Learning a new language

[Beelzebub]

14 minutes ago, Inverted said:

Some people’s learning styles, normally those with more experience studying languages, prefer to just learn the rules early, rather than the more naturalistic way in systems such as Duolingo.

The point of Duolingo is that you absorb the rules slowly and have them explained afterward. However, if someone is good at learning complex grammar rules quickly then they’d probably get frustrated with that method and proceed more efficiently with another route.

Good point but that people form the minority. For example a lot of people that work in the Middle East that i've met they know Arabic pretty well. But don't know a thing about Grammar.

[Inverted]

9 hours ago, Devon Von Devon said:

Good point but that people form the minority. For example a lot of people that work in the Middle East that i've met they know Arabic pretty well. But don't know a thing about Grammar.

True, and personally I suited Duolingo’s way at first since we got taught so little grammatical theory in school. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

I probably need to learn a new language... but first I want to figure out what the next country I want to live in is going to be if it's not going to be England.

[Machado]

18 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I probably need to learn a new language... but first I want to figure out what the next country I want to live in is going to be if it's not going to be England.

Portugal of course. It is the perfect country.

[Toinho]

3 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I probably need to learn a new language... but first I want to figure out what the next country I want to live in is going to be if it's not going to be England.

Australia pls.

[DNA]

Most of the girls in Sheffield are Chinese, so a year or so ago I started learning mandarin. One thing I'd say in general about learning a language is that the best way to pick it up 'in a relevant way' (i.e shit you would actually use, rather than the type of stuff you practise in books), is through having friends that speak the language or watching tv shows/general media for fun; then eventually it will come. Easy part of mandarin is the simple grammar, they have no words for a month, like we do with 'January' etc, they just use the number (so '1' in this case) then the word for month. The hard part is the symbols, it's one thing to learn the pinyin (romanised alphabet) and another to learn the symbols. I can speak basic mandarin but even now, pretty clueless with the symbols.

[Beelzebub]

Off topic.

My teacher asked me this question so i'm gonna ask this to all of you.

A kid is raised by his Arabic mother and German father in England. His parents made sure only their native languages German and Arabic are spoken in the house while he was brought up. While in school he was taught English.

He spoke Arabic and German in home and with family but English outside and with the community while growing up.

Now he is an adult fluent in all three and knows how to read and write all three.

Which one out of these three will be the native language of the kid ? 

Give the Answer on one solid reason.

[nudge+]

6 minutes ago, kapisevicius said:

Is this really possible to learn a child to speak three languages fluently at the same time?

Absolutely. Most of children who come from mixed families and go to international schools are fluent in three languages. Children pick it up extremely easily...

[Beelzebub]

My teacher gave the answer

In which he dreams in

Don't really know what that means but it sounds cool 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Inverted]

6 hours ago, Devon Von Devon said:

My teacher gave the answer

In which he dreams in

Don't really know what that means but it sounds cool 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's interesting. I guess whatever you dream in is the language you "think" in, so your subconscious reveals itself.

But I have heard friends say that they sometimes think in a 2nd language, and even dream in a language that they're fluent in besides their native language. So I guess it's more about which one would be dominant out of the 3.

[Eco]

On 7/21/2018 at 10:33, kapisevicius said:

Is this really possible to learn a child to speak three languages fluently at the same time?

Following wikipedia:

 

 

On 7/21/2018 at 10:37, nudge said:

Absolutely. Most of children who come from mixed families and go to international schools are fluent in three languages. Children pick it up extremely easily...

Inga is right, it's definitely possible. I remember meeting a guy while I was living in Russia, who was from Denmark, and had married a Russian woman and together they had a daughter. At this time, she was maybe 6-7. 

The 'rules' in the household were as follows:

1.) Speak the language of the listener, always (Russian to Mom, Danish to Dad, and they chose English to the daughter)

2.) If you are directing a comment towards the other two members of the house, it has to be in German. 

So yes, I got to meet this little girl who spoke fluent Danish, Russian, English, and German. 

 

On 7/21/2018 at 10:50, Devon Von Devon said:

My teacher gave the answer

In which he dreams in

Don't really know what that means but it sounds cool 

 

On 7/21/2018 at 17:27, Inverted said:

That's interesting. I guess whatever you dream in is the language you "think" in, so your subconscious reveals itself.

