language learning

[mitchermitcher]

always better to know more than your own native tongue. if you're thinking of or are already trying to learn a new one, hats off to you. even if its just mandatory language classes in  high school or something that's fine too. discuss, en/discourage, ask for resources or advice. english counts if you're not a native

 

what are you learning right now

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Honestly I am terrible at learning languages. I don't know why but I just seem to not be able to grasp it.

[Susie]

Tried French Immersion for one year in school. Couldnt keep up with that sheet and found it too much of a pain so I didnt go on with it, not like I wouldve been able to even if I wanted to since I moved to another school and they didnt have French.

 

Never bothered trying to learn another language afterwards. Just got no interest in it.

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

Taking private lessons in body language. Lots and lots of lessons!

[Dova]

Went to an international school in Africa in my early years, so we had to do English, Afrikaans, German, and Portuguese. Failed the last one, only survived German through those in my family who were actually good at it, and similarly passed Afrikaans thanks to friends. Swore off languages since, considering how much trouble I already have with English.

 

As for others who find it easier, I really think that making an effort to learn another language not only opens your potential social circle but is also appreciating those who speak the language, being willing to communicate them and all. As said in the OP, hats off to those who do learn other tongues.

[Thar]

I only took a class of French in middle school and a couple levels of Spanish in high school. I hated it with a passion.

 

Honestly, the only way I could've learned a second language is if my parents were bilingual and raised me with both.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

[spoiler=Long version]

To be fair, I did have to take at least 1 year of language for high school. Ended up taking Spanish, and went the entire 2 year program in there. Also due to course stuff in college, I took the 200-level courses for it and then the 300-level writing courses. I had instructor who used the "voseo" form often, and that kinda rubbed off on me eventually. 

 

At that point, I technically forgot several things in the language and wouldn't say I'm comfortable speaking the language in public if I needed to use it. I'm more comfortable in writing than speaking; this needs to be fixed. Need to refresh my memory on certain vocab words (especially because they do differ between regions) and other things that get commonly mixed up. I remember most, if not all, the common verb conjugations so that helps. 

 

====

Also trying to teach self [proper] Japanese for a few reasons.

 

(1) Wanted to do it since grade school.

(2) Reading manga / watching anime without having to wait for subtitles.

(3) Should be useful down here due to the heavy Japanese influence (and tourism industry); I work at water park with a lot of Japanese tourists, so...would make it easier to communicate. 

 

I was using NHK World a bit for basic stuff (and I wrote everything down in a notebook), but now I need to review those notes and teach self the sound words. I can speak the language a little bit, but usually related to basic phrases. That, and reading kanji for obvious reasons; I have no issues with kana.

 

That, and adapt speech patterns to the appropriate situation.

 

====

Might be good to learn Chinese eventually, but issues being pronunciation and figuring out what style to use. Down here, most people are Cantonese and use this, though go abroad and it's Mandarin. 

 

 

 

Short version:

• I learned Spanish in high school and continued on into college, even doing my required 300-level writing courses in the language (for reasons), but I forgot several things by the time I took it up again.
  • Need to refresh memory, and remind self that the "voseo" form (second person form in South American Spanish) is only to be used there, and default to standard form. (Though, I did find learning the voseo easier to learn in terms of verb conjugation)
  • Also might help to actually translate "Despacito" in its original language properly. 
• Teaching self proper Japanese from NHK right now; it's no substitute for in-person instruction, but better to learn at own pace than getting rushed (especially if I want to take it for credit). I technically know some basic Japanese and stuff from other places / anime to an extent, but yeah.
  • I have several reasons for wanting to learn it properly, but do it at own pace.
• Chinese might be on this list for later, but IDK yet. 

====

Obviously I speak English, but that wasn't mentioned.

[Yemachu]

English, German and French are mandatory, foreign languages in my country; at least in middle school (or the equivalent thereof). I almost never need German and French, so I am not as good at it anymore, as I used to be (not that I was any good at it; I was better at maths, biology, chemistry, and so on).

 

Unless films/series are targeted at a younger audience, we hardly get anything other than subtitles as the translation. Most games are not even translated (although that seems to be be changing as of late). Since most of those are in English (and a lot of forums are as well), I do use English on a daily basis.

