Enter the Linguistic Pagan! 参上！言語学の異教徒！

[N�re]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

^that poem is quite Dadaist!
Google translator is ok for giving you the main idea of the translated texts put translating word to word it can be a disaster. And in most cases if you translate from one non-english language to another it translates the text first into English, then to the target language.
But still I know people who use it for their school assignments...

[noface0711]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

I'm proficient in American Sign Language, and hopefully I'll be learning another language soon: I still need to go through MEPS, but I'm seriously hoping to be a linguist for the Army. Fingers crossed for Mandarin or Modern Standard Arabic!

[habbalah]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

I've been meaning to start learning Latin. I have a Duolingo app on my phone, and signed up for Italian, as one, I'm sure, will help earn the other.

[Briton]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

There are four languages I want to learn, Irish, German, Farsi and Japanese. I've tried using the Teach Yourself resources, Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, etc but none of them have really helped. There's no way I can afford to just go to the respective countries for a while to learn them, so I'm a bit scuppered.

I'm familiar with elements of all these languages, I just can't learn then well enough to start making sentences!

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I've been meaning to start learning Latin. I have a Duolingo app on my phone, and signed up for Italian, as one, I'm sure, will help earn the other.

I hate to burst your bubble, but Italians would say their language is very different from Latin. Whilst derived from Latin, the latter has much more complicated grammar (as is usually the case with older languages). If you want to know Latin, learn Latin, Italian will only help with the vocabulary, so learn Italian if you want to know Italian.

I can recommend this book, Gwynne's Latin. However there is a ton of free resources online for this.

[N�re]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

^Do you read or listen to something on those languages? It is easier to start building sentences when you can pick up something from native speakers. (Or people otherwise fluent.)
Are there any courses in your area? A teacher might be helpful if you feel you're stuck and live courses usually have better structure than online courses. (Online courses can be great but the problem with them is that they are quite often all about translation from language x to language y + some basic phrases and grammar.)
Then there are websites like Lang8 (I have never tried it but I think Jembru has mentioned it somewhere..) and italki (which I again have not tried but so far I know it's a website where you can look for "language partners" and teachers. I've heard it's pretty good.)
Facebook and Twitter sure have some resources too! (I started a Twitter account in Esperanto and it's been fun so far.)

Trying to write small snippets in a language you want to learn helps too. You can try to rewrite something or copy sentences and change them a bit. This way you can absorb the structure of the language. (I did this when I studied German, I wrote my own, quirky example sentences based on those in our textbook. They were so weird it was easy to memorise them.)

My linguistic goal at the moment: creating a conlang.

[Briton]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

^Do you read or listen to something on those languages? It is easier to start building sentences when you can pick up something from native speakers. (Or people otherwise fluent.)

No, I have some Japanese films that I watch subbed (because dubbed is silly) as it lets me appreciate the language it was in, so I might try watching them without the subs to get used to the words in their context. I have no books or anything in the other languages, least of all Farsi!

Are there any courses in your area? A teacher might be helpful if you feel you're stuck and live courses usually have better structure than online courses. (Online courses can be great but the problem with them is that they are quite often all about translation from language x to language y + some basic phrases and grammar.)

The few language academies around here are very expensive, and I have not a penny. I am a full time student with little time to work, and the time I do work the money goes on examinations and assessments and petrol.

Then there are websites like Lang8 (I have never tried it but I think Jembru has mentioned it somewhere..) and italki (which I again have not tried but so far I know it's a website where you can look for "language partners" and teachers. I've heard it's pretty good.)
Facebook and Twitter sure have some resources too! (I started a Twitter account in Esperanto and it's been fun so far.)

Ah yes, I am a member of Lang8, but despite offering mastering English in return, communication always dries up. Not heard of italki but I'll give it a butcher's.

Trying to write small snippets in a language you want to learn helps too. You can try to rewrite something or copy sentences and change them a bit. This way you can absorb the structure of the language. (I did this when I studied German, I wrote my own, quirky example sentences based on those in our textbook. They were so weird it was easy to memorise them.)

My linguistic goal at the moment: creating a conlang.

Funnily enough, I actually am a conlanger. I have created some in the past and I am in the course of creating one at the moment. I understand the mechanics of language, sufficiently to get started, just natural languages I find difficult to get into. I'll try the snippets thing as you say.

Are you a member of any conlang groups on Facebook?

[N�re]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

I have no books or anything in the other languages, least of all Farsi!

Libraries might have some. (I checked my local library, even they have some books in farsi - and who knows what languages. The selection might not be that big though.)

Are you a member of any conlang groups on Facebook?

I'm not on Facebook at all (or even in any conlang groups on other websites, though I know at least reddit has one). My conlangs haven't been very long lived and it always seems such a huge and intimidating process in the beginning so I've been a bit reclusive with that, at least until the language has even some vocubulary, grammar and decent phonetics. But I've been browsing around the web lately and it seems that nowadays even "amateurs" (like myself) are posting their conlangs online so maybe I could get into that too.

[Jembru]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

If we're sharing goals..