But I have heard friends say that they sometimes think in a 2nd language, and even dream in a language that they're fluent in besides their native language. So I guess it's more about which one would be dominant out of the 3.

This is an interesting concept. @nudge - What language do you dream in? 

98% of my dreams are in English, however I have had a rare dream in Russian and even had a few when I was living in China and deep in the Chinese language. 

[Beelzebub]

@SirBalon Which language do you think or dream in as i suppose you were also raised as bilingual ?

[nudge+]

3 minutes ago, Eco said:

This is an interesting concept. @nudge - What language do you dream in? 

98% of my dreams are in English, however I have had a rare dream in Russian and even had a few when I was living in China and deep in the Chinese language. 

When it comes to dreaming and thinking, it really depends on which language I'm exposed to the most during the day. Another thing, it also depends on the situation and the person I'm dreaming about, similarly to how it is when I'm awake (i.e. using a different language to communicate with different family members, to deal with work, daily situations, certain hobbies, etc/).These days it's mostly German, as family and people I communicate to on daily basis are mostly Germans/Austrians/Swiss, and my work language is German too. But that's just an indicator of exposure, not of it being one's native or dominant language... My native language is definitely Lithuanian, but since I barely use it anymore (and even find it 'weird' to speak it sometimes when I call my Lithuanian relatives/friends haha), I don't usually dream or think in it either. When I used to work for a British company and use English for the most of the day, I just seemed to switch to English in my mind, and then proceed to dream in it as well, same when I was studying and doing research in English. I'm also pretty sure I had Dutch language in my dreams when I was living there and learning it, etc.

That said, dreaming and thinking isn't necessarily done in any language all the time, much of it is sort of visual-spatial. 

[Eco]

3 minutes ago, nudge said:

When it comes to dreaming and thinking, it really depends on which language I'm exposed to the most during the day. Another thing, it also depends on the situation and the person I'm dreaming about, similarly to how it is when I'm awake (i.e. using a different language to communicate with different family members, to deal with work, daily situations, certain hobbies, etc/).These days it's mostly German, as family and people I communicate to on daily basis are mostly Germans/Austrians/Swiss, and my work language is German too. But that's just an indicator of exposure, not of it being one's native or dominant language... My native language is definitely Lithuanian, but since I barely use it anymore (and even find it 'weird' to speak it sometimes when I call my Lithuanian relatives/friends haha), I don't usually dream or think in it either. When I used to work for a British company and use English for the most of the day, I just seemed to switch to English in my mind, and then proceed to dream in it as well, same when I was studying and doing research in English. I'm also pretty sure I had Dutch language in my dreams when I was living there and learning it, etc.

That said, dreaming and thinking isn't necessarily done in any language all the time, much of it is sort of visual-spatial. 

Yeah - that's how I imagine it with people like yourself who not only know multiple languages, but are often forced to speak multiple languages in a given day. 

My Mom (Russian), used to always tell me of her emotions when she had her first dream in English. She had been studying it for 20 years, but only living in Russia and teaching it, until moving here and being more immersed in it. It's a very emotional thing for her after all the work she had put in into learning the language. 

[Beelzebub]

3 minutes ago, nudge said:

When it comes to dreaming and thinking, it really depends on which language I'm exposed to the most during the day. Another thing, it also depends on the situation and the person I'm dreaming about, similarly to how it is when I'm awake (i.e. using a different language to communicate with different family members, to deal with work, daily situations, certain hobbies, etc/).These days it's mostly German, as family and people I communicate to on daily basis are mostly Germans/Austrians/Swiss, and my work language is German too. But that's just an indicator of exposure, not of it being one's native or dominant language... My native language is definitely Lithuanian, but since I barely use it anymore (and even find it 'weird' to speak it sometimes when I call my Lithuanian relatives/friends haha), I don't usually dream or think in it either. When I used to work for a British company and use English for the most of the day, I just seemed to switch to English in my mind, and then proceed to dream in it as well, same when I was studying and doing research in English. I'm also pretty sure I had Dutch language in my dreams when I was living there and learning it, etc.

That said, dreaming and thinking isn't necessarily done in any language all the time, much of it is sort of visual-spatial. 

