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Getbig Main Boards => Gossip & Opinions => Topic started by: galain on March 24, 2014, 11:59:12 PM
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What was/is the hardest thing to learn when you learnt English?
I was trying to explain something to someone here in Germany the other day and thought, English really could be confusing if you didn't grow up with it.
Second question - how did you all get so good at it? I'm always pretty impressed at how well some of you non native speakers write in English.
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I started taking english lessons when I was 8 and at 19 I moved to the States. I feel it's as much a part of me as romanian. sometimes I prefer english as romanian can be a little limiting and archaic at times.
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Cool. Your English is excellent. Is it normal for English to start at age 8 in Romania?
I used to teach at a bilingual high school here and while some of the kids left with a high level, there were some kids who couldn't manage a sentence (not too different from most schools I guess).
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Cool. Your English is excellent. Is it normal for English to start at age 8 in Romania?
I used to teach at a bilingual high school here and while some of the kids left with a high level, there were some kids who couldn't manage a sentence (not too different from most schools I guess).
I had previous lives where I lived in US. So as a kid, I was more fascinated with american history, geography, language, culture and completely oblivious to the romanian one. I felt alien in Romania and very at home in US. As a kid, in my mind I was living in US. So basically was a combination of past life inclinations and a getting ready to move there. I am not sure I am a good example as I can be more eloquent in english than in my native tongue. But I would say I am the exception to the rule as far as a bilingual person might be concerned as most of the others tend to speak one better than the other/s.
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are you fluent in anything else?
I had previous lives where I lived in US. So as a kid, I was more fascinated with american history, geography, language, culture and completely oblivious to the romanian one. I felt alien in Romania and very at home in US. As a kid, in my mind I was living in US. So basically was a combination of past life inclinations and a getting ready to move there. I am not sure I am a good example as I can be more eloquent in english than in my native tongue. But I would say I am the exception to the rule as a bilingual person as most of the others speak one better than the other/s.
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What was/is the hardest thing to learn when you learnt English?
I was trying to explain something to someone here in Germany the other day and thought, English really could be confusing if you didn't grow up with it.
Second question - how did you all get so good at it? I'm always pretty impressed at how well some of you non native speakers write in English.
Here in Sweden we have english implemented in our curriculum quite early
I also started reading english novels when i was around 8-10 years old (mostly novels by H P Lovecraft), watched a lot of american cartoons , and as i grew older (13-15 years old) , you had to choose another language (either French or German) as well.
Since i started with English at such a young age (and most of the media was in english/american english), it was much easier to learn than French / German for me.
If we would have had more media (cartoons, comics and other influences) from France/Germany/Spain etc during the early ages, as well as these languages implemented earlier than 13 years in our education, i'm sure we would be better at these languages as well, since when you are 7-12, your brain is like a sponge.
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are you fluent in anything else?
no... I spoke perfect russian until I was 6yo (lived in Russia a few lives as well), as a teen I spoke a little german at school. I understand french and speak a little, I understand italian easily and speak it although I never had a chance to converse.
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no... I spoke perfect russian until I was 6yo (lived in Russia a few lives as well), as a teen I spoke a little german at school. I understand french and speak a little, I understand italian easily and speak it although I never had a chance to converse.
How many lives to you suspect you have lived?
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What was/is the hardest thing to learn when you learnt English?
- Different rules for past tense.
- Different spelling in British and American English.
- Sound differences for t, th and d. I know the difference, but to get my mouth to make the correct sound is a different story. I guess therefore I will never be able to speak Icelandic... :'(
Second question - how did you all get so good at it? I'm always pretty impressed at how well some of you non native speakers write in English.
Started lessons age 10 at school, and only stopped when I graduated university age 25. But I've learned most from watching The Fun Factory on Sky Channel, a lot of BBC documentaries and from my nearly bilangual hubby.
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How many lives to you suspect you have lived?
I've had quite a few.
After a session with my third eye, alot of my older lives were revealed.
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How many lives to you suspect you have lived?
I know of 38 with details and places people times etc going as far back as 4.5 billion years to the original birthplace of humanity, the Lyra star system. I know of those that are relevant to the present one in one way or another, otherwise you'd go insane and lose your mind trying to understand who and what you are. You have so many timelines in so many places it's an immense affair.
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Started lessons age 10 at school, and only stopped when I graduated university age 25. But I've learned most from watching The Fun Factory on Sky Channel, a lot of BBC documentaries and from my nearly bilangual hubby.
bilingual
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most the girls I've had... hell, all the girls I've had relationships with learned English as a second language, usually when they were young and my observation is grammar is the hardest part to learn, even after speaking it for 20years.
same goes for me speaking other languages (I have a 'workable' vocab of probably 5 languages)... my grammar is always "off", but I usually get by because it's a unusual to see a big white guy speaking viet or Japanese or tagalog or even Spanish and pronouncing things like a native speaker... just getting the grammar/syntax wrong.
