Language Learning Support Thread!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So as of late I have been studying a foreign language lately (namely Japanese.) There are times when I feel like my brain is about to start leaking out of my ears, and times when I feel like I will never ever ever understand this crazy language, and even, occasionally, times when I manage to successfully communicate in it!

This thread is for sharing those times, along with any other things you can think of. Anyone who is learning any language is free to join in–not just Japanese! Although if you are studying Japanese, come right on in. :slight_smile: I think it is against the board rules to actually talk in our non-English languages, though if the language you are studying is English, feel free to practice!

So. What language are you studying? How long have you been studying it? What kinds of things do you use to study it (e.g. books, textbooks, classes, penpals, language exchanges, computer programs, whatever)? Why are you studying it? What is your favorite thing about the language? What is most frustrating? What are you trying to get a hold on right now? What has been most helpful in motivating you to study the language?

As for me, I am, as I said, studying Japanese. I studied it for 2 semesters at college, and then intensively for 1 semester in Japan, at a Japanese university. Then after I graduated, I came over here on the JET program. I’ve been here for just about a year now, and I’ve been studying the whole time. However, I can’t take classes formally, so I study on my own using the good old Minna no Nihongo textbook (Everyone’s Japanese) and I go to a conversation class once a week (basically just an excuse to talk to people who want to talk to me.) I also have a Japanese lesson once a week for 1 1/2 hours, with a nice lady who teaches part time. We do a lot of talking and also work on the textbook together. I also study kanji via the Heisig method, and spend a lot of time reviewing flashcards and studying vocab for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which I plan on taking in the winter (Level 3, if you’re interested!)

I’m studying Japanese for the obvious reasons–I live here, so it makes life a lot more convenient to be literate and capable of holding a conversation. I also want to go to graduate school for Japanese art history, so being literate in Japanese is a necessity. I also have a Japanese boyfriend, which provides a great deal of motivation :cool: (even though his English is great.)

I felt like I was on a language learning plateau a while ago, but I’m finally starting to improve again. I really got hard-core into studying this summer, when I didn’t have a lot of work to do. I still need a lot more vocabulary and a lot more practice speaking. It’s surprisingly hard to practice Japanese even though I live in Japan. A lot of my friends speak English! Still, I pick up a lot just from living here. One of the most difficult things is getting my brain to think in Japanese. It still wants to translate from one language to the other, but you just can’t do that in Japanese. The way sentences work are completely different. I suspect my conversation sounds strange and stilted because of this, just like my Japanese students phrase their English a bit oddly at times. Still, the satisfaction I get when I can read a new sign or understand a new announcement on the train or something written on the board at school is really amazing. Such a great feeling!

So, that’s enough about me. What about you? :slight_smile:

2

Learning Russian here. I have to go out there now and again with work, so I got my boss to pony up for Roseeta Stone. It’s going slowly but it’s going. Buggest breakthrough I have had to date was learning Cyrillic script. When I could actually read some of those signs I was seeing, I was amused to learn a lot of them were the same word in english, or close enough to understand anyway.

3

Hi Tanaqui! I have a friend living in Japan through the JET program right now. He originally signed up for 2 years, and is about to renew his contract. I think you will really enjoy it!

So. What language are you studying?

Spanish. At this point I refer to myself as ‘‘functionally fluent.’’ I don’t speak Spanish with the ease that I speak English, but given enough time and patience I am capable of communicating whatever is necessary. According to my native speaking co-workers, my accent often sounds native but I do have the occasional grammatical error.

**
How long have you been studying it?**

Since 7th grade, though I didn’t really start retaining anything until high school. I went on to do an Intensive Language Program through my University and ultimately graduated with a B.A. in Spanish Literature.