This means you are dominent in all these languages ?

I spend a lot of time on this forum for a couple of years thinking in English while on this site but dont think in it otherwise. 

[nudge+]

1 minute ago, Eco said:

Yeah - that's how I imagine it with people like yourself who not only know multiple languages, but are often forced to speak multiple languages in a given day. 

My Mom (Russian), used to always tell me of her emotions when she had her first dream in English. She had been studying it for 20 years, but only living in Russia and teaching it, until moving here and being more immersed in it. It's a very emotional thing for her after all the work she had put in into learning the language. 

Nice, it obviously means a lot to her... for me, language is first and foremost a tool of communication, although I must say that it's much more than that, and definitely has an effect on personality and perception.

Just now, Devon Von Devon said:

This means you are dominent in all these languages ?

I spend a lot of time on this forum for a couple of years thinking in English while on this site but dont think in it otherwise. 

No, it just means that I'm fluent in those languages and can switch to one of them depending on the situation, and then that language becomes dominant for the time being. Dreams are pretty much just a continuation/processing of one's thought stream from the day, so it's very likely to be in the same language one is exposed to...

[Eco]

22 minutes ago, nudge said:

Nice, it obviously means a lot to her... for me, language is first and foremost a tool of communication, although I must say that it's much more than that, and definitely has an effect on personality and perception.

Yes - it does. She had a rougher life growing up and worked her ass off to achieve what she has..so a lot of those emotions that stem from her childhood in the USSR are unknown to me, but still very real to her. 

[nudge+]

33 minutes ago, Eco said:

Yes - it does. She had a rougher life growing up and worked her ass off to achieve what she has..so a lot of those emotions that stem from her childhood in the USSR are unknown to me, but still very real to her. 

Ha, I can still remember how America was seen as the promised land and people were fascinated with the American Dream in the USSR and former Soviet countries, especially in the late 80s and the 90s, all hoping for a better life for themselves and their families.

[Eco]

Just now, nudge said:

Ha, I can still remember how America was seen as the promised land and people were fascinated with the American Dream in the USSR and former Soviet countries, especially in the late 80s and the 90s, all hoping for a better life for themselves and their families.

Yep! My Mom still doesn't throw food away, or waste ANYTHING... because she remembers the lines for bread and other goods. 

[Danny]

Last year I spent about a month trying to learn Spanish but fell off the wagon.

In about 1.5-2 years me and the missus are going travelling in South America (5-6 months) and Central America (3-4 months) so when I'm done in NZ I'm going to start learning Spanish so I can be somewhat fluent...or conversational at least before we go out there.

[nudge+]

1 minute ago, Danny said:

Last year I spent about a month trying to learn Spanish but fell off the wagon.

In about 1.5-2 years me and the missus are going travelling in South America (5-6 months) and Central America (3-4 months) so when I'm done in NZ I'm going to start learning Spanish so I can be somewhat fluent...or conversational at least before we go out there.

Easily the easiest language to learn; you'll do fine!

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, nudge said:

Easily the easiest language to learn; you'll do fine!

I was terrible at French in school. Just couldn't get it. I would really struggle in a non english speaking country

[Danny]

20 minutes ago, nudge said:

Easily the easiest language to learn; you'll do fine!

Maybe for someone like yourself but I am English, we have just about mastered our own language let alone others.

On a serious note I'm looking forward to it, may take a couple of trips to Spain just before we go to test things out. I'm constantly surrounded by people who can speak a minimum of two languages, a lot speak three, some four or five. It'll be nice fully immersing myself in other cultures rather than getting a version of it that's translated into English. It's amazing how insular the UK can be regarding learning languages (though not surprising).

[nudge+]

4 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

I was terrible at French in school. Just couldn't get it. I would really struggle in a non english speaking country

Brits and Americans (as well as the rest of the English-speaking world) are really spoiled as they hardly ever have a real need for a foreign language to be fair.  English is a global language to such a degree that it's often expected to be understood and spoken anywhere in the world. Oh how many times have I seen a native English speaker getting upset and loud if that's not the case; the arrogance is unbearable sometimes  

[Danny]

When I watched the GGG v Canelo fight an Englishman in the pub started swearing at the TV because Canelo was doing his interview in Spainish and not English.