Languages

I am taking Spanish, 4th year right now. I can drop it through my school next year, and I fully intend to. I don't like it much. I would kind of like to speak multiple languages, but I don't want to learn it through a classroom, which is pretty much hell for me.

This hasn't been mentioned probably, but the most important foreign language is computer language. I would inference javascript to be the most important atm, but even basic or w.e is more valuable than any foreign language.
 

Chou Toshio

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I do not agree.
Korean writing does have its problems especially when it comes to homophones. There is not a way to distinguish homophones with distinct meanings if written in Korean.
Many Koreans nowadays do need to use Chinese in certain occasions just to specify things, especially when it comes to the meaning of their names. (That they will always keep the Chinese version of their names)

As I recall, Japan once tried to abolish the use of Kanji, and then failed miserably because Japanese do have a problem of having too many homophones.
From what I've heard of, there's a generation of Japanese people who aren't good at writing Kanji as a result.

And no, I don't think 冥 and 真 look alike at all. They look very different to me, and are written very differently. You just need more practice.
I was being half-sarcastic/ironic, but to entertain that argument I'll point out something simple and obvious: if homophones were so much of an issue, the spoken language would fail.


Also, there's no way you're going to convince me that Hanzi is a favorable writing system.

Comprehension aside, Americans can learn to read every word in the English language by 1st-2nd grade. In Japan kids continue to learn characters in school well into middle school.


Upon graduating elementary, Japanese kids are responsible for knowing 1006 characters-- that's half of what's needed (as a MINIMUM by an adult). It would take a Korean first grader how long to learn Hangul? A month? A year?

As technology advances, the amount of information/data/history required by education to impart to future members of society will only expand as technology accelerates exponentially. How many years do you really want to spend teaching a kid to read and write his own language.

This is not to say that I don't find characters beautiful, concise, or even enjoyable because they are all the above (once you can read them). That doesn't mean they aren't incredibly frustrating (much more annoying in Japanese than Chinese to be fair).

Chinese as a written language has a wonderful simplicity and conciseness to it-- written Japanese is a mess IMO.
 
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NabboCheTesta

Gniubbo come sempre
I speak Italian ( i am italian ) and I see how new generations speak with less and less words.
I am studying English too, and Smogon is very helpful in making me learn it.
 

haunter

Banned deucer.
German is my native language and I learnt english and latin in school, but don't know too much about latin anymore lol

I also did spanish in university and studied in spain for a while, but still aren't fluent.

And I learnt portuguese on NetBattle :D
Vamos batalha. Good old NetBattle times ahah.

I only speak Italian (native) and English. I can also read Latin (studyed at school) and some Spanish.
 

Ampharos

tag walls, punch fascists
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I just wanna jump in here and help further explain for djanxo unchained the complicated relationship that the U.S. has with the Spanish language, given that I've lived in areas with a large Mexican demographic for most of my life.

First off, Chou is absolutely correct when he says that the global demand for English provides incentive for Americans to NOT learn another language. The simple fact of the matter is that the English language is used so ubiquitously across the globe that there is very little reason for the average American to learn another language other than for fun.

That being said, however, the southern United States - specifically, the states bordering Mexico (plus Florida, which is close enough to Cuba that it absorbs this effect as well) - are already heavily Spanish-speaking in the first place. The sheer number of Mexican immigrants, documented or otherwise, that have settled in that part of the country have led to sort of a cultural osmosis that leads many people in that part of the country to know at least a little Spanish; certainly it's not a large enough effect to create proficiency, but it's enough that Spanish language words often become part of everyday life in certain pockets (such as southern Texas).

As for one of your original questions: America's view of Mexico is complicated, to say the least. Yes, Mexico possesses a rich culture and a proud history, and it's important in the history of the US as well (my state of Texas wouldn't exist if it weren't for Mexico, in fact). However, the fact of the matter is that a lot of people in the United States carry strong prejudices against Mexico, mainly due to the number of undocumented workers present in the southern parts of the country ("DEY TERK ER JERBS" and all that). A good portion of these migrant workers wind up in menial labor jobs, which leads to a lot of rather unpleasant stereotyping. Combine this with the fact that the northern half of Mexico is currently under the control of numerous drug cartels and is engaged in brutal drug wars that create these migrant workers in the first place, and you can understand why many Americans would prefer not to dwell on Mexico for too long.

Regarding my own languages, I know a little bit of Spanish due to studying it in high school as well as the aforementioned cultural osmosis, but its nowhere near enough to be proficient. I'm planning on studying an East Asian language in college; Korean and Japanese are the two I'm most strongly considering at the moment.
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
I just wanna jump in here and help further explain for djanxo unchained the complicated relationship that the U.S. has with the Spanish language, given that I've lived in areas with a large Mexican demographic for most of my life.

