Foreign languages

~~jwb~~ · 03-18-2021, 05:21 PM

Tried learning mandarin via pimsler, super hard. Gave up. Was sorta fun though.

Then tried a bit of Spanish. I can understand it better than mandarin but still not great at spanish either. I have in laws that constantly speak in spanish and I can sorta piece together bits of what they're saying but I can't speak it worth a damn myself. They're Colombian so their spanish is a bit cleaner and easier to understand than some other spanish people I meet though. My sister is getting pretty fluent in it.

The Batlord · 03-18-2021, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwb

Tried learning mandarin via pimsler, super hard. Gave up. Was sorta fun though.

Then tried a bit of Spanish. I can understand it better than mandarin but still not great at spanish either. I have in laws that constantly speak in spanish and I can sorta piece together bits of what they're saying but I can't speak it worth a damn myself. They're Colombian so their spanish is a bit cleaner and easier to understand than some other spanish people I meet though. My sister is getting pretty fluent in it.

In public school Spanish a Y was a Y but then I went to military school and the teacher from Venezuela turned Y's into J's and it ****ed me up.

**Frownland** · 03-19-2021, 11:13 AM

German seems you can just cram as much bull**** as you want into a single word and call it good which sounds fun af

**Marie Monday** · 03-19-2021, 03:08 PM

that's really awesome, I'd love to be bilingual in different language groups

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frownland

German seems you can just cram as much bull**** as you want into a single word and call it good which sounds fun af

same for Dutch, and you're absolutely right. It's a real pity that English doesn't embrace the wonders of compoundwordarchitecture

oh btw fun fact: due to the spread of English young Dutch people are actually starting to split up words that should be compounds according to Dutch grammar and it sucks

Eleanor Rigby 14 · 03-19-2021, 12:29 PM

Native speaker-Spanish and Armenian, which is very nice, cause I can read and write in a non-Latin alphabet

My mother is Armenian but she moved to Spain when the USSR fell. I know I used to complain that because of Franco's dictatorship my parents couldn't enjoy/understand some types of music/fashion. But this can also be said about the USSR, I mean, "capitalisitc culture" was strongly restricted and banned although by the late 80s there wasn't any censorship (according to my mother).

English-I think I can express myself clearly although not always in a grammatically correct way (B2 level)

German-I've been learning it for 3 years at school. A2/B1 level

I never use websites or anything like that. I learn thanks to parents and teachers. The rest of media sources aren't helpful, for me.

adidasss · 03-19-2021, 06:43 PM

I have to say, I don't understand the interest in German. Aside from being notoriously difficult (and frankly, unattractive), I feel like its usefulness is quite limited. Unless you're planning on moving to one of the German speaking countries. :/

I mean, if you're gonna learn a useless European language, learn Italian, at least it's beautiful.

**Frownland** · 03-19-2021, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marie Monday

oh btw fun fact: due to the spread of English young Dutch people are actually starting to split up words that should be compounds according to Dutch grammar and it sucks

Absolutbull****ineverywayzen!

Quote:

Originally Posted by adidasss

I have to say, I don't understand the interest in German. Aside from being notoriously difficult (and frankly, unattractive), I feel like its usefulness is quite limited. Unless you're planning on moving to one of the German speaking countries. :/

I mean, if you're gonna learn a useless European language, learn Italian, at least it's beautiful.

You of all people should know how much is lost in the Mein Kampf translation.

**Marie Monday** · 03-19-2021, 06:49 PM

I think the sound of German is really underrated. I suspect its reputation as sounding harsh is just because people know German from WWII movies.

adidasss · 03-19-2021, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marie Monday

I think the sound of German is really underrated. I suspect its reputation as sounding harsh is just because people know German from WWII movies.

You're biased because your native language is similarly unattractive.

**Marie Monday** · 03-19-2021, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Your Hitler impressions would be fantastic though.

omg I can actually do a pretty good German accent, I might do some angry German bit in the voice thread if I can find the motivation

Quote:

Originally Posted by adidasss

You're biased because your native language is similarly unattractive.

dude no Dutch actually does sound ugly, it's WAY more unattractive than German

03-19-2021, 11:13 AM	#3 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	German seems you can just cram as much bull**** as you want into a single word and call it good which sounds fun af __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

03-19-2021, 06:43 PM	#6 (permalink)
adidasss Slavic gay sauce Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Abu Dhabi Posts: 7,945	I have to say, I don't understand the interest in German. Aside from being notoriously difficult (and frankly, unattractive), I feel like its usefulness is quite limited. Unless you're planning on moving to one of the German speaking countries. :/ I mean, if you're gonna learn a useless European language, learn Italian, at least it's beautiful. __________________ “Think of what a paradise this world would be if men were kind and wise.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle. Last.fm

03-18-2021, 05:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
~~jwb~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Jul 2019 Posts: 4,403	Tried learning mandarin via pimsler, super hard. Gave up. Was sorta fun though. Then tried a bit of Spanish. I can understand it better than mandarin but still not great at spanish either. I have in laws that constantly speak in spanish and I can sorta piece together bits of what they're saying but I can't speak it worth a damn myself. They're Colombian so their spanish is a bit cleaner and easier to understand than some other spanish people I meet though. My sister is getting pretty fluent in it.

03-19-2021, 12:29 PM	#5 (permalink)
Eleanor Rigby 14 Music Addict Join Date: Jan 2021 Location: Madrid, Spain Posts: 413	Native speaker-Spanish and Armenian, which is very nice, cause I can read and write in a non-Latin alphabet My mother is Armenian but she moved to Spain when the USSR fell. I know I used to complain that because of Franco's dictatorship my parents couldn't enjoy/understand some types of music/fashion. But this can also be said about the USSR, I mean, "capitalisitc culture" was strongly restricted and banned although by the late 80s there wasn't any censorship (according to my mother). English-I think I can express myself clearly although not always in a grammatically correct way (B2 level) German-I've been learning it for 3 years at school. A2/B1 level I never use websites or anything like that. I learn thanks to parents and teachers. The rest of media sources aren't helpful, for me.