Ever since some Japanese textbooks for native speaking kids (kokugo) came into my hands last year, I've been designing my study schedule around the Japanese school system. Their schools start in April so I've just started my Junior High year! I ordered a stack of textbooks from Japan and picked out some lovely notebooks (and near skinted my self buying stickers).

I've designed a nicely organised and systematic study schedule. It's more holistic than anything I've created before and just one week in I'm already delighted with the results!

I'll be blogging about it some time next week so I can show off my pretty notebooks so I won't go into detail here. My goals for the year though are;

1) Improve my reading so that I can read Japanese novels without having to use a dictionary every few lines.
2) Improve my range of expression/ability to join in with more technical conversations. Including a better practical knowledge of keigo (formal/business Japanese).
3) Improve my handwriting and in particular, learn to write in cursive style (running script) which abbreviates some strokes into one so that you can write more quickly. I keep all my notes in Japanese and there are so many characters I know how to write but don't bother because it's just faster to write in hiragana. Running script should help with this.

They're pretty vague aims I guess, but at least more focused than 'become more fluent'. I know what I want to be able to do by next year. I can visualise it clearly, and this should help me to keep my study methods relevant.

I've already got my aims in mind for next year too, (in fact, I roughly know what my aims will be did the next 3 years, because I have a long-term goal in mind and know what steps I'll need to take to get me there.

[habbalah]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

I hate to burst your bubble, but Italians would say their language is very different from Latin. Whilst derived from Latin, the latter has much more complicated grammar (as is usually the case with older languages). If you want to know Latin, learn Latin, Italian will only help with the vocabulary, so learn Italian if you want to know Italian.

I can recommend this book, Gwynne's Latin. However there is a ton of free resources online for this.

You're not bursting any bubble--I didn't think one would give me an automatic knowledge of the other. Just that knowing Latin will help give me a baseline for Italian. I will check out the book, thank you!

[Briton]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

You're not bursting any bubble--I didn't think one would give me an automatic knowledge of the other. Just that knowing Latin will help give me a baseline for Italian. I will check out the book, thank you!

I think I got it the wrong way round then. Yeah knowing Latin will be a complex foundation on which to learn Italian. The other way round would be difficult.

***

I'm actually adding Cherokee to languages to learn. It will be the first I learn, moving east onto Irish, German, Farsi then Japanese

[Jembru]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

You'll have to let me know if you ever get round to Japanese. I'm pretty clued up on resources and methods thanks to the learner communities I'm involved with, and of course my own experience of learning Japanese. Also, while I'm not a native speaker, I'm always up for skype calling in Japanese. Sometimes it's nice to chat with other learners because even advanced learners tend to speak more slowly and use a lower amount of vocabulary and grammar. I personally found it to be a vital stepping stone to building my confidence to speak with native speakers.

[Jembru]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

Putting this here rather than cluttering the place with language threads, but I've found an amazing app that I want to share with those who are learning or just need to maintain a second language.

It's called HelloTalk and is like a much better version of lang8 that works flawlessly on your phone (lang8 is awkward on mobiles, so I never got to use it much).

You can share photos and audio in addition to your usual journal posts for correction. Then there is a private chat function that works like Line, Skype or any other IM software. Oh and you can voice and video call for free through the app!!

Correction is easier too. With lang8 you have to cross out mistakes or highlight corrections manually. In HelloTalk all you do is rewrite their sentence with correct English and the app makes the changes itself! You can do this in chat threads as well as journal posts too!

Oh and if you need help understanding anything it has a built in translator. It's just a crap as any other, but if there's just a word or expression you don't know, it can help you work it out in a pinch.

I'm not sure what it's like for other languages but there are plenty Japanese users. I'm inundated with friend requests because I'm a native speaker (a lot of speakers of other languages sign up with English because there are more Japanese members looking for English exchange). It seems native English users that can explain grammar in Japanese are in high demand! I'm cool with being the popular new kid though!

I'm in love with this app after just a few days using it!

[Heka]

Im still using duolingo for german, but I've fallen behind on practise. And duo doesn't have an Indonesian course so Ill have to look into it.

[Jembru]

Re: Enter the Linguistic Pagan!　参上！言語学の異教徒！

Im still using duolingo for german, but I've fallen behind on practise. And duo doesn't have an Indonesian course so Ill have to look into it.

It's language exchange so more for practicing what you already know and getting corrections from native speakers. There aren't any lessons like in duolingo. It's basically a more convenient version of lang8. Definitely has Indonesian users. The problem is that they're often signing up with English as their first language so they can speak with Japanese people (it's a popular second language for Indonesians), so might not be a huge number of exchange partners. Will be plenty for German though.

[Heka]

It's language exchange so more for practicing what you already know and getting corrections from native speakers. There aren't any lessons like in duolingo. It's basically a more convenient version of lang8. Definitely has Indonesian users. The problem is that they're often signing up with English as their first language so they can speak with Japanese people (it's a popular second language for Indonesians), so might not be a huge number of exchange partners. Will be plenty for German though.

Omg i am inundated lol. So many Indonesians looking for english speakers. I have about 16 conversations going, constantly pings. Theres like 2 men that have attempted to hit on me though...