Can anyone speak a foreign language?
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Originally Posted by Nox /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can speak and understand all parts of the English language, of course, as I am American.
I can also speak and understand Igbo (Nigerian), as it is spoken in the household I grew up in. Composing in classical Igbo grammar is another story though.
By marriage, I have "inherited" Norwegian (all of it was Swedish Kingdom by the time they immigrated over here) and German relatives. So I am trying to learn Ronmol/Bokmol and Deustch to be able to communicate freely. I am doing okay after nearly three years of learning, I am able to hold an easy conversation with a little slang here and there.
For occupational purposes, I had to brush up on the French I took in school for three years so that I could read and understand some scientific journals while I was still working as a ChemE intern. I am currently learning business-oriented Portuguese so that I won't have to use a translators to speak with my Brazilian suppliers, and then I get better prices that way.
I learned and used functional informal Mandarin so that I could go to school in China for a term. I was relatively surprised at how easily I was able to pick it up, but then writing/reading is a different story. I'm glad I get to practice my Chinese in the Ranch 99 markets around here... I always love their reaction. One employee at the check out counter nearly wet herself when I asked about the next shipment of fresh chrysanthemum tea!!! ROFLMAO!!!!
I am learning Japanese for fun. I can read Hiragana and Katana fluidly, but sometimes only in terms of pronunciation, there are times I won't know what the word means and then I have to look it up. The Kanji still throws me though. Watching alot of anime and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon has seriously helped me out. More people should learn it to prove to yourself that you can learn languages if you get over the embarassment factor of making unfamiliar sounds. It's not a tonal language, and they have alphabets that function the same way our Roman alphabet does.
I tried my hand at Arabic, it's kicking my ass. I got as far as the basic nonesense phrases: "Hi. My name is..." "How are you?" "I'm fine, thank you." "Welcome" and so forth. I just kept getting the alphabet screwed up. I tried to say something cute to a MuT member here, but I think I may have accidently cussed her out. She was not happy with me. .:Shout out:. My apologies!!!
I think my brain is getting full at this point. So I may have to come back at the Arabic later when I have mastered the other ones.
Cool! And when you master the portuguese you can try to learn also Spanish - they're very similar to each other!
I'm always amazed when someone says that he/she is learning Portuguese - it's a somewhat difficult language.
BTW , how are the bikini orders going? Here in Brazil winter is almost ending, so in a few months the new summer bikinis are coming (ah, i also forgot to take that pic of a small bikini back to show mut how brazilian bikinis pratically DON'T cover our backs)
I can also speak and understand Igbo (Nigerian), as it is spoken in the household I grew up in. Composing in classical Igbo grammar is another story though.
By marriage, I have "inherited" Norwegian (all of it was Swedish Kingdom by the time they immigrated over here) and German relatives. So I am trying to learn Ronmol/Bokmol and Deustch to be able to communicate freely. I am doing okay after nearly three years of learning, I am able to hold an easy conversation with a little slang here and there.
For occupational purposes, I had to brush up on the French I took in school for three years so that I could read and understand some scientific journals while I was still working as a ChemE intern. I am currently learning business-oriented Portuguese so that I won't have to use a translators to speak with my Brazilian suppliers, and then I get better prices that way.
I learned and used functional informal Mandarin so that I could go to school in China for a term. I was relatively surprised at how easily I was able to pick it up, but then writing/reading is a different story. I'm glad I get to practice my Chinese in the Ranch 99 markets around here... I always love their reaction. One employee at the check out counter nearly wet herself when I asked about the next shipment of fresh chrysanthemum tea!!! ROFLMAO!!!!
I am learning Japanese for fun. I can read Hiragana and Katana fluidly, but sometimes only in terms of pronunciation, there are times I won't know what the word means and then I have to look it up. The Kanji still throws me though. Watching alot of anime and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon has seriously helped me out. More people should learn it to prove to yourself that you can learn languages if you get over the embarassment factor of making unfamiliar sounds. It's not a tonal language, and they have alphabets that function the same way our Roman alphabet does.
