Anyone here know a second language other than English, or trying to learn a second language other than English?
I'm curious about how you did it, or how you are going about doing it.
(05-17-2024, 07:52 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Anyone here know a second language other than English, or trying to learn a second language other than English?
I'm curious about how you did it, or how you are going about doing it.
I grew up in a household with a grandmother who spoke French. I later took French lessons in HS and found out it was a rather different dialect than the creole French she spoke lol. I dropped it shortly after graduation but started practicing again a few years ago and was disappointed by how much I’d lost.
In 2018 we went to Germany so I started trying to learn German on Duolingo about 10 months before the trip. I was cramming about 10 hours a week and actually it did help to where I could ask basic questions and understand a little, especially reading but nowhere near any level of fluency.
Last year I took up Spanish for the first time, also on Duolingo. I feel like I have more of an opportunity to use that language in Florida but my pace is a lot slower than with German. It’s a little more fun that way, lol.
(05-17-2024, 07:52 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Anyone here know a second language other than English, or trying to learn a second language other than English?
I'm curious about how you did it, or how you are going about doing it.
Spanish was actually my first language. After so many years I am still somewhat fluent, though I can understand it better than I can speak it. Whenever I go back home or talk to relatives on the phone, it's usually "spanglish" (a mix of English and Spanish).
What is kind of cool was when I was overseas in Italy I could pick out a few words that they would say in Italian and understand them since it was very close to the Spanish pronunciation. Not enough to carry on a conversation, but enough to get the gist of what was being said.
I was the star student in my all gringo high school Spanish class. My Spanish is on the level of, say, Rick Scott or Bush 43. My vocab isn't great, but I know one word for pretty much everything you'd want to talk about and I know all the tenses and moods. I probably sound like a fifth grader. I understand most of what's on the radio or TV, but I can't really follow slang conversations between natives from the same country. My wife's grandmother had a middle school level education from Cuba and we couldn't understand each other. But I have no problem with her younger relatives. They pick up on my gringo accented slang-free Spanish quickly and return the favor.
I'm trying to learn some Spanish, but I think I probably lack the discipline to get fluent. I'm watching youtube videos and learning the basic words and sentences.
(05-17-2024, 07:28 PM)mikesez Wrote: [ -> ]I was the star student in my all gringo high school Spanish class. My Spanish is on the level of, say, Rick Scott or Bush 43. My vocab isn't great, but I know one word for pretty much everything you'd want to talk about and I know all the tenses and moods. I probably sound like a fifth grader. I understand most of what's on the radio or TV, but I can't really follow slang conversations between natives from the same country. My wife's grandmother had a middle school level education from Cuba and we couldn't understand each other. But I have no problem with her younger relatives. They pick up on my gringo accented slang-free Spanish quickly and return the favor.
Isn't Cuban Spanish different from Castillian Spanish? Back when I was in business, we were trying to make our database auto-translate itself by writing our own Spanish translation program. We had some native Spanish speakers working for us and they told us there are many different types of Spanish.
(05-20-2024, 06:05 PM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]I'm trying to learn some Spanish, but I think I probably lack the discipline to get fluent. I'm watching youtube videos and learning the basic words and sentences.
(05-17-2024, 07:28 PM)mikesez Wrote: [ -> ]I was the star student in my all gringo high school Spanish class. My Spanish is on the level of, say, Rick Scott or Bush 43. My vocab isn't great, but I know one word for pretty much everything you'd want to talk about and I know all the tenses and moods. I probably sound like a fifth grader. I understand most of what's on the radio or TV, but I can't really follow slang conversations between natives from the same country. My wife's grandmother had a middle school level education from Cuba and we couldn't understand each other. But I have no problem with her younger relatives. They pick up on my gringo accented slang-free Spanish quickly and return the favor.
Isn't Cuban Spanish different from Castillian Spanish? Back when I was in business, we were trying to make our database auto-translate itself by writing our own Spanish translation program. We had some native Spanish speakers working for us and they told us there are many different types of Spanish.
Yes. What they taught us in school was "Latin American Spanish" which is the same thing you'll hear on the Spanish radio stations or on Univision. It's very middle of the road with few slang words. In school, the double L sound was just English Y. But if you try that in the real world you'll hear that double L is more like the the J in "judge" in Cuba and Puerto Rico and like the S in "vision" in Argentina and Uruguay. I only know this from movies and meeting people in the US.
And then there are the conjugation differences around the word "you". Computers have a hard time getting "you" into Spanish because there are at least three different words that "you" could be. Generic Latin American Spanish goes "Tu/Usted/Ustedes". But Costa Rica and Argentina add "vos" and Spain has "vosotros".
But what your database dudes were up against was probably local vocabulary for mundane things that you'd really have to travel and study to become aware of. I used to know a Spanish professor who worked at a state college. He told me each country has its own word for see-saw, and he had done a paper documenting them all.
(05-20-2024, 06:05 PM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]I'm trying to learn some Spanish, but I think I probably lack the discipline to get fluent. I'm watching youtube videos and learning the basic words and sentences.
(05-17-2024, 07:28 PM)mikesez Wrote: [ -> ]I was the star student in my all gringo high school Spanish class. My Spanish is on the level of, say, Rick Scott or Bush 43. My vocab isn't great, but I know one word for pretty much everything you'd want to talk about and I know all the tenses and moods. I probably sound like a fifth grader. I understand most of what's on the radio or TV, but I can't really follow slang conversations between natives from the same country. My wife's grandmother had a middle school level education from Cuba and we couldn't understand each other. But I have no problem with her younger relatives. They pick up on my gringo accented slang-free Spanish quickly and return the favor.
Isn't Cuban Spanish different from Castillian Spanish? Back when I was in business, we were trying to make our database auto-translate itself by writing our own Spanish translation program. We had some native Spanish speakers working for us and they told us there are many different types of Spanish.
