yep, agree with you options. I struggle with my kid. english is her first language, i only speak to her in spanish. the cheeky little thing refuses to answer back in spanish. its a battle, but she will grow up bilingual. that will be good.
j
yep, agree with you options. I struggle with my kid. english is her first language, i only speak to her in spanish. the cheeky little thing refuses to answer back in spanish. its a battle, but she will grow up bilingual. that will be good.
j
wasp
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yep, know what you mean. remember some time ago, going to paris and waiters refusing to serve if not adressed in french. how times change, we now go over, and the waiter hears the wife speak english, and the waiter is incredibly eager to practice his english 😱
regardless of the populations numbers involved in speaking the leading languages of the world English is the language of business ...anyone unwilling to acknowledge that must sadly be aware they will receive far fewer 'bungs'
"just Paris"....I got it in Cannes a few years back , but there again i had sent the steak back for the third time
"just Paris"....I got it in Cannes a few years back , but there again i had sent the steak back for the third time
fibonelli
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who remembers watching this in the 70s?
Mind your language - The First Lesson-part - 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaicjBMajOs
Mind your language - The First Lesson-part - 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaicjBMajOs
How about Chinese?
Hilarious piece from Kelvin Mackenzie in today's Sun.
"With China set to dominate the world, I thought it might be helpful to learn Mandarin. Say the Chinese words out aloud for proper enunciation.....
That's not right - Sum Ting Wong
Are you harbouring a fugitive - Hu Yu Hai Ding
See me ASAP - Kum Hia Nao
Small horse - Tai Ni Po Ni
Did you go to the beach? - Wai Yu So Tan
I thought you were dieting - Wai Yu Mun Ching
Tow away zone - No Pah King
Hiding - Lei Ying Lo
I ran into a coffee table - Bang Mai Fa Kin Ni 🙂 🙂 🙂
Hilarious piece from Kelvin Mackenzie in today's Sun.
"With China set to dominate the world, I thought it might be helpful to learn Mandarin. Say the Chinese words out aloud for proper enunciation.....
That's not right - Sum Ting Wong
Are you harbouring a fugitive - Hu Yu Hai Ding
See me ASAP - Kum Hia Nao
Small horse - Tai Ni Po Ni
Did you go to the beach? - Wai Yu So Tan
I thought you were dieting - Wai Yu Mun Ching
Tow away zone - No Pah King
Hiding - Lei Ying Lo
I ran into a coffee table - Bang Mai Fa Kin Ni 🙂 🙂 🙂
rathcoole_exile
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try Thai.
very easy.
Not.
very easy.
Not.
timsk
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Spanish Ain't Easy!
In an earlier post on the thread, someone suggested something to the effect that Spanish is a relatively easy language to learn. This brought a wry smile to my face . . .
Back in late 2000, me and her who must be obeyed jacked in our jobs, rented out our home here in the U.K. and pitched up in a suburb of Malaga called El Palo. We enrolled in a local language school for 6 months (4 hours a day, Mon - Fri). We bought a telly and only watched Spanish programmes which are seriously bad - I mean truly dreadful - but hey, it's a good way to learn the language. Manu Chao boomed out from the stereo, interspersed with endless tapes of Michel Thomas and company. We bought Spanish papers and magazines and a couple of times a week attended 'intercambio' with native Spanish speakers. In our case this involved a couple of undergraduates at Malaga Uni' and a couple of waiters. They spoke English (quite well) and we spoke Spanish (very badly).
Much like looking back on a bad trade with the benefit of hindsight, our ridiculously naive idea at the time was that our total immersion regime would make us as fluent as the locals inside 6 months, or, good enough at least to get some work when our savings ran out. After 4 months we realised that we had made a massive miscalculation. It was obvious that we would be on the streets begging for years before our Spanish was anywhere near good enough to get work with a spanish employer and we resolved to return to the U.K.
