Anyone Want to Chat? I Speak A Bit Of....Arabic!

Gillian M

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Hello. Anyone free for a chat? If so please contact me. I speak some....ARABIC-an incredibly difficult, but a nice language, it seems.
 

Yvonne G

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Have you taken a look through our "Pretend Chat" thread? There are several middle eastern members on that thread.
 

Yvonne G

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It's taken a life time to speak English...and I still stink at it.

I took Latin (catholic school) and Spanish, but never could train my brain to actually think in those languages. Had to physically translate before I could speak the word/sentence.
 

Gillian M

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It's taken a life time to speak English...and I still stink at it.
Oh no you don't! OK I haven't heard you speak the language but I can tell from your alerts your English is very good;) . You should hear my Arabic.....it would make you laugh, but I am doing my best at it.
 

Moozillion

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I "met" a friend on a poetry forum who is German (born and raised there) but as an adult, studied at Oxford. For the last 30 years she's been working in Japan, translating medical texts from Japanese to English (...or maybe it's the other way around...). Anyway, she recently posted that she had a dream about her family back in Germany, but they were all speaking Japanese!!!! The strange things our brains do!!! :p
 

Turtlepete

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Bi-lingual people amaze me. I learned Latin when I was young, but it really isn't a language that is taught or spoken these days. The kind of stuff you learn in textbooks isn't anything that would ever be used verbally. It has other uses though.

I'm doing ASL in college for my foreign language. I love it. Probably the funnest thing I've ever done in college, haha. Also way easier to learn then other languages.
 

Moozillion

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When I hear "South Carolina" I think of Shrimp and Grits!!!! Yum!!! :p
 

Moozillion

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Bi-lingual people amaze me. I learned Latin when I was young, but it really isn't a language that is taught or spoken these days. The kind of stuff you learn in textbooks isn't anything that would ever be used verbally. It has other uses though.

I'm doing ASL in college for my foreign language. I love it. Probably the funnest thing I've ever done in college, haha. Also way easier to learn then other languages.
Sign language is SOOOOO cool!!! Good for you!!! :)
 

Momof4

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My brain just can't grasp it! I fail or have dropped out of classes!

I think schools should teach a 2nd language when they are in 1st or 2nd grade because their brains are sponges! The time a kid gets into middle school-high school their brains have slowed and it's harder to learn.
 

DutchieAmanda

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In The Netherlands all kids speak Dutch (obviously) and in school they learn English and the basics of French and German. Languages such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Latin or ancient Greek are optional. This is so handy, especially when working in an international business environment!
 

Gillian M

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Sign language is SOOOOO cool!!! Good for you!!! :)
My brain just can't grasp it! I fail or have dropped out of classes!

I think schools should teach a 2nd language when they are in 1st or 2nd grade because their brains are sponges! The time a kid gets into middle school-high school their brains have slowed and it's harder to learn.

They've applied this in Jordan where English is taught just like Arabic-from 1st grade. French comes at a later stage and is not a compulsory subject.
 

Gillian M

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Bi-lingual people amaze me. I learned Latin when I was young, but it really isn't a language that is taught or spoken these days. The kind of stuff you learn in textbooks isn't anything that would ever be used verbally. It has other uses though.

I'm doing ASL in college for my foreign language. I love it. Probably the funnest thing I've ever done in college, haha. Also way easier to learn then other languages.
Wonder if you know that there's the classical Arabic, and then there's the colloquial one (the spoken, slang one if so I may put it). And the classical is not only harder but also very different.
 

Gillian M

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I "met" a friend on a poetry forum who is German (born and raised there) but as an adult, studied at Oxford. For the last 30 years she's been working in Japan, translating medical texts from Japanese to English (...or maybe it's the other way around...). Anyway, she recently posted that she had a dream about her family back in Germany, but they were all speaking Japanese!!!! The strange things our brains do!!! :p
Amazing how the human brain works, is it not ;) ?
 

WithLisa

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I started to learn English in school at an early age, but I'm still so bad at it... :oops:
But at least I can read and understand it quite well, that helps a lot in this day and age.
I also had lessons in Latin and Japanese, but I have no talent for languages, I guess I should stick with German. :rolleyes:
 
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Gillian M

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In The Netherlands all kids speak Dutch (obviously) and in school they learn English and the basics of French and German. Languages such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Latin or ancient Greek are optional. This is so handy, especially when working in an international business environment!
Don't you think that's a bit too much pressure on the child's brain? OK, their brains can grasp the language-or any subject for that matter- easily at the age but still too much pressure has its negative effects. (Please do not take this personal).
I started to learn English in school at an early age, but I'm still so bad at it... :oops:
But at least I can read and understand it quite well, that helps a lot in this day and age.
I also had lessons in Latin and Japanese, but I have no talent for languages, I guess I should stick with German. :rolleyes:

Oh no, your English is anything but bad.I really don't see why you said so in your alert :confused:. Had it been bad,you wouldn't have been able to send all those alerts. Personally, I think your English is very good, considering it's a second language.

Tell me please, what's...Japanese like? I heard it's one of the most difficult languages-like Chinese. Mind you, even....GERMAN is a diificult language, isn't it? (No offence to you or anyone else, ok). French is hard with...spellings, when a word is spelt one way and then pronounced in a totally different way:)
 

WithLisa

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Personally, I think your English is very good, considering it's a second language.
Thank you! At my high-school exit exam I failed in English and my teacher tried to console me, he told me that I would surely pass in the next year. The examiner overheard it and answered, he would strongly advise against a second attempt since I would never ever be successful.
Well, he was wrong... :D

Tell me please, what's...Japanese like?
I think the language is not very difficult, they don't have much grammar and not all those homophones of Chinese. But writing and reading is hard to learn. For example they have a character for "white" and one for "bird" and both together mean "swan", but the pronunciation of swan is toatally different from white or bird.
I can only read books for kindergartners with syllabic writing. :rolleyes:
 

Gillian M

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Thank you! At my high-school exit exam I failed in English and my teacher tried to console me, he told me that I would surely pass in the next year. The examiner overheard it and answered, he would strongly advise against a second attempt since I would never ever be successful.
Well, he was wrong... :D


I think the language is not very difficult, they don't have much grammar and not all those homophones of Chinese. But writing and reading is hard to learn. For example they have a character for "white" and one for "bird" and both together mean "swan", but the pronunciation of swan is toatally different from white or bird.
I can only read books for kindergartners with syllabic writing. :rolleyes:
That's amazing....someone saying Japanese is not difficult.

As for failing an examination, well, I believe even the brightest people could fail if they suffer "exam nervousness." Know what I mean?
 

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