so what language(s) are you learning?

rusty_racer94

Born with Urdu and English.
Learned punjabi through songs.
And going on with Irish now.

deirdremf

plein de force wrote: »

no i'm not learning it of my own free will, i hate it and am wasting my time. just doing enough to do the LC and then off it goes so i can get back into learning some german

I think a lot of people feel like that at school.
But don't waste the time you have to spend on it.
Cut down on the time by making sure every minute that you spend on it is productive rather than half-hearted.
You'll probably find that you will get through twice as much stuff in half the time that way. So less time wasted overall.

sNarah

sNarah wrote: »

Spanish and irish here.

Gave up on the Irish for now, 't is just too hard!

Got the Rosetta Stone for Spanish, and with the new job I'm around Spanish speakers every day, so that should definitely improve soon!

OakeyDokey

I'm teaching myself Japanese right now but I'm also doing a bit of German here and there. I definitely want to brush up on my French and Irish in the future

ciaranmccon

I have Spanish fairly sorted, can speak a bit of Galician but would love to learn more. I only get to use it when talking with friends from there and during the summer when I go back there.

There seems to be no/very few Galician speakers in Dublin, which is a shame, way more in Cork.

Sie

ciaranmccon wrote: »

I have Spanish fairly sorted, can speak a bit of Galician but would love to learn more. I only get to use it when talking with friends from there and during the summer when I go back there.

There seems to be no/very few Galician speakers in Dublin, which is a shame, way more in Cork.

WTF is Galican

AFC_1903

Learning Polish and about to start sign language. I also hope by the end of the year to have started on either Spanish, Persian or Swedish/Norwegian (to be decided).

This is of course all with the major barrier to overcome that is my crippling laziness...

spurious

Four years into Polish, picking up bits of Russian.
Would like to learn Latin and do the JC exam in it some year.

Jay Pentatonic

AFC_1903 wrote: »

Learning Polish and about to start sign language. I also hope by the end of the year to have started on either Spanish, Persian or Swedish/Norwegian (to be decided).

This is of course all with the major barrier to overcome that is my crippling laziness...

Why Persian, out of curiosity?

Sie wrote:

WTF is Galican

I think it's some kind of regional language you find in Spain

AFC_1903

Jay1989 wrote: »

Why Persian, out of curiosity?

I'm not entirely sure! :pac:

There are a few reasons, one being that it's not a language many choose to learn in this part of the world.

I also like the fact that any Persians I've met still refer to themselves as such, and to their language as Persian, despite the fact that they are (in the eyes of the world) Iranian and their language is Farsi.

Another factor is that while the written form is very different to that which I am used to in European languages I have been told it's not so hard to learn.

It would also be handy for me as I hope to spend time hitchhiking in Iran and the general area in the next couple of years. English is not too common there and it's always better to know at least a little of the local language.

On the downside, the lack of possible lessons [in Cork] means it'd have to be self taught, and as I know no Persians here I may not be able to do much here as I will not have the error-catching/correcting benefit that is speaking to natives. But hey, I'm going to concentrate on Polish first, then make my language-learning decision!

Jay Pentatonic

AFC_1903 wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure! :pac:

There are a few reasons, one being that it's not a language many choose to learn in this part of the world.

I also like the fact that any Persians I've met still refer to themselves as such, and to their language as Persian, despite the fact that they are (in the eyes of the world) Iranian and their language is Farsi.

Another factor is that while the written form is very different to that which I am used to in European languages I have been told it's not so hard to learn.

It would also be handy for me as I hope to spend time hitchhiking in Iran and the general area in the next couple of years. English is not too common there and it's always better to know at least a little of the local language.

On the downside, the lack of possible lessons [in Cork] means it'd have to be self taught, and as I know no Persians here I may not be able to do much here as I will not have the error-catching/correcting benefit that is speaking to natives. But hey, I'm going to concentrate on Polish first, then make my language-learning decision!

Sounds really cool, best of luck with it if you decide to go for it, especially with the hitchhiking!!!

Sie

Jay1989 wrote: »

Why Persian, out of curiosity?




I think it's some kind of regional language you find in Spain

oh:cool:

deirdremf

Sie wrote: »

WTF is Galican

Spoken in Galicia, the part of Spain directly north of Portugal.
Very closely related to Portuguese, although in some ways the pronunciation is more similar to Spanish.

