Is anyone here learning a language? (real, not programming)

[mostwanted]

I'm trying to teach myself Chinese (mandarin) for several reasons.


I plan to go to China early next year
I might attend Asian Studies at uni
Lots of people to speak with


Are you people studying any foreign languages? Please tell us why you are studying/ not studying a language. What do you think about learning languages in a world slowly becoming increasingly dominated by English (an estimated 1/5 of the world speaks English as native/second language)?

[Kosimo]

I'm trying to teach myself Chinese (mandarin) for several reasons.


I plan to go to China early next year
I might attend Asian Studies at uni
Lots of people to speak with


Are you people studying any foreign languages? Please tell us why you are studying/ not studying a language. What do you think about learning languages in a world slowly becoming increasingly dominated by English (an estimated 1/5 of the world speaks English as native/second language)?

I'm actually studying Korean.

I speak five languages

Catalan (Native Level)
Italian (Native Level)
Spanish (Native Level)
English (Fluent)
Korean (Basic)

The cultural difference is amazing guys...

[FuturePilot]

I studied Italian for 2 years.

[JacobRogers]

I'm minoring in French because I had some spare electives and wanted to do something with them.

[vambo]

Japanese. Basically because I'm a Japanophile (if there's such a word in English :))

[Depressed Man]

I'm slowly studying Chinese.. actually it's kinda funny cause it was my first language. English being my second.

I grew up speaking, writing Chinese at home until I started public school in America (and thus stopped going to Chinese school). It was also because the teachers had thought I was retarded (I couldn't speak english at the time, only Chinese since it's the only language I knew). So my mom had to teach me english (and as a result I slowly dropped Chinese).

I can still translate it when my family and friends speak it (sometimes with translation difficulties cause phrases can mean many things depended on how they are said). But I can't write it, nor read it (besides a few symbols). I can't speak it (well I can if my parents tell me how, and it usually sounds like the real thing).

So yeah I'm slowly learning it just by being exposed to my parents and Chinese TV shows on satellite TV.

[RandomJoe]

What do you think about learning languages in a world slowly becoming increasingly dominated by English (an estimated 1/5 of the world speaks English as native/second language)?
Funny you would say that - around here English is gradually becoming LESS used in certain areas! The Mexican population is growing, and there are parts of the city I can go and not readily understand the signs around me - let alone understand what anyone is saying! (I did have two years of Spanish in HS but that's a long time ago...)

I've thought about learning Spanish again - it would certainly come in handy with my job, I work in a construction-related field, where there are a lot of Mexican workers. But never have done it, just not a lot of motivation to do it.

The language that holds the most interest to me right now is Japanese - I've been watching a lot of anime and other Japanese shows and it would be interesting to listen to them in the original language - or at all, just got The Seven Samurai from Netflix. Great show, even if I can't understand a word. (I'll admit that's not exactly an ideal motivator...! :lolflag: )

After that would be Russian - I've always wanted to learn it, wished it had been an option in HS.

So what's the best way to learn a language? I hear ads now and then for Rosetta Stone, although their claims are a bit "too good to be true" sounding...

[proalan]

I was thinking of learning german (supposed to be easy)

I'm just a bilingual
chinese - cantonese and a dialect called takar
english - (brummie english)
and some very out of practice french.

Does mathematics count as a language? (Lecturers always said it was when I was at university)

For those looking for a challenge Finnish and Polish are said to be the most difficult european languages.

[Epilonsama]

In Puerto Rico most of us are bilinugual so I know both Spanish and English, about learning another language, I might do it in the future but not in the moment.

[Hygelac]

"Yes, on my own initiative."

I'm studying Latin and Attic Greek at university, and am amazed by how much I'm learning about English in the process. Of course, these languages aren't spoken much anymore; if I try to learn a modern foreign language sometime, it will probably be Russian or Mandarin Chinese.

[likemindead]

I studied Koine Greek and Hebrew at university but I would love to learn Spanish, French, German, Japanese.... you name it. I'd love to be able to converse with everyone in the native tongue.

[Xanderfoxx]

Funny you would say that - around here English is gradually becoming LESS used in certain areas! The Mexican population is growing, and there are parts of the city I can go and not readily understand the signs around me - let alone understand what anyone is saying! (I did have two years of Spanish in HS but that's a long time ago...)

I've thought about learning Spanish again - it would certainly come in handy with my job, I work in a construction-related field, where there are a lot of Mexican workers. But never have done it, just not a lot of motivation to do it.

The language that holds the most interest to me right now is Japanese - I've been watching a lot of anime and other Japanese shows and it would be interesting to listen to them in the original language - or at all, just got The Seven Samurai from Netflix. Great show, even if I can't understand a word. (I'll admit that's not exactly an ideal motivator...! :lolflag: )

After that would be Russian - I've always wanted to learn it, wished it had been an option in HS.

