Learning a language?

[Iamxavier]

Anyone know more than their native tongue? I learnt a bit of french when I was in school, but I don't think I was mature enough to care.

Any places in dublin that teach dutch? Money is a factor.

I was never good at languages, but I am prepared to give it another shot to broaden my job prospects

I meant to ask, how do you know if you have a brain for languages or not? O.o

[My name is URL]

Dutch is a very difficult language to grasp. Why not French or Spanish?

[markopantelic]

French(if I lived in France for 6 months I reckon I'd be fluent) and Irish(although not enough use for it)


German would be a better option than Spanish in terms of job prospects I reckon but it be class to work in a year round nice climate.

[Piste]

I speak fluent English, reasonable Irish and can hold a conversation in French or German (though my French is much better)

[javaboy]

Moved from After Hours.

[Most Haunted]

English and German

[IvyTheTerrible]

I'm getting pretty fluent at French. I did it for my Leaving Cert and was ok (got a B) but hadn't used it since (10 years); I've been here for 4 months and it's amazing the difference a few months of total immersion makes. When I arrived, I had to watch everything on tv with subtitles, never read newspapers. Now I don't need subtitles, I understand nearly everything.

So if you have a chance to go to Holland (you mention Dutch) for even a month, it would surprise you what you can learn.

[PeterLT]

I consider myself fluent i English and Russian. Learned German for 5 years, but as you say wasn't mature enough to care, so I'm not very happy with my German skills. Lithuanian is the tongue, hence I can understand Latvian. Knowing Russian let's me undertand 80pc of Polish language... And I can order wine and some basic meals in Spain using Spanish. Don't know am I right, but I allways get what I order

I would like to learn Gaelic, but I find it difficult to learn it on my own with out any help. I think the best way to learn a language is to buy some books that are used in school and start from a scratch, like colours, numbers, cat, dog, yes, no, beer, whiskey, pint, girl... (no that's to advanced)...

[is_that_so]

Best to start with one you may know some of like French just to get back into it. Of the languages mentioned Spanish is the easiest to learn along with Italian. If you do want to learn Dutch German would be a better option and you can probably get courses in public libraries, although it is tough work learning German.

What you do find is you use the ones you already speak, English and Irish(assuming you know some) to work out how the new language works. Whatever one you choose , first learn the sounds of the letters.

EDIT: Speak Irish, Spanish pretty well.
Can hold conversations in French & German, understand some Italian and Portuguese and can do some rudimentary things in Polish. Tried Russian but never got further than the basics. I can also introduce myself in Japanese for the all use it is. I will say the more languages you know the easier other ones become.

[Deedsie]

I speak English. Bit of Irish, Bit of German.

[Iamxavier]

Dutch isn't as hard as some people make it out to be. It's quite similar to english is many ways.

Girlfriend is Belgian, so dutch will be more benificial to me. I will be using the language more than any other foreign language.

Why the hell would french and german be of any use to anyone? Such remote languages. French is easier, but it's sh!t, has no use, and learning a language because it is "easier" is one very stupid reason.

[Surveyor11]

I had to brush up on my German for a recent job interview, there's a great free online course at Deutche Welle http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2547,00.html. Found the on line course very good,follows the same format in terms of levels as paid course

[FruitLover]

Originally Posted by Iamxavier

I was never good at languages
...
I meant to ask, how do you know if you have a brain for languages or not? O.o

You understand English, don't you? If you can learn that, you can learn any other language. There's no such thing as a 'brain for languages'. Over a billion people speak various forms of Chinese (supposedly the most difficult family of currently spoken languages), including infants and retards, so you can do it too.

[Jenniebabz]

I am a 18 year old student who just did her leaving cert.

I speak fluent English obiv.

Speak average/moderate Irish.

Speak way more French than I do Irish. Can hold a good conversation in French. (Know around seven tenses). I write French better than I speak it.

I can speak basic greetings in Polish, Lithuanian. (Hello, How are you, I'm good, I'm hungry, I'm tierd, And you?, Bye ect)

I also know a few words of Italian and Spanish. (Hello, how are you, good ect)

I studied Latin for a year but only know four words!

I can speak the alphabet and my name, greeting and sing a song in Irish Sign Language.

At the minute I am trying to learn some Chinese. I've got "Hello", "how are you" and "thank you" down.

So thats English, Irish, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Latin, Chinese and Irish Sign Language.

[DanDan6592]

I speak English, decent standard of french, abysmal Gaelic and I (hope) to start Russian in TCD next year so in 4 years I hope to be relatively fluent in that.