anyone know a 2nd language ?

[big_bad_buff]

I could, but JIS characters would come out a garbled mess. Blame the boards and not the heart, man.

yeah it was a joke....

does anyone know a good why to learn a 2nd language? i have wanted to learn italian for a long time...but i would like to know a good way before i start, like audio cd's, or books or what?

 

[Ceebs]

does anyone know a good why to learn a 2nd language? i have wanted to learn italian for a long time...but i would like to know a good way before i start, like audio cd's, or books or what?

It's good to know a second language because you never know where you might travel to, or who you might meet there, and more importantly because extra knowledge is never a bad thing. I think a lot of what we attribute to the "aging process" is atrophy from disuse, and that applies to the mind as well as the body.

Personally, I think classes taught by a native speaker are the best, least invasive way to learn. (The best but most invasive way to learn would be to go to a country where everyone speaks the language you want to learn, and knows very little English. Natch.) With books and audio tapes, you miss the human element. They offer Italian at most community colleges, and night and weekend classes at that. Best of luck with your studies...

 

[Fonz]

Well, Pink, i know that because i´m portuguese... So what about you, you´re a daughter of portuguese immigrants or what??? The big difference between portuguese and spanish is the accent... once you catch the accent it´s very easy. I lived 6 months in Spain and my adaptation was perfect and very fast... but of course, although the portuguese peeps find it fairly easy to learn spanish, that deesn´+t mean the opposite is also true: spainsh people really have a hard time when trying lo learn a second language, i don´t know why!!!

Ok....right.

Vete a freir esparragos...........LOL

Depends on the region. Galicians and Catalans learn their
respective dialects before english which the rest of Spain finds
retarded.

Then the Basques......their just weird.

That language is next to impossible to learn.

French,Spanish, italian, portuguese are all easy to learn if you know just one because they are derrived from the latin language.
i.e. Latin is the root language for them all.

German, Norwegian, Swedish, finnish are all considered barbaric languages. This comes from the romans. They considered
the "germans" of the time barbarians. It just stuck I guess.

Fluent in spanish, english and french.

Tried german. Very hard. Not fluent because I can't pick up the accent.

Portuguese and italian I consider irrelevant. Brazilian?
Might be worth it to learn it. 130 million speak it.

Mandarin or cantonese is what people should be studying now.

1.4 Billion and growing......

Fonz

 

[Norman Bates]

German, Norwegian, Swedish, finnish are all considered barbaric languages. This comes from the romans. They considered
the "germans" of the time barbarians. It just stuck I guess.

At least, unlike the french, Germany was not completely conquered

 

[Lao Tzu]

english
i learned spanish but forgot alot of it



What about technical jargon (like computer language, medical language, etc), does that count? its 100x easier to learn than an entire language, but necessary in a subculture.

i can speak medical terminology (had to learn it in school)

angioplasty, myocardiopathy, oncologist, etc.

 

[The Varnsen]

Fonz: portuguese isn´t irrelevant... 10 million speak it in Portugal, 170 million in Brazil... and some more 10 milion or so over the world, as portugal had alot of colonies and exported so many immigrants... Lisbon is the first portuguese city in the world, São Paulo the second and Paris the 3rd, we´re everywhere. Even in South Africa: 300 000 portuguese live there... and in Venezuela, Canada, USA, Australia, etc...
Brazil is the biggest power in America after USA, and brazilian only differs from the original portuguese in the accent and some expressions: for us, the portuguese, it´s very easy to understand brazilian portuguese as we see so many of their soap operas (i could go to Brazil and within 1 month of practice i´d be taken as a brazilian)... French isn´t that easy: italian, portuguese and spanish are quite similar, french is a latin language and has the same roots, but it´s not a "close relative".

 

[grlpwrd]

French and some Japanese - remember I am Eurasian from Hawaii

I am learning Mandarin and Spanish, too. I should learn Portuguese, though, because I am part Portuguese.

 

[circusgirl]

yeah it was a joke....

does anyone know a good why to learn a 2nd language? i have wanted to learn italian for a long time...but i would like to know a good way before i start, like audio cd's, or books or what?

Best combo is books plus classes. However, all kinds of idiots run language classes for adults - despite what they might think, speaking a language does not make you a good teacher of it. Try to find a well-qualified teacher and ask to sit in on a class before paying up front to see if she or he (usually she) is any good.

For solo learning, Linguaphone are good, expensive, but good. There are lots of theories out there on second language acquisition, amny of them still think Skinner is God and have never heard of alternative theories. But let's not get into that. You want a conbination of aural/oral drills (tapes etc) and grammar work to start. Written only, or aural only with no grammar work, are both outdated learning philosophies. Another good tip is to keep a vocab notebook. Write down any word you don't know and it's English translation. Learn these every night, I used to do 5 pages a night. Then, when you see one, you'll remember the other. My high school French teacher taught me this one, it really works.

Re myself, I am a native speaker of irish Gaelic, I speak fluent French (degree level) and German (high school plus time spent over there), and tourist-phrase-book Turkish, Russian and Italian. Actually I did Russian for 2 years but I've forgotten all but the "where is the railway station" stuff. Russian grammar is just EVIL.

Good luck with the Italian. If you've ever done Latin, French or Spanish you should find it a breeze.

 

[Fonz]

At least, unlike the french, Germany was not completely conquered

Yeah... I know. The romans were scared of them.

Fonz