Any foreign language nerds here?

[ScorpiusDragon]

I love learning foreign languages for fun. I'm a native English speaker who can also speak Chinese and French. I'm also trying to teach myself Korean, German, and Italian at the moment. If there are any foreign language nerds on this forum who want to practice any of these languages with me, feel free to send me a message :P

我很爱学习不同的语言。我是本地美国人。英文是我第一个语言，但是我也会讲中文和法文。我也在教我自己韩文，德文，和意大利文。如果有人也爱学习语言，请发给我一个信息。

J'aime apprendre les langues étrangères pour plaisir. Je suis une américaine qui peut parler le chinois et le francais aussi. Je suis en train d'apprendre le coréen, l'allemande, et l'italien. S'il y a des personnes sur cette forum qui veulent pratiquer ces langues avec moi, ce sera mon plaisir de recevoir ton message :)

 

[mediocre]

That's incredible chinese in particular is so difficult to learn! You're well on your way to becoming a polyglot. You're super smart :)

Do you know any Spanish? This is the first language I want to learn. Then Italian.

 

[Rena rossy]

El español es mi primera lengua, english is the second language I learned, 我也会说一点儿中语。Used to like learning anguages as well

 

[mediocre]

El español es mi primera lengua, english is the second language I learned, 我也会说一点儿中语。Used to like learning anguages as well

Hola mi español es no bueno necesito aprender :)

 

[Rena rossy]

Hola mi español es no bueno necesito aprender :)

Holaaaa, si quieres practicar, puedes enviarme mensaje

 

[mediocre]

Holaaaa, si quieres practicar, puedes enviarme mensaje

Gracias! I had to google translate the parts after hola I literally only know some phrases! lol.

 

[Rena rossy]

Gracias! I had to google translate the parts after hola I literally only know some phrases! lol.

Oh, no problem. It is always difficult to learn a new language. But in case you want to learn or pranctice, tou can always PM me

 

[WhyIsLife56]

I'm Korean American so I speak both English and Korean :)

 

[AlexM]

Hola and Hi
My first language is Russian, as well I not bad speak Ukrainian, I speak a little Spanish and always try to improve my English

 

[Soul]

I've always enjoyed learning languages and I pick them up quickly, but I lose them quickly too when I no longer need them every day. I really admire you peeps who have the discipline to maintain fluency in more than one foreign language. Bravi! Bravissimi!

 

[BabyYoda]

I've taken my first formal lessons for Japanese in college last semester. My favorite class for the year so far. I actually self studied a bit before that lol.

 

[mathieu]

I'd love to learn French and Italian. I've taken some courses but still terrible.

 

[LivingToLong]

I'm fascinated by language even though I'm not the best learner of them. Language learning isn't easy for me as it requires 3 things I don't like; hard work, making mistakes and being ok with being laughed at! (OK, 2 and 3 are kind of the same) I do my best, and my accent is usually pretty good as I have a good ear for mimicry, but I am a slow learner. You need regular exposure and constant practice to learn, and I don't get either. My Spanish was pretty good once upon a time, and my French is ok but I'll never be fluent.

My fascination is more than simply the language though, more language in general. I find it incredible how quickly we can make sense of these noises we make at each other. How does a baby even know that our noises are meant to convey meaning? How do we then understand each other (and the words are actually only a small part of that) from these noises. Language learners will know that the brain can quite quickly make sense of what was once just a stream of 'foreign language' babble. We're not born with dictionaries in our heads, we can work out the meaning of words ourselves... it really is quite amazing.

 

[k75]

I majored in Japanese in college. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to finish because I moved to an area where it wasn't offered anywhere. I've tried self-study and online classes, but I really need an actual classroom. And now I'm just too depressed to find the motivation to continue, but I really wanted to. It was one thing I was good at.

 

[1DayItWillBover]

I know English and Spanish. I always wanted to learn Russian though.

