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| What language are you most interested in learning? |
| Chinese |
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29% |
[ 16 ] |
| German |
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1% |
[ 1 ] |
| French |
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7% |
[ 4 ] |
| Spanish |
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16% |
[ 9 ] |
| Thai |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Japanese |
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11% |
[ 6 ] |
| Hausa |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
| Swahili |
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5% |
[ 3 ] |
| Quechua |
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1% |
[ 1 ] |
| other |
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25% |
[ 14 ] |
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| Total Votes : 54 |
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khmerhit
Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit
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 Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:08 am Post subject: |
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 Hey--whassup dawg? Whats shakin? Are you the old Scot47 who wanished mysteriously on his way to an east euro country? It aint self-congratulationz, it's COMMUNICATION!!   |
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Sheikh Inal Ovar
Joined: 04 Dec 2005
Posts: 1208
Location: Melo Drama School
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:38 am Post subject: |
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| khmerhit wrote: |
| It aint self-congratulationz, it's COMMUNICATION!! |
Sorry ... wasn't aware that the two were mutually exclusive ... |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 8:54 am Post subject: |
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| I would like to learn Mandarin, so I plan to move to Taiwan next. I don't want to work in China. Maybe for a year but now I need more money. |
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Jizzo T. Clown
Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 668
Location: performing in a classroom near you!
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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I chose Japanese because I really like the way it sounds--a beautiful language (much more so than Mandarin, IMO). I also learned 90% of the survival Japanese I needed to know within the first few months in Japan. I still enjoy reading the kana, and my students here in the States are surprised when they find out I can read their notes!
Plus, I'm a fan of Japanese film/manga...  |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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Congratulations!
Thank you! |
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lozwich
Joined: 25 May 2003
Posts: 1536
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| Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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I'm so great because I speak Spanish, a bit of Basque and can swear like a Hungarian pirate! 
I would love to learn Arabic. I think it sounds wonderful! |
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thelmadatter
Joined: 31 Mar 2003
Posts: 1212
Location: in el Distrito Federal x fin!
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| Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:08 pm Post subject: chilango |
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| Im hoping someday to master "chilango" I speak "book" Spanish well enough but the guy Im dating (from Mexico City, hence "chilango") keeps forgeting that Im not a native speaker and keeps throwing in these odd words and pronunciations at me! He swears he get me speaking it "right" sooner or later |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:13 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Hyv�� p�iv��- Hello (formal)
p�iv��- Hello (informal)
Suomi- Finland in Finnish
Perkele!
The Soumi girls you met had probably just spent a while in the sauna, that's why they were so hot! Wink
Laughing
Finnish has an undeserved reputation for being difficult to learn. The problem is that there's no cognates with the Indo-European languages, although I think there may be similarities with Hungarian! |
Well, I think it is worthless to learn Finnish, since I bet all of the fins would speak to you in English anyways. I will speak to Chinese or Spanish since a lot of people in the countries that speak these languages cannot speak English very well. |
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sonya
Joined: 25 Feb 2006
Posts: 51
Location: california
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| Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:30 am Post subject: |
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think in terms of bonus points.. :)
Yeah, seriously, everyone there speaks perfect English, Swedish, and German/French/or Spanish (occasionally Russian), but, they love you when you try to speak their language. I studied there one summer and lived in a town half an hour outside of Helsinki.. in other words, in the virgin woods, next to a lake.. Finns are pretty well known for being quiet and reserved, but just a phrase like, "Excuse me, what time is it?" as "Anteeksi, paljonko kello on?" would bring about smiles and they would become the friendliest people I have ever met.
People everywhere, really, love it when you try to speak their language.. One of the best things about traveling is learning some of another language, I think.. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:53 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Yeah, seriously, everyone there speaks perfect English, Swedish, and German/French/or Spanish (occasionally Russian), but, they love you when you try to speak their language. I studied there one summer and lived in a town half an hour outside of Helsinki.. in other words, in the virgin woods, next to a lake.. Finns are pretty well known for being quiet and reserved, but just a phrase like, "Excuse me, what time is it?" as "Anteeksi, paljonko kello on?" would bring about smiles and they would become the friendliest people I have ever met. |
I am sure that they like the effort but from a pragmatic stance it is better to learn a language where the people don't speak English well. If you go to a country where the people speak English they will forever be trying to speak English to you. It seems that Germans and northern Europeans what to try to show off their English. If you go to South America or China then you will not have to encounter this as often. |
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dajiang
Joined: 13 May 2004
Posts: 663
Location: Guilin!
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| Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:26 pm Post subject: |
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Arabic.
That writing looks fantastic.
I wanna be able to read this:
http://www.alarabiya.net/
Dajiang |
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denise
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish
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| Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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| JZer wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Yeah, seriously, everyone there speaks perfect English, Swedish, and German/French/or Spanish (occasionally Russian), but, they love you when you try to speak their language. I studied there one summer and lived in a town half an hour outside of Helsinki.. in other words, in the virgin woods, next to a lake.. Finns are pretty well known for being quiet and reserved, but just a phrase like, "Excuse me, what time is it?" as "Anteeksi, paljonko kello on?" would bring about smiles and they would become the friendliest people I have ever met. |
I am sure that they like the effort but from a pragmatic stance it is better to learn a language where the people don't speak English well. If you go to a country where the people speak English they will forever be trying to speak English to you. It seems that Germans and northern Europeans what to try to show off their English. If you go to South America or China then you will not have to encounter this as often. |
I get the impression that you two are talking about different things--studying a language, perhaps not to the point of fluency, but fairly in-depth, vs. learning a few phrases to get by. In terms of actual fluency, I agree that it makes more sense to study a more widely-used language (not just for travel to those countries, where the people may or may not speak English, but in your home countries as well--there are a lot more Spanish speakers than Finnish speakers!), but if I were headed to Finland, I would at least try to learn the basics--"please," "thank you," "where is the..." "how much...", etc. Plus one or two oddities like "you're hot!", etc., just in case!
d |
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khmerhit
Joined: 31 May 2003
Posts: 1874
Location: Reverse Culture Shock Unit
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:52 am Post subject: |
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Damn!!
I just missed the Cleaning Women tonite. They are a cult band from finland who play clothes-horses.
My local pseudo-art gallery was scheduled to host a concert by them but thry cancelled. Not surprised, given the 50s style post deco brick bunker in which the gallery--inverted commas--is housed.
I went to the opening that they held instead. OMG what rubbish. Painters have a lot to answer for,
thats what i say, excuse me.
Off to bed,
night nite. Sweet dreams to the Finnish speakers and all else out there!!!@@@!!!!@@!!@!!@!!!!! 
Hey Denise----you're HOT. did you know that? I expect you knew that, you minx you. |
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angrysoba
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 446
Location: Kansai, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 7:17 am Post subject: |
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You don't have to learn Arabic to read it. If you look at the top left of the site you can change it to English. |
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denise
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish
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| Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 12:47 pm Post subject: |
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| khmerhit wrote: |
Damn!!
Hey Denise----you're HOT. did you know that? I expect you knew that, you minx you. |
d |
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