Aard

I think it's fantastic that so many people are learning a foreign language here! I read a recent report from the EU, and it says that Ireland has the lowest percentage who speak a 2nd language. (Yes, that includes Irish!) The EU average is 34%, whereas Ireland only has 17% who speak another language.

Anyway, rant over!

===

Me, I'm learning French. I put a lot of effort into it, and I'm making a lot of progress. Tbh, even though I also am learning Danish and Japanese, I find that they get thrown to the wayside: there's only so much foreign language study you can do in a day! Unfortunately, it takes (for me at least) a tremendous amount of dedication to put in the hours and to achieve results. I'd average about an hour a day of "study"-study, then another hour or so of "non-study"-study (French TV shows, French internet, French news, etc).

I'd really recommend similar for anybody who is serious about learning a foreign language. Often I come across people (and I would have been like this in the past) who think that an hour or two on the weekend will eventually make them fluent. It doesn't happen. Even when you get "good", you're still not good. Even when you think you understand everything, you don't understand everything! It's extremely frustrating; the better you become at the language, the more the people you speak to will use difficult constructions. Soon you find yourself almost back at square one!

I guess the point I'm trying to make is this: decide whether or not you really want to learn the language, then as a function of your answer, either throw the books and CDs away and forget about it, or really grab the bull by the horns and make studying the language a priority in your daily life. Anything less, and in real-life conversation you'll never get past "Bonjour"!

wonton

AFC_1903 wrote: »

Learning Polish and about to start sign language. I also hope by the end of the year to have started on either Spanish, Persian or Swedish/Norwegian (to be decided).

This is of course all with the major barrier to overcome that is my crippling laziness...

so how are you getting on with the persian? was thinking of trying to learn abit in the summer, just got interested in it, for some of the same reasons as you, and I didnt realise they spoke it in the other countries either which I found interesting, i would have never guessed tajikistan spoke it.



I started learning swedish a while ago, haven't gotten that far yet but its really fun to learn, its kinda funny considering the amount of swedish words that seem to be just alternative spellings for synonyms of the word!

for example

fun= kul

stupid= dum

annoying=irriterande


oh and the laugh I had when i found out the swedish for beer is "ol", the irish verb to drink .

brimal

Currently learning Hebrew - was attending classes but now self-teaching.
I agree with Aard on the importance of 'non-study'. Watching TV shows in the chosen language really does help you.

Would also love to get into French again. Learned it in school but back then didn't give it too much dedication

Aard

Any reason in particular for learning Hebrew, brimal, or just attracted by the pretty script? :P

Coeurdepirate

Currently learning French, Swedish, Irish and dabbling occasionally in Slovenian and Greek.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

I studied German in school but I was never very enthusiastic about it at the time. Now however I'm trying to improve on it and get a good knowledge of the language.

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

Aard

Forget learning much from the grammar books by themselves. Buy yourself a little novel -- Le Petit Prince, or if you're adventurous L'étranger would be good. You'll pick up the grammar as you go along, and anything you really don't get you can look up afterwards. More importantly, you'll learn tons of words, and all the grammar/vocab will constantly be repeated, unlike the once-off nature of a guide. You'll be amazed at your pace of learning once you immerse yourself in a story.

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

HalloweenJack

I recently moved to Prague and am about to start Czech lessons on Friday. I've also been told that it would be a good idea to brush up on my German.

I'm still looking to improve my Spanish and Portuguese (though, it's at a lot lower level than my Spanish).

una_profesora

Spanish. It's my second week :pac::pac::pac:

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Aard wrote: »

Forget learning much from the grammar books by themselves. Buy yourself a little novel -- Le Petit Prince, or if you're adventurous L'étranger would be good. You'll pick up the grammar as you go along, and anything you really don't get you can look up afterwards. More importantly, you'll learn tons of words, and all the grammar/vocab will constantly be repeated, unlike the once-off nature of a guide. You'll be amazed at your pace of learning once you immerse yourself in a story.

Anyone got a German novel they would recommend for this?

population

I speak Italian, essential for living in the South of Italy as understanding of English is not great down here, and I can also throw my hand to a few phrases in Neopolitan dialect which the locals always get a giggle out of:D

Am trying to decide what my next language will be. I want to study a major language with a different alphabet and so far I have narrowed it to Chinese, Arabic or Russian. I know a little tiny bit of Russian and found I quite enjoyed it when I studied it, but I suppose if I am being realistic Chinese or Arabic would be the more important languages to learn from a business and work point of view. Must say of the 2 though Arabic appeals to me more.