Fremdsprachen ftfw, Foreign Languages Thread Options

[Dr Strum]

Я не работаю завтра, так я хочу говорить по–русски, по–немецки, по–японски, по–испански...
Не знаю, если это был хорошая идея... т.е. я не понимаю много языки, потему что, я учился их так кратко.


Essentially, this topic is for foreign languages. For practicing foreign languages, discussing them, getting help with them, etc. Foreign language meaning it's not English, since this is an English site. Even if non-English might happen to be your native language.

[jcdietz03]

So how does this work?
Do I say "How to say X in language Y?"
Can I say "I think X means Y. Is that right?"
How about "What is the best way to learn [aspect of language X]?"

[Dr Strum]

ANY DISCUSSION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES IS ALLOWED, EVEN REQUESTS FOR TRANSLATIONS, TUTORING, AND OTHER THINGS THAT YOU WOULD THINK NO ONE WOULD AGREE TO AND RIGHTFULLY SO

BY THE WAY PPA I HAD A QUESTION ABOUT GERMAN I JUST REMEMBERED
I remember asking my German teacher this, but I never pay attention to anything anyone says, so I forgot her explanation:

Ich bin langweilig.
I believe that means "I am boring," but how would one say "I am bored"? I think my German teacher said the sentence used a different case for the personal pronoun "ich" (like "mir" or something), but I can't remember.

[jcdietz03]

I am a Japanese student. What is the best way to learn Japanese Kanji? I was looking at the Kanji 500 website focusing on English meanings. Are you supposed to try and learn all of the stuff (meaning, readings, and common words containing the kanji) all at once?

I was looking for printable flashcards to help with studying kanji. Are there any available for free (or for not too much)?

Any Kanji textbooks you can recommend?

[P.P.A.]

BY THE WAY PPA I HAD A QUESTION ABOUT GERMAN I JUST REMEMBERED
I remember asking my German teacher this, but I never pay attention to anything anyone says, so I forgot her explanation:

Ich bin langweilig.
I believe that means "I am boring," but how would one say "I am bored"? I think my German teacher said the sentence used a different case for the personal pronoun "ich" (like "mir" or something), but I can't remember.

"Ich bin langweilig." means indeed "I am boring."

"I am bored." would be "Ich bin gelangweilt."

"Langeweile" is the noun, "boredom". "langweilig" means "boring" and "gelangweilt" means "bored". The two adjectives stay the same in all cases.

This post has been edited by P.P.A.: Jun 30 2008, 08:50 PM

[Dr Strum]

Well, the best way to memorize anything is to associate as much information with it as you can. I know in my Japanese textbooks (I used Genki I for my class this past year, and downloaded Genki II) most of the kanji, well, you're long familiar with the pronunciations of the word, and have seen the book use the kanji (with furigana) before it ever introduces you to the kanji itself.
Then in the workbook you have to write it out two dozen times, do grammatical exercises using the kanji, etc.

Essentially, do these things to remember:
-Write it out a million times, and practice it as well in sentences.
-Associate it with as many things as you can (example, 話 usually written 話す and meaning "to speak", usually pronounced はなす, contains the same radical as 言 "to say" which has the same radical 口 "mouth"; you've got a shitton of information here, relating three kanji to the original one you wanted to memorize, and could add more; as a verb you could practice conjugations with it [something really necessary with irregular verbs in which the pronunciation hidden within the kanji can change with conjugation]).
-Attach it to visual imagery. The human mind is a visual mind, so if you can attach a picture to it, you can remember it much more easily (especially since it ends up stored in two different sections of the mind; this is how the Rosetta Stone software works, it shows you a picture of a cat with the text 猫; unfortunately the Rosetta Stone software really fails when it comes to teaching grammar).

Also, in all these things, how important you make the word changes how easily the word is remembered, because humans only remember things that matter. Hence why it's so easy for us to remember our own phone numbers - both because we repeat it over and over, and because it's something we usually need to remember.

[Dr Strum]

"Langeweile" is the noun, "boredom". "langweilig" means "boring" and "gelangweilt" means "bored".

Danke. Aber, was ist das Adverb? Wie sagt man "boringly"? Und das Verb, "to bore"?

[Raijinili]

You don't learn Chinese/kanji. You have to be born with it. Like anorexial cables.

[P.P.A.]

"Langeweile" is the noun, "boredom". "langweilig" means "boring" and "gelangweilt" means "bored".

Danke. Aber, was ist das Adverb? Wie sagt man "boringly"? Und das Verb, "to bore"?

"to bore" wäre "langweilen".
Ich langweile *. Du langweilst *. Er/Sie/Es langweilt *. Wir langweilen *. Ihr langweilt *. Sie langweilen *.
Ein Adverb von "langweilig" hab' ich aber ehrlich gesagt selbst noch nie gehört. Ich weiß noch nicht mal, ob's das überhaupt gibt!

[Irysa]

Hey, will you guys translate my porn for me?

[Raijinili]

Hey, will you guys porn up my translating, please?

[Archeia]

What does Spielchen mean? I saw it in a german game :o
What should I Do to learn German? I want to learn German and French :'(
I started with French though.

This post has been edited by Archeia: Jul 5 2008, 12:34 PM

[P.P.A.]

What does Spielchen mean? I saw it in a german game :o
What should I Do to learn German? I want to learn German and French :'(
I started with French though.

"Spielchen" is basically the cute form of "Spiel", which means "game". Hanging the syllabe "-chen" to a noun basically makes it... cute. It's also used to indicaten that something's small or young.
For example "Bäumchen" would be a small "Baum/tree". Or an alternate word for "Welpe/puppy" would be "Hündchen" coming from "Hund/dog". "Häschen" from "Hase/rabbit" would indicate that you think of one cutely. Err, yeah.

HELLO DR STÜRMCHEN

This post has been edited by P.P.A.: Jul 6 2008, 08:38 AM

[Dr Strum]

"Spielchen" is basically the cute form of "Spiel", which means "game". Hanging the syllabe "-chen" to a noun basically makes it... cute. It's also used to indicaten that something's small or young.

I REMEMBER LEARNING ABOUT THIS
I think we learned about it learning the word for squirrel.

As for learning German, same, really, with any foreign language. IMMERSION.
If you can't do that, start taking classes - at college, highschool, private, whatever, as long as they are person-person - and use every opportunity to practice - reading, writing, speaking, listening. This is why people never get far with languages in highschool, though, because they so rarely practice outside of class.

[Dr Strum]

Я учусь испанский язык на работе.
Потому что, я мой работа не люблю.
Никто не понимает русский здесь? :(

ALRIGHT ROLL CALL
What languages do you know, and what languages are you/will you be studying in the upcoming school year?
Know: English, Russian, German, Japanese
Starting in the fall: Spanish, French


And "know" is not the same as "fluent in."