06-25-2017, 01:18 PM | #21 |
Y'all need Jesus
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 8,938
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I dunno, people have started using retarded memes and internet slang in their day to day vernacular now, unfortunately.
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06-25-2017, 01:22 PM | #22 |
Emperor
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Portugal
Posts: 8,909
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Well yeah, that is true, but that doesn't mean English is killing foreign languages or that borders and different cultures will stop existing as Original TMNT Fan implied they will. In fact, memes get translated to different languages.
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06-25-2017, 01:33 PM | #23 | ||
PerfectlyTunedFightEngine
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: The Upsidedown
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Yeah, considering English is third for the Most Spoken Language on Earth, I don't think it's likely to happen.
Hey Cubed, want some extra job security? Learn Chinese. Any severely dyslexic in English might also be helped by picking up Chinese, as the brain might do better with a different alphabet.
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06-26-2017, 04:05 AM | #24 |
Overlord
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Sweden
Posts: 10,155
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No force. I hear people adding more and more English when speaking Sweden. Maybe at least Sweden will become an English-speaking country in the future.
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06-26-2017, 09:41 AM | #25 |
Leo-holic
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Indiana
Posts: 16,912
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Good luck on learning French, sdp. I took Spanish in high school and college as well as ASL for an elective and that was pretty interesting to say the least. Learned some French when watching the Canadian version of Sesame Street back in the day because we picked up CBC on our satellite so that was fun.
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06-26-2017, 09:57 AM | #26 |
Annalist
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,435
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In the tech world, a lot of Chinese employees who work with Americans use Americanized names to make it easier to work with us.
I've been predicting that in another decade or two, that trend will have slowly reversed and all of us Americans will have Chinese names to make it easier to work with us. Also, OP can totally learn French in one year. Be incredibly fluent, possibly not... but go for it!
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02-11-2018, 01:03 AM | #27 |
Megan Fox = April
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Tokio, Italy
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Decided to give an update on how my project is doing since it's been half a year and well, it's not doing great.
I really want this and thought some public pressure if I posted it on a few online outlets it would motivate me but it just isn't the best year for this as it was also my last year in University and pressure was mounting. I was demotivated because of my lack of time to practice and that somehow I was practicing less and less than even before my 1 year goal but I was able to make it work. I now have less pressure, I'm still comitted to learning but not wanting to become say a B2 level by the end of my goal as it was my original goal eveni f I do aim to get better. I'm still blogging every friday something french related, you can check it out here whether it's reviews of apps, my progress or more commonly songs and french media reviews: https://miscrave.com/french/ Speaking two languages really makes me feel like I know so many different worlds which you really can't only knowing one so it's hard for me to understand how someone can only live speaking one, I really hope to be able to get that third one in. |
02-11-2018, 04:41 AM | #28 |
Emperor
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When you live in a small country with a not very commonly spoken language outside it, you need to learn a foreign language or two.
In Europe it's mostly the major countries such as Germany, Spain, Italy and France that dub and translate everything. They pretty much just watch tv all day in their language. |
02-11-2018, 11:43 AM | #29 |
Overlord
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 41,056
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Learning a new language as an adult is hard, and honestly not worth the time.
I only know english. I would like to speak spanish fluently but it's too late now so I don't care. Learning a second language is just too time consuming and as you can tell sdp, is giving you more trouble than its worth. |
02-11-2018, 11:54 AM | #30 |
Mad Scientist
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: UK
Posts: 2,393
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If you have the time and are interested enough then it's never to late to learn something new, with something like this though it helps if you will have the opportunity to use it after, otherwise unless you keep making time to practice it would just go again.
I learned bits of Italian and have done some beginner Spanish courses but didn't keep up with it, I liked those languages so may take it up again, I don't think to the point of being fluent but ... maybe functional enough to use when traveling. Last edited by newfan; 02-11-2018 at 12:43 PM. |
02-11-2018, 11:55 AM | #31 | |
Emperor
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Quote:
Thing is, most people who study languages end up never moving to a place where that language is the dominant spoken one, so that limits their exposure. I'm sure if I moved to a German speaking country tomorrow my German would improve tenfold in about a year or so, since I'd be forced to speak it and read in it every single day. |
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02-11-2018, 12:22 PM | #32 |
Megan Fox = April
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Tokio, Italy
Posts: 9,999
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I gave foreign language classes for almost 6 years so I'm well aware that it's difficult and the older the more difficult it is. And yes most people quit, only a small percentage finished the courses with a good level. But I had a student who was truly awful and already a grandpa even if not too old and it took him years and he was very dedicated but really bad and in the end he learned it pretty well.
