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Languages
- Thread starter Nosferatu Man
- Start date
Nosferatu Man
New Member
Class Reports
Ice, I agree it would be easier if everyone spoke a common language. I quite like speaking other languages though. Also, I've heared that equivalent words in different languages can mean slightly different things; and also that one word in Japanese could take a whole phrase to describe it's meaning in English.
Abulafia, Polish darts sounds cool. I'll have to try and learn it!
Mr. Michel, my surname is Portuguese (Mascarenhas), and my grandma can speak the language. Oh, I thought you were from Madrid. Nevermind... wrong again.
Mort, that's a good idea.
Sapper 41, me too. I want to learn Icelandic and Finnish but I haven't got any books/tapes yet. I don't know if any of you could recommend some good material for me.
Jenem, I'm half way as good as your German - I did it for 2 years at school. Mine's also pretty dusty - I was trying to think of phrases in German the other day but I just failed miserably. I'm embarrassed aswell that I can only speak English. Especially because lots of people in countries with their own language can speak it, along with their own language.
Freya, well done with your A. I got a C for my German. I was pretty disappointed because I was getting As and Bs mostly through the year. I wasn't all too bothered though. I agree with the 'layingabout time' aswell! Haha. I don't know about Backslang though. What words were in that? We might have had it.
Silly Wabbit, thanks for contributing.
Lies, yes I'm counting ancient languages. I also want to learn Latin. I forgot about that up there. Thanks for reminding me.
Rainbow Gurl, I agree. Also, there's a part in The Lord of the Rings (sorry to bring it up again Mr. Wabbit) where Frodo and Sam meet some Elves, and Frodo speaks Elvish to them and they're really impressed. I thought that was really nice. I'd like to be able to do that with some Finnish elves.
Soxfan, I have a similar kind of fantasy I suppose, but I'm not really planning on retiring. I'm sort of planning on working till I'm completely shagged out, then getting the old euthanasia drink out of the cupboard.
Martin, I was basically thinking of you when I conceived the idea for this thread. I'd noticed that you're from The Netherlands, and that your English is very good.
Themistocles, good work.
Kaz, are you completely deaf? I'm just wondering because you speak English aswell as sign it. Can you actually hear yourself speaking English? I hope that wasn't a silly question.
Novella, that play sounds cool.
Raven, I think I speak more American aswell actually. I'm trying to speak more English though, but I don't know how well I'm succeeding. I think my phase of listening to skate-rock (or whatever you call it) didn't help me too much.
Wow, ok... I feel like a teacher now, congratulating his pupils on their wonderful work. Very pompous. I won't do that again.
Ice, I agree it would be easier if everyone spoke a common language. I quite like speaking other languages though. Also, I've heared that equivalent words in different languages can mean slightly different things; and also that one word in Japanese could take a whole phrase to describe it's meaning in English.
Abulafia, Polish darts sounds cool. I'll have to try and learn it!
Mr. Michel, my surname is Portuguese (Mascarenhas), and my grandma can speak the language. Oh, I thought you were from Madrid. Nevermind... wrong again.
Mort, that's a good idea.
Sapper 41, me too. I want to learn Icelandic and Finnish but I haven't got any books/tapes yet. I don't know if any of you could recommend some good material for me.
Jenem, I'm half way as good as your German - I did it for 2 years at school. Mine's also pretty dusty - I was trying to think of phrases in German the other day but I just failed miserably. I'm embarrassed aswell that I can only speak English. Especially because lots of people in countries with their own language can speak it, along with their own language.
Freya, well done with your A. I got a C for my German. I was pretty disappointed because I was getting As and Bs mostly through the year. I wasn't all too bothered though. I agree with the 'layingabout time' aswell! Haha. I don't know about Backslang though. What words were in that? We might have had it.
Silly Wabbit, thanks for contributing.
Lies, yes I'm counting ancient languages. I also want to learn Latin. I forgot about that up there. Thanks for reminding me.
Rainbow Gurl, I agree. Also, there's a part in The Lord of the Rings (sorry to bring it up again Mr. Wabbit) where Frodo and Sam meet some Elves, and Frodo speaks Elvish to them and they're really impressed. I thought that was really nice. I'd like to be able to do that with some Finnish elves.
