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Topic: Second Language (Read 254 times)

Pau
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Second Language
« on: Apr 15^th, 2004, 3:56am »

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This afternoon, I was lurking in the other forums and gone in the Websites forum and saw a post on Learn a Second Language... so I thought what would the other guys out here want to learn besides their local language.. and what you actually speak...

Well.. for me, our national language is Filipino and English is the second language.. and given a chance I'd like to learn Japanese, Mandarin (Chinese), French, German, and Spanish... and some local dialects like Cebuano...

I had a formal training of Nihonggo yet was not able to use it so I forgot most of it.. how I would admire someone who can speak more than 2 languages fluently... Grin

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Rupey
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #1 on: Apr 15^th, 2004, 8:33am »

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I lived in Austria for a couple of years and speak enough German to engage in conversation.

My spouse is Brazilian and we lived there for five years. I speak Portguese very well but am always looking to enrich my vocabulary.

Also, I know enough sign language to be able to carry on a very basic conversation with a deaf person.

I'm glad you started this thread, pau! I have a passion for languages. Grin

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nons55
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #2 on: Apr 15^th, 2004, 11:25am »

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I know enough Spanish to engage in conversation, however I'm far from fluent. I'm going to continue my language study in college next year, so hopefully I will have a different answer in a couple years!

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sweetmisery
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #3 on: Apr 15^th, 2004, 1:06pm »

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Well, I know Tagalog, English and Cebuano... thats about it I guess... I like to learn more but I have to pick something that will really benefit me at some point in time.

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Pau
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #4 on: Apr 15^th, 2004, 8:21pm »

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on Apr 15^th, 2004, 8:33am, Rupertydupe wrote:

wow.. that was nice of you... i would love to learn more languages.. i myself have that passion as well... you know to be able to speak with a foreign person in their vernacular.... Grin

so when i was in vietnam last october.. i tried to learn some of their words...so some vietnamese was added to my international dictionary hehehe.... Grin

sadly i can't converse with the languages i know....

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Rupey
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #5 on: Apr 15^th, 2004, 9:34pm »

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It's been my experience that learning another language is easiest if you have an opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture of the language being learned. My years in Europe and in South America afforded me those excellent opportunities.

I never could learn a foreign language well from a book. I took three years of French in school. I know vocabulary but can't speak many sentences. I also took two years of German in college but when I arrived in Austria, I couldn't understand a word they were saying! Of course, they do speak a dialect there but once I spent time with the people and made friendships, it became easy to learn.

My spouse and I speak Portuguese in front of the children when we need to talk about something that they shouldn't know.

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chickmama
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #6 on: Apr 17^th, 2004, 10:06am »

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I can only speak English and Spanish. I agree with Rupertydupe about learning from a book. I took the Spanish in both High School and College, and I think I learned more from the hispanics that worked on our dairy; than I did in school.
My daughter isn't happy about it, but I'm insisting she take as many spanish courses as she can. In our area, Americans are quickly being coming the minority. Even though she's only 11, I have to think about her future career. Being bilingual around here will be a must. IMO.

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Rupey
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #7 on: Apr 17^th, 2004, 10:33am »

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How interesting you should point that out, Chickmama. Just yesterday, I was reading a news report about how marketable bilingual people are becoming...especially people who can speak and interpret both English and Spanish. I hope your daughter will appreciate her Spanish classes someday. Wink

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Sheisback
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #8 on: Apr 17^th, 2004, 11:13am »

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My first language is French. Mom said I wanted to speak English already at 5 yo. Mr.Dressup and Sesame Streets hooked me up. Wink

However, we do not have access to bilingual education here in Quebec and I had to wait to be an adult to be able to really learn it. What they show us in High School, in "English second language" is ridiculous. Numbers, colors, days, months...things like that, very little spelling and grammar.

Now, I pick a word here and there in Spanish, but thats not enough. I want to learn it better as soon as I am done with my current courses. I also know a bit of German but very few words.

When I am retired, just for my personal knowledge, I might learn Russian. I like the sound of it.

« Last Edit: Apr 17^th, 2004, 11:19am by Sheisback »

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Pau
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Re: Second Language
« Reply #9 on: Apr 18^th, 2004, 4:05am »

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yeah.. i do think being bilingual or having more than one language would be very helpful.. specially if you engage in foreign trade or business..

like here.. if you can speak Chinese.. it would be easier to deal with Chinese businessmen and even give you great discounts...

in my work.. since i'm with Fujitsu (a Japanese IT firm).. we mostly go business with Japanese clients, some Vietnamese, Thai, Singaporean and American.. people in the office who know Nihonggo are now in Japan and some are sent there and back to be translators during meetings... Also if you where out on a business trip to a foreign land where you only knew your language.. it's quite hard to cope with the locals..

I remember when I was in Vietnam for a month, the project head there was Japanese and my team are Vietnamese.. my Japanese client don't speak well of English unlike me and my Vietnamese counterparts... so I had to speak very slowly with simple words for him to understand.. we had a videoconference with his counterparts in Tokyo.. so he started speaking Japanese with them... while my Vietnamese team are also arguing in their language... leaving me alone staring at one corner waiting for one of them to translate to me what was all about.... i was confused feeling as if i was not there.. Undecided

hehehe.... Grin

anyways the Vietnamese people also are not good in English... I wished that day that I had my Filipino friend in that meeting also.. heheheh Grin

« Last Edit: Apr 18^th, 2004, 4:09am by Pau »

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