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Are you currently learning a language?


GingerRose

Are you currently learning a language?  

81 members have voted

  1. 1. Are you currently learning a language?

    • Yes
      58
    • No
      23

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Learning Lunches – British Sign Language - Stockport Homes

 

If so, list the language you are currently learning.

It could be part of school, uni, work or on your own.

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I am currently learning ASL (American Sign Language) a requirement in my job.

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Every day I'm learning a bit more English.

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I'll be struggling with my native English the rest of my life.  I have un poco de Espanol from my childhood.  

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I just declared a minor in español. Es el más útil. 

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Nah, not really. I learnt a fair amount of French in school up till grade ten (and can still read it somewhat) because it's required in Ontario since it's one of Canada's official languages, I taught myself a bit of Swedish from a book and accompanying cassette tape when I was 13 because I had an intense interest in anything to do with Sweden, around the same time I tried to learn some Ukrainian (my mum's family is Ukrainian and she speaks the language and had some books), and then in my late 20s I did some online stuff to learn a bit of Irish Gaelic... but nothing too much since. I have the Duolingo app on my phone and I'm supposedly learning more Irish, Ukrainian and French, but in reality I haven't touched the app in months. 🙃

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I study English every day. I find the pronunciation of foreign languages always fascinating. I must admit that sometimes I might use unconventional English when I'm here, but I find it somewhat secretive and romantic not to understand everything. Additionally, I also study my native language, Japanese. Communication can be quite challenging in any language.

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Somehow? I'm always trying to extend my english vocabulary, And as I curreantly am watching much englisch movies I'm writing down a lot of words (though unfortunatly I don't really have much time to memorize them currently).

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@harmonic turquoiseSame, I love studying and becoming familiar with the sounds of other languages, even ones that I'm not really learning. 
Japanese is a beautiful language!  I know quite a few people over here who are learning it :) 

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No. I learnt quite a few when I was younger, the basics, not fluent. But I haven't spoken any in years so no longer retain much, and I really struggle with them now.

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I'm half-heartedly trying to continue with my Italian by listening to and reading some learner materials, but the lack of long-term motivation and a clear goal are not helpful.

I watch and read content in English every day, so in some ways you could say I'm learning although I don't analyse the said content linguistically so I'm not sure how helpful that is.

I bought a Czech primer with downloadable mp3 files to learn some basics before I go to Prague and also to see what the process of learning another Slavic language would be like.

 

7 hours ago, GingerRose said:

I am currently learning ASL (American Sign Language) a requirement in my job.

I think you may have mentioned that before. Can you say something about the process of learning such a language? Also, how do you practise?

 

5 hours ago, Monke Jimmy said:

I just declared a minor in español.

Does "declare a minor" mean you completed a course and obtained a degree?

 

4 hours ago, harmonic turquoise said:

I study English every day. I find the pronunciation of foreign languages always fascinating. I must admit that sometimes I might use unconventional English when I'm here (....)

I find you English very good and I'm always pleasantly surprised how varied and rich your vocabulary is :) 

 

1 hour ago, Caniwakeupnow said:

German on my own, which is so hard to keep up learning 😱

Learning on your own is not easy 😕 

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Online self-paced Scots Gaelic course right now. mostly to keep the brain from rusting.

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Currently not, but I've been studying standard Dutch language for the purpose of becoming a teacher or a translator. I speak a few languages anyway, not fluently sometimes, but still. I remember English, German, French and Latin classes during my whole education period.

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9 hours ago, Piotrek said:

Does "declare a minor" mean you completed a course and obtained a degree?

It means that I've committed to taking a secondary program of study. I'm not taking classes for it until next fall. However, I am currently taking my third semester of Spanish that I need to take before I can start the program. 