I tried my hand at Arabic, it's kicking my ass. I got as far as the basic nonesense phrases: "Hi. My name is..." "How are you?" "I'm fine, thank you." "Welcome" and so forth. I just kept getting the alphabet screwed up. I tried to say something cute to a MuT member here, but I think I may have accidently cussed her out. She was not happy with me. .:Shout out:. My apologies!!!
I think my brain is getting full at this point. So I may have to come back at the Arabic later when I have mastered the other ones.
Cool! And when you master the portuguese you can try to learn also Spanish - they're very similar to each other!
I'm always amazed when someone says that he/she is learning Portuguese - it's a somewhat difficult language.
BTW , how are the bikini orders going? Here in Brazil winter is almost ending, so in a few months the new summer bikinis are coming (ah, i also forgot to take that pic of a small bikini back to show mut how brazilian bikinis pratically DON'T cover our backs)
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Originally Posted by lia_matos /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cool! And when you master the portuguese you can try to learn also Spanish - they're very similar to each other!
I'm always amazed when someone says that he/she is learning Portuguese - it's a somewhat difficult language.
BTW , how are the bikini orders going? Here in Brazil winter is almost ending, so in a few months the new summer bikinis are coming (ah, i also forgot to take that pic of a small bikini back to show mut how brazilian bikinis pratically DON'T cover our backs)
Yes, this is how I try to learn languages... in groups of relation. This is why I am tackling the Old Swedish Kingdom all at the same time (Danish/Dansk, Swedish/Svenska, Norwegian/Nynorsk). Written Bokmol in Danish and Norwegian I discovered are really similar, and I am also able to somewhat understand what a Dane and a Swede are talking about at times. It's pretty cool.
Everybody has the ability to toggle many languages if they have the interest to do so... especially if out of necessity like in my case.
The Spanish is something that all southern Californians have a little bit of familiarity with in terms of the way it sounds and what different phrases mean when spoken to you. However, it is Mexican Spanish most of the time and not the Catalan of Europe. But anyway, I think you are right, about similar languages. I go for the hard one, and then try to learn all the other ones in relation to it.
The bikini sales have been very good. Thanks for asking!
We are about to end our summer over here, so sales are going to go down a little bit sometime soon. I like how people here are generally starting to become more comfortable with "free-bunning", as oppossed to all covered up in "bloomers" (grandma's panties)
I'm always amazed when someone says that he/she is learning Portuguese - it's a somewhat difficult language.
BTW , how are the bikini orders going? Here in Brazil winter is almost ending, so in a few months the new summer bikinis are coming (ah, i also forgot to take that pic of a small bikini back to show mut how brazilian bikinis pratically DON'T cover our backs)
Yes, this is how I try to learn languages... in groups of relation. This is why I am tackling the Old Swedish Kingdom all at the same time (Danish/Dansk, Swedish/Svenska, Norwegian/Nynorsk). Written Bokmol in Danish and Norwegian I discovered are really similar, and I am also able to somewhat understand what a Dane and a Swede are talking about at times. It's pretty cool.
Everybody has the ability to toggle many languages if they have the interest to do so... especially if out of necessity like in my case.
The Spanish is something that all southern Californians have a little bit of familiarity with in terms of the way it sounds and what different phrases mean when spoken to you. However, it is Mexican Spanish most of the time and not the Catalan of Europe. But anyway, I think you are right, about similar languages. I go for the hard one, and then try to learn all the other ones in relation to it.
The bikini sales have been very good. Thanks for asking!
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I speak a little French, but my mother is fluent she was born in Bussac, France, my grandparents lived there for 8 years.
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I speak French, very minimal Cypriot (sort of like a dialect of Greek), some Spanish, and am learning Italian. I also know one or two basic German/Dutch words, a couple of Arabic words, and can write my name in Arabic.
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it's funny to see many people here know how to speak french, n'est-ce pas?
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Though I had a ton of Spanish in school and have been to Spain 3 or 4 times... And I have actually ordered a Quarter Pounder with cheese at the McD's in spanish in downtown Madrid before so I wouldn't go hungry!! Lol.