First off, Chou is absolutely correct when he says that the global demand for English provides incentive for Americans to NOT learn another language. The simple fact of the matter is that the English language is used so ubiquitously across the globe that there is very little reason for the average American to learn another language other than for fun.

That being said, however, the southern United States - specifically, the states bordering Mexico (plus Florida, which is close enough to Cuba that it absorbs this effect as well) - are already heavily Spanish-speaking in the first place. The sheer number of Mexican immigrants, documented or otherwise, that have settled in that part of the country have led to sort of a cultural osmosis that leads many people in that part of the country to know at least a little Spanish; certainly it's not a large enough effect to create proficiency, but it's enough that Spanish language words often become part of everyday life in certain pockets (such as southern Texas).

As for one of your original questions: America's view of Mexico is complicated, to say the least. Yes, Mexico possesses a rich culture and a proud history, and it's important in the history of the US as well (my state of Texas wouldn't exist if it weren't for Mexico, in fact). However, the fact of the matter is that a lot of people in the United States carry strong prejudices against Mexico, mainly due to the number of undocumented workers present in the southern parts of the country ("DEY TERK ER JERBS" and all that). A good portion of these migrant workers wind up in menial labor jobs, which leads to a lot of rather unpleasant stereotyping. Combine this with the fact that the northern half of Mexico is currently under the control of numerous drug cartels and is engaged in brutal drug wars that create these migrant workers in the first place, and you can understand why many Americans would prefer not to dwell on Mexico for too long.

Regarding my own languages, I know a little bit of Spanish due to studying it in high school as well as the aforementioned cultural osmosis, but its nowhere near enough to be proficient. I'm planning on studying an East Asian language in college; Korean and Japanese are the two I'm most strongly considering at the moment.
That was actually what I was thinking, thanks.
Because I see that many years ago, before they studied Chinese, it used to be French. And I never thought French would be helpful to an average American, other than sounding posh.
 

hellpowna

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I speak english, french, spanish, a bit of Germany and italian(im italian). I really like learning languages, improving my skills with native people. I leanr english, spanish and french mostly listening songs and watching movies. I speak spanish so good. My fav language is english, i'd like to learn it as soon as possible coz my dream is doing a feat. With eminem. And i will.
 
I'm a native English speaker, but I took a japanese class freshman year and part of sophomore year. They took me out because I got an F. Like, a 24% kind of F. This was because I had to study, which a. I hate doing, and b. I'm terrible at it.

If I ever learn another language, it'll either be Norwegian or Chinese.
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
I'm a native English speaker, but I took a japanese class freshman year and part of sophomore year. They took me out because I got an F. Like, a 24% kind of F. This was because I had to study, which a. I hate doing, and b. I'm terrible at it.

If I ever learn another language, it'll either be Norwegian or Chinese.
If you have problems with Japanese, you might have even more problems with Chinese.
 
I'm fluent in English and French, both the official languages of my awesome Canada. I know very elementary Spanish and I plan on learning that as well.
 
Language learning has always been something that has intrigued me. Fluent in about 2 other languages besides English (Serbian and French) I've spent a good portion of my life studying these. Why? Well, being from a Serbian background I've learned Serbian in hopes of communicating with family over in Serbia while
I learned French because of how beautiful of a language it is and hearing it spoken is mesmorizing. Currently I'm in the midst of learning 2 other languages (Russian and good ole Latin) as tedious as it sounds, it's actually a great experience and helps in being culturally diverse.

But that being said, do any of you speak any other languages? If so, which and why those particular languages. And if you don't mind, share your methods of learning, be it successful or not. You could also track any current learning progress here if you so desire!:toast:
I speak French and am learning Russian too! My French is close to fluent, and my Russian's at the point where I can understand nearly everything but occasionally have trouble conveying ideas.
 
I speak Norwegian (obviously since I am from Norway), english and a little bit of french. I get good grades in french but I don't feel like I know almost any french though.

I'm a native English speaker, but I took a japanese class freshman year and part of sophomore year. They took me out because I got an F. Like, a 24% kind of F. This was because I had to study, which a. I hate doing, and b. I'm terrible at it.

