Anyone want to learn French?

=> Me too I love you so much (Cursed square head)

Pierre ... ummm, I'm not quite sure if it makes much difference, but was I a square head, or a block head?

 

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I think it would better translate to square head. "Tête carrée" is a pejorative expression sometimes used here to denigrate anglos (but you know that, from me to you, there was nothing mean to it ).

 

Every time my dad would cuss, he would say, "Excuse my French." In second grade, we had a project where anyone that spoke a foreign language could get up and say a few sentences. The teacher said, "Does anyone speak French?" I raised my hand, and I'll let you imagine the rest, lol.

 

I respect anyone who can learn a different language, especially at an advanced age.

And it's good for us. Learning a second language helps to stave off dementia:
http://www.livescience.com/12917-learning-language-bilingual-protects-alzheimers.html

Being older than 50, however, I find it more and more difficult for my ossified brain to learn and absorb new things.

Using Spanish everyday for more than two decades, I'm pretty functional in Spanish.

My Italian is more than adequate after I warm up. (I only use it 1-2 times a month calling relatives in Italy.)

But I lost my ability to converse in Dutch. (Ik hau wel van Amsterdam.) The problem with any language is the "use it or lose it" adage.

Fortunately, there always is google translate.
https://translate.google.com/#nl/en/


guy

 

I learned all the Italian I need to know from this skit...

 

I got NOWHERE with the $400 and something Rosetta Stone Spanish course. Tried at least four times, understood next to nothing. After a year of Duolingo and radiolingua Spanish, I can read a a fair bit of it and understand some it if spoken very slowly.

Duolingo is fantastic. Highly, highly recommended.

 

Wow! Great response, guys!

We should all add each other on Duolingo. My username there is Ardatirion as well.

 

Mine is the same "pcunix" I use everywhere.

 

Just dive in! With Duolingo, you learn via immersion and trial and error. It can be a little frustrating when they introduce a new concept, but it sure beats sitting around and memorizing conjugations.

 

Another thing that helps is someone to compete with, I got my (older) brother hooked and now we're in a learning war.

 

I just signed up with Duolingo, mostly for grins. I know absolutely nothing about French (other than occasional French words which appear as answers in NYT Crossword puzzles).

This is going to be hard! Looks like soft Es are prounced like soft As and vice versa. As of the first three examples in total noob lesson #1, I'm not optimistic about picking up the language. I can't even imitate the pronunciations.

 

Yes, my daughter and I goad each other if we miss a day.

 

Someone asked for suggestions. Whatever language you choose, you have to ask what it really is you want to do. I do not speak or understand French but reading Cohen (too easy) is not a problem. There is always a specialized vocabulary for whatever you do and the specialized vocabulary for coin collectors is really not all that large but it may take a while in your standard course before you encounter words like obverse and shield. I wish they offered the option of only learning to read. I wish they offered Latin but I do not think their method is right for that.

Who can suggest good ancient numismatic books in any language that might benefit the beginning level reader who does not travel and has no pressing need to ask the location of the restrooms?

 

If you switched off enough settings you could do that.

 

Move to a Spanish-speaking country and I promise you'll be fluent in no time. It worked for me ;-)

 

If you are in France you will have reason to speak it because just like the English and Americans they all assume you speak their language. I can speak reasonable French, which is merciful given how they expect you to speak it there like a native. But Germany was much more merciful - nobody there expects you to be able to master that Saxon assemblage of verbiage - let alone those mondo combination words.

Some people learn languages well in schools. I couldn't. I had to travel and live in other places - when you are lost or starving or have to "bless" the WC you figure out real quick what to say.

 

You can move to parts of TX and CA and might just as well as be in 'ol Mejico - even though I have spoken Spanish since I was a kid growing up there - I resented having to speak it in stores, restaurants etc.

 

Last time I was in France for more than a few hours, it sort of came back. That was in November when we stayed at a farmhouse type B&B near Reims. First I thought, oh dear, but after a while it worked fairly well. I would not be able to conduct a business conversation in French but for "everyday" stuff it was OK.

From my experience, people in France (and also Spain for example) do not really expect everybody to speak French (or Castilian Spanish); what many dislike though is English language visitors who do not even have the courtesy of asking whether the person they talk to understands English. Kinda like Germans in the Netherlands or Mallorca, hehe.

Side note: On my cell phone I sometimes use Google Translate which even pronounces the "target language" text. Usually works reasonably well ... and if it does not, I can still play the result to a local, and get some laughs. Another helpful site is www.forvo.com which I find very helpful especially when it comes to place names ...

Christian

 

I know just enough German to say I don't speak German, which rather is a shame - have lots of ancestors from there and a few years ago one of my cousins tracked our distant relatives over in Germany and our family has been catching up on the just over 140 years since my ancestor traversed the dock onto a ship in Hamburg in 1871. We believe now that contacts were lost in WWI. The family home in Biilkau where my Great Great Grandfather was born in in the 1850s is still standing - a beautiful brick home built very early in the 19th century.

 

Yah, at one point in my life I wanted to learn Portuguese, but I wasn't exactly sure of the quickest method to learn the language ... after much contemplating, I ended-up marrying a Portuguese girl (it seemed like a fool-proof method, ya know?) ...

... anyway ...

=> sure, now I know all of the Portuguese swear words, but I still don't know the language very well (it seems like she only uses Portuguese as a secret-language, so her and her brother can talk about me "in front of my back") ...

... burro stupido