I've been struggling with foreign languages my whole life, and I'm running out of time...

[leeperry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benaiir /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had the cajones to switch to Chinese.

cojjjjjjjjones

I speak fluent french/english/spanish, I guess classico italiano(latin) at school for so many years helped a lot...as it's the basis of all latin languages anyway.

I can also read italian, but wth? I'm only willing to learn languages that are widely spoken(forget chinese

), and could actually come in handy someday.

english = anyone will speak it
french = you can talk to anyone in Africa, if need be
spanish = the whole south america and what not

Japanese is fun, way closer to french that you'd think pronunciation-wise...and it's fun to catch words or full sentences in Japanese movies/anime

but Japanese ppl are very conservative and really not open to gaijins mastering their language.

I guess the hardest part is getting the right tonical accents, like all these french ppl who speak english w/ french accents...it's not the same language at all, you have to adapt the way you throw words out

 

[shigzeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EugeneK /img/forum/go_quote.gif Japanese is apparently one of the hardest languages to pick up as a second language. I've tried german as well, and it's fairly straightforward, you can even guess the meanings of some words if they're close enough to the English word.

it isn't easy, that is for sure, but like anything, as long as you work hard, you can do it. i started in my first year of uni and now am comfortably fluent for a majority of conversations. things get iffy when i must get technical about cooking, however.

if you did okay in spanish, stick with it - it is easier and if you are in the states, a great language to have. but to say that you cannot learn more is a mistake - a big mistake. don't shut your brain down or yourself down just because things get difficult.

you are smarter than that.

 

[iriverdude]

No one speak binary?

 

[dBs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif No one speak binary?

I know binary depending on the microchip/controller. 8051 and ARM 7 specifically. I imagine I can pick up the binary language of other chips as well if necessary =D

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif No one speak binary?

there are 11 kinds of people in the world:

- those that speak binary
- those that do not
- those that would rather not think that hard

 

[goober-george]

I feel you on learning foreign languages. I have to take Spanish courses as well, and the first day we walked into class it was 100% Spanish with no introduction, we just dived right in. This is Spanish I as well, not until the last 30 minutes of class did the teacher say, "Ok.. so since this is the first day of class I want to go over rules for this class and speak in English."

I hate being put on the spot as well, and we do frequent activities where we have to pair up with random people, so I have a lot of awkward, embarrassing, moments.

 

[chadbang]

The ability to learn a language is a gift, I don't care what anyone says. And as you get older, it gets even harder. I lived in Thailand for 6 years. Went over with five guys. Four of us still sucked after six years. One guy was talking like a native in 6 months. It was his gift. I took German in school. And I concur, it came pretty easily to a die hard English speaker.