We concluded that if we ever moved back to Spain that we would do so under a very different set of circumstances. My wife will focus on the language and I will focus on earning a living for us both once we are there. No prizes for guessing how I intend to do that. 😀 As for my wife, she's been studying continuously for the past 6+ years listening to tapes in the car every day and attending evening classes once a week. She has a good grasp of the grammar, but she still can't speak the lingo for toffee.
Now, you might conclude that me and my mrs are seriously cr*p at languages - and you'd be absolutely right. Even so, anyone who imagines that Spanish is a quick and easy language to pick up is going to get a very big shock indeed. Sorry to be the bearer of linguistic doom on what is otherwise a delightfully cheery and upbeat thread!
😉
Tim.
In an earlier post on the thread, someone suggested something to the effect that Spanish is a relatively easy language to learn. This brought a wry smile to my face . . .
Back in late 2000, me and her who must be obeyed jacked in our jobs, rented out our home here in the U.K. and pitched up in a suburb of Malaga called El Palo. We enrolled in a local language school for 6 months (4 hours a day, Mon - Fri). We bought a telly and only watched Spanish programmes which are seriously bad - I mean truly dreadful - but hey, it's a good way to learn the language. Manu Chao boomed out from the stereo, interspersed with endless tapes of Michel Thomas and company. We bought Spanish papers and magazines and a couple of times a week attended 'intercambio' with native Spanish speakers. In our case this involved a couple of undergraduates at Malaga Uni' and a couple of waiters. They spoke English (quite well) and we spoke Spanish (very badly).
Much like looking back on a bad trade with the benefit of hindsight, our ridiculously naive idea at the time was that our total immersion regime would make us as fluent as the locals inside 6 months, or, good enough at least to get some work when our savings ran out. After 4 months we realised that we had made a massive miscalculation. It was obvious that we would be on the streets begging for years before our Spanish was anywhere near good enough to get work with a spanish employer and we resolved to return to the U.K.
We concluded that if we ever moved back to Spain that we would do so under a very different set of circumstances. My wife will focus on the language and I will focus on earning a living for us both once we are there. No prizes for guessing how I intend to do that. 😀 As for my wife, she's been studying continuously for the past 6+ years listening to tapes in the car every day and attending evening classes once a week. She has a good grasp of the grammar, but she still can't speak the lingo for toffee.
Now, you might conclude that me and my mrs are seriously cr*p at languages - and you'd be absolutely right. Even so, anyone who imagines that Spanish is a quick and easy language to pick up is going to get a very big shock indeed. Sorry to be the bearer of linguistic doom on what is otherwise a delightfully cheery and upbeat thread!
😉
Tim.
i cant say if it is easy or not, as it is my mother tongue.
the only thing i can say, is that after a certain age, learning a new language becomes tougher and tougher. 10 years ago, i decided to have a go at learning german. I simply quit after 2 weeks.
j
wasp
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I went out and bought a CD language thing for Spanish and Italian today and found a bunch of songs and clips on youtube so shall do that whilst I work.
Can you not slip your ipod on cunningly GJ whilst your working?
Priceman
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Five years ago I had to learn French for work and I got to a decent level too (not bragging just didn't believe I was a cunning linguist 😆 ) It actually taught me more about English grammar too (not taught when I was at school in UK) which is always a bonus. I had already done a bit of Spanish too, years before, so I think that helped being based around Latin for the French.
I just think us Brits find it difficult coz we're so lazy. Other countries learn English from a very early age (I have a Finnish friend who started from 7!). If we were forced more as youngsters to learn a foreign language then I'm sure we'd find it easier.
I do feel really good now when I can pick up the phone and do business in French... problem now is that I have moved to Poland also for work, don't think I'll get to the same level as the French though, it's impossible! 😱
Good on ya Wasp you'll enjoy your lessons more if you can find a native speaker... if you know what I mean 😉
I just think us Brits find it difficult coz we're so lazy. Other countries learn English from a very early age (I have a Finnish friend who started from 7!). If we were forced more as youngsters to learn a foreign language then I'm sure we'd find it easier.