**What kinds of things do you use to study it (e.g. books, textbooks, classes, penpals, language exchanges, computer programs, whatever)? **

Well, I think I’m beyond the point of formal instruction in the classroom–not because I couldn’t learn anything more, but because my graduate education will be Social Work, not Spanish (though I intend to use Spanish for my field placements.) I read and write the language quite well, but my auditory comprehension and conversation skills have always lagged. I spent some time in Mexico but to be honest, my speaking skills didn’t really improve until I started using the language daily in a professional context here in the U.S. I try to supplement whenever possible – I listen to a lot of Spanish-language music and, more recently, watch Spanish language TV. My husband and I watch the Simpsons and Futurama in Spanish, too. He makes a decent conversation partner, but his skills are less advanced than mine at this point so there’s only so far that can take me. I just got a job promotion which will no doubt stretch my abilities, but I’m at the point where I think I really just need to find some friends who speak Spanish exclusively and hang out with them.

**
Why are you studying it?**
It’s one of the subjects that truly challenges me. English literature was too easy, so I decided to add a level of difficulty to my studying of old, dusty books–and boy did I! I feel like as long as I am studying Spanish, I will have a challenge all of my life. I always feel inadequate in Spanish, I’m always struggling and striving to better myself there. I really enjoy working at things that don’t come easy to me.

Also, I love the language. It sounds like music to me. When I speak it, I feel like I’m singing.
**
What is your favorite thing about the language?**
Pronunciation is very, very easy. Every letter or group of letters has a very specific sound that never changes, unlike English where ‘‘through’’ and ‘‘tough’’ sound completely different. You never have to guess how things are pronounced in Spanish.
**
What is most frustrating?**
At this point, prepositions are the most difficult. There is no hard and fast rule for prepositions, they are all idiomatic and you just have to remember which prepositions go with which verb. It’s very hard; probably the biggest grammar issue I’ve got right now.

**
What are you trying to get a hold on right now?**
Auditory comprehension. There has always been the occasional breakdown in communication with clients at work, but I just moved to an area that’s 40% Latino demographically. Most folks are from the Caribbean, and the accent kills me. I can communicate TO the people here but it’s a lot harder for me to understand what they are saying. More generally–and perhaps more importantly–the fear of making mistakes. I could talk in Spanish all day at work because I HAD to, but then see a Spanish-speaker on the street and totally freeze up and become completely tongue-tied out of fear of embarrassing myself. I am not over my insecurity about my abilities.

What has been most helpful in motivating you to study the language?
Without question, interacting with people who speak it natively. I love doing service work with Spanish-speakers because there is a great need there and they are almost always friendly and supportive. So far I have had great luck finding people who get a kick out of my Spanish–I just really hope I can find someone to get really close to.

4

There’s a book for Yiddish I wanted, but it went out of print recently and Amazon had it for rather more than I want to pay. Then my parents had a yard sale, and I discovered they had a copy all along, so now I’m going through it on my own.

I live near Boro Park, but it’s not really easy for me to get opportunities to practice.

(I know it’s been five years, but there must be other Dopers learning something who need support)

5

Starting with a PS: If the original three posters from 2008 are around, I’d love to hear what progress you’ve made, or not—we’re all human.
So. What language are you studying?
Italian. I’d echo the “functionally fluent,” but I have huge gaps in grammar and even worse ones in vocabulary.

How long have you been studying it?
I’ve wanted to learn it since I was a kid (older relatives were native speakers, though fluent in English). I started studying after university. Why not during university, I don’t know. Distracted.

What kinds of things do you use to study it (e.g. books, textbooks, classes, penpals, language exchanges, computer programs, whatever)?
I try to read. My rule is I must look up one word (no more, no less) per page, and try to get the rest from context. So I go slowly. I’ve also just started listening to books on tape. I’m amazed at how much I understand, but disconcerted in how easy it is to tune out and let it become white noise. I also go to a local meetup group for conversations and sometimes watch films. I’m lucky that there’s a lot of opportunities here, including an all-Italian lending library.

