currently I live on one of the most boring places on earth. I've basically done nothing for my whole life. I thought about teaching English as apparently it's super easy to get a job doing so. But I don't think I'd be a very good teacher. I like teaching, but I've only tutored very small groups before and I'm garbage in front of large groups. It's not really fair to the kids I'm teaching if I can't make the class entertaining. Unfortunately other jobs seem a lot more scarce.

[QUOTE=reevezy67;47919902]It's a shame people that study Japanese get a bad rap, it seems like an interesting language. I chose Mandarin instead because of that, if I had a strong inclination toward Japanese in the first place I wouldn't have cared but on a level playing field I chose Mandarin for fear as being looked down upon. I actually wanted to learn Korean but it wasn't available at my Uni. Either way, I'm really happy that I chose Mandarin, it's super interesting. But there are still people that look down on me for learning it. If I tell someone I'm learning Chinese most of the time their mind instantly goes to me wanting to find a Chinese girlfriend. It's a question I've had to deny so many times now and it annoys me.[/QUOTE] 我也学习汉语！ Sad to hear that people judge you for learning a language. However, I think the more language you've studied the easier it is to pick up a new one. If the new language has commonalities with one you already know, then even more so. Learning Mandarin gives you a head start with Japanese if you ever felt like jumping into it; not only is there overlap in the writing system (they both use Chinese ideographs, although different varieties and with some false friends), but Japanese pronounciations of Chinese-derived words (so-called 漢語 [kango], Han/Chinese Words) are based on Chinese pronounciation which probably makes a lot of them easier to remember. For example, the character/word 来 is the same in both languages with the same meaning, pronounced "lái" in Mandarin and らい(rai) in on'yomi (Chinese-based pronounciation) Japanese. [QUOTE=reevezy67;47919902]I thought about teaching English as apparently it's super easy to get a job doing so. But I don't think I'd be a very good teacher. I like teaching, but I've only tutored very small groups before and I'm garbage in front of large groups. It's not really fair to the kids I'm teaching if I can't make the class entertaining. Unfortunately other jobs seem a lot more scarce.[/QUOTE] I think the ease of getting a job as an English teacher stems from the fact that speaking Chinese is often not a requirement. If you speak Chinese you'll probably have other opportunities. At least this is the case with Japanese language proficiency in Japan.

[QUOTE=reevezy67;47919902]It's a shame people that study Japanese get a bad rap, it seems like an interesting language.[/QUOTE] I can somewhat see why it exists, because the internet (I.E. people who have done no research whatsoever, and have only seen anime and posts on facebook saying "OMG LOOK AT THIS PERVERTED/CUTE/FUTURISTIC JAPAN THING) do love to overly romanticize japan. Though I highly doubt the majority of people who have gotten into the meat of Japanese carry that sort of unrealistic depiction. It's hard to learn a language without learning about the country that speaks it, so the false expectations will pretty much get replaced by a more realistic idea of what it'll be like to visit/live there. I mean Christ, I remember in the Japan chat thread someone came in pretty much calling them all weeaboos with an unhealthy obsession, pointing at the lack of posts in the Chinese thread as evidence.

好酷喔！ I might like to learn Japanese in the future but I think first I would like to learn Chinese to a fluent level. It's cool to see others learning Mandarin.

By the way if you need somewhere to practice a language there's [url]http://sharedtalk.com/[/url] The site is a bit old but it works. [editline]10th June 2015[/editline] QQ is better for Chinese though.

[QUOTE=Teddybeer;47920731]Just learning once in a while. More a reader type anyway. Its also my 4th language. Also my [URL="https://www.duolingo.com/Teddiebeer"]Duolingo[/URL].[/QUOTE] Duolingo doesn't have any non indo-european languages and that really annoys me. Most of the languages i'm interested in aren't western at all. I'm currently in the weird position of being torn between starting a new language i'm very much interested in (Japanese, Mandarin) and "finishing" my original language, French. I learned french through school, and although i like the language, i have no great love for France, not intentions to live there, or really travel there extensively. It's not really enough drive to move forward. However, i have put a few years of high school effort and a year of real effort into it. I used to be conversational but that's long gone. I'm apprehensive about starting a new language too. Can someone throw me some advice on the matter?

[QUOTE=jA_cOp;47919578]This will be an issue of whom you choose to hang out with, and that will be the case in Japan as well. There's no reason to believe that Brits are in general more "obsessed" about sex than Japanese, whatever you mean by that. I don't think these beliefs are well founded. In fact, many Japanese have similar views about about Britain, imagining it more polite and respectful (stemming from cultural memes like the "English gentleman", culture of "ladies first", images of fashionable ladies as well as generally Western ideas of individualism and equality) and thus a target of interest for people who are disillusioned with the issues of Japanese society. Both cases are testaments to Japan and the UK as cultural superpowers and how potent their cultural output can be on individuals. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, but I think you can empower yourself by exercising some care, which is what prompted me to post. I don't think anyone has criticized or attacked you. I know at least I have intended no such thing. For what it's worth, I don't see you as a weeaboo or anything like that, in fact I greatly respect your courage for being willing to leave home in search of yourself or adventure or whatever it may be. Not everyone has that. I've seen a lot of people with unrealistic expectations come to Japan and experience a lot of hardship because of it. I posted because I emphatize with your situation. You are free to consider it unwelcome, but it is an open forum. Don't get me wrong, I hope you'll continue with your plan and come to Japan. However, the less baggage you bring the easier it will be to settle in, and that includes your strong perceptions of Japan.[/QUOTE] Please, I know they view us all as "gentlemen" and I'm intelligent enough to wonder why that is, if they're the ones that are supposedly even more polite. I want to reinvent myself, not be forced to be forever locked in to where I am now, because although you might not understand it, I can't stay here. I don't want to live here. I'm not happy with who I am perceived to be here, and I want to go somewhere where nobody knows me. That's all. Genuinely. It's all sincere. It's a dream of mine I've had for a long long time and now I've finally made a move on it and I'm proud of myself considering everything I've overcome in the past. I'm going with a completely open mind and I'm not expecting anything except culture shock.

[QUOTE=The Aussie;47921044]Duolingo doesn't have any non indo-european languages and that really annoys me. Most of the languages i'm interested in aren't western at all. I'm currently in the weird position of being torn between starting a new language i'm very much interested in (Japanese, Mandarin) and "finishing" my original language, French. I learned french through school, and although i like the language, i have no great love for France, not intentions to live there, or really travel there extensively. It's not really enough drive to move forward. However, i have put a few years of high school effort and a year of real effort into it. I used to be conversational but that's long gone. I'm apprehensive about starting a new language too. Can someone throw me some advice on the matter?[/QUOTE] Do what you are interested in. You will never learn a language well if you don't enjoy it.

That's the answer i was expecting.

Memrise is great! I've already memorized most of the Korean alphabet in like 1 hour of total time. As someone who really hates memorizing things this is awesome. Is anyone else here studying Korean or speak it?

[QUOTE=thefreemann;47921957]Memrise is great! I've already memorized most of the Korean alphabet in like 1 hour of total time. As someone who really hates memorizing things this is awesome. Is anyone else here studying Korean or speak it?[/QUOTE] There's a difference between STM and LTM.