NationStates

I've been learning Russian since for 5 or 6 years, and I spent a summer in Russia with a host family last summer, and from that experience I gotta say that Americans need to learn more languages

I have been learning French for the past four and a half years and Spanish for the past two. Because of our location, our education system in general has a great range of languages to learn. One can learn Latin, French, Spanish, Maori, Samoan, Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian.

My personal preferences were languages with Latin script as they make it easier for me to learn. I'm also quite good at English (in terms of proper gramatical terms) so it helped me a lot with learning French. I also think it helps a lot if you learn a language that comes from a specific language group. For example, I started learning Spanish after I started French and seeing as they come from the Romance language group, I found it much easier to learn Spanish due to the same grammar conventions shared between the two languages.

Costa Fiero wrote:I have been learning French for the past four and a half years and Spanish for the past two. Because of our location, our education system in general has a great range of languages to learn. One can learn Latin, French, Spanish, Maori, Samoan, Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian.

My personal preferences were languages with Latin script as they make it easier for me to learn. I'm also quite good at English (in terms of proper gramatical terms) so it helped me a lot with learning French. I also think it helps a lot if you learn a language that comes from a specific language group. For example, I started learning Spanish after I started French and seeing as they come from the Romance language group, I found it much easier to learn Spanish due to the same grammar conventions shared between the two languages.

Yeah, except only French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Maori, Chinese, Samoan and Latin have NCEA exams. And plenty of schools only choose to offer Spanish, French and Maori or can continue to only provide those. Unless you aren't in NZ...which makes Maori an odd language to offer.

I am an american and I speak and write fluent English , Spanish , and Portuguese (Brazilian). I am learning French at school and learning Dutch at home. it is all about interest and necessity , Americans and all the non-African Commonwealth are used to foreigners knowing English , Europeans however are encouraged to learn other languages to be successful in a global career. PS listening to your favourite genre of music in the said language your learning really helps with pronunciation and vocabulary .

Zanzibarland and Outer-Heaven wrote:I am an american and I speak and write fluent English , Spanish , and Portuguese (Brazilian). I am learning French at school and learning Dutch at home. it is all about interest and necessity , Americans and all the non-African Commonwealth are used to foreigners knowing English , Europeans however are encouraged to learn other languages to be successful in a global career. PS listening to your favourite genre of music in the said language your learning really helps with pronunciation and vocabulary .

The success of teh British Empire has definitely has a negative effect on the likelihood of a native English speaker learning another language, same goes with the USA.

Hippostania wrote:

Daistallia 2104 wrote:
Interesting that you find French difficult - it should be easier than Finnish. (Unless you were brought up bilingually.)

Well, Finnish and French aren't even comparable, they're totally different kinds of languages. If I was born in Sweden for example, I'd probably find French much more easier.

Possibly, but not for any linguistic reason.

My primary school only taught japanese, and as a compulsory subject. Didn't really learn much since it focused on culture more then language. Indeed, I'd say I've learnt more from anime, manga and subbed movies then that class. That is in regards to both culture and language. However, I'm far from fluent in that language.

My highschool didn't offer language, sadly.

Languages are those things that I always want to learn and never muster the motivation to finally set about doing it. The languages I'm most interested in are, deutsch, dansk, norsk, svensk and Nederlands. Though I'm also interested in a lot of other languages such as日本語 , magyar nyelv,suomi, eesti keel, Türkçe and so on.

Schwabenreich wrote:My primary school only taught japanese, and as a compulsory subject. Didn't really learn much since it focused on culture more then language. Indeed, I'd say I've learnt more from anime, manga and subbed movies then that class. That is in regards to both culture and language. However, I'm far from fluent in that language.

My highschool didn't offer language, sadly.

Languages are those things that I always want to learn and never muster the motivation to finally set about doing it. The languages I'm most interested in are, deutsch, dansk, norsk, svensk and dutch. Though I'm also interested in a lot of other languages such as japanese, magyar, finnish, estonian and so on.

Really? What country did you go to school in? And what is with Deutsch and stuff and Japanes and Dutch?

Kirrig wrote:

Schwabenreich wrote:My primary school only taught japanese, and as a compulsory subject. Didn't really learn much since it focused on culture more then language. Indeed, I'd say I've learnt more from anime, manga and subbed movies then that class. That is in regards to both culture and language. However, I'm far from fluent in that language.

My highschool didn't offer language, sadly.

Languages are those things that I always want to learn and never muster the motivation to finally set about doing it. The languages I'm most interested in are, deutsch, dansk, norsk, svensk and dutch. Though I'm also interested in a lot of other languages such as japanese, magyar, finnish, estonian and so on.

Really? What country did you go to school in? And what is with Deutsch and stuff and Japanes and Dutch?