 

[Epsilon0]

I'm fascinated by language even though I'm not the best learner of them. Language learning isn't easy for me as it requires 3 things I don't like; hard work, making mistakes and being ok with being laughed at! (OK, 2 and 3 are kind of the same) I do my best, and my accent is usually pretty good as I have a good ear for mimicry, but I am a slow learner. You need regular exposure and constant practice to learn, and I don't get either. My Spanish was pretty good once upon a time, and my French is ok but I'll never be fluent.

My fascination is more than simply the language though, more language in general. I find it incredible how quickly we can make sense of these noises we make at each other. How does a baby even know that our noises are meant to convey meaning? How do we then understand each other (and the words are actually only a small part of that) from these noises. Language learners will know that the brain can quite quickly make sense of what was once just a stream of 'foreign language' babble. We're not born with dictionaries in our heads, we can work out the meaning of words ourselves... it really is quite amazing.

The currently accepted theory about how babies learn languages holds that humans are born with a language faculty which allows them to effortlessly acquire any language they are exposed to.

This language faculty is called universal grammar, and it basically means you are born with all the grammar rules wired into your brain. By learning a certain language after birth, you "awake " a certain set of grammar rules which are specific to that language, while all the other rules simply get lost because they are not activated.

That is why children can learn any language.

 

[wannabenorwegian]

Hallo :D
I'm a native german speaker and maybe not a language nerd, but i've participated in language tandems in english and currently more or less chinese, although I'm not really advancing my chinese (just very basic speaking atm "^^) (i don't even know how to write it and i believe it's not really possible without chinese characters. But in russian it's possible - priviet = привет)
If you have questions I'm happy to help answering them :)

 

[LivingToLong]

@Epsilon0 my degree is in linguistics so I know an amount of theory. UG and Chomskian theory is one player, and not one supported by all. Indeed, it is/was contentious in some circles and Chomsky himself has rowed back a little (as posited here) subsequently. As a student, I leaned more towards a 'tabula rosa'' but might see some innate capability though not perhaps one as rich or fully featured as a UG. Obviously, I don't know though - all just theoretical!

The fascination I have for 1st language acquisition is more about the why than the how though. Probably genetic and possibly even cross species (baby bees learn the 'waggle dance' for instance), what gives rise to a communicative assumption. Why do we think 'I think he's trying to tell us something'! (To quote Lassie's owners etc!!)

 

[AlexM]

I know English and Spanish. I always wanted to learn Russian though.

I can help you if you want

 

[Epsilon0]

@Epsilon0 my degree is in linguistics so I know an amount of theory. UG and Chomskian theory is one player, and not one supported by all. Indeed, it is/was contentious in some circles and Chomsky himself has rowed back a little (as posited here) subsequently. As a student, I leaned more towards a 'tabula rosa'' but might see some innate capability though not perhaps one as rich or fully featured as a UG. Obviously, I don't know though - all just theoretical!

The fascination I have for 1st language acquisition is more about the why than the how though. Probably genetic and possibly even cross species (baby bees learn the 'waggle dance' for instance), what gives rise to a communicative assumption. Why do we think 'I think he's trying to tell us something'! (To quote Lassie's owners etc!!)

Thank you for the link, I will definitely check it out. I didn't know UG had come under attack, but then again, I have not been following research in the field. Long ago, when I studied a course in linguistics, Chomsky was god. I still remember the example our professor enthusiastically wrote on the board: "wented", it read. "See! The child knows -ed is a tense morphome!" she exclaimed.

If research has moved away from the the innate language faculty hypothesis, please tell me which theories are generally accepted nowadays. I am genuinly curious.

As far as the "why" is concerned, I never thought about it. I guess I just assumed it was genetically encoded in humans.

But I know assuming and common sense are the biggest enemies when it comes to testing hypotheses, so I think it's better I don't give my two cents about the "why". Maybe you know of some experiments from the field of cognitive linguistics which you could tell me about.

