Languages

[Jerrek]

I've always been fascinated with languages. Well, history and archeology really, but you can't study those without studying languages and cultures. I really enjoy reading history and my favorite channel is probably Discovery Times (history and archeology). For me it is a great way to spend my free time [when I'm not oiling my guns and polishing my swords (j/k)].

Many people find it hard to learn a new language, but it is more psychological than anything else.

Which languages do you speak? Which do you wish you could speak? Which do you like the sound of? And which do you like the caligraphy of? (the art of writing it)


I'm fluent in Afrikaans, Dutch, and English. I'm reasonably adept in Arabic and Hebrew. I can read a lot of hieroglyphics, but I can't pronounce it or actually write it. The same with Chinese. I can read and write a fair bit of it, but don't ask me to say the words.

I'm doing Sanskrit now, and I want to make a serious attempt at mastering this language. The ancient people of the Indus valley is the only people that never burnt their books. China and Athens both destroyed tons of books. The Egyptians wrote everything on tablets and walls, and a lot of it has been found, but it doesn't date back far enough. The Mayan texts are hard to translate. But Sanskrit is generally understood, and the papers are there to translate.

Sound wise... Well, Spanish is beautiful. My favorite language to write is Arabic because it flows so well, and overall I think Hebrew looks the best when printed.

For an interesting link, go here: http://www.wbschool.org/chinesecharacters.htm

It is really fascinating how the ancient Chinese ideographs were formed.

Originally Posted by Jerrek

Many people find it hard to learn a new language, but it is more psychological than anything else.

Well, IMO, it's somewhat more a matter of teaching and memory.

Language teaching at school sucks big time. You don't learn a language by studying verb conjugations or trying to memorise lists of vocabulary, you learn a language by *using it*.

There was a documentary I saw some years ago about a guy who taught languages in a way that put the onus on the *teacher* to ensure that the pupils understood, rather than just "throwing" stuff at them and hoping that some of it would stick.

He took a group of children who had been learning (or, rather, failing to learn!) French at Secondary School and within five *days* they knew and understood more of the language than they had in five *years* of ordinary teaching!

He'd start off with a basic phrase and, once the kids had got the hang of it, he'd "ring the changes" on it so what they were learning would follow in a logical progression. If they didn't understand the next step, he'd take them back to something they had understood, then move on again from there.

Which languages do you speak?

English and profane

Which do you wish you could speak? Which do you like the sound of? And which do you like the caligraphy of? (the art of writing it)

Japanese. I got interested when I did a Japanese style of Karate about 10 years ago and I did try to learn some because there was a local English Language school where students would offer tuition in their language in return for help with English, but I never got very far with it.

For an interesting link, go here: http://www.wbschool.org/chinesecharacters.htm

It is really fascinating how the ancient Chinese ideographs were formed.

It's interesting, trouble is, there's a slight problem in that if you look at their flash animation, the same symbol (a square) is used to represent "breath", "mouth", "man", "walled garden" and "person"...

Now that's not a difficulty as such (did you know that the word with the most different meanings in English is "set" with at least *twenty seven* separate definitions!) but it does rather suggest that their "explanations" for links to the Bible are a little questionable. (But, *please* let's not turn this into a religious thread!)

[Jerrek]

Originally Posted by Graham

Well, IMO, it's somewhat more a matter of teaching and memory.

Language teaching at school sucks big time. You don't learn a language by studying verb conjugations or trying to memorise lists of vocabulary, you learn a language by *using it*.

Thats true. In Canada, students graduating high school are supposed to be bilingual, but they are not.

It's interesting, trouble is, there's a slight problem in that if you look at their flash animation, the same symbol (a square) is used to represent "breath", "mouth", "man", "walled garden" and "person"...

That is because Chinese doesn't have "words" but concepts. The square symbol represents the concept of man, which can be a mouth, or a man himself, or a person, or breath (breathing implies life, which is another concept for man).



