Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.
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Quote from: BULLSHIT! on December 13, 2010, 01:54:49 AMQuote from: odeon on December 13, 2010, 01:42:12 AMWell, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.I thought that German and Swedish were pretty close? german and swedish are as close as german and englishboth are "germanic"both can be vaguely understood of read carefullyhouse, haus, huswater, wasser, vattenetc, etc, etc
Quote from: odeon on December 13, 2010, 01:42:12 AMWell, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.I thought that German and Swedish were pretty close?
Well, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.
I can do upside down chocolate moo things!
Quote from: hykeaswell on December 13, 2010, 07:58:22 AMQuote from: couldbecousin on December 13, 2010, 07:53:05 AMQuote from: hykeaswell on December 13, 2010, 07:47:42 AMFunny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language. A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word. Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language. I heard a language being spoken on the bus one day, and it wasn't familiar at all. I asked one of the speakers, and she told me it was Albanian. I had a Haitian roommate in college, and at the same time she was struggling with English, she noted that when she called home and spoke Creole,her relatives told her she was making mistakes there too. My father spoke German as well as English growing up, but forgot it due to lack of use. An emigrated aunt and uncle of mine are starting to talk more and more Dutch, now the kids have left the home. Their daughter regrets not knowing Dutch, she worries about one day her parents not being fluent in English any more.There have been times that you'd find ads in Dutch magazines for employees in old folks homes overseas, because of people losing other languages than the one of their origin. I always wonder how multilingual people maintain all their languages. I had a history professor, years ago, who spoke English, German (the Swabian dialect, according to the book he wrote), French and Arabic.
Quote from: couldbecousin on December 13, 2010, 07:53:05 AMQuote from: hykeaswell on December 13, 2010, 07:47:42 AMFunny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language. A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word. Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language. I heard a language being spoken on the bus one day, and it wasn't familiar at all. I asked one of the speakers, and she told me it was Albanian. I had a Haitian roommate in college, and at the same time she was struggling with English, she noted that when she called home and spoke Creole,her relatives told her she was making mistakes there too. My father spoke German as well as English growing up, but forgot it due to lack of use. An emigrated aunt and uncle of mine are starting to talk more and more Dutch, now the kids have left the home. Their daughter regrets not knowing Dutch, she worries about one day her parents not being fluent in English any more.There have been times that you'd find ads in Dutch magazines for employees in old folks homes overseas, because of people losing other languages than the one of their origin.
Quote from: hykeaswell on December 13, 2010, 07:47:42 AMFunny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language. A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word. Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language. I heard a language being spoken on the bus one day, and it wasn't familiar at all. I asked one of the speakers, and she told me it was Albanian. I had a Haitian roommate in college, and at the same time she was struggling with English, she noted that when she called home and spoke Creole,her relatives told her she was making mistakes there too. My father spoke German as well as English growing up, but forgot it due to lack of use.
Funny thing is that I need to be in a mindset for a language. A couple of years ago, I heard people talk in the train, and I had no idea what language it was. It wasn't German, it was no Scandinavian language. But, the rhythm of the words and sounds indicated somewhere to that direction. I did not understand a word. Then something triggered me recognising it. The dialect my Mother has been raised in. And, I could understand everything they said. And, give me a day, I can speak it fluent again too. (Was fluent enough for people to wonder if it was my mother tongue or not)If I have been thinking and talking in English for too long, I find it hard to talk Dutch. And, nowadays I use the spell-checker more for Dutch than for English, I hardly write in Dutch, and I make all kinds of English mistakes in my own language.
Quote from: ZEGH8578 on December 13, 2010, 02:23:52 AMQuote from: BULLSHIT! on December 13, 2010, 01:54:49 AMQuote from: odeon on December 13, 2010, 01:42:12 AMWell, the first three are no problem since I use them every day. German is a bit of a problem since I use it so rarely, but it turns out that I forget languages fairly slowly. Spanish I'm actively studying.As for the rest, I hear them often enough to retain some skills.I thought that German and Swedish were pretty close? german and swedish are as close as german and englishboth are "germanic"both can be vaguely understood of read carefullyhouse, haus, huswater, wasser, vattenetc, etc, etcAh, gotchya! How close are Swedish and Norwegian? how close are either of those to Danish? Flemish?
It's a language I can speak with a few people. Pissed me off big time, in the report about me being an Aspie. Said something like me having no real notion of love. Quite offensive I think. They may not get the way I express it, but, the people who matter, they do get it. That's what counts.
Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are fairly close but Danish to me is harder than Norwegian because of the way they pronounce it.
Icelandic is pretty hard to understand for me, but if they speak it slowly I tend to get the big picture.Still interested in learning Czech. I, erm, acquired some mp3 files off the net the other day so we'll see.
Icelandic is pretty understandable if you read it and/or if you have some knowledge of Old Swedish. The Czechs are
Quote from: odeon on March 08, 2011, 01:35:17 PMIcelandic is pretty hard to understand for me, but if they speak it slowly I tend to get the big picture.Still interested in learning Czech. I, erm, acquired some mp3 files off the net the other day so we'll see.I hope you didn't have to spend too much money!
