Greetings From C-Bus

[Delicious]

Love the language nerdiness. Two of my best friends are polyglots, one speaks: Tagalog, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Hebrew, dabbles in Latin, and is going to Brazil for two Months to learn Portuguese.

My other friend speaks: Urdu, English, Hindko (? Idk the spelling, it's a Pakistani tribal language), Arabic, a bit of french, and Hindi.

As for myself, I'm a good language learner, but so far have only done one other language, French. J'étudiais le français depuis j'ai 14 ans. Mais, pour un an dans ma lycée, je ne l'ai pas étudier. Puis, quand je suis allée au université, j'ai pris un classe de français. Malheureusement, j'avais doit arrêté pour une semestre parce-que je n'avais pas les temps. Mais, maintenant, j'ai fini mon troisieme semestre de français à mon université. La prochaine semestre, je prendrai le français aussi.

Any who, Im planning on double majoring in French and Political science. And who knows, maybe pick up more languages along the way? But I've been afraid to branch out past french, and i hate spanish with a passion

[Pugilist]

Tu parles bien, @Delicious!

[Delicious]

Thanks! Super ironic because I just checked my french grade and I got a C. I want to hang my head in shame, but what can I expect after blowing my oral exam, and then getting a few average test grades? Idk I was lazy this semester but I did learn alot. anyone else have that mid college slump?

Anywho, I need some practical speaking experience, I sound super American when I speak. My ability to speak french is at a 5/10, while my comprehension and writing are more like a 7/10 (10 being fluent)

[Graeme]

Hey I thought that people with tattoos were supposed to be cool.

[semele]

Love the language nerdiness. Two of my best friends are polyglots, one speaks: Tagalog, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Hebrew, dabbles in Latin, and is going to Brazil for two Months to learn Portuguese.

My other friend speaks: Urdu, English, Hindko (? Idk the spelling, it's a Pakistani tribal language), Arabic, a bit of french, and Hindi.

As for myself, I'm a good language learner, but so far have only done one other language, French. J'étudiais le français depuis j'ai 14 ans. Mais, pour un an dans ma lycée, je ne l'ai pas étudier. Puis, quand je suis allée au université, j'ai pris un classe de français. Malheureusement, j'avais doit arrêté pour une semestre parce-que je n'avais pas les temps. Mais, maintenant, j'ai fini mon troisieme semestre de français à mon université. La prochaine semestre, je prendrai le français aussi.

Any who, Im planning on double majoring in French and Political science. And who knows, maybe pick up more languages along the way? But I've been afraid to branch out past french, and i hate spanish with a passion

If you're good at language but don't like speaking, give Latin a try. No speaking, just reading and writing comprehension. Inflected languages are a challenge if you don't have any experience with them, but you'd have a leg up since you already know one Romance language. It's fun, and there are definitely uses for it, but it's not so great for say, going abroad and trying to figure out where anything is. I wish I had a couple more of those speak-y languages under my belt!

I didn't have a mid-college slump, but I definitely had a mid-grad school slump. Of epic proportions. I believe there's still a seminar paper I owe someone from 2008, and every time I see that professor at a conference I give him the guilty face.

[Pugilist]

I totally had a mid grad school slump!

[Delicious]

If you're good at language but don't like speaking, give Latin a try. No speaking, just reading and writing comprehension. Inflected languages are a challenge if you don't have any experience with them, but you'd have a leg up since you already know one Romance language. It's fun, and there are definitely uses for it, but it's not so great for say, going abroad and trying to figure out where anything is. I wish I had a couple more of those speak-y languages under my belt!

I didn't have a mid-college slump, but I definitely had a mid-grad school slump. Of epic proportions. I believe there's still a seminar paper I owe someone from 2008, and every time I see that professor at a conference I give him the guilty face.

I enjoy speaking immensely, but my accent is so terrible and my flow of words forms perfectly in my head and stumbles out of my lips.

I'd definitely love to learn another, but where do I go from French? Everyone says spanish but I have a grudge against it. Also, how do you keep all the languages seperate in your head when you know more then one? I get french and english mixed up all the time.

[semele]

I enjoy speaking immensely, but my accent is so terrible and my flow of words forms perfectly in my head and stumbles out of my lips.

I'd definitely love to learn another, but where do I go from French? Everyone says spanish but I have a grudge against it. Also, how do you keep all the languages seperate in your head when you know more then one? I get french and english mixed up all the time.

