Languages

[Ahriman]

How many of you have experience learning/teaching a foreign language? I would imagine most of us here are native English speakers. I tried learning Spanish back in school but that was too hard, I wasn't interested and plus the grammar threw me off. I have heard Portuguese is like Spanish ebonics (easier to learn) but I don't know. I am very much interested in learning Russian, Arabic, and Korean, primarily. I can already read and pronounce the basic vowel sounds of Korean, but the rest of the alphabet is proving very difficult to learn. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog have all piqued my interest as well. I think Tagalog would be the easiest out of those four because it's written in Latin script (just like English). Vietnamese is written in Latin script as well but has all kinds of weird little accent marks that might be hard to learn. I have always wanted to learn Japanese because Japanese culture is my favorite culture. Chinese would be very practical (like Arabic) but very difficult because of the reading/writing system, same as Japanese. Not to mention the grammar rules of all these languages would be tricky to learn.

[Angrboda]

I've studied French, German, Japanese, and Chinese. I've just begun learning Hmong, but will probably go slowly for the first couple of years, after which I can take classes for cheap at the Uni and make use of their Hmong program. If I find myself having the time, I may also study Spanish, though I'm finding my plate rather full at the moment.

[John 6IX Breezy]

Does it become easier to learn each subsequent language? Or is there some mixing of signals with each addition?

[Ahriman]

I've studied French, German, Japanese, and Chinese.  I've just begun learning Hmong, but will probably go slowly for the first couple of years, after which I can take classes for cheap at the Uni and make use of their Hmong program.  If I find myself having the time, I may also study Spanish, though I'm finding my plate rather full at the moment.

Yeah I forgot to mention German, I tried learning some German but found it too difficult. For me, French is perhaps the least attractive option out of all of them.

[Belacqua]

How many of you have experience learning/teaching a foreign language? I would imagine most of us here are native English speakers. I tried learning Spanish back in school but that was too hard, I wasn't interested and plus the grammar threw me off. I have heard Portuguese is like Spanish ebonics (easier to learn) but I don't know. I am very much interested in learning Russian, Arabic, and Korean, primarily. I can already read and pronounce the basic vowel sounds of Korean, but the rest of the alphabet is proving very difficult to learn. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog have all piqued my interest as well. I think Tagalog would be the easiest out of those four because it's written in Latin script (just like English). Vietnamese is written in Latin script as well but has all kinds of weird little accent marks that might be hard to learn. I have always wanted to learn Japanese because Japanese culture is my favorite culture. Chinese would be very practical (like Arabic) but very difficult because of the reading/writing system, same as Japanese. Not to mention the grammar rules of all these languages would be tricky to learn.

When I moved to Japan I couldn't speak the language at all, but I've picked it up over the years. These days I use it a lot more than English. 

I think if you wanted to learn a language over the Internet, Japanese would be a good choice. Foreigners are more common and more integrated into Japanese society compared to, say, China. So I think there are a lot of web sites or on-line teachers to help. Textbooks are good but to make real progress you need to converse with a native speaker -- face to face or on line. 

It's a common motto (not publicly stated among professional teachers) that if you want to get fluent fast you should find a lover who doesn't speak English.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Apart from English, the only languages I'm conversant in are Irish and te reo (not fluent, just conversant). Because I've travelled a bit, I can speak the tourist versions of French, Italian and German. This just means I know a few phrases such as 'Where is the hotel?', 'I would like to pay my bill', and 'I wish to decline the collision damage waiver'.

My wife is the polyglot - fluent in English, Hebrew, Yiddish and French, conversant in Spanish, Russian, Greek and Arabic.

Boru

[Angrboda]

Does it become easier to learn each subsequent language? Or is there some mixing of signals with each addition?

It depends somewhat on the languages. French and German, being from the same family, have some commonalities which can make grasping the grammar and such easier after having learned the other. And there is a point in which, just seeing how the same principles played out differently in different languages can give one an understanding of the general principles involved in all foreign languages, which you don't have beforehand. I've never found that one language interferes with another. I studied French and German at the same time, and Japanese and Chinese at the same time, and it was not any different than say studying history and math at the same time.

[Foxaèr]

I studied two years of Latin in high school. It was an enjoyable experience. But being the dead language it is, I was studying it more for an educational than practical reason.

I then studied two years of American Sign Language, which I thought would come in handy considering I am hard-of-hearing and wear aids in order to hear on a normal level. I became fluent quickly, became even more proficient when I attended the deaf university in D.C.

[Ahriman]

Does it become easier to learn each subsequent language? Or is there some mixing of signals with each addition?

It depends somewhat on the languages.  French and German, being from the same family, have some commonalities which can make grasping the grammar and such easier after having learned the other.  And there is a point in which, just seeing how the same principles played out differently in different languages can give one an understanding of the general principles involved in all foreign languages, which you don't have beforehand.  I've never found that one language interferes with another.  I studied French and German at the same time, and Japanese and Chinese at the same time, and it was not any different than say studying history and math at the same time.

Which was more difficult (in general), Chinese or Japanese?

[Angrboda]

It depends somewhat on the languages.  French and German, being from the same family, have some commonalities which can make grasping the grammar and such easier after having learned the other.  And there is a point in which, just seeing how the same principles played out differently in different languages can give one an understanding of the general principles involved in all foreign languages, which you don't have beforehand.  I've never found that one language interferes with another.  I studied French and German at the same time, and Japanese and Chinese at the same time, and it was not any different than say studying history and math at the same time.

Which was more difficult (in general), Chinese or Japanese?

I don't have a great ear for tones, so Chinese was harder for me to get right, but I didn't really find either more difficult than the other. It's hard to compare. I found the grammar in Chinese easier than that of Japanese, but Japanese was easier to pronounce, so it kind of evens out.