[Hallohallo]

• English obviously.

In middle school, I had to choose between French, German and Russian. I chose German and I don't remember exactly why. It was a horrible experience, cuz German teacher was a pain in the ass.

I tried learning Japanese through various methods on the internet just to read 1 LN, but I gave up due to laziness. 

[Tourmaline]

I've been learning Enochian.

[Nathanael D. Striker]

I took a semester of German my freshman year of college, but I didn't continue as I didn't enjoy the class and I was in a "sheet, this class is ruining my GPA" mindset. I took three years of Spanish in high school (only needed two), and I forgot most of it by now

[mitchermitcher]

as evident by the posts in this thread, it's generally not very enjoyable to learn languages through mandatory education. it's the same for me, i learned french in school and hated it.

 

then i began learning japanese on my own and i'm enjoying it a lot more, especially as of late. i really do implore you all try to self-study something. it's definitely more enjoyable that way.

 

 

I tried learning Japanese through various methods on the internet just to read 1 LN, but I gave up due to laziness. 

Exactly the sort of motivation I had. If you're still interested I can help out and all.

[Shradow]

I may have finished all my college's Japanese language and culture classes but I'll probably never really stop learning about either. There's so much to take in, words I don't know.

 

Except kanji. funk kanji.

[Fusion X. Denver]

I took like 12 years of Spanish, started in 1st grade all the way up to freshman year of college (skipped senior year).

I of course have forgotten most of it, but when I traveled to Ecuador a year ago, I ended up flexing those muscles again and gained a decent amount of it back temporarily. I think being surrounded with the language helps immerse you into it and pick it up more quickly. But the best way would be to have grown up where it was spoken around the house.

[mitchermitcher]

 

 

funk kanji.

これだけはだめ

 

I understand it's hard and especially if you're learning it from school it's really hard and a pain to get the kanji down. The way I did it was by using a flashcard program with a random Japanese vocab deck I found. P' much no point in learning a kanji by itself. Try that if you haven't yet.

I took like 12 years of Spanish, started in 1st grade all the way up to freshman year of college (skipped senior year).

I of course have forgotten most of it, but when I traveled to Ecuador a year ago, I ended up flexing those muscles again and gained a decent amount of it back temporarily. I think being surrounded with the language helps immerse you into it and pick it up more quickly. But the best way would be to have grown up where it was spoken around the house.

That was only a year ago, there's still a chance if you begin trying again now.

 

The best way is to be born speaking it sure, but that defeats the point of proactively trying to learn one. Living in the country your target language is spoken helps because of the immersion, but on a more fundamental level it's a necessity so that helps learning since you're more prone to actively study it.

[Madsen]

Past the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and English, I got my German language diploma a week ago which is nice. 

[.Rooster]

I'm doing a German GCSE lulz

[Simping For Hina]

I am taking elementary French for my undergrad, cause I have to. That is the furthest I am going with learning another language.

[EHN.]

Past the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and English, I got my German language diploma a week ago which is nice. 

 

You forgot Montenegrin tho. Even though they're all basically the same. 

 

But I'm exactly the same, born speaking Serbian and picked up German and eventually English as a young kid. Learning languages past that age is just a jabroni.

[xlArisenRoselx]

I started to take Spanish, but never really understood it. However, I have always wanted to learn Japanese, and I hear there is a class for it at my school. I highly doubt I would haye it, since it has been something I've always wanted to do. But yeah, Kanji could be a problem....

[Lystern]

I've been learning Korean for a month, but barely learned "I'm-You aren't" thing.

[Madsen]

You forgot Montenegrin tho. Even though they're all basically the same. 

 

But I'm exactly the same, born speaking Serbian and picked up German and eventually English as a young kid. Learning languages past that age is just a jabroni.

 

Montenegrin too, yeah, but that's always been touchy.

[Kudryavka]

I've been dipping my toes in both korean and japanese, but my indecisiveness and inability to pick only one because I like both too much means I haven't advanced much in either. That said, english is not my native tongue (it's spanish) so does that count?