Different dialects - but not radically different.
My Spanish is terrible - but if I brush up on it for a week before traveling I can have basic communication if the other party speaks somewhat slowly.
When I have spoken Spanish while in Europe, those I conversed with would often ask me which Central American country I had learned Spanish in. They quickly hear the difference in dialect, but it isn't a communication barrier.
I speak the Academic, Sports Bar, Southern, New England, Geek, and Floridian forms of English. I don't think I can handle any more decisions on which words to use.
4 years of Spanish in HS
4 semesters of Spanish in HS
Married for 27 years to a wife whose primary language "was" Spanish
Can't speak it with any fluency. I'm convinced one needs to actually go to the country and don't revert to English to speak another language.
Along the lines that StroudCrowd1 noted, it's rather easy to travel without learning the native language. First of all people now speak English in any decent sized city, AND Google Translation easily translates your statements into the selected language and can communicated the translation where needed in verbal or written form. I've used this in France & Poland in the past. Update after watching the video: I didn't know about Chat GBT tranlation but that's even much more sophisticated than my Google Translate.
(05-17-2024, 07:52 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]Anyone here know a second language other than English, or trying to learn a second language other than English?
I'm curious about how you did it, or how you are going about doing it.
Rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal.
Start slow. Get basic vocab words/alphabet before you start trying to become conversant.
Look at how sesame street approached it. Letters, numbers. contrasts (near/far; big/small). Get the basics and build. They weren't teaching full sentences or paragraphs. Key words and proper usage.
If you know someone who is fluent, they can help with practice. Functional fluency will take a while. Phrases and things will be helpful for travel, but you won't be able to hold a conversation with a cabbie in Madrid if you've used babbel for a month.
I studied 4 years Spanish in HS and got a degree in Education with focus on languages, 5 more years of study. When I visited Madrid I was able to immerse in culture and converse with locals, but after a few decades without frequent use, I can't eavesdrop at Walmart like I used ta could
(05-21-2024, 10:12 AM)HURRICANE!!! Wrote: [ -> ]4 years of Spanish in HS
4 semesters of Spanish in HS
Married for 27 years to a wife whose primary language "was" Spanish
Can't speak it with any fluency. I'm convinced one needs to actually go to the country and don't revert to English to speak another language.
Along the lines that StroudCrowd1 noted, it's rather easy to travel without learning the native language. First of all people now speak English in any decent sized city, AND Google Translation easily translates your statements into the selected language and can communicated the translation where needed in verbal or written form. I've used this in France & Poland in the past. Update after watching the video: I didn't know about Chat GBT tranlation but that's even much more sophisticated than my Google Translate.
Fluency IMO is when you can THINK in the foreign language, where you aren't actively formulating a statement and then converting to another language.
Again, the key is exposure, repetition, and more repetition.
If you are good at games like Taboo, where you have to talk 'around' words without saying them, that helps when trying to communicate in foreign language. You may not know the equivalent word for "see-saw" in Spanish, but if you can say "the thing with two seats at the park that goes up and down", they may follow what you're getting at.
I keep thinking I'm going to learn Spanish, but I'm just too lazy. I dip into it occasionally, but there's always a day or two when I don't touch it at all.
I'll probably just learn "tourist survival Spanish," like "where is the bathroom," and "I'd like a cup of coffee, please," and "please take your hand out of my pocket."
Google translate has worked very well for me recently when I was overseas. It's really nice how you can point the phone at printed text and it will translate the printed text. I was in Barcelona, and used Google Translate for Spanish, Catalan, and Latin. I used Google Translate to tell the Concierge at our apartment building I smelled smoke, and he used Google Translate to tell me he was burning incense. I used Google Translate to translate the Latin on a 14th century tomb. It's a wonderful program.
(05-21-2024, 03:16 PM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]I keep thinking I'm going to learn Spanish, but I'm just too lazy. I dip into it occasionally, but there's always a day or two when I don't touch it at all.
I'll probably just learn "tourist survival Spanish," like "where is the bathroom," and "I'd like a cup of coffee, please," and "please take your hand out of my pocket."
Google translate has worked very well for me recently when I was overseas. It's really nice how you can point the phone at printed text and it will translate the printed text. I was in Barcelona, and used Google Translate for Spanish, Catalan, and Latin. I used Google Translate to tell the Concierge at our apartment building I smelled smoke, and he used Google Translate to tell me he was burning incense. I used Google Translate to translate the Latin on a 14th century tomb. It's a wonderful program.
Google Translate is awesome. I used the text translate often and have used the voice translate several times. It was the only way to communicate with the front desk folks while in Honduras.
(05-21-2024, 06:06 PM)homebiscuit Wrote: [ -> ] (05-21-2024, 03:16 PM)The Real Marty Wrote: [ -> ]I keep thinking I'm going to learn Spanish, but I'm just too lazy. I dip into it occasionally, but there's always a day or two when I don't touch it at all.
I'll probably just learn "tourist survival Spanish," like "where is the bathroom," and "I'd like a cup of coffee, please," and "please take your hand out of my pocket."
Google translate has worked very well for me recently when I was overseas. It's really nice how you can point the phone at printed text and it will translate the printed text. I was in Barcelona, and used Google Translate for Spanish, Catalan, and Latin. I used Google Translate to tell the Concierge at our apartment building I smelled smoke, and he used Google Translate to tell me he was burning incense. I used Google Translate to translate the Latin on a 14th century tomb. It's a wonderful program.
Google Translate is awesome. I used the text translate often and have used the voice translate several times. It was the only way to communicate with the front desk folks while in Honduras.
Hmmmm, perhaps there's some other means of communication with the front desk folks in Central America.