I think it's important to speak, or at least understand the basics, of a few languages. my kids will speak 3-4 languages before they enter college. kids with different moms will speak different languages though.. one side will speak eng/viet/span and probably French or Japanese, other side eng/tagalog/mandarin/Japanese/spanish
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Here in Sweden we have english implemented in our curriculum quite early
I also started reading english novels when i was around 8-10 years old (mostly novels by H P Lovecraft), watched a lot of american cartoons , and as i grew older (13-15 years old) , you had to choose another language (either French or German) as well.
Since i started with English at such a young age (and most of the media was in english/american english), it was much easier to learn than French / German for me.
If we would have had more media (cartoons, comics and other influences) from France/Germany/Spain etc during the early ages, as well as these languages implemented earlier than 13 years in our education, i'm sure we would be better at these languages as well, since when you are 7-12, your brain is like a sponge.
Quite the same as in Holland. Next to Dutch and English you can choose from German and French. Some schools offered Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Frysk.
"Die Sendung mit der Maus" gave me a little head start on learning German. :)
(http://bluecoatblog.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a629cb3a970c0120a67720f0970c-pi)
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bilingual
He is, I'm not... ;D
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He is, I'm not... ;D
But you do like the (ostrich/elk)meat.
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I know of 38 with details and places people times etc going as far back as 4.5 billion years to the original birthplace of humanity, the Lyra star system. I know of those that are relevant to the present one in one way or another, otherwise you'd go insane and lose your mind trying to understand who and what you are. You have so many timelines in so many places it's an immense affair.
I think this is my first one ???
Am I doing it wrong?
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{sigh} Poor Americans, ...they're just sooo underpriviledged, and imprisoned in their one language,
...which is really an appalling bastardized version of the true language anyway. Do you think one day they may catch up with the rest of the world? ;)
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i notice on this board
people always use "it's" when they should use "its"
it drives me crazy
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i learned english and german by watching mtv with german subtitles all day long when i was 14 or something
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Learnt english when I was 6 or so. It pretty much kicked in naturally as my mother spoke fluently english and I'd hear her talk from time to time with friends. English can get really sophisticated and all but learning the basics is way easier than in french. I still have to check my spelling with that absurd grammar we have.
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Learnt english when I was 6 or so. It pretty much kicked in naturally as my mother spoke fluently english and I'd hear her talk from time to time with friends. English can get really sophisticated and all but learning the basics is way easier than in french. I still have to check my spelling with that absurd grammar we have.
;D
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;D
irony.
good eye.
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;D
Touché.
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I make plenty of mistakes, no worries. I am impatient when I write.
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I've always liked the idea of learning english so I've always practice it in one way or another. English education in our system is crap, you are thought the same every year. I started reading books for kids in english, then when I was 10 yo I started translating songs, and watching TV shows with subtitles helps as well. It's not perfect, but given the fact I did it all by myself I'm quite proud of it lol. Oh, and my english speaking abilities are pretty good.
I've been also trying to learn basic ebonics. Yo da shit is modafucking hard.
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I am Greek, but I speak English as my main language. I am currently learning to speak and write Greek fluently, with the aim of doing this by the end of next year.
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I am Greek, but I speak English as my main language. I am currently learning to speak and write Greek fluently, with the aim of doing this by the end of next year.
Planning to go bankrupt?
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But you do like the (ostrich/elk)meat.
Yes, I'm fond of any kind of meat...
(oh boy, is there a pun in this I'm not seeing/comprehending? ???)
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Yes, I'm fond of any kind of meat...
(oh boy, is there a pun in this I'm not seeing/comprehending? ???)
there is now!!!
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Planning to go bankrupt?
Nah, just planning to lost my anal virginity in Soho and want a convincing accent in case the police turn up
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Nah, just planning to lost my anal virginity in Soho and want a convincing accent in case the police turn up
:-\
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Nah, just planning to lost my anal virginity in Soho and want a convincing accent in case the police turn up
A few getbiggers could provide you with pre-written lines for that. Search "deep tissue massage", "It's not gay....", etc.....
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:-\
No I will be doing this one :o
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Thanks for all the responses people.
I should have disqualified you Scandinavians - it seems like you all come out of the womb speaking English better than native English speakers (maybe not the Finns so much).
