The Foreign Language Teachers Lounge 12-15-2017

[scrapbookbuzz]

Morning!

 

Today's them stems from the fact that I've been watching a foreign tv show via Netflix lately and 

I just really happen to enjoy learning other languages.

 

What languages, if any, do you speak besides English? Here: I can stumble along in Spanish and Russian. Getting better at Serbian. And am learning Greek along with my kids.

 

Where did you learn your languages? Here: my college had a really good Russian professor - he even taught us how to write the cyrillic alphabet in cursive! I spent about a year in Panama and now I live in Phoenix. That's how I can stumble along in Spanish. The others I just try to learn as I go.

 

If you don't know a formal language, what about industry-specific? Here: I know some Latin, mostly through medical terminology. And as an aspiring herbalist, working on learning the botanical Latin.

On a humorous note: when my kids talk to each other about Pokemon or Minecraft, it sounds like they're speaking a foreign language!  :laugh:

 

Talk to me! :bigear: 

[mama25angels]

Good morning!

I don't really speak any language except English, I can understand a smattering of Spanish and a bit more Latin, lol! Does having a New Years goal to learn a new language count?

 

I learned from Duolingo, lol! And I took Spanish in HS.

 

I know Latin from working with the kids.

[HomeAgain]

I can stumble through a handful of languages.  I went to a special school for one of them, and the rest have been picked up either formally or informally as needs have arisen.  About another handful more I can read/understand, but have no speaking/writing ability whatsoever, solely due to their similarity to other languages.

 

Most of my fluency has been lost due to not having anyone to speak with.  My dh speaks another handful, but we have only a slight overlap.  Oh, well.  The little one seems to have a quick ear and picks up all linguistic things VERY quickly - he may go into a career field of specialists if he keeps up at it.  Nothing throws him at age 7 - he's learning 4 languages this year and trips through them like they're nothing.

[JustEm]

I can read and understand Spanish fluently. Speaking it is a little more difficult for me. I get better the more I do it but I haven't had an reason to use it regularly in ages.

 

I started learning Spanish in fourth grade at my school and continued through sophomore year of college. I think with just a year off somewhere in there. I didn't really get fluent with speaking it ever except for the 5 weeks I spent in Ecuador sophomore year of college

[scrapbookbuzz]

Nice to see the both of you! 

 

One thing I've learned about languages is that you use one neural pathway for comprehending and a different neuropathway for speaking. Think about toddlers learning to speak. Do they understand what you're saying before they can actually uttter the same words? Exacty. It's a process. What gets really interesting is when you've been teaching in one foreign language all day and then come home to your neighbor who speaks a different foreign language (than the one you've been teaching) and starts talking to you in his own language (because he knows you know it). That transition takes a minute!  :laugh:

 

There are a couple of interesting fiction books that weave foreign language into the story so that by the time you're done reading that book, you've picked up a few words. One is The Broker by John Grisham (legal thriller genre) and the other is Loving the Knight by Kris Tualla (historical romance genre).

[HomeAgain]

Nice to see the both of you! 

 

One thing I've learned about languages is that you use one neural pathway for comprehending and a different neuropathway for speaking. Think about toddlers learning to speak. Do they understand what you're saying before they can actually uttter the same words? Exacty. It's a process. What gets really interesting is when you've been teaching in one foreign language all day and then come home to your neighbor who speaks a different foreign language (than the one you've been teaching) and starts talking to you in his own language (because he knows you know it). That transition takes a minute!  :laugh:

 

A few years ago dh and I took the family to Disneyland Paris.  By the end of the first day, we both had migraines and wanted to cry.  The sheer number of languages we encountered in passing from other guests was insane.  As soon as our brains translated one, another one was in our ears.  We were able to "turn off" by the end of the week, but the misery for the first bit was so, so real!

[luuknam]

Good afternoon!

 

he even taught us how to write the cyrillic alphabet in cursive! 

 

My Russian book says that the Russians don't print when handwriting - that it's all cursive. I don't know how true that is though - my Russian is pretty bad. 

 

I do a much better job reading foreign languages than speaking them. At the moment, I think the only languages that I could have a real conversation in would be Dutch and English. I used to be pretty decent in Thai, but I haven't used it in forever. Likewise, my German used to be more functional than it is now, though it was never stellar. 

[HomeAgain]

Good afternoon!

 

 

My Russian book says that the Russians don't print when handwriting - that it's all cursive. I don't know how true that is though - my Russian is pretty bad. 