I do feel really good now when I can pick up the phone and do business in French... problem now is that I have moved to Poland also for work, don't think I'll get to the same level as the French though, it's impossible! 😱
Good on ya Wasp you'll enjoy your lessons more if you can find a native speaker... if you know what I mean 😉
firewalker99
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In Belgium French is indeed a national language, but so is German.
So in school (most schools) we get to study 4 different languages 🙂 Dutch (my mother tongue), French (the other half of the country), English (the other half of the world lol), and a little bit of German (a small part of Belgium).
And then you have people like myself who decided to take on Latin too lol!
I must say, studying Latin made it much easier for me to take on other Romanic languages. With all the English on tele we've all been used to that language from when we were kids. But most people don't speak French as well as English and definitely most find French much more difficult.
I've found that a solid basis of Latin (vocabulary and grammar) has helped me enormously in understanding other foreign languages (mainly Spanish and Italian). You get a better feeling or sense of it, and also the morphology, lexicon, and syntax of most words these days are evolutions of the Latin original word.
But unless you want to be part of a select group of Latin speakers in Rome, I suspect you won't find it worth the effort these days. Then again, I think I probably wouldn't neither nowadays (being lazy and all 🙂
JTrader
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I speak basic GCSE standard Deutsch and Francais.
I've really enjoyed practising them for real in France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria - especially german, which like english is a germanic language, and so i have always found easier to learn/remember than french.
After 10 days in German speaking countries, i was amazed with how quickly my German speaking abilities grew, and my desire to improve was also strong. I started to "think"/ try to translate my thoughts into German.
I reckon within 6 months, I'd be fairly fluent in German conversation. But i always find listening to, more difficult than speaking a foreign language.
I think as with many things, its a bit like a jigsaw puzzle - learning a language. The more pieces you fit together/put in place, the easier it becomes completing the picture.
I've really enjoyed practising them for real in France, Switzerland, Germany and Austria - especially german, which like english is a germanic language, and so i have always found easier to learn/remember than french.
After 10 days in German speaking countries, i was amazed with how quickly my German speaking abilities grew, and my desire to improve was also strong. I started to "think"/ try to translate my thoughts into German.
I reckon within 6 months, I'd be fairly fluent in German conversation. But i always find listening to, more difficult than speaking a foreign language.
I think as with many things, its a bit like a jigsaw puzzle - learning a language. The more pieces you fit together/put in place, the easier it becomes completing the picture.
I agree, Spanish is not easy for English speakers; that said, I know a few Brits who speak it really well, and this Spring I met a lady who spoke it almost as if she was a native...and she'd been in Spain for 4 years only!
When I came to live to the UK my English instructor told me to avoid transalating words, and to try to grasp thaier meaning straight away; it isn't easy but that is how I learned to speak English in about 2 years.
However it is easier for a Spaniard to learn to speak English that it is for a Briton to learn to speak Spanish; english words are shorter than spanish ones, for a start; the snag are the sounds - the English language, like French and German, contains sounds which do not exist in Spanish, while the English keep messing up with the vowels (judging by my wife and friends) when trying to speak Spanish.
Oh! One more thingh...Come on, there aren't TV programs that bad in Spain! Be fair...
Eduardo
When I came to live to the UK my English instructor told me to avoid transalating words, and to try to grasp thaier meaning straight away; it isn't easy but that is how I learned to speak English in about 2 years.
However it is easier for a Spaniard to learn to speak English that it is for a Briton to learn to speak Spanish; english words are shorter than spanish ones, for a start; the snag are the sounds - the English language, like French and German, contains sounds which do not exist in Spanish, while the English keep messing up with the vowels (judging by my wife and friends) when trying to speak Spanish.
Oh! One more thingh...Come on, there aren't TV programs that bad in Spain! Be fair...
Eduardo
JTrader
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But just look at Beckham as an example 😆 . He spent 4 years there, and as far as i know, barely picked up a word of Spanish!