Soxfan, I have a similar kind of fantasy I suppose, but I'm not really planning on retiring. I'm sort of planning on working till I'm completely shagged out, then getting the old euthanasia drink out of the cupboard.
Martin, I was basically thinking of you when I conceived the idea for this thread. I'd noticed that you're from The Netherlands, and that your English is very good.
Themistocles, good work.
Kaz, are you completely deaf? I'm just wondering because you speak English aswell as sign it. Can you actually hear yourself speaking English? I hope that wasn't a silly question.
Novella, that play sounds cool.
Raven, I think I speak more American aswell actually. I'm trying to speak more English though, but I don't know how well I'm succeeding. I think my phase of listening to skate-rock (or whatever you call it) didn't help me too much.
Wow, ok... I feel like a teacher now, congratulating his pupils on their wonderful work. Very pompous. I won't do that again.
Stewart
Active Member
Nosferatu Man said:
It's very difficult. German has four grammatical cases. Russian has six grammatical cases. Finnish, to be different, has fourteen!
How's this? Easiest way is just to type learn Finnish into Google and you'll find a number of sites that will help you begin.
English - mother tongue
French - fairly fluent
Hungarian - not bad
German - can get by
Spanish - at a push
I love learning languages and my strangest experience with languages was in Romania. I was playing cards with a hungarian, a romanian, a croat, an american and a german - the only language common to us all was french so we spoke in french the whole night even though not one of us was actually french and france was on the other side of europe.
I once met someone who spoke 13 or 14 languages (can't remember which now) fluently - amazing person
French - fairly fluent
Hungarian - not bad
German - can get by
Spanish - at a push
I love learning languages and my strangest experience with languages was in Romania. I was playing cards with a hungarian, a romanian, a croat, an american and a german - the only language common to us all was french so we spoke in french the whole night even though not one of us was actually french and france was on the other side of europe.
I once met someone who spoke 13 or 14 languages (can't remember which now) fluently - amazing person
Kaz
New Member
Nosferatu Man said:
Yes, I am deaf. I can speak English but not clearly. My family and mates understand what I say but I meet new faces they will struggle to understand me when I am trying to tell. I can hear my voice and other people's voice but I can't hear what they say. I use my hearing aids to help me to hear background noises like cars, music and tv all sorts. I hate pigeons noise, it drove me mad. Luckily I can switch my hearing aids off.
I explain the difference between BSL and English e.g
BSL - Your name what?
English - What is your name?
BSL - me arrived London. Why? Because see friends party.
English - I arrived in London. Why am I going to London? Because I went to see friends and having a party.
You can see in BSL, there are no grammars which English needs. My english are not perfect, some of them are incorrect. Because you listen to learn English, deaf people have to learn through our eyes. I know English are complicated to learn. Some people told me best thing to learn first with foreign language and then English you understand more.
I enjoy to learn English, everytime I learn new things, I ask my hearing friends to explain what that mean like jargons, idom all asort.
Nosferatu Man
New Member
Thanks very much, Abulafia. Yeah, I knew that Finnish has a lot of cases. It is quite scary I suppose, but I still want to learn it.
Headpodd, that's a cool story. I wish I were that good at languages. I certainly wouldn't have been able to spend a whole evening speaking French (or German).
Kaz, that's interesting about BSL. I didn't realise there is no grammar in it. It must be very hard for you to learn another language, because you wouldn't really have anything to relate the grammar to.
Martin, me too. In a weird (and I hope, non-patronizing) way, I have a real admiration for people without sight or hearing. I have an idea that their minds aren't as cluttered with as much junk as mine is, because they don't actually have the facilities to see or hear the crap. I mean stuff like adverts and fashion and all that lot. I imagine they do more delving into their souls than your average punter does.
Headpodd, that's a cool story. I wish I were that good at languages. I certainly wouldn't have been able to spend a whole evening speaking French (or German).
Kaz, that's interesting about BSL. I didn't realise there is no grammar in it. It must be very hard for you to learn another language, because you wouldn't really have anything to relate the grammar to.
Martin, me too. In a weird (and I hope, non-patronizing) way, I have a real admiration for people without sight or hearing. I have an idea that their minds aren't as cluttered with as much junk as mine is, because they don't actually have the facilities to see or hear the crap. I mean stuff like adverts and fashion and all that lot. I imagine they do more delving into their souls than your average punter does.