Why are you studying it?
I’m distant from family and my heritage and experience spans so many different places that I’m kind of some of everything, all of nothing. After Californian, Italian is the closest I have to an identity, and learning the language helps me feel like that feeling is legitimate, even though I know better, really.

** What is your favorite thing about the language?**
I don’t know. I just find it satisfying. It isn’t my favourite foreign language (that’s Welsh) or my best.

What is most frustrating?
Pronouns. I understand the grammar, but I can’t quite get it or make it come easily. Lack of vocabulary, too. So slow to build!

What are you trying to get a hold on right now?
I’m just trying to build fluency in the passive skills (reading and listening) to gear up for the active ones.

What has been most helpful in motivating you to study the language?
Deciding that I really want to. Making the commitment.

6

So. What language are you studying?
Study, study… I’m working somewhat on learning French and lesswhat on learning Basque.

How long have you been studying it?
As a preschooler, I attended three months of full-immersion French school; sadly, the teacher was one of those sadists who should not be allowed within 10 miles of any child, but I still managed to retain quite a few things. As an adult, I’ve been taking lessons on and off as time and circumstances allow it.

As for Basque, it’s one of the native and official languages of my homeland and my hometown (different things, there’s areas of my homeland where Basque is neither commonly spoken nor official, including the different town where I grew up); people are very surprised to hear that I speak Catalan (another one of Spain’s official languages) but not Basque (the one local to me) until I tell them my mother is Catalan. Oh. Well. That explains it. In a way I’ve been getting bits of Basque all my life; many words which are part of my dialect of Spanish but not of others are from Basque - but I’ve never had any schooling in it.

What kinds of things do you use to study it (e.g. books, textbooks, classes, penpals, language exchanges, computer programs, whatever)?
When I can’t sign up for French classes, I try to read books and magazines in French, play computer games in French, watch French movies in the original language or other movies dubbed to French. I’ve also lived and/or worked in France for short periods: the first time all my neighbors were foreigners and work took place in Switzerland or Germany and in English, so I got to speak very little French; the last time was in Dunkirk and my French improved dramatically during those six months. Right now I’m mostly trying to preserve that improvement.

For Basque it’s just pick it as you go, occasionally asking a Basque-speaking friend “how do you say…” or “does [this] mean [what I think it means]?” and the dictionary (I prefer the Elhuyar, which is “the” classic one). Long live online dictionaries.

Why are you studying it?
French is one of the languages that are common enough to be useful with a lot of people and in a lot of places and hey, it’s the neighbors: I run over there for some of my shopping, they come over here for some of theirs.

Basque is the language of my paternal ancestors, aka the good side of the family.

** What is your favorite thing about the language?**
French has a lot of grammatical structures in common with Spanish that I really miss in English; it also has a lot of documentation available. Basque, specially if you don’t want to limit yourself to “official Basque” but want to learn idiomatic and local varieties, is like building a puzzle… the pieces are there, but they’re in different places.

What is most frustrating?
There’s some French phonemes I will never be able to pronounce. As for Basque, political circumstances and the rise of official Basque can make learning it complicated (both parts are getting a lot better now, but for several decades it was horrible).
Oh, and after all those years of knowing that 80 is quatre-vingt… the French-Swiss say ottante (I may have spelled it wrong), and now I get confused about something that I used to have no problem with, damnit!

What are you trying to get a hold on right now?
I just want to keep my French from rusting too much. The Basque, bit by bit… biiiit by biiit.

What has been most helpful in motivating you to study the language?
Oh honey, nothing like being surrounded by French factory workers who don’t speak a lick of foreign and whose foreign-speaking bosses don’t listen to their subordinates. Since I actually needed to get said factory-workers trained, that took the whole thing from “just because” to “ok, I know I’ll butcher it, sorry about the pronunciation, can’t be helped, please correct my grammar and spelling willya?”