I have the advantage that I'm not really starting from Zero and already speak it/understand it better than most people who say they speak 2 languages but don't really. I took French in High School for 3 years, then took it again for a year and a half while I waited to get into a chinese school just to remember the stuff I had learned and I stopped to try to learn Chinese when I was finally able to but after a year and a half with Mandarin I realized it was just too difficult and stopped. I took French again because I was staying in Quebec for a month and that's when my passion reignited, this time to really finish what I had left undone the previous times and I'm omitted, I will learn French fluently. You just need Dedication/Time, yes other things make it easier such as a great teacher, passion, material and exposure. Thanks to the internet material is easy to come by the others are a bit more difficult to find but possible if doing it right. Using the European framework I would consider myself to be near the b1 level and I hope to have a solid B1 level by the end of my "1 year commitment". I originally wanted to get as close to B2 level but I don't see that happening by June, by the end of the year or 2019? I'm counting on it, without the pressure of University it should be a lot easier. I wish another dromer joined the comittment |
06-25-2018, 12:40 PM | #33 |
Megan Fox = April
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Well, it's been a year since I made this thread so I thought I'd bump it. Looking back it was a very ambitious project and I just didn't have the time to dedicate to it to get to the level I originally wanted which is a B2 level. I still practiced a lot, didn't give up, hit a few walls along the way which happens and passed them.
It's not a failure of a project though since I improved quite a bit and I'd say I'm a B1 level. For those not used to the european frame B2 is bilingual and B1 is intermediate. I can have conversations about pretty much any topic, I make mistakes and can't express everything but I can communicate just fine. I can't understand movies without subtitles but my listening is decent, my reading skills are much improved and I can now read news in French for the most part and I can't do complex writing but I seem to do just fine chatting with people on twitter in French. I did blog about French related topics like reviews of French shows and apps as well as make notes of my progress every two months here. There's a few posts not linked there yet but the majority are. I plan to continue studying in french and let's see if by next year I can reach B2 level! It was a fun journey and I'm super happy that I can now communicate in French but I know i can improve a lot more and it'll be hard work but I'll do it. |
06-25-2018, 01:52 PM | #34 |
Mad Scientist
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Republic of Ireland
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Well done, sdp. I know mainly English, though I know some French and Irish too.
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06-25-2018, 02:17 PM | #35 |
I Married a Duck!
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Good for you! I have been off-and-on learning Japanese and Spanish, the first for story research purposes, the second because I work with so many Latinos. It is hard to find time and motivation, but the more I learn, the more proud I am of the accomplishment.
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12-16-2018, 04:16 PM | #36 |
Megan Fox = April
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Tokio, Italy
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Well I took a B1 certification test and passed it which means I have a good understanding of the language, can understand and speak most of my ideas, I hit a few walls again but passed right through them with perseverance and will continue to do so. It's been a year and a half since I made this thread but I have a new goal...
I want to achieve B2 level which means I know the language, it's going to be tough since these levels don't increase linearly but exponentially. I'm giving my self one year, once again, I will study even more than the previous year and a half to be able to achieve it and let's see how things go. Right now it's a dream, I'm ready to go, I've learned to deal with walls and I think I can do it, I'm not that far away. |
12-17-2018, 02:58 AM | #37 | |
Mad Scientist
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12-17-2018, 09:56 AM | #38 |
Mad Scientist
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Subscribe to french youtube channels that talk about stuff you like, read french comics, whatch movies in french you've already seen in english and don't forget to partecipate to discussion boards. It's important to understand what you hear and what you read, but it's even more important that you learn to talk and write yourself.
You have one year, you can do it. So, do it. Good luck. |
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