Learning languages

In a sense, I agree - learning a foreign language teaches you a lot
about how your own language works. And, at least within a language
family, learning the structure of one language helps you make sense of
others within the same family.

But having seen V spend a couple of years learning Italian I strongly
suspect most of the benefit is down to the student, not the subject. See
posts passim regarding her understanding of syntax and grammar.

I'll be interested to see how well I do with Spanish - I did five years
of French at school, to A grade GCSE, along with two years of Latin
(which I was quite good at) and a year of German (just don't ask). Yet
my linguistic abilities abroad stretch as far as ordering beers and
haggling with recovery men in the Ardennes.

As mentioned, I suspect language families play a large part. English and
German are closely related (in the sense that German is an abomination)
and French and English are but the same language for want of six pints
of Pernod. Russian, well, if you want to leave Indo-European and go all
Finno-Ugric on me you're more than welcome but the women really aren't
that hot, are they?

As for Hebrew, wht knd f lngg hs n vwls ffs? Srsly.

All well and good, I'm sure, but syntax and grammar without vocabulary
is about as much use as an engine with no fuel. Fine where you are
perhaps, but France is about 60 miles from where I'm sitting now so the
practice is a little more relevant than the theory.

 

Was that at Saintbridge in Gloucester?

When I was there, the worst teacher in the school[1] was called
Roberts, and he taught[2] French and Geography.

[1] By fucking *miles* - possibly the worst teacher in the British
education system
[2] For Saintbridge values of "taught"

 

Im sr yr rt, bro, & teens duz it.

 

It's the only way to do it. Many jokes don't translate from foreign.

 

what, "#9 Dream"? Not Mitchell's best work; that'd be "Cloud Atlas".

Murakami's best, on the other hand is The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.

Wait, I've made an assumption you meant /Haruki/ Murakami? The other
one's best work is "In the Miso Soup".

 

A minimum standard at A Level in a foreign language, and in English,
should be compulsory before you're even allowed to set foot in a
university.

 

Trinity, and not *that* exceptional: he worried about losing his post
to a gold medallist.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/21/samuel-beckett-letters

 

They weren't compulsory even in the early 90's. I stopped learning
French at 14, for example and I can speakee la lingo pretty tray bon.

Oh hang on...

 

I concur.

It's a reasonable assumption given that a couple of posts earlier in the
thread I referred to him as "Haruki Murakami".

 

I disagree. There aren't enough hours in the day to learn everything, &
I'd rather see a return to teaching the sciences separately than
combining them the way they do now.

If someone knows (or thinks they know) what they want to do later in
life, & that it will involve a specific language, then fine, let them
do it instead of biology or whatever. But forcing kids to learn a
random language rather than spending that time on something more likely
to help the majority get a career seems daft to me.

Maybe that's just my bitterness at being forced to waste several hours
a week learning Latin & ancient Greek though. Spending that time
learning about 'business' or engineering would've been far more
beneficial to all of us who suffered it.

 

ah, yes.

Well, give Ryu a chance too...

 

Definitely would recommend Mandarin, for a number of reasons, the least
being how amazingly attractive some of the Chinese visitors to these
shores are ;-) . I don't think it's worth mentioning the boring reasons
of economics to a young lad though.

Currently working my way through the Rosetta Stone Mandarin course on
the PC. Have to say I'm pretty impressed with it's voice recognition
system as an effective feedback mechanism for getting the tones right.

Now if only some of the practice would sink into my thick head. I swear
that I'm getting dumber and dumber the older I get.

 

It would certainly solve the problem of too few places for too many
hopefuls. Otherwise, a rubbish idea.

 

yeah, 'cos sciences are shit.

 

Heh. I reckon school language teachers are the worst. Conmsider: every
kid in the UK has to learn French, yet hardly anyone can speak it.
Every French kid has to learn English, and hardly any of them can
speak it either.

What are these teachers actually *doing*?, one wonders.....

 

Take a look at the university system of other countries: Ireland, say.

 

It should be like most other subjects, optional after 14. Some kids just
aren't interested, some just can't get it. I was shit at languages in
school and my interest came along at a much later in life. Let them drop
it as much as they might drop Religious Studies or Physics (or Multi-
Discpline-Fluffy-Sciences or whatever it's called now).

 

My memory doesn't work with things like languages. I can remember stuff
for a day or so, then it goes & doesn't come back again until a few
years later[1]. So my attempts in recent years to do the Michel Thomas
French & Italian courses have been dismal failures.

[1] Seems to be the same with lots of stuff I read or hear, but not
with things that happen.

 

No shit!

 

People coming on to science and engineering courses are already
required to have a minimum standard in maths and a science. They
should also have a minimum standard in language(s). Likewise, you
should have some minimum in maths to be allowed into a university,
even to study English.