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14 hours ago, harmonic turquoise said:

I study English every day. I find the pronunciation of foreign languages always fascinating. I must admit that sometimes I might use unconventional English when I'm here, but I find it somewhat secretive and romantic not to understand everything. Additionally, I also study my native language, Japanese. Communication can be quite challenging in any language

I have a friend who is fluent in Hebrew (and similar languages), Japanese, and recently English. I think it's interesting how they seem to understand absolutely everything, and then are completely lost on a term or reference. Yesterday we learned the meaning of "69." 💀

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I'm learning German. Fortunately and unfortunately, the people I interact with most at the Uni speak (very good) English, which means that I often leap for the lifeline and avoid speaking in the little (okay, not horrible) German that I know. I really should be braver.

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12 hours ago, Piotrek said:

I think you may have mentioned that before. Can you say something about the process of learning such a language? Also, how do you practise?

It's an interesting one, because some of the signs make sense, like "to eat" is putting your hand to your mouth. Other signs like "period (menstrual)" where you knock your cheek with your fist, make no clear sense. So some signs are easier to remember and other signs, I find myself creating memory tricks for. 

 

Facial expression is also something that is just as important as the signs. They are pairs, giving meaning.  As my ASL teacher jokes: if she asks in ASL: "Is your sister single?" she can have a neutral face with raised eyebrows with an earnest question. Or she can have a smirking face with eyebrows furrowed, asking to see if she can ask your sister out.

Other parts of ASL learning that stand out to me are:

 

Little words like "is" and "a" don't need to be signed.  So "What is your name?" Would just be signed: "What your name?" or "Your name what?"

 

The formatting of sentence structure is also different. So the question: "Do you want milk?" Would actually be signed like this "Milk you want?" 

 

It is hard to shift from languages like English to ASL. But also, the fact that it's a visual language makes it fun to learn and easier than it was learning a language like English or Spanish.

 

I used to learn ASL on my own, but now that I am taking it as a part of work, all my coworkers are learning along side me, so now I have lots of people to practise with. So after learning the words for the day's vocabulary we will meet up in person or virtually and practise the words either on their own or in sentences. It definitely helps best to put the words learned into a plethora of questions and statements. Even if we had just learned a few vocab words like "sister" "want" and "cake". We can make up scenarios and say to each other:

"Does your sister want cake?"

"That is my sister's cake."

"Do you want cake?"

"My sister wants cake."

and so on.

 

 

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Korean, Swedish, and French, though i know a fair amount of French, so it's more brushing up on some things and learning more. 

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@J. van Deijck You're a Dutch-speaking Belgian, correct?  I'm curious to know if you are somewhat familiar or confident in understanding Flemish or Afrikaans. How much of those are recognisable to you?  Asking purely out of interest 😊  (sorry though, I'm not very familiar with Belgium and don't know how widely Flemish is used throughout the country)

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@Old Maid Librarian Massive respect to anyone learning Gàidhlig. I want to but found it insanely difficult when I last tried...

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16 hours ago, psybx said:

Rust count

You gotta tell me more mate, I'm unfamiliar.

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I took Spanish for 5 years and I'm currently learning Scottish Gaelic on Duolingo! 

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13 hours ago, Old Maid Librarian said:

Online self-paced Scots Gaelic course right now. mostly to keep the brain from rusting.

 

1 hour ago, Frodo. said:

@Old Maid Librarian Massive respect to anyone learning Gàidhlig. I want to but found it insanely difficult when I last tried...

 

34 minutes ago, gingertabby said:

I took Spanish for 5 years and I'm currently learning Scottish Gaelic on Duolingo! 

My mother is really good with languages (and with music, which may be related). I am not great at either.

Anyway, a few years ago (in her late 70s/early 80s) she taught herself Scottish Gaelic.

 

I studied German in community college (3 semesters), back in the 1980s. I'm rubbish at it.

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I haven't kept up with my Duolingo lately, but recently I've been brushing up and learning more Japanese.

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I’m learning German

I’ve been learning it for a while, but my friend from Germany is helping me learn, so I’m making more progress than I’ve made since the German elective I took in seventh grade 

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