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Languages you'd like to learn, or brush up on

So just recently I've decided to start reading some of my Spanish literature out loud, in hopes that that will build me up towards feeling confident in actually speaking Spanish aloud again.
that's what i did when i was working on my english. it will help, trust me.

i speak hungarian, swedish and english fluently but i gotta brush up on my german. i'm also learning russian and one day arabic as well, if i get the time that is.
 
Well, that's good to know. :)

Just got to make sure I get books that I like, though. The book I started was a magical realism type book, and I don't like that genre.

I prefer outright sci-fi or fantasy. Don't laugh, but I do have the Harry Potter books in Spanish... :D
 
Hey,

I find it helpful to not only read in the language you want to learn, but also try to think thoughts in it and to formulate those out to yourself. Talking aloud to oneself might be a bit odd sometimes, but it is helpfull, because you not only have to pronounce the words correctly, but you also have to create right sounding sentences for yourself... and not only read the sentences, that are already formulated by someone else.
Also it helps to find people online, that communicate in the language...maybe theres also a spanish Star trek Board somewhere :D , then you can post there. You can think your posts while writing also loud...or you look up a chat with spanish people.... you also could open a thread here looking for a tandem partner and then you post in that thread in spanish..or sisnt that aloud? Well but I guess when its only a one thread and its in the subject line, what the threads for, it should be all right really.

What I find the most scary is talking English with German people. I find it easier to talk english with native speakers...so maybe when you wanna talk spanish again you can find native speakers, who when possible, should not be proficient english speaker, cause, for me at least, when I know that the other can speak my native language and we could communicate way easier in our own language but use a different one, it feels strange and uncomfortable.

Oh and try to write a story in Spanish for example. With dialoge. Can be something easy and short, but let the characters converse in spanish. That trains too. However not sure if it would work with your cardies, cause they are probbaly used to to speak english in your mind..sort of.
I for example could not write them in german, and even my english is not proficient at all, I would try to write them in english, cause I only watch DS9 in English, so they talk English in my mind and certainly not german.
But maybe it does work for you or you just take a character that has no strict language in your mind yet.

Others than that I guess it really is just jumping over the shadow. And keep in mind most native speakers are always impressed when a non native speakers speaks their language no matter how stammered and wrong it sounds. Someone can speak the most broken german to me and I still find it great in a way, because the someone tries.
And when i talk English with friends who are english natives they always find my english SO perfect...while I know its not, but they are just happy I try to communicate with them as best as I can.
So remember when wanting to speak spanish that no one is to harm you, when you speak it wrong, but people will be happy that you try at all. :)

TerokNor
 
I'd like to relearn (I've forgotten too much to say "brush up on") on Spanish. I'd also like to learn German and Latin. I find languages to be pretty interesting, so the more the better. The most important would be Spanish, since that has a practical use for me. Latin would probably be only a curiousity, unless I want to take advantage of my history major and study the Middle Ages or Roman era.
Classical Latin and Medieval Latin are different animals. To get through the latter one should study the former from the start.
 
Japanese -- Took two years in college and I've lost a lot after entering the workforce. Fortunately I'll have plenty on time to focus on it when I leave next month.
 
I have a very good Dutch friend and it encourages me to pick up a few things. Her English is exceptional too, so it makes me feel somewhat... envious I guess.

I used to study a bit of Swedish in the past, but only because a Swedish person I once knew taught me "Svengelska" is the best thing ever, moreso than Engrish.

Spanish would be a very useful language to learn, and would certainly be my choice of language to learn if I could start school over again. But instead, I know only a partial amount of French and German.
 
Arabic, it's a cool language and could come in handy to defuse situations in today's current climate.

its also a pain to learn. one thing i've learned growing up in a city where over 60% speak Arabic. that depending where you come from, words and sentences could have different meanings. take for instance the word "Haram". for Muslims it means "forbidden". for northern Iraqi's the closest word would be "too bad or i'm sorry." (as in: "someone stole my bike yesterday" - " too bad/ i'm sorry") and for instance in Lebanon it means something similar to "dont do that or stop"
 
Czech, I'm going there in October for a 3 week or so work stint and hope to get out and see the area and need to know enough to get around and not get myself into trouble.
 
Czech, I'm going there in October for a 3 week or so work stint and hope to get out and see the area and need to know enough to get around and not get myself into trouble.

start learning Czech then. they're crazy sons of bitches, i'll tell you that. they give "sex, drugs and rock n' roll" a whole new meaning. i love that country lol!
 
Hey,

I find it helpful to not only read in the language you want to learn, but also try to think thoughts in it and to formulate those out to yourself. Talking aloud to oneself might be a bit odd sometimes, but it is helpfull, because you not only have to pronounce the words correctly, but you also have to create right sounding sentences for yourself... and not only read the sentences, that are already formulated by someone else.
Also it helps to find people online, that communicate in the language...maybe theres also a spanish Star trek Board somewhere :D , then you can post there. You can think your posts while writing also loud...or you look up a chat with spanish people.... you also could open a thread here looking for a tandem partner and then you post in that thread in spanish..or sisnt that aloud? Well but I guess when its only a one thread and its in the subject line, what the threads for, it should be all right really.

Hmm...as far as I know (and I may be wrong), posting here has to be in English so the mods can read it.

I know Cardassia-Primera opened up a forum, but it isn't used very much so chatting didn't work out there. I bet there are other Spanish-speaking places to post.

Oh and try to write a story in Spanish for example. With dialoge. Can be something easy and short, but let the characters converse in spanish. That trains too. However not sure if it would work with your cardies, cause they are probbaly used to to speak english in your mind..sort of.
I for example could not write them in german, and even my english is not proficient at all, I would try to write them in english, cause I only watch DS9 in English, so they talk English in my mind and certainly not german.
But maybe it does work for you or you just take a character that has no strict language in your mind yet.[/quote[

That may actually work if I get a Star Wars idea! I hadn't wanted to try it with Star Trek for the same reason you said, but with Star Wars it would likely work. As crazy as this sounds, I watched the first 3 movies in Spanish (it actually makes the dialogue more bearable), and the movie was dubbed in such high quality that to me, the characters speak Spanish when I think about them. (Especially Palpatine. In the Spanish version for the Americas, the voice actor doing the dubbing for Palpatine has a veeeeery sexy voice. In my opinion. ;) )
 
I was in an extended French programme in grades 7-13 - half my day was in French in grades 7 and 8, and then I studied history and geography in French throughout high school. I also took a second-year French class in university. (I'd wanted to take a first-year French literature class, but I did too well on the entrance exam and they bumped me up to second year - where I spent four months conjugating the same verbs I'd conjugated in grade 11. :( )

Despite that, my recollection of the language has pretty much disappeared (mind you, it's been 25 years since then). So there's one.

I also studied German in grades 10-13 and first year university (and did well enough to place fifth in Toronto in the 1985 Ontario High School German Contest, and to place at the provincial finals), but it's also pretty much gone. All I really remember is that the slightest hiccup sends the verb fleeing to the end of the sentence. Well, that and how to say "it's been 25 years since my last German class."

So I'd like to be able to find the time to try to get those back.

I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned Klingon yet. (Next time I'm tending bar at a convention party with Lawrence Schoen, I should get him to teach me some. :D)
 
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