Joey Jo Jo Junior Shabadoo Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 6 minutes ago, MixuFixit said: It's always embarrassing when a non English speaker asks you what the past subjunctuve participle of some word is and you have no idea what they're talking about. If I were you, I wouldn't know what they were talking about either. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Jo Jo Junior Shabadoo Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 1 minute ago, MixuFixit said: I've no idea if that's a thing I just threw together some grammatical sounding words to illustrate the point is native English speakers don't learn our own language in the way other countries do. 'If I were you' is the past subjunctive. I need to work on my jokes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 (edited) 11 minutes ago, MixuFixit said: I've no idea if that's a thing I just threw together some grammatical sounding words to illustrate the point is native English speakers don't learn our own language in the way other countries do. The Spanish overdo the grammar thing, I don't think they bother about pronunciation at all in school. Had a go at teaching them and got humiliating questions about past participles etc which I didn't have a clue about while I was trying to get them to sound less like a bit part in a spaghetti western. Edited May 31, 2019 by welshbairn 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Kincardine Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 30 minutes ago, welshbairn said: If you're talking about a street seller in Bangkok, then no. If you're talking about people fluent in 3 or more European languages, I am. Without a grounding in grammar it takes years of total immersion to become fluent, with, it speeds up massively. Yet we both have discussed Swedish before and, as I have mentioned, my three are perfectly comfortable in the language with no explicit explanation of its grammar ever given and whose biggest challenge, when they have summers in Sweden, isn't grammar but argot. The notion that, to learn a language you start with grammar, is utter shite. To learn a language you start by speaking it. Anyone who has kids knows that this is true. We also know that kids' ability to understand grammar is innate as long as they are 'early learners'. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
German Jag Posted May 31, 2019 Share Posted May 31, 2019 On 29.5.2019 at 15:12, Ross. said: Die Toten Hosen are the gods of German language music. Fantastic live act as well. Die Toten Hosen are good, but prefer Die Ärtze! As shown on the Tube on Channel 4 back in 1983. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salem Saberhagen Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 Has anyone tried learning a language in their sleep? Does it work? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karpaty Lviv Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 I started by joining a pen pal website and messaging native speakers. A lassie taught me the Cyrillic alphabet via Skype and then I started to learn some words and phrases. 8 years later and I’m still nowhere fluent (I don’t think I’ll ever get to grips with the grammar, it’s mental) but I don’t use it everyday (apart from listening to the radio every morning to keep it in my head). Every time I go to Ukraine though I find myself being able to more than hold my own in a lot of different situations. Even if I’m not grammatically correct, they can understand what I’m trying to say which I’m happy with. I’ve done the Duolingo course but there’s a few errors in there. I joined HelloTalk when I read this thread last week and I quite like the concept. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 50 minutes ago, Salem Saberhagen said: Has anyone tried learning a language in their sleep? Does it work? I'm a fluent snorer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpar Posted June 7, 2019 Share Posted June 7, 2019 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/brampton-bus-driver-punjabi-1.5164011 Slightly related to this thread I think, it would seem that being surrounded by native speakers is a great way to learn. I think this is a great story, partly because of the rage I'm sure it caused some old bigots here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 My kid has a wee German coming to stay for a week (starting tomorrow). Hope she speaks good English. Been finding my brain going back 28 years or so to Standard Grade German. So far I’ve remembered the word for potato and that’s about it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 16 minutes ago, Shandon Par said: My kid has a wee German coming to stay for a week (starting tomorrow). Hope she speaks good English. Been finding my brain going back 28 years or so to Standard Grade German. So far I’ve remembered the word for potato and that’s about it. Brush up by memorising a Marlene Dietrich song, and welcome her by singing it wearing a summery frock. She'll be enchanted and your daughter will be so proud. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 On 28/05/2019 at 13:55, tamthebam said: I read that as watching Swedish films... That made two of us... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 34 minutes ago, Shandon Par said: My kid has a wee German coming to stay for a week (starting tomorrow). Hope she speaks good English. Been finding my brain going back 28 years or so to Standard Grade German. So far I’ve remembered the word for potato and that’s about it. Don't tell her anything. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 On 28/05/2019 at 18:42, DeeTillEhDeh said: Je ne comprends pas . . . I got a 'C' for 'O' Grade French and a 'B' for Higher Latin many moons ago. Also did 'O' Grade German after school but dropped it to focus on my Highers in Maths & English. I didn't think O grades were "graded" in my day. I got O Grade Latin and a C in Higher French (at the second attempt). Can still read a bit of French but couldn't speak it to save my life. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksgranda Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Shandon Par said: My kid has a wee German coming to stay for a week (starting tomorrow). Hope she speaks good English. Been finding my brain going back 28 years or so to Standard Grade German. So far I’ve remembered the word for potato and that’s about it. Might have been handy had she been Irish... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandcowden Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 (edited) thinking of taking a career break and doing aTEFL course, any advice? Edited June 8, 2019 by highlandcowden 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted June 8, 2019 Share Posted June 8, 2019 1 hour ago, highlandcowden said: thinking of taking a career break and doing aTEFL course, any advice? If you haven't had any teaching experience I'd suggest doing something part time and locally with opportunities to teach the odd class, at least to start off with. I forked out quite a lot to do a full time course in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and although I loved the course and the town, I hated the teaching part, got hugely nervous and therefore wasn't very good at it. It was partly due to the students (free classes, mature students, one was a local TV presenter) being experts in grammar and me trying to blag my way through the questions. Also it was midsummer and I had to take a towel to wipe off the sweat from my head and glasses mid lesson. Still have nightmares. The thought of having to plan a whole day of lessons every evening after work put me off too, although with experience you wouldn't have to. Also don't expect to make a load of money unless you specialise in something like advanced English for business and the like, or take lots of private students on top of a full time job, depending on the country. I decided it wasn't for me after the course, but there are a few people on here who l think might be doing ok out of it, so hopefully you'll hear some more positive stuff. If it suits you it's definitely a way of spending a lengthy time in parts of the world where you'd struggle to find any other job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velo army Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 Really wanting to get good at french. I wasn't all that into Duolingo (I don't need so many basics) but I want something that will be stimulating and, ideally, some sort of conversation practise. Anyone had experience with repply? I'd love some suggestions from the p n b universe. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDoddyKane Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 (edited) Ive been using the duolingo every day, its ok for building up vocabulary but I think I need to be doing something else alongside it, my problem is im hopeless at languages. I will keep trying though What is repply? Edited April 29, 2021 by BigDoddyKane 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northboy Posted April 29, 2021 Share Posted April 29, 2021 On 08/06/2019 at 18:45, Jacksgranda said: I didn't think O grades were "graded" in my day. I got O Grade Latin and a C in Higher French (at the second attempt). Can still read a bit of French but couldn't speak it to save my life. I've no idea when your day might have been (or will be) but I did O grades in the mid 1980s and they were graded then. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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