Learning Languages

Bexray said:
Reading through this thread and remembering my babka I remember how she would never call me my English name, Rebecca and only call me the Russian equivalent "Rivka", ha.
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I think Rivka is really pretty, but Russian names are often pretty but kind of fascinating too. They tend to have variations that are "equal" to their real name... according to Russian friends of mine at least. Like Natasha who is also called Natalia, which to me are two different names but to her is the same... fascinating. Maybe your babka thought Rebecca/Rivka was essentially the same? 🙂

Both of my dogs are Russian by the way, but only one of them has her original name (Fanja).
 
Bexray
Bexray
It's pretty but it really annoyed my mum!
My first language is German. I learned English from third grade on and later French, but I was pretty bad at French and I haven't spoken/read it in over four years, so I only know some basic sentences and words.
I think one of the best ways of learning a language is to watch movies and read books in said language. This really helped me with my English.
 
For those looking to learn a new language there's an interesting Tedx talk about how to learn one in 6 months...
 
I speak English and that's it unfortunately. I had 5 years of French teaching in school but consider it to be time wasted as I only ever learnt to pass exams. I personally think the education system in England needs a rethink on language teaching. Either start teaching another language properly from an early age or don't bother at all. Of all the people in my year at school learning French I'd be surprised if even 5 of them could now speak the language.
 
English is my primary language. I took five years of German in high school/college and was fairly fluent in it. I haven't used it in years now, though, so I have lost a lot of it. I think if I got around German speaking people I could pick it up again. I also know random Slovenian words from my grandmother and her sisters.
 
Romanian is supposed to be similar to Italian to the extent that if you speak Italian, you can probably understand Romanian. Maybe some of you could do a direct translation of the gypsy curse that freed Angelus if Angel had a moment of happiness.

BTW when Angel went to Koreatown, his Korean sounded pretty good - I did learn a few words and phrases when I was in Tae Kwon Do. Interestingly enough, if you want to get into a university in Korea, you have to be fluent in English. As with Japanese, the verb is always at the end of the sentence which is why a lot of Japanese sentences end in "desu" and a lot of Korean sentences end in "ham ni da".
 
The closest that I've ever come to learning any foreign language is to pick up a few simple words of Korean from my studies of Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido, but my daughter-in-law is Indonesian, and she and our 4 year old grandson speak English and Indonesian interchangeably all the time. I was afraid that something like that would confuse him, but apparently, at his young age, learning languages in much easier and less confusing than it will be later.
 
Ethan Reigns said:
Romanian is supposed to be similar to Italian to the extent that if you speak Italian, you can probably understand Romanian. Maybe some of you could do a direct translation of the gypsy curse that freed Angelus if Angel had a moment of happiness.

BTW when Angel went to Koreatown, his Korean sounded pretty good - I did learn a few words and phrases when I was in Tae Kwon Do. Interestingly enough, if you want to get into a university in Korea, you have to be fluent in English. As with Japanese, the verb is always at the end of the sentence which is why a lot of Japanese sentences end in "desu" and a lot of Korean sentences end in "ham ni da".
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This is really interesting, thanks for your insights! 
Taake said:
For those looking to learn a new language there's an interesting Tedx talk about how to learn one in 6 months...
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Thanks, Taake that was super interesting! Still don't think I could though, heh.
 
Well, I'm swedish so swedish is my first language. As @sk73 I think I'm much better when it comes to writing than actually speaking. I also think my english could be better. Of course it could, but at the same time I'm aware that I express myself better than many english speaking natives. Add an accent to spoken english and I'm more or less helpless without subtitles. Works great in real life...

I've also studied german for 5 years and took spanish for a year that were supposed to cram in two years of studies. I still understand some german but not having used it for a real long time I can not make myself understood at all. The spanish thing fell flat but I do understand more now than I did before. I've also learned a few polish words which I guess isn't too common unless you have relatives living or that lived in Poland. I doubt I can 20 words though so it's not really worth brining up.
 
English is my first language, I'm in my last year of school and I study French but I find it difficult, I know some but it's my weakest subject. Since I'm at school in Ireland, the Irish language or Gaeilge is mandatory, I've been learning it since I was 4 and like most people I know, I still can't speak it fluently. Dia duit? Conas a tá tu? Aoife is ainm dom. That's just hi, how are you, my name is Aoife. My name is Irish too and can be translated as well. There are some native speakers around the country in more peripheral areas. But I'm glad to be speaking English like almost everyone else here.
 
I understand that about 30,000 people in Ireland use Gaelic exclusively, mainly on the west coast, and about 100,000 use it and English interchangeably and you have the right to government services (such as court cases) to be in either language. I am a fan of Enya's music, so I have looked into it, but it seems to be declining in use. By the weird spelling rules in Gaelic, Enya is actually spelled Eithne. There is no j, k, q, v, w, x, y or z in Gaelic, so there are only 18 letters in the alphabet.
 
Ethan Reigns said:
Romanian is supposed to be similar to Italian to the extent that if you speak Italian, you can probably understand Romanian. Maybe some of you could do a direct translation of the gypsy curse that freed Angelus if Angel had a moment of happiness.
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Romanian isn't a big problem for an Italian who wants to learn this language. These two languages are in fact quite narrow relatives as joined daughters from Latin, as well as Spanish and French (Romance languages), but Romanian has also the syntactic structure of Slavic languages, that with Italian have nothing in joint.

Also, I would like to learn Gaelic too. 
@Ethan Reigns For translation "Ritual of Restoration" I found this
 
Ethan Reigns said:
I understand that about 30,000 people in Ireland use Gaelic exclusively, mainly on the west coast, and about 100,000 use it and English interchangeably and you have the right to government services (such as court cases) to be in either language. I am a fan of Enya's music, so I have looked into it, but it seems to be declining in use. By the weird spelling rules in Gaelic, Enya is actually spelled Eithne. There is no j, k, q, v, w, x, y or z in Gaelic, so there are only 18 letters in the alphabet.
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Yes you are correct 🙂 mostly on the west, it is seriously in decline and has become quite archaic. A lot of students are frustrated with having to learn it because it is difficult and yet it is of no real benefit to us. It is only to try and preserve part of our culture. Yes as well our police are called the Gardaí and they must learn the language before they join the forces. Yes it is missing a lot of letters, quite odd. Enya does have some lovely music. The simple greeting 'dia duit' literally translates as God be with you instead of hello.
 
Native English speaker here, but I speak French quite well (I go to a conversation club about once a month) and in the past I've taken evening classes in Russian for a year and German for a term- I gave up on German not because it was hard but because first the teacher was ill and then I was ill...and then by the end of the term I realised I'd missed about a third of the classes between the two and I'd pick it up again when I was more motivated (meaning planning to go to Germany again).

I think my favourite Irish English expression is "Is it yourself?" as a greeting- I don't know whether it's translating a Gaelic expression or not, but it does make me smile! Also interesting that W and Y don't exist in Gaelic but they do in Welsh- W is a vowel in Welsh, as in place names like Glyndyfrdwy.

To my mind the thing with any language, particularly if you're planning on visiting a country where it's spoken, is to make a start. Once you know a few words, you pick up a few more and a few more, and you find new words and phrases in context.
 
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