 

I do a much better job reading foreign languages than speaking them. At the moment, I think the only languages that I could have a real conversation in would be Dutch and English. I used to be pretty decent in Thai, but I haven't used it in forever. Likewise, my German used to be more functional than it is now, though it was never stellar. 

 

It is true.  I had 6 Russian teachers at one point.  None wanted us to print.  Even my azbuka knigi/uchebniki are all cursive (bloody adorable, too, with all their animal pictures tumbling and making the letters).  Underlines are used to distinguish between series that have shch, sh, and i in a row.

 

[madteaparty]

I would totally out myself if I listed my languages, but suffice to say that I'm reluctantly learning French alongside DS and always looking for shows in German (I don't speak it) and French.

Excited for this "Dark" German show coming to the US and also Berlin Babylon. Where's all the french shows?!

[Wheres Toto]

Total foreign language fail in our house.  None of us speaking anything except English.  Despite dh's dad being from Puerto Rico.  We done a little bit of Spanish over the years and I do plan to get better at it one of these days.  I took three years in high school (including two that were "Honors") and can barely do the basics.

 

 

I do know quite a bit of medical/scientific terminology.  I've worked for pharmaceutical companies for almost 20 years and science is a particular interest of mine.   

 

I also have children that talk the Pokemon/Minecraft/FNAF/Undertale/who knows what they are talking about this time language.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Where's Toto?

[TheReader]

Oooh, I can play this time! 

 

Other than English, I speak Portuguese, and can generally understand Spanish, and sometimes speak it, but often I'm not 100% sure if I grabbed the Spanish word or the Portuguese word. 

 

I learned Spanish in school --- 2  years in high school, 2 years in college. Pair that with living in the Houston area, and dating/marrying into  Hispanic family.....I can get by. My understanding of written Spanish is better than spoken. 

 

I learned Portuguese living in Brazil. I don't know if I would call myself fluent or not. I mean, we lived there for six years, and by the end of it, I could carry on just about any conversation, doctor visits were mostly in Portuguese, I managed the gardener, etc. But it was also a case of "the more you know, the more you realize you don't know." So, in the beginning, I cared not at all about mistakes and just tried to be understood. Towards the end, I was aware of every little mistake. So...functionally fluent, but with bad grammar. I explain to folks now that I learned "street Portuguese" (via the market, grocery store, craft fair, etc.) while DH learned "formal Portuguese" (via business professionals). 

 

I still, four years later, can speak & understand quite a bit and hope not to lose it. My heart sings when I hear it, so I hope to keep it forever. 

 

 

[wintermom]

 

My Russian book says that the Russians don't print when handwriting - that it's all cursive. I don't know how true that is though - my Russian is pretty bad. 

 

 

When I studied Ukrainian at university we learned to write the cyrillic alphabet in cursive, and read in printed as well as cursive. The small and capital letters can be really different from each other, too. It was like learning 4 different alphabets. And that was homework for the first week. The next 8 months (one hour everyday) were spent on learning the 7 cases and some basic vocabulary. We didn't even get to plural.  

[wintermom]

I am fluent in French and Norwegian (I worked in Norway for 4 years). I can understand a good deal of Danish and Swedish, as they are very similar to Norwegian. I studied some German and Ukrainian, and a tiny bit of Estonian (it's very similar to Finnish).  

 

I learned most of my Norwegian in Norway - especially the job-specific vocabulary, which you can't find in a typical English-Norwegian dictionary. French I learned here in Canada, in school and on immersion programs in Quebec, and I've used it in past employment. Estonian I learned on a 2 week language program in Estonia. German and Ukrainian I studied at university in Canada. I became more fluent in Danish by taking a couple of different summer courses in Denmark.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Well, I feel lax now in my foreign language capabilities next to most of you!  :laugh:

 

madteaparty, I don't know what you mean by you'd "out yourself" but you have definitely piqued my curiosity!

 

You're right about the difference between the capital and lowercase letters in Russian - they can look very different!

Same with Greek - which Russian borrowed heavily from!  :coolgleamA:

[mom31257]

Scrap, how is your mom? When do you leave? I'm praying for you all! 

 

I don't speak any other languages. I've picked up some Spanish vocabulary over the last year and a half with ds trying to complete enough work for his Spanish credits. 

 

 

[Ausmumof3]

A bit of Hebrew here although I've mostly forgotten what I know. I know a handful of words in German thanks to primary school a few in Italian thanks to homeschooling with my kids.

 

I do think it's hard to move beyond that without some form of daily practice but I don't have time and I'm not that diligent.

 

My kids seem to take much longer to remember these words than I do for some reason.