Trying to learn different languages... on my own :/

[Freefaller]

Well, however fluent a guy from Nice could ever make himself

Ooouf ça fait mal! Mais, t'as raison, ils parlent carrément anglais à Nice

 

[el_dazza]

I think you should try Dutch. Its abit easier than German for you Englanders.

That a dig or what?

 

[Dave]

Well, however fluent a guy from Nice could ever make himself

Haha! Cassé

I've picked up a fair bit of provençale too . . . waaay cooler than french. You get some great contractions that no one really understands, but use anyway. (not even people who speak the language!)

Like je ne sais pas -> sieu ne sé pas (provençale) -> sieu'é'a . . sounds like you're trying to spit at someone. Good at warding off american tourists

 

[panthro]

If you live and breath it, i say it takes about 6 months to a year, depends how old and how much you use it everyday to be fluent in it.

Yep, that how I learnt German. But some people cannot do this. I recommend the BBC books/TV programmes/audio CD's. I learnt Spanish (to a certain level) using BBC Sueños. Worked really well, plus it helped point out different accents.

 

[Freefaller]

Haha! Cassé

I've picked up a fair bit of provençale too . . . waaay cooler than french. You get some great contractions that no one really understands, but use anyway. (not even people who speak the language!)

Like je ne sais pas -> sieu ne sé pas (provençale) -> sieu'é'a . . sounds like you're trying to spit at someone. Good at warding off american tourists

haha excellent!

Glad you're getting on well down there

 

[Killerkebab]

Haha! Cassé

I've picked up a fair bit of provençale too . . . waaay cooler than french. You get some great contractions that no one really understands, but use anyway. (not even people who speak the language!)

Like je ne sais pas -> sieu ne sé pas (provençale) -> sieu'é'a . . sounds like you're trying to spit at someone. Good at warding off american tourists

Don't talk like them too much, because then you'll find the rest of France look down on you even more than they look down on Corsicans, Americans, and immigrants.

 

[Dave]

It's worth it down here, a couple of Parisiens I can cope with. An influx of Americans however . . .

Another good American-confuser is to jump out in front of them and shout "je te CASSE!" with the appropriate Brice de Nice body movements

(OK, so most of our fun is based around owning American tourists, but hey )

 

[Mattus]

I learn German at A-Level and am pursuing it at Uni in October.

Learning a language isn't easy. There are so many words and idioms to learn and so many things which are expressed completely differently in German to in English. I've been going for five years and can generally say most things I want to say, given enough time to think about it. But I'm still a long way off fluency, particularly with the spoken language.

I've just got back from two weeks living with a host family in Germany. Written skills can be improved by reading German media, etc, and writing in German about things which interest you, but time in the foreign country is truly the best way to improve your spoken language. When I arrived I realised that I may be able to speak at some length about criminality or environmental issues, as these are the topics we're covering at school, but there were so many simple things which I just didn't know how to express. After two weeks there I feel like my everyday German has improved significantly, although it's still nerve-wracking when unknown German people talk to me and I'm not expecting it.

Overall, I would say go for it. It can be a lot of fun, and it's worthwhile both in the job market and in other areas of life.

Wer hat zwei Sprachen, hat zwei Seelen
He who has two languages has two souls