So what's the best way to learn a language? I hear ads now and then for Rosetta Stone, although their claims are a bit "too good to be true" sounding...

Well, I've got Rosetta Stone for Latin American Spanish, and it's really, really great, except I'd only recommend it for those who are deadly serious about learning the language of their choice due to the price, but if you are serious, I'd go with Rosetta Stone, definitely. I plan on getting it for Mandarin Chinese.

I just hope I can figure out a way to read and write documents, email and such in Ubuntu, as that would be so cool.

[monsieurdozier]

I've taken French in High School and in College. My family name is French, and so many people in my area study and worship their Celtic origins, I wanted to study mine.

I do one day want to go to France, mais, Je ne se pas.

Monsieur Dozier

[Swarms]

I only speak english and danish fluent, tried to learn french and now spanish both are pretty poor attempts.
I might pickup french later again since I preferred that language and want to give it a real shot.

[CAD-MAN]

Im English, but have family in Italy, and so am learning Italian at the moment. I didn't have much time whilst at school for learning languages, but I have a bit of spare time now, so am aiming to be able to speak fairly decent Italian for next summer (when I plan to go to Italy). :)

An Ubuntu forum member, LeChuck is planning on making software for language learning, see this thread. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=497500&page=3&highlight=learning+languages) (Sorry, couldn't resist advertising - I just think its a great idea!)

[kostkon]

I speak English and Greek (Modern).

[aSpork]

I took a Japanese class for about a year but then I stopped doing it. That was like when I was 16 or something. My mom couldn't afford it, and the classes themselves are kind of slow. It was only once a week and by the time the next week came we didn't really learn anything new. It got boring. I want to learn and I attempted at self-teaching with books and stuff, but at the same time I feel like it isn't really necessary. I don't have Japanese relatives, and nowadays it's really easy to find new anime subtitled.

[aks44]

Slowly learning cantonese (on my own initiative, I'm willing to move there -or in Hong Kong- ASAP).

I already speak French (native), English & Spanish (fluent).

I may also get back to Catalan when I have some time, I used to speak it when I was a child but kinda forgot it since I moved to the north of France.


IWhat do you think about learning languages in a world slowly becoming increasingly dominated by English (an estimated 1/5 of the world speaks English as native/second language)?

I don't agree with that, IMHO chinese is becoming more and more prevalent.

[tszanon]

I'm trying to learn German. Brazillian Portuguese is my native language, and I studied English for 10 years.

Many things I'd like to read in Internet are written in German, so that's the fuel to my engine.

[Kingsley]

I don't take German classes anymore but I still try to learn a few phrases/words here and there. I'm at the point where I can understand a lot of the German stuff I see online.

I'm also trying to get better at speech in Igbo (Nigerian language). Understanding when someone speaks it is a piece of cake. Speaking it myself and having the right accent is hard.

[happy-and-lost]

I wasted 3 hours a week for 5 years learning French in school. I haven't needed to use it once either whilst learning it or since learning it.

[tseliot]

I have studied English for 13 years (3yrs - lower middle school, 5yrs- upper middle school, 5yrs-university) (which is my favourite language)

and Spanish for 5 years at the university

I am a native speaker of Italian.

[wheredidrealitygo]

I grew up learning english from my parents, but my province is officially bilingual (English and French) so I can speak english only slightly better than french as the majority of my time was away from their influence, and I learned French everywhere else.

Took a year of Spanish and still remember enough to understand quite a bit (as it's very similar to french).

[MST3Kakalina]

I took three semesters of German in high school, as well as five full years of French. In college, I've taken two additional semesters of French (enrolled in the second one right now), two semesters of Russian, and a semester of Swedish.

Russian I've largely lost, though I can still transliterate a sentence in Cyrillic, if not translate it entirely. French and Swedish are at the top of my brain, as I'm currently still studying them: French in class and Swedish on my own.

Languages are great fun. I think I'd like to learn Chinese next.

And yes, I'm a native English speaker.

[g2g591]

I'm slowly learning spanish, 2nd year in high school with a couple good teachers

[wana10]

i'm reteaching myself japanese so i can read all the cool manga that never comes to the U.S. :oops: ;)

i took two years way back in middle school, but my highschool didn't offer japanese so i took three years of spanish and forgot almost everything...bummer. but i'm getting back there, slowly but surely.

[Fonon]

I'm learning Japanese (Nihongo) so I can port in games early and understand them.

[MJWhiteDerm]

I studied Spanish for four years of high school, one course in university. However, I've been to Puerto Rico, Spain, Panama, and Honduras .... and had to use my Spanish in all of those places, so my Spanish is functional. Hell, I used it to communicate with someone in Yugoslavia (back when it was still a country, 1978) because the shopkeeper and I could both communicate in Spanish.

I can read a few bits of French, ditto Italian.

I studied some German, can read only small bits. I'm told my accent is good.