You take Ancient Greek, duh!

Learn whatever you want to learn: another Romance language might be easiest since there'll be some overlap in structure/vocabulary, but it's really interest or usefulness that will get you through the tedious memorize-y beginning part, so that's probably more important than ease. If you're a college student you might have free access to Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone through your library too.

If I'm focused on something/thinking in that language I don't get them mixed up, but if I'm trying to say, come up with one specific word, I'll have to go through the list and probably still not come up with the right one. Or if people around me are speaking something I don't understand, then I'll think in every language I know simultaneously. It'll just be babble, too, like Greek "thank you" German "eggs."

[Pugilist]

I enjoy speaking immensely, but my accent is so terrible and my flow of words forms perfectly in my head and stumbles out of my lips.

I'd definitely love to learn another, but where do I go from French? Everyone says spanish but I have a grudge against it. Also, how do you keep all the languages seperate in your head when you know more then one? I get french and english mixed up all the time.

The best advice I ever got was from my 10th-11th grade French teacher who told me that the greatest thing keeping me from speaking French comfortable was my own self-consciousness about my accent. No one else actually cares. I think about her words constantly, because she was right. The more you just let yourself talk, and don't worry about your accent, the better you will get! I'd also definitely recommend doing some kind of immersion program in a francophone place - nothing will improve your conversational skills better than that!

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Also, I constantly mix up Polish and Hebrew in my head. Go figure.

[Johannes]

@Graeme, languages ARE fucking cool! You need to know how to discuss tattoos with whoever, wherever!

[Graeme]

@Graeme, languages ARE fucking cool! You need to know how to discuss tattoos with whoever, wherever!

I feel inadequate with my two languages. :(

@Delicious the best way at overcoming your self-consciousness about your accent is by getting drunk! Well, maybe not best but easiest for sure!

[blujax01]

I enjoy speaking immensely, but my accent is so terrible and my flow of words forms perfectly in my head and stumbles out of my lips.

I'd definitely love to learn another, but where do I go from French? Everyone says spanish but I have a grudge against it. Also, how do you keep all the languages seperate in your head when you know more then one? I get french and english mixed up all the time.

Curious - what is your grudge against Spanish? As a Poli-Sci major, certainly you recognize the advantage if you intend to enter public service? (It's either that or Mandarin!) Assuming of course that you are North American.

[Pugilist]

I feel inadequate with my two languages. :(

@Delicious the best way at overcoming your self-consciousness about your accent is by getting drunk! Well, maybe not best but easiest for sure!

Don't worry, I'm going to make you learn Polish soon. Then you'll be able to understand my mom and grandmother when they plot to feed you more.

Also the getting drunk thing works for real.

[tatB]

I feel inadequate with my two languages. :(

Reminds me of a joke I heard once:

What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? ......... Trilingual

What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? ......... Bilingual

What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? ......... American :(

[hogg]

Reminds me of a joke I heard once:

What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? ......... Trilingual

What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? ......... Bilingual

What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? ......... American :(

I've heard the same joke, but with "Un Gringo" instead of "American" as the punch line.

[Pugilist]

We have friends who have trilingual kids, because most kids here are raised speaking English and French, and their mom is Brazilian, so they also speak Portuguese. They are amazing because most of their social circle is the same way (speaking at least English, French and a third language due to an immigrant parent or two) so they think this is the norm. When I was visiting here once while I was living in the UK, one of the kids asked me what the weather in England was like and what languages they spoke there. I said it was cold and that they spoke English. The kid exclaimed, "Oh, just like Brazil!" and I was baffled, until he explained, "They only speak one language there, too!" like it was the most curious thing in the world. <3

[Delicious]

Curious - what is your grudge against Spanish? As a Poli-Sci major, certainly you recognize the advantage if you intend to enter public service? (It's either that or Mandarin!) Assuming of course that you are North American.

Because I live in California, where everyone speaks spanish, and if you dont, then you are expected to learn. Fuck that. Nothing against it as a language, it's the expectation of the average person that I must know spanish that pisses me off. There are plenty of people who speak spanish here in CA, I'm not gonna go rank and file.

[blujax01]

Copy that.

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Reminds me of a joke I heard once:

What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? ......... Trilingual

What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? ......... Bilingual

What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? ......... American :(

Fuckin' A Right!