Australia, Queensland. Also, I wasn't consistent, I sometimes used native language for their language and sometimes english. Deutsch I meant standdeutsch as in german, and Japanese would be nice, since I have relatives there, and have been immersed in aspects of their culture from afar. I quite like dutch as the missing link between English and German it seems like it'd be an easy language to learn in comparison to other languages at least. It gets bonus points for being germanic and perhaps a bridge into other germanic language groups (in ways english couldn't be).

*links added for your convenience*

Schwabenreich wrote:

Kirrig wrote:
Really? What country did you go to school in? And what is with Deutsch and stuff and Japanes and Dutch?

Australia, Queensland. Also, I wasn't consistent, I sometimes used native language for their language and sometimes english. Deutsch I meant standdeutsch as in german, and Japanese would be nice, since I have relatives there, and have been immersed in aspects of their culture from afar. I quite like dutch as the missing link between English and German it seems like it'd be an easy language to learn in comparison to other languages at least. It gets bonus points for being germanic and perhaps a bridge into other germanic language groups (in ways english couldn't be).

*links added for your convenience*

I had no idea Australian schools were so xenophobic.

Indian languages should be taught at more American schools.

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Indian languages should be taught at more American schools.

Actually, many schools have German courses.

Kirrig wrote:

Schwabenreich wrote:
Australia, Queensland. Also, I wasn't consistent, I sometimes used native language for their language and sometimes english. Deutsch I meant standdeutsch as in german, and Japanese would be nice, since I have relatives there, and have been immersed in aspects of their culture from afar. I quite like dutch as the missing link between English and German it seems like it'd be an easy language to learn in comparison to other languages at least. It gets bonus points for being germanic and perhaps a bridge into other germanic language groups (in ways english couldn't be).

*links added for your convenience*

I had no idea Australian schools were so xenophobic.

To be fair, it was a catholic school (I wasn't happy about that detail either). A state school probably has more to offer in regards to language, and well, better then most private schools you'll find in the area.

Schwabenreich wrote:

Kirrig wrote:
I had no idea Australian schools were so xenophobic.

To be fair, it was a catholic school (I wasn't happy about that detail either). A state school probably has more to offer in regards to language, and well, better then most private schools you'll find in the area.

I see. It would be because of the smaller roll. The nearest private school had two languages in Y9 compared to our five (6 with ESOL), although Japanese has since fallen off the wagon.

i can speak norwegian and english
i also speak some german and russian but not very much

Great Imperial Bourgeois Germany wrote:

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Indian languages should be taught at more American schools.

Actually, many schools have German courses.

What?

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:

Great Imperial Bourgeois Germany wrote:
Actually, many schools have German courses.

What?

I have never heard of a school with an Indian language on the curriculum here in NZ. Which is funny because a lot of students and teachers and nearly all relievers come from India or speak one or the other. Even if some come via Fiji.

Kirrig wrote:I had no idea Australian schools were so xenophobic.

Really?
The genocide of Aboriginals
The stolen generations
White Australia
Queensland KKK
Pauline Hanson and One Nation
Cornulla

None of those ring a bell?

(Not to say that's what all Australia is like or that anywhere else is much better...)

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:

Great Imperial Bourgeois Germany wrote:
Actually, many schools have German courses.

What?

Didn't you know? German is now an Indian language.

Daistallia 2104 wrote:

Kirrig wrote:I had no idea Australian schools were so xenophobic.

Really?
The genocide of Aboriginals
The stolen generations
White Australia
Queensland KKK
Pauline Hanson and One Nation
Cornulla

None of those ring a bell?

(Not to say that's what all Australia is like or that anywhere else is much better...)

Most of that is racism, as opposed to xenophobia.

I know Spanish, a bit of French, and enough of Latin to read it but not enough to speak it.

well i am a filipino and I know how to speak Bisaya (a language in the Philippines) but we are forced to learn Tagalog and English

That is why I am a triligual
Mauna nga Triligual ko
Yan ang dahilan kung bakit Triligual ako

Kirrig wrote:Most of that is racism, as opposed to xenophobia.

Racism is xenophobia.

Westboro wrote:I know Spanish, a bit of French, and enough of Latin to read it but not enough to speak it.

Your flag is broken.


I'm deciding which language i want to learn. I thought something either French/German/Russian or Some sort of asian language(Korean preferrably, then Chinese then Japanese). I'm leaning more on Korean but i wouldn't mind Russian from the European side.

Nightkill the Emperor wrote:Indian languages should be taught at more American schools.

lol! Quite exactly the opposite in most schools here (India). I was *very* lucky my school had a French course.

So I know:
English
Hindi
Tamil
French

A little Japanese
A little Malayalam
And learning German (which is totally and Indian language, lol!) online right now.