Did have a Metric to English conversion. Got mixed up at an open air market near Plaza Major and asked for 3 kilos of bananas.. So he starts piling the bananas on the scale.. More and more... And I was too embarased to tell him I made a mistake.. So ended up carrying amlost 10 pounds of bananas around all day.. We ate babans for a week!! Lol
Funnist was north of Madrid in the Piraneese mountains I was asking a street vender how much the candy was in spanish and when he answered me back I couldn't understand a word.. So I asked again and still nothing.. Finally my father-in-law told me that he thinks your French so he is answering you back in French!! Talk about a disconnect!! Can't even remember if the candy was any good!!
Karren
Did have a Metric to English conversion. Got mixed up at an open air market near Plaza Major and asked for 3 kilos of bananas.. So he starts piling the bananas on the scale.. More and more... And I was too embarased to tell him I made a mistake.. So ended up carrying amlost 10 pounds of bananas around all day.. We ate babans for a week!! Lol
Funnist was north of Madrid in the Piraneese mountains I was asking a street vender how much the candy was in spanish and when he answered me back I couldn't understand a word.. So I asked again and still nothing.. Finally my father-in-law told me that he thinks your French so he is answering you back in French!! Talk about a disconnect!! Can't even remember if the candy was any good!!
Karren
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I can speak french (Kind of obvious living in Quebec) and some spanish, learned it classes.
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Originally Posted by Karren Hutton /img/forum/go_quote.gif Though I had a ton of Spanish in school and have been to Spain 3 or 4 times... And I have actually ordered a Quarter Pounder with cheese at the McD's in spanish in downtown Madrid before so I wouldn't go hungry!! Lol.
Did have a Metric to English conversion. Got mixed up at an open air market near Plaza Major and asked for 3 kilos of bananas.. So he starts piling the bananas on the scale.. More and more... And I was too embarased to tell him I made a mistake.. So ended up carrying amlost 10 pounds of bananas around all day.. We ate babans for a week!! Lol
Funnist was north of Madrid in the Piraneese mountains I was asking a street vender how much the candy was in spanish and when he answered me back I couldn't understand a word.. So I asked again and still nothing.. Finally my father-in-law told me that he thinks your French so he is answering you back in French!! Talk about a disconnect!! Can't even remember if the candy was any good!!
Karren
looooooool ! i can't help laughing, as my uncle who travelled abroad recently told me he and my aunt were mistaken for english tourists, so they were answered back in english and as they understood just a few words, the person simply switched to french.
if someone wants to speak in french, feel free to pm me
Did have a Metric to English conversion. Got mixed up at an open air market near Plaza Major and asked for 3 kilos of bananas.. So he starts piling the bananas on the scale.. More and more... And I was too embarased to tell him I made a mistake.. So ended up carrying amlost 10 pounds of bananas around all day.. We ate babans for a week!! Lol
Funnist was north of Madrid in the Piraneese mountains I was asking a street vender how much the candy was in spanish and when he answered me back I couldn't understand a word.. So I asked again and still nothing.. Finally my father-in-law told me that he thinks your French so he is answering you back in French!! Talk about a disconnect!! Can't even remember if the candy was any good!!
Karren
looooooool ! i can't help laughing, as my uncle who travelled abroad recently told me he and my aunt were mistaken for english tourists, so they were answered back in english and as they understood just a few words, the person simply switched to french.
if someone wants to speak in french, feel free to pm me
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Wow,10 pounds of bananas hehehe. Anyways, I think knowing another language is vital anywhere. I know spanish (pfft, who doesnt?) and some french and russian. I REALLY would love to learn russian fluently! Its so cool, I love to hear the accents of people speaking a foreign language. It sounds hot lol
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Originally Posted by Karren Hutton /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did have a Metric to English conversion. Got mixed up at an open air market near Plaza Major and asked for 3 kilos of bananas.. So he starts piling the bananas on the scale.. More and more... And I was too embarased to tell him I made a mistake.. So ended up carrying amlost 10 pounds of bananas around all day.. We ate babans for a week!! Lol
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I cant
But I have to add it to my homeschooling or I cant go to Barton College.
