Learning a language

[roydo]

I assume other languages have dialects, like we do. So how do you know what foreign dialect you might be picking up? Are they as pronounced as ours? Think hard Glaswegian, thick Scouse, Geordie etc. They are almost languages in their own right.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I assume other languages have dialects, like we do. So how do you know what foreign dialect you might be picking up? Are they as pronounced as ours? Think hard Glaswegian, thick Scouse, Geordie etc. They are almost languages in their own right.

Bound to happen. Think most proper classes teach you quite formally though so it's accent neutral. You pick up that kind of colloquial stuff if you live there I guess. I think in Czech for instance there are differences between Moravian and Bohemian, but we haven't really focused too much on that, just the odd mention here and there because someones girl uses regional dialects now and then.

 

[roydo]

Bound to happen. Think most proper classes teach you quite formally though so it's accent neutral. You pick up that kind of colloquial stuff if you live there I guess. I think in Czech for instance there are differences between Moravian and Bohemian, but we haven't really focused too much on that, just the odd mention here and there because someones girl uses regional dialects now and then.

Makes you think though. I mean there must be yanks, aussies etc from on here that have picked up "lid", "boss" etc etc just from being on a forum.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Makes you think though. I mean there must be yanks, aussies etc from on here that have picked up "lid", "boss" etc etc just from being on a forum.

I've been here for 20 years and can't tell if someone's from Madrid or Bilbao, though people from here can. The Andalusian accent is quite pronounced and you've obviously got the Catalan and Basque languages. My wife is Argentinian which is like the equivalent of American English, ie. funny accent, some different words and some different grammar structures.

 

[Jacko93]

I used to speak Turkish. Going back there next week as it happens, will be interesting to see just how much my language has deteriorated.

 

[Clint Planet]

I know this sounds ignorant, but if you're english and you're not moving to another country, there really is little point.

 

[Clint Planet]

Its difficult unless you live there mate.

I want to learn Spanish, but it's near impossible unless you're amongst it every day.

Yeah, I've been going to night classes for Spanish on and off for about five years now and although I'm obviously much better than I was it's still quite difficult to hold a proper conversation on Spanish. I find that listening to Spanish language learning podcasts helps a lot. www.newsinslowspanish.com is particularly good once you're beyond beginners' level. Poco a poco, estoy mejorando!

 

[Clint Planet]

It's not the easiest. You have different genders for words, different endings for verbs depending on who's doing the activity (to travel is cestovat, I travel is cestovam, you travel is cestovas) and so on. The alphabet is also slightly different, so for instance j's are pronounced y. Skoda is actually Shkoda because of the hacheck over the 's'. Oh, and endings of words also change if its past or future tense. I'm sure once you're familiar with the rules then it becomes a whole lot easier, but it's pretty different to English (although very similar to Polish and Slovak)

Sure there's loads more goodies like this lying in wait, but I've only completed two terms so far

I'm assuming it has cases like Polish, too. And no articles.

Slavic languages are weird. My wife is Polish but I just can't be arsed to learn it - it's bad enough learning Spanish!

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Yeah that kind of thing. Back to class tonight. Quite looking forward to it.