Learning a second language

[dacads]

I actually found my Chinese has regressed after marrying a Taiwanese woman and living here for 5 years Her English was better than my Chinese when we first started dating (or more specifically, her vocabulary was), so English became the default language for our communication. Now it's way too easy to just have her deal with things

So you don't speak any Chinese with the locals either?

I'm currently trying to self-teach Norwegian. It's quite an easy language for a native English speaker, and I also learn a lot of spoken Swedish and written Danish too, so it's an almost three-for-one language to learn (it's often touted as the best middle ground of the three Scandi languages).

Interesting.. I met an English fella in Norway who had lived there 20 years yet still had a Bolton accent!

 

[Feef]

So you don't speak any Chinese with the locals either?

Of course I do - just, similar interactions day to day, food, tea, convenience stores etc, then occasionally a family event or an evening out with some locals, plus using English all day for my work, means it's far from an immersive environment.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I always found that technically anchored, written mainland European languages i could get by with.

In my previous role I was working on a Pan-EU basis, and would often get emails in German, French, Spanish and Italian. I would usually be able to "read" these using the known technical language and my own basic vocab to fill the gaps. I found this much harder with the Nordics and to some extent Dutch.

The guys in my team would often bring these emails to me as an escalation and proceed to start to explain but I usually got to the point before they finished. Often I was asked if I spoke the language in question, but I always said no, just a bit of educated guesswork reading the text.

I found it almost impossible to make this work with spoken language, with the exception of German and French where I can usually get the gist if I listen hard, especially if there are technical jargon or anchors to hang on to.

I was once sent to assess a native German speaker giving a technical course on LCD panel technology/manufacture. I was very worried i would be totally unable to cope, but there were so many technical points it was pretty easy to get by.

However, 2 years down the line working almost exclusively in London with only a few foreign trips a year I now find that that ability has all but gone!

I am planning to pick up German again soon, as the company I work for now is German, and it would be handy when I get together with the management team. I think duolingo is my planned route. Should help fill in the gaps in vocab fairly quickly (I hope) and leave me able to converse outside of a work setting.

I did try learning some Korean once for work but that was just a bust....

 

[moon man]

the Michel Thomas method is amazing you go straight into making the engine of the language then add more vocab as you pick it up .
you are basically listening to a teacher and 2 students being taught and the mistakes they make along the way ,it makes it feel real and personal and not just a sterile course reeling off vocab
theres a few free samples out there

 

[FloppyPoppy]

the Michel Thomas method is amazing you go straight into making the engine of the language then add more vocab as you pick it up .
you are basically listening to a teacher and 2 students being taught and the mistakes they make along the way ,it makes it feel real and personal and not just a sterile course reeling off vocab
theres a few free samples out there

Interesting, i may have a look at this as im currently looking into various language learning methods as it's something i want to start working on over the remainder of this year and next year. Three goals. Learn a second language that is useful to me in one way or more, get my own place and learn to drive. Going to be an interesting 15 months!

by the way on the language front i am looking to learn Polish as my last three jobs i have been surrounded by polish staff including my current one and it would be really useful to have even a basic level of communication in their own language as a lot of them have absolutely no English capability at all despite this we are unable to discriminate as we are an "equal opportunist" employer......

Any recommendations on any specifics with learning the aforementioned language? Odd question do teaching techniques differ on a language basis. IE is French so different to German that the methodology in learning/teaching itself differs?

 

[moon man]

yep im doing polish due to friends at work ,and an exellent way to approach polish females

 

[FloppyPoppy]

yep im doing polish due to friends at work ,and an exellent way to approach polish females

Im already chasing a polish woman! but she has pretty good English so that helps but would be ace to chat her up in polish.

Where did you start your polish?

 

[moon man]

been doing it for maybe a year but lapsed due to personal issues taking over but its amazing how this method sticks in your head ,can get the drift of a lot of conversations now but amazing how often the k word is used

 

[FloppyPoppy]

been doing it for maybe a year but lapsed due to personal issues taking over but its amazing how this method sticks in your head ,can get the drift of a lot of conversations now but amazing how often the k word is used

Your going to have to elaborate on the "K" word? Can trust me it if not appropriate

 

[moon man]

if you google polish swear words its pretty much at top of list ,i must hear it 100 times a day when im working !