I was recently at the Europa School in Varese, Italy, where there are 3 languages of instruction in every class. It was so humbling to see the students chatting to each other in Italian, then switching to French or German when they spoke to a teacher, then making phone calls in perfect English. I really think multi-lingualism is one of the best gifts a parent can give their children.
I have friends I learnt German with who refuse to speak their mother tongue to their children because they want them to be as 'normal' as possible. I can kind of understand the thinking but it seems like such a wasted opportunity to me.
Sev - I am open to the prospect of past lives. When I first came to Germany on a visit I couldn't leave fast enough. Hated the place. Had an almost physical reaction to the people - hated them. I promised myself I would never return. Nowhere else in Europe did I feel this way - just Germany.
Fast forward a few years and I found myself in a spiritualist church (totally by accident - long story) and some woman tells me I died in a concentration camp in Germany. (Strangely enough, I had mainly jewish friends growing up).
fast forward a few more years, here I am living in Germany, married to a German. Must be a lesson there somewhere...
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What was/is the hardest thing to learn when you learnt English?
I was trying to explain something to someone here in Germany the other day and thought, English really could be confusing if you didn't grow up with it.
Second question - how did you all get so good at it? I'm always pretty impressed at how well some of you non native speakers write in English.
The worst thing is humor and especially in a forum such as Getbig. Social rules and slang is something you need to acquire in "the real world", not just by books.
NN
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Couple of mistakes come back still.. like I'm still having trouble with the verb inflections or what you call it. It happens when I write fast or speak out loud.
You know, the "I write, he writes, they write, she writes". Because sometime you don't know what the hell your subject is if your talking about a group or a company or something.. pretty hard to learn for Swedes because we don't change verbs this way.
This is the most common though.. there are much harder problems you encounter sometimes but I can't remember those singular syntax occurences where I just stop and must google to get it right.
I took advanced English at Stockholm University and there were some real mind benders involving conjunctions and subjects and predicators that according to our teacher even the natives have trouble with.
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Touché.
Nothing incorrect about 'learnt' as far as I know.
It'll sound more pompous to the American ear (but probably sound more working class to English & Aus) so the yanks and an occasional Romanian will give you a hard time over it.
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Nothing incorrect about 'learnt' as far as I know.
It'll sound more pompous to the American ear (but probably sound more working class to English & Aus) so the yanks and an occasional Romanian will give you a hard time over it.
But I'm more often borderline ebonic-speaking than posh English. got me confused myself. And as far as having anything to do with Aussies.....nope. I'm often tempted but I don't piss in my bath.
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That's not even a big deal here. Sometimes people even piss in eachother's baths. It's all good, homes!
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That's not even a big deal here. Sometimes people even piss in eachother's baths. It's all good, homes!
I'm not surprised. I have a great Aussie friend who lived in Paris for a while. I lent him my flat for a night when he had nowhere to bang his girl. He took a shit in my bed and told me I could thank him later.
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3 words: Online video games. Having English courses from a very young age also helped, but for real world communication skills, nothing beats games! I used to play counter-strike and WoW alot, look it up, you'll have fun and learn English at the same time!
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I learned English by reading supplement labels and watching interviews with Ronny Rockel.
0:10
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Have always been fascinated the English language since the Commodore 64 days. Later music enhanced the interest.
Pivotal point was understanding Clockwork Orange and from then on it went smoothly. My spoken English sounds, of course, abysmal.
Love the British's lethal way of destroying someone with sophisticated verbal carnage.
I hate American trash culture but I love American Exceptionalism - rise again dear Eagle.
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English is probably the easiest language to learn.
I have learned it in school and hollywood movies.
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Thanks for all the responses people.
I should have disqualified you Scandinavians - it seems like you all come out of the womb speaking English better than native English speakers (maybe not the Finns so much).
I was recently at the Europa School in Varese, Italy, where there are 3 languages of instruction in every class. It was so humbling to see the students chatting to each other in Italian, then switching to French or German when they spoke to a teacher, then making phone calls in perfect English. I really think multi-lingualism is one of the best gifts a parent can give their children.
I have friends I learnt German with who refuse to speak their mother tongue to their children because they want them to be as 'normal' as possible. I can kind of understand the thinking but it seems like such a wasted opportunity to me.
Sev - I am open to the prospect of past lives. When I first came to Germany on a visit I couldn't leave fast enough. Hated the place. Had an almost physical reaction to the people - hated them. I promised myself I would never return. Nowhere else in Europe did I feel this way - just Germany.
Fast forward a few years and I found myself in a spiritualist church (totally by accident - long story) and some woman tells me I died in a concentration camp in Germany. (Strangely enough, I had mainly jewish friends growing up).
fast forward a few more years, here I am living in Germany, married to a German. Must be a lesson there somewhere...
exactly, galain, how many more clues do you need? :)
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At times it's even easier to express yourself with certain English words compared to Swedish. Which leads to "as you would say in english" in the middle of a swedish sentence lol.