I lived in Japan and Korea for several years with the military. I picked up more Korean in one year than I did Japanese in two years. The Koreans tried to help me and the Japanese seemed disinterested (northern Japan, Misawa).

I have been slowly studying Russian, out of personal interest. (Ochen myedlina ... very slowly).

[tgbrowning]

Have studied a number of languages but have never been able to think in anything other than English, sad to say. Never been able to actually speak a foreign language, either -- best I could do was read other languages: Spanish, German and Russian.

And, since I went deaf, I've discovered part of the reason why I always had such a tough time learning a spoken foreign language. My hearing apparently has always had frequency gaps that caused me a great deal of difficulty. Since I went completely deaf, I've studied American Sign Language, but can't say I've done much with it. The grammer and structure differ from English so much, I'm kind of lost.

Always enjoyed studying languages, though.

Browning>>>

[wana10]

I'm learning Japanese (Nihongo) so I can port in games early and understand them.

same here, its things like super robot wars that keep driving me forwards through the seemingly never-ending kanji...:x ;)

[Koiti]

I am a native speaker of Brazilian Portuguese. Also fluent in English. Now I am learning Japanese and Spanish, all by my own effort (can't afford paying for lessons)

Cheers.

[Arwen]

I speak english,greek and french fluently,I can understand a few german(but I can't speak well),I 've been studying spanish for one year now.The more the merrier,especially when googling around for information :-)

[seshomaru samma]

I'm learning to speak Japanese which I can sort of read because I read Chinese . My wife is Japanese and I would like to be able to communicate with her family
If I ever have time I would like to learn Spanish and Arabic

[ipsi]

I find it interesting that there seems to be a fair amount of people studying Asian Langauges. I myself am studying Chinese. Studied it for about for three Semesters at Uni, and then dropped for various reasons. But I still talk to the people in my class, and I still study it by myself.

I'm studying it because my girlfriend is Chinese, and only one other member of her family (her older cousin) speaks any English...

[dnel]

I only speak English currently but I want to learn French, mainly because I'd studied it in school and it's likely that the only way I'd ever learn a language properly is to visit a native speaking country regularly. It's always been one of my burning ambitions to learn at least one other language just to prove I can.

[diskotek]

i'm learning Greek. however it's really hard and very sui-generis language, i still have passion for it. now i can speak turkish (mother tongue), English very fluently, and can speak Greek well for daily conversations. and i can ask where is the toilet in German or stuff like that :)

after i finished with Greek, i'll go for Dutch and German. or just german, because i have already know little.

edit: wow, most of the people trying to learn Japanese, that's cool.

[wersdaluv]

I'm in Indonesia for the week.

I'm trying to learn some Bahasa Indonesia.

[ezphilosophy]

I (self) study Chinese because I live in China and my wife is Chinese. I'm conversationally fluent but if I go to the doctor's office, I get into trouble.

"I have what?!"

[argie]

I've always wanted to learn Russian. That and Japanese, because I hear it's different from Chinese which does the one character per word thing which is beyond me.

I'm not too good with languages though and have tried learning French (in school) and German (in college) but my knowledge only lasted as long as I was taking the course.

I also want to learn Malayalam and Urdu because those are my parents' languages. Surprisingly, I'm told by relatives I haven't seen since I was a very small kid that I used to speak fluently in those languages (to the extent that a 6 or 7 year old can, I suppose, and probably with a liberal dose of time-induced memory rose-tinting). :D

[b0ng0]

I've been learning Japanese for about 3/4 months now mainly through a 1980's TV program called Let's Learn Japanese. It's really good and the 80's cheesiness makes for some hilarious moments. Can also now write all the hiragana alphabet from memory although sometimes forget some of the weirder looking characters.

Mainly it's for pleasure, I find Japanese culture facinating and watch far too much anime so I thought might as well learn it. My ultimate goal is to one day... not need subtitles!

Edit: I love how most people who are learning Japanese are doing it because they want to understand manga or video games. Awesome.

[reyfer]

I speak Spanish, English, Italian, French, Portuguese (Brazilian), some German, can read Greek and Russian, and right now I'm learning Japanese with Pimsleur's method.

[ZombiekE]

Icelandic, as I am in Icelandic Studies and French. I am taking French again after 4 years in secondary school (since I didn't use it I forgot most of the grammar and now I want it back, I thought it was a shame not to be able to communicate with them in their language after having taking French for so long).

[migge]

Lots of people to speak with


Haha, that's before you find out that they all want to abuse you for practising their English. According to John Pasden (of Sinosplice fame) some will even pretend not to understand you when your Chinese is perfectly clear (by Chinese standards) :D.

[bren21]

My job currently is to learn Arabic. I'm getting payed to do nothing but learn it.

[Mohamedzv2]

I'm learning French in school. First year, had 2 years of spanish but I forgot it. And I'm also learning Arabic

[Phreaker]

I'm starting Greek in a few months :}