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Does it end in RWA ?

 

[moon man]

Does it end in RWA ?

yep thats the one

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Thats rough.... saying that.. im sure someone has called me that before Unless googles translation of it is innacurate

 

[moon man]

Thats rough.... saying that.. im sure someone has called me that before Unless googles translation of it is innacurate

yes you dont tend to get called it its more used like an exclamation ,like our f word

 

[FloppyPoppy]

yes you dont tend to get called it its more used like an exclamation ,like our f word

Ah see, google defines it when used alone as erm.. the W version of a woman whom sells herself.

 

[HarryJ]

Great and fun to learn another language I think. I started learning Arabic some time ago. Beautiful language.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Well ive just opened a free trial of audible and listening to the michel thomas polish lesson 1 lets see how this goes

 

[FloppyPoppy]

the Michel Thomas method is amazing you go straight into making the engine of the language then add more vocab as you pick it up .
you are basically listening to a teacher and 2 students being taught and the mistakes they make along the way ,it makes it feel real and personal and not just a sterile course reeling off vocab
theres a few free samples out there

I wanted to come on and briefly thank you and tell you that i also hate you This lesson 1 that is just over 1 hour is definitely going to take me a couple of days to wrap my head around. Surprised by the strange nuances within the language.

Of course learning to speak a language does not teach you to write in one so please forgive my poorly translated written version of words here. I have been basically going along and making my own notes in my own spellings for different words/phrases and my simple working outs to try and string things together myself for example :

IT/THIS : Tou
(negative IT for use with NYE) : Tegor

I chose the above two as an example because they baffle my mind but i can understand the logic a little with them but also how words change within a sentence.

such as in regards to reading something.
i read it : chitam tou
i am not reading it : nye chitam tegor

The way chitam changes from read to reading is the part i think i will get twisted up in. And having multiple words for stuff like IT being positive and negative versions. And how that alters the structure of the sentence.

Rambling aside i think im going to have to agree, this is quite an interesting way to learn language and am really pleased i popped in here just as you had posted about it. Again sorry for the terrible butchery of spellings i have written them very literally to how i hear them.

 

[Captain]

yep thats the one

We call the polish lads at work kurwa they call it us too so we have a good laugh with it.

 

[moon man]

I wanted to come on and briefly thank you and tell you that i also hate you This lesson 1 that is just over 1 hour is definitely going to take me a couple of days to wrap my head around. Surprised by the strange nuances within the language.

Of course learning to speak a language does not teach you to write in one so please forgive my poorly translated written version of words here. I have been basically going along and making my own notes in my own spellings for different words/phrases and my simple working outs to try and string things together myself for example :

IT/THIS : Tou
(negative IT for use with NYE) : Tegor

I chose the above two as an example because they baffle my mind but i can understand the logic a little with them but also how words change within a sentence.

such as in regards to reading something.
i read it : chitam tou
i am not reading it : nye chitam tegor

The way chitam changes from read to reading is the part i think i will get twisted up in. And having multiple words for stuff like IT being positive and negative versions. And how that alters the structure of the sentence.

Rambling aside i think im going to have to agree, this is quite an interesting way to learn language and am really pleased i popped in here just as you had posted about it. Again sorry for the terrible butchery of spellings i have written them very literally to how i hear them.

yes i found/find verb endings tricky and thats a main part of the engine ,i get it wrong do many times especially when past tense thrown in
btw in the early lessons people are addressed formally pan /panni
heres a copy and paste
Imagine asking an elderly person a simple question, such as “Where do you live”? (Gdzie ty mieszkasz?). If you are a foreigner who has a basic command of the Polish language and who is used to the form “you,” that’s what you would probably say. In Polish, however, we would say “Where does Sir/Madam live?” (Gdzie Pan/Pani mieszka?). The elderly person would probably take the word “you” literally – meaning “ty,” and since in Poland relationships with senior people are rather formal, he or she would much likely take it as an offense.afew lessons on you get informal versions and this becomes so much more useful at work
btw theres an app that conjugates verbs out there but it wouldnt open on my phone