Learning a new language

[magic_johnson!]

Bonjour, Je m'appelle Sean. Cava? J'adore le football et le cricket.

Hello, my name is sean, how are you, i like football and cricket????
Is that right?

 

[BigBadCam]

This attitude baffles me, as does that whole "Australia is a part of Asia" nonsense. And we have been "given the heave ho" from Europe? Europe has never rejected us, unlike Asia- I seem to recall the Singaporean PM saying only ten odd years ago that Australia would never be welcome in Asia unless we were numerically more than 50% ethnically Asian.

We have been told to piss off from Asia, unless we change ethnically. Asians couldnt care less about whether Australians can count to ten in a Chinese language or not.

Well, you understand little then my friend. Several Asian nations are wary of dealing with us due to our history of assumed superiority and racist policies. The reason I say we have been given the 'heave-ho' from Europe is due to all the tarriffs which protect their industry and limit us from trading on a level playing field with some of our historically strong trading partners. I can tell you first hand that if you're dealing with Asian business people, even if you can't speak their language fluently, if you have gone to the effort to learn any of their language they will be very impressed. This should be common sense. It might not be essential, as English is the global language of trade and should really be called Globalish... But it helps. More than speaking a dying European language.

 

[giantroo]

What are the hardest languages to learn? I know one of them is arabic for non arabic people because it takes technique to get the words out off the tongue. Takes the tongue, teeth, and lips to get the hang of it.


Any other languages? Wasn't Chinese one because of its amount of characters?

 

[mantis]

I'm enthusiastic about the idea of learning a new language.

The languages that most appeal to me are French and German and I am wondering which one is easier to learn and which one is more relevant around the world. I would be teaching myself to start with, but may do a postgraduate course next year, which upon completion will allow me to teach a language, as i'm already a qualified teacher.

Also if anyone has taught themselves these languages, do you know of any self teaching resources that could be helpful for giving me a bit of a start.

Both of those languages are pretty easy to learn, but neither are really beneficial as both of the countries that speak those languages, also speak English.

My son has taught himself 6 languages mainly Nordic ones, but he is currently learning Japanese & he is going to Uni to learn it, because it is a very difficult language, because of the symbols with the writing etc.

 

[midorigreenwood]

The most important tools for language learning is:

1) A good dictionary

2) A good text book

3) listening and speaking practice - hang around unis.... plenty of foreign students to practice with.

SBS is a god sent for listening material.....SBS2 has just about any different language news broadcast you can think off.

4) Flashcard program that focuses on spaced reptition for efficient use of your time.

http://www.glowingfaceman.com/2009/01/spaced-repetition-systems.html

The flashcard program I use is Stackz which mainly focuses on asian languages

http://www.stackz.com

 

[PowerKop]

Well i've started learning German and found it quite good so far. Picked up about 10 words today and can understand and say them quite well. Using the Rocket German internet course and finding it to be quite a good program. Early days though.

Guten aben, wie gehts dir? Mir zehr gut danke.

Good evening, how are you? I'm very good thanks.

 

[year of the roo]

In terms of ease to learn, German is the easiest out of all the languages mentioned here. This is due to English having Germanic roots. Spend any time in Germany and you will surprise yourself by how much you pick up and remember. Spanish would be next, as there are Latin origins in both languages too and you will find that many words are the same or similar in both languages.

Indonesian would be the best bet in Asia, as unlike many other Asian languages, Bahasa uses our alphabet.

In terms of relevance on the international scene, in my opinion that argument is pretty much irrelevant as long as you have English. Spanish would be huge if you intend to travel Central and South America, but hardly a requirement. Ditto for French in Africa. In Europe, English is all you will ever need.

French is not worth learning at all. In Canada, they speak a vastly different version of the language and many African nations speaking French have developed different dialects too. Heck, even in France itself having French is almost useless. I travelled there with a friend who had learnt the language for 10 years, got an excellent IB mark for it at school and could barely get any use out of it at all. The French are so arrogant that they will make no effort to communicate with you unless your French is perfect. They also slurr and skip words making it impossible to understand.

I am learning Spanish at the moment. Whoever earlier in the thread who said the best way to learn is with a GF who speaks the language is bang on. Gotta love the Spanish senoritas!

 

[magic_johnson!]

What are the hardest languages to learn? I know one of them is arabic for non arabic people because it takes technique to get the words out off the tongue. Takes the tongue, teeth, and lips to get the hang of it.


Any other languages? Wasn't Chinese one because of its amount of characters?

I think the language they speak in Romania is up there.

 

[year of the roo]

What are the hardest languages to learn? I know one of them is arabic for non arabic people because it takes technique to get the words out off the tongue. Takes the tongue, teeth, and lips to get the hang of it.