Only takes half a second to doublecheck the spelling in a google search also. Which is probably detrimental(did a google check wasn't sure of detre or detri) in the long run.
Big difference between keeping a solid convo going compared to just typing and having a few seconds to think about what it is you want to type. Can obviously do both. But typing is easier.
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I'm not surprised. I have a great Aussie friend who lived in Paris for a while. I lent him my flat for a night when he had nowhere to bang his girl. He took a shit in my bed and told me I could thank him later.
Lol, what?! That is, as they say, "not on."
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I know of 38 with details and places people times etc going as far back as 4.5 billion years to the original birthplace of humanity, the Lyra star system. I know of those that are relevant to the present one in one way or another, otherwise you'd go insane and lose your mind trying to understand who and what you are. You have so many timelines in so many places it's an immense affair.
I was your next door neighbour on the Lyra star system, you were always in my garden stealing gorangi fruits from my trees.
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I started taking english lessons when I was 8 and at 19 I moved to the States. I feel it's as much a part of me as romanian. sometimes I prefer english as romanian can be a little limiting and archaic at times.
In your TV interview you sounded badass when speaking your native language.
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I was your next door neighbour on the Lyra star system, you were always in my garden stealing gorangi fruits from my trees.
tears in my eyes
fucking gorangi fruits ;D
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When i was 11 yo i whatched First Blood countless times.
Understandig Stalone ramblings kinda make an expert in english language.
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I was your next door neighbour on the Lyra star system, you were always in my garden stealing gorangi fruits from my trees.
I doubt it. Back then humans were different and much more evolved than our animal selves of today. It was truly a different race. But I do remember a life when I found a tall tree and used to pee on it quite often. It had your complexion.
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What was/is the hardest thing to learn when you learnt English?
I was trying to explain something to someone here in Germany the other day and thought, English really could be confusing if you didn't grow up with it.
Second question - how did you all get so good at it? I'm always pretty impressed at how well some of you non native speakers write in English.
For me the challenge is keeping the various dialects separate. Specifically UK, US and Indian English, as I have to switch between those three constantly. Talking to, e.g., a German in English is very relaxing, because I can just talk in a pidgin of those three major dialects and nobody cares. Happy to say I don't work with Aussies and Kiwis right now, as that would again complicate matters.
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For me the challenge is keeping the various dialects separate. Specifically UK, US and Indian English, as I have to switch between those three constantly. Talking to, e.g., a German in English is very relaxing, because I can just talk in a pidgin of those three major dialects and nobody cares. Happy to say I don't work with Aussies and Kiwis right now, as that would again complicate matters.
If you have to do business with a German, Dutch, Swede, etc....it's pretty much a given that they'll talk a decent enough English so that the whole conversation doesn't turn to a Marx Brothers sketch. I have a lot of Japanese clients and despite their abilities for a lot of things, they're quite thick when it comes to learning foreign languages and English is generally what they'll master the most. But fuck it, the number of times I scratched my head listening to gibberish, wondering what was getting lost in translation.
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Thanks for all the responses people.
I should have disqualified you Scandinavians - it seems like you all come out of the womb speaking English better than native English speakers (maybe not the Finns so much).
LOL how unfair! ;)
It's like we're the CalvinH's in this questionnaire.
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If you have to do business with a German, Dutch, Swede, etc....it's pretty much a given that they'll talk a decent enough English so that the whole conversation doesn't turn to a Marx Brothers sketch. I have a lot of Japanese clients and despite their abilities for a lot of things, they're quite thick when it comes to learning foreign languages and English is generally what they'll master the most. But fuck it, the number of times I scratched my head listening to gibberish, wondering what was getting lost in translation.
Not Swedes, unfortunately. Agreed on the Japanese though. When they write an email it is usually pretty good, but face to face is another matter entirely. The Indians are worse than Japanese at writing English, at least in the business that I'm in. Chinese suck at both, Koreans are the best so far. :)
In the end the point gets across anyway. I tend to focus on getting the cultural aspect right, that opens up as many doors as learning a few words in a language. Can't be arsed to learn Tagalog for the few times I'm in the Philippines. ;D
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Can't be arsed to learn Tagalog for the few times I'm in the Philippines. ;D
You don't exactly feel the need to Tag-along with the Tagalog?
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Memorize the past of verbs.
Things don't have a gender, it's all "it" instead of "he or she". Actually that's easier. ;D
Some expressions that don't have any translation, and you have to figure out by yourself.