 

[LivingToLong]

Yes, I was schooled predominantly in Chomskian UG too. It didn't feel 'right' to me somehow; too robotic and computer modelled somehow. I'll acknowledge it's neatness and intuitivess though, I could certainly see why it appealed to many as it did appear, on the surface and with a limited data set, to answer a lot of questions. Fortunately for me, one of my other professors taught an alternative, one which I felt much more comfortable with.

Had I continued in my studies, I would have probably gone in the direction of cognitive linguistics, or possibly even something more neuroscience-like. Though pyscoholinguistics too had an appeal for me too. I'm afraid I tanked though, it was too stressful for me and I discovered I wasn't a true academic, just someone with a real interest. Ironically, studying further would probably have killed my interest!

 

[Epsilon0]

Yes, I was schooled predominantly in Chomskian UG too. It didn't feel 'right' to me somehow; too robotic and computer modelled somehow. I'll acknowledge it's neatness and intuitivess though, I could certainly see why it appealed to many as it did appear, on the surface and with a limited data set, to answer a lot of questions. Fortunately for me, one of my other professors taught an alternative, one which I felt much more comfortable with.

Had I continued in my studies, I would have probably gone in the direction of cognitive linguistics, or possibly even something more neuroscience-like. Though pyscoholinguistics too had an appeal for me too. I'm afraid I tanked though, it was too stressful for me and I discovered I wasn't a true academic, just someone with a real interest. Ironically, studying further would probably have killed my interest!

I assume you did lots of phrase markers just as I did. Do you want to hear something funny? I used to love doing tree diagrams. It was sooo enjoyable, I got a kick out of it.

 

[LivingToLong]

Yep, people enjoyed drawing trees! From the more simple NP VP ones through WH movement (and underlying structure) etc. Long time ago for me now, though it has been good to revisit it. I've felt a genuine interest being rekindled, which is nice, so I say 'thank you' for that.

 

[Epsilon0]

Yep, people enjoyed drawing trees! From the more simple NP VP ones through WH movement (and underlying structure) etc. Long time ago for me now, though it has been good to revisit it. I've felt a genuine interest being rekindled, which is nice, so I say 'thank you' for that.

I am the one who has to thank you for your interesting input.

 

[Midnight]

I try to learn some Romanian. I'm quite interested in the language and love the sound of it but i'm just awfull at learning. No matter how i try i just get distracted,bored easily and quite frankly i don't like the grind. I'd be much better off learning the language when for instance visiting Moldova (if that would happen in time) I've spoken irl with a few native speakers last 2 years and i tried to learn some of the basics to communicate with them in their language. They really appreciated that which in turn made gave me a good feeling.

I'll be dead long before i learn it properly but untill then maybe i can learn a few more words.

 

[Kikoo Loool]

I studied english, german, russian, latin. I uses to like it very much. My interest went slighty down following my deppressive mood.

 

[ScorpiusDragon]

That's incredible chinese in particular is so difficult to learn! You're well on your way to becoming a polyglot. You're super smart :)

Do you know any Spanish? This is the first language I want to learn. Then Italian.

I can only speak a few phrases in Spanish unfortunately. I definitely wouldn't know enough to carry on a conversation.

I'm Korean American so I speak both English and Korean :)

안녕하세요! 저는미국사람이에요 :) 부모님는중국사람이에요^_^

 

[Broken Chimera]

I understand some Spanish and I wanted to learn French. I'm trying to learn Japanese but the Kanji is killing me.

 

[Cevapcici]

* raising my hand * I'm a native french and Russian speaker , volunteering to be anyone's penpal I have some notions of Han Chinese, I used to study it at uni before dropping, best days of my life so far, I'm willing to practise my mandarin as well..I miss speaking it tbh .

 

[ScorpiusDragon]

* raising my hand * I'm a native french and Russian speaker , volunteering to be anyone's penpal I have some notions of Han Chinese, I used to study it at uni before dropping, best days of my life so far, I'm willing to practise my mandarin as well..I miss speaking it tbh .

我刚看到你给我发的PM。你的中文真的很好！