Any other languages? Wasn't Chinese one because of its amount of characters?

I have heard Finnish.

 

[Tex_21]

I speak German fairly well, and it is easy to pick up, and its similarities with English mean that if you don't know the word-use English with an accent. If you stay there long enough-you'll pick up dialects, so make sure you give Bavaria a wide berth-the language they speak there is like German for the mentally deficient-its just all slurred gibberish.

 

[Blue_Ninja]

I have heard Finnish.

I've also heard that this, apparently they have 21 cases, plus 3 genders, singular and plural. If my maths and information are correct (which it probably aren't) that would mean that there are 126 possible ways of saying any given word!!

 

[year of the roo]

I speak German fairly well, and it is easy to pick up, and its similarities with English mean that if you don't know the word-use English with an accent. If you stay there long enough-you'll pick up dialects, so make sure you give Bavaria a wide berth-the language they speak there is like German for the mentally deficient-its just all slurred gibberish.

Nah Bavarian is easy. Just speak German but drunkenly. Shouldn't be a problem if you are in Munich doing what the Munchens do.

 

[watermelonslice]

French is beautiful and it's one of the official languages of the UN, so it's practical in some sense.

Chinese is easy in terms of the grammar, but the characters are complicated and may take a while to get your head around.

 

[year of the roo]

french is beautiful and it's one of the official languages of the un, so it's practical in some sense.

Chinese is easy in terms of the grammar, but the characters are complicated and may take a while to get your head around.

lol!

 

[PowerKop]

Well i've decided to use the Michael Thomas method to learn German. Anyone had any experience using his audio cd's?

 

[legitimatic]

I speak German fairly well, and it is easy to pick up, and its similarities with English mean that if you don't know the word-use English with an accent. If you stay there long enough-you'll pick up dialects, so make sure you give Bavaria a wide berth-the language they speak there is like German for the mentally deficient-its just all slurred gibberish.

You should try speaking the Vienesse dialect then if you think Bavarian is weird.

German is far easier than French to learn.

 

[blaargh]

Well i've decided to use the Michael Thomas method to learn German. Anyone had any experience using his audio cd's?

I used his French Course (along with books etc.) and found that it was very fast and simple. However, I would reccomend that you use some other conversation tapes at the same time - the Michel Thomas system doesn't really provide you with the listening comprehension that you will need - it is more just a speaking system.

 

[Cap]

Well i've decided to use the Michael Thomas method to learn German. Anyone had any experience using his audio cd's?

I just thought I’d see how you were going Powerkop?

I’m looking at starting something, I was going to go with Spanish but I may look at German as I did a few years as a child

A mate of mine has lent me Rossetta Stone whilst he goes on his travels after using it for a few months. He swears by it but I haven’t heard of anyone else using it.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

but he is currently learning Japanese & he is going to Uni to learn it, because it is a very difficult language, because of the symbols with the writing etc.

I disagree.

Once you've learnt the alphabets (done in my first term of learning it at school), Japanese is a lot simpler than other languages I've either studied or dabbled in during trips.

 

[magic_johnson!]

I disagree.

Once you've learnt the alphabets (done in my first term of learning it at school), Japanese is a lot simpler than other languages I've either studied or dabbled in during trips.

Yes, it makes sense and it all just goes together; but you can't have learnt all kanji in one term!

 

[Ben the Gooner]

Yes, it makes sense and it all just goes together; but you can't have learnt all kanji in one term!

You can communicate fairly well without kanji, though.

I was referring to hiragana and katakana.

 

[Skeeta Olly]

Yes, it makes sense and it all just goes together; but you can't have learnt all kanji in one term!

Subject, Verb, then work backwards and it's perfect English (when translating).

But I agree, quite a simple language once you learn the multiple alphabets.

 

[John Dorian]

Bonjour, Je m'appelle Sean. Cava? J'adore le football et le cricket.

Doing it at school. I'm not terrible but I'm not brilliant at it, but I'm probably gonna do it in VCE and it boosts your marks up by 14. I always wanted to learn Spanish but they don't teach it at my school or any school around my area.

football australien is how its supposed to be BTW.

Do something harder, that's amateur stuff.

 

[magic_johnson!]

football australien is how its supposed to be BTW.

Do something harder, that's amateur stuff.

je dor la bit!! (something like that)

You think my name is Turk Turkleton?

 

[Deledinho]

What are the hardest languages to learn? I know one of them is arabic for non arabic people because it takes technique to get the words out off the tongue. Takes the tongue, teeth, and lips to get the hang of it.


Any other languages? Wasn't Chinese one because of its amount of characters?

I imagine Xhosa (for those playing at home, that's the African language with the clicks etc.) would be an absolute nightmare.