By the way, here is some Sanskrit for those of you that has never seen it before:

[Ramrod]

My first language, Latvian is supposed to be derived from Sanskrit.
I find it sad how easy it is to forget languages. I have been reasonably fluent in Africaans, Zulu and German but not anymore

[danielf]

My first language is Dutch. I'd say I am fluent in English. With a bit of practice I would be fairly fluent in German and French, and I speak a little Spanish (nut not much)

Edit: and due to speaking Dutch, I'd have no problem having a conversation with an Afrikaans speaker

[Theodoric]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

My first language, Latvian is supposed to be derived from Sanskrit.
I find it sad how easy it is to forget languages. I have been reasonably fluent in Africaans, Zulu and German but not anymore

I'd say that Latvian like, Sanskrit, has a common ancestor in Indo-European, but not that Latvian descended from Sanskrit. Languages descended from Sanskrit are the modern-day languages of northern India.

PS An almost totally irrelevant aside. When I was a young lad, the inhabitants of Latvia were known, in English, as Letts and the corresponding adjective was Lettish. No doubt such irregular names became too confusing and someone decided to regularise them.

[Xaccers]

English (and the history and development of several words)

Some:
Arabic (speach)
French
German
Russian
Greek (can read it better than speak it. Finally found a use for studying astrophysics at uni!)
American
Spanish



Had a duch friend at uni, he's been in England so long he was starting to lose his dutch accent, so whenever he went home, people would say "hey, for an englishman, you do a good dutch accent!"

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Jerrek

Many people find it hard to learn a new language, but it is more psychological than anything else.

When you are born, your brain is wired with all the language sounds a human can make, but as you hear only certain ones around you while growing up (in a mono-lingual environment) the other pathways in your brain waste away, so you end up being locked in, only being able to easily produce the sounds relivant to your language.
This is why Chinese have dificulty pronouncing R's, and why children have the easiest time learning new languages, and why british kids tend to come out of school crap at foreign languages as we aren't taught them early enough.

It is possible to learn new languages, and as you say, a lot of what's against learning is psychological, people thinking they can't do it, or not really wanting to comit themselves. Pronounciation is the hard part, as the nerve pathways required to make the sound you want, may not actually exist, so you'll never get that word perfect.

[Jerrek]

American? lol

We went on holiday to the north of Spain a couple of years ago. I loved listening to Spanish and learning phrases. You have to make an effort in the north as it's not widely visited by us Brits. Always meant to follow it up, but life's always so busy ...

[Avatar]

I speak German/English both at a native level, can read alot and understand a fair bit of dutch, Afrikans also makes some sense when im listeng to it, i understand french quitewell too..

On my list to learn are Dutch, french, spanish and italian and maybe one day japanese as the old japanese culture fasinates me.

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by Jerrek

American? lol

Well, it's a foreign languague

You say color, we say colour
You say neighbor, we say neighbour
You say honor, we say honour

Hang on! American's are U-ist!

[Xaccers]

If someone is keen on practicing French, but has found the French speakers they've met on the continent to be a tad rude and unhelpful (I know I have in Normandy, Calais and Lyon) then can I suggest the east coast of Corsica?
I found everyone there extremely friendly, and very helpful with my pronounciation of french

The island itself is beautiful, with long sandy beaches which aren't overcrowded.
The west coast is mainly m'kee (star trek fans will be able to spell it properly) and really quite hot, but the east is alot greener, with some beautiful mountain streams you can go swimming in.

Just one word of warning, the italian campervan drivers tend to not know any speed other than 80, and don't overtake unless they can see the whites of the eyes of the oncoming driver, or unless there's a bend or humpback bridge!

Originally Posted by Jerrek

That is because Chinese doesn't have "words" but concepts. The square symbol represents the concept of man, which can be a mouth, or a man himself, or a person, or breath (breathing implies life, which is another concept for man).

Fine, but how do you get from that to "walled garden"?!

I've just read the other messages in this thread and I never realised we had such a bunch of polyglots on this board!!

(Look it up )