7

Is a newbie allowed to refloat this interesting thread? I’ll give it a try

So. What language are you studying?
At the moment, Swedish. But I’m (thankfully) so close to achieving fluency that I’m already preparing for my next language - either Farsi or Indonesian.

How long have you been studying it?
About a year and a half of on-and-off studying, plus living in the country.

What kinds of things do you use to study it (e.g. books, textbooks, classes, penpals, language exchanges, computer programs, whatever)?
60 hours of free classes offered by my university during my first year here.
When my Swedish was good enough, I starting visiting a Swedish-language message board (the infamous ‘Flashback’ that every Swede knows about)
Reading books in Swedish, underlining new words and then learning what they meant was probably the key method when it came to broadening my vocabulary.
Getting drunk and attempting to speak to Swedes in their native language greatly improved my fluency. As did forcing all my housemates to speak to me in Swedish after I’d lived with them for a year.
And lately, films and Swedish television. Great to understand how words you already know are actually pronounced.

Why are you studying it?
I moved to Sweden about a year and a half ago, and plan on staying. So I guess knowing the language would be essential in the long-term. It’s also a sexy language - I don’t think I would be happy to learn Danish or Dutch, but Swedish just sounds lovely.

** What is your favorite thing about the language?**
It’s melodiousness. Having two mono-tonal languages as my mother tongues, Swedish is (quite literally) music to my ears.

It also seems like a language that was thought up by a 6 year old. What do you call ‘strawberries’? ‘Jordgubbar’, or ‘men who live in the soil’. What about vegetables? ‘Grönsaker’, or ‘green things’. And what about the gums in your mouth? ‘Tandkött’, which means ‘teeth-meat’.

This, not to mention that the words for many family members are quite logical. Your father is your ‘far’, his father is your ‘farfar’, your father’s brother is your ‘farbror’, and his mother is a ‘farmor’. Lovely, isn’t it?

What is most frustrating?
I doubt that I’ll ever be able to ‘sing’ like native Swedes do. And some vowels, such as the å and the o, are quite tricky.

Also the fact that the letter ‘k’ is sometimes pronounced as a ‘k’ and sometimes as an ‘sh’ makes things quite hard.

What are you trying to get a hold on right now?
Working on my accent. I want to sound as Gothenburg as possible :wink:

What has been most helpful in motivating you to study the language?
Strangely enough, it was being surrounded by Swedes who can speak both Swedish and English. They get quite happy when they find out that I’ve taken the time to learn their language, and tend to find my terrible accent rather charming.

8

American Sign Language, since March of last year. I have gone to classes at a private language school, and a community college with an interpreting program. I go to a conversation hour once or twice a week as well. One interesting thing is I can’t make heads or tails of sign dictionaries. Those dumb little pictures make no sense to me. I have a video dictionary app on my phone which is great. I find textbooks to be thoroughly useless though.

Why? There’s no reason. I like learning things, and have some aptitude for language.

Best: meeting people in my chat group. I really enjoy the social aspect. Second best: great vocab signs. The sign for “stuck in an unavoidable social obligation” and “biting toungue/not saying what I really want to say” are two current faves. I also like “just barely acceptable” ( referring to quality of work or effort).

Worst: grammar!! Its nothing like English or any romance language. It has ordering rules that are alien to English for example nouns are described largest to smallest. And on the other hand the topic begins the sentence. “my house is in queens” vs “queens - my house there.” queens is the largest noun so it goes first but ‘my house’ is the subject and subject goes first so which is it??? Making oneself understood is trivially easy; speaking grammatically is quite a challenge.

Currently working on? I just took a class exclusively for finger spelling and numbers, which helped a lot but I still need soooooo much improvement in my receptive skill ( understanding what others are finger spelling). Deaf people finger spell at blazing speeds and NYCer Deaf people are considered fast even by other Deaf people!

Motivation? I never had any motivation other than interest and fun so if it stops being fun or interesting I suppose I’ll quit. Hasn’t happened yet though.