If I ever learn another language, it'll either be Norwegian or Chinese.
You should learn norwegian, it's awesome ;)
 
my mother tounge is english, i have been learning french since primary and i for some reason i am top set for it in secondary, in my free time i learn japanese
 
If you have problems with Japanese, you might have even more problems with Chinese.
I think the bigger issue here is that he doesn't like studying at all lol. Can't learn a language without investing the time. Perhaps more of an interest attributed to Chinese/Norwegian will help.
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
I think the bigger issue here is that he doesn't like studying at all lol. Can't learn a language without investing the time. Perhaps more of an interest attributed to Chinese/Norwegian will help.
Not necessarily. If it's a language very similar to what you've learnt, you don't necessarily need to study in order to get the right answer. You can just decode it and understand it.
I learnt Spanish and I can read Portuguese without learning any Portuguese.
People who have learnt German and English should have no problems reading Danish.
 

Asek

Banned deucer.
Never stayed at the one school long enough to consistently learn a language through the school system, but once I've finished my studies this year I plan on learning one of chinese, Japanese or arabic as im interested in each, and having a spare language up your sleeve is highly useful for any sort of business career.

I have a question for those of you who are bi/multi lingual ; do you 'think' in the language your speaking if your using it or do you kind of use your mother language to translate and then understand / speak if that makes sense? It's something I've always been curious about and would likely be useful information for when I attempt to learn a language
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
I have a question for those of you who are bi/multi lingual ; do you 'think' in the language your speaking if your using it or do you kind of use your mother language to translate and then understand / speak if that makes sense? It's something I've always been curious about and would likely be useful information for when I attempt to learn a language
If a person is a true bilingual, it means he/ she have the ability to think in both languages.
If not, he/ she is only a regular bilingual.

It should be quite rare, but how you learn a language can have an effect too.
Although English is my third language, I can think in English. However, despite Mandarin is my second language, I can't think in Mandarin-- I always have to think in Cantonese first and then translate it. Therefore, I think it's to do with how you learn a language.
So, I am a true bilingual, but I'm also a multilingual.
 

Sapientia

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If I use english every day, I even start dreaming in english. I think thinking in a foreign language is pretty normal, if you are fluent.
 

Idyll

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I'm fluent in both English and Filipino, both the official languages of the Philippines. Also, I can understand some Spanish thanks to my country's history with Spain and it being a derivative for Filipino, but I can neither read or write it :(. Mostly, I know some basic Spanish like numbers and stuff like that since they're in semi-standard use, such as when asking for prices, age, or keeping time, etc.
 
I'm fluent in English and Spanish, and learning in my free time Japanese and Swedish. I might pick up in the future (mainly for the lols) Esperanto.
 

finally

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I'm fluent in both English and Filipino, both the official languages of the Philippines. Also, I can understand some Spanish thanks to my country's history with Spain and it being a derivative for Filipino, but I can neither read or write it :(. Mostly, I know some basic Spanish like numbers and stuff like that since they're in semi-standard use, such as when asking for prices, age, or keeping time, etc.
hes also fluent in singaporean
 
Fluent in Spanish and English (sorta); I think in those two languages all the time and I'm capable of using both at the "same" time. Somehow I can understand portuguese really well and I am capable of communicating with native speakers without many issues (I have done this irl many times), but I don't know how to write or talk properly in that language. And I can "read" in french and italian.

Spanish is my native language and I taught myself everything else. I want to dedicate myself to be fluent in a 3rd language, but undecided between portuguese, french, or mandarin; the latter is the most useful of the three, but I have no experience with that kind of language.
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
Spanish is my native language and I taught myself everything else. I want to dedicate myself to be fluent in a 3rd language, but undecided between portuguese, french, or mandarin; the latter is the most useful of the three, but I have no experience with that kind of language.
It depends if you are a phonetic learner or a motion learner (NOT graphic/ visual)
The former will do well in Latin languages, whilst the latter will do well in languages like Chinese and Japanese.

I personally am very weak at motion learning and orientation, and have a poor sense of direction, that's why I have difficulty writing the more complex Chinese characters.
But I never had an issue with spelling English words. (No, that has nothing to do with being unpatriotic.)
 
I am currently studying Applied Linguistics in the English and German languages. Being Dutch-born, but having grown up in Belgium, I've learned to speak French at a young age, though it is arguably the worst of the four languages I speak. I am fluent in Dutch, my mother tongue, as well as English, a language I have nearly 12 years of experience with. I am aspiring to improve both my English and German by studying Applied Linguistics and planning to spend some time in Germany in several years, with the aim to learn more about the German language and culture. I plan to delve into Japanese after finishing my studies, considering I've been in contact with said language for a few years and I know some basic things.

Generally said, though, I've always been a huge language dork and always like to learn things about whichever language.
 

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