Learning languages

Yeah, that's exactly why.

 

oh, I think it is, a bit...

 

done so.

it's marketed as a postmodern[1] Bildungsroman.

It's not that bad.

Do you want to read a properly pretentious but yet still worth book?
Try Jonathan Franzen's "The Corrections".

Or, totally left field, Guy Gavriel Kay's "Under Heaven". Hah - Ogden,
give that a go too - it'll make "Wolf Hall" seem like "Vanity Fair".

[1] incorrectly, given the date in which it's partially set.

 

I'd agree if that subject wasn't a language. I really do think they
take a different skill to learn. If you haven't got a good memory,
languages will always be a struggle no matter how intelligent you are.

I had the same problem with history. The emphasis seemed to be on
remembering shitloads of dates, & who ruled when, neither of which
could be worked out logically. Because I couldn't do that bit (the
remembering), I hated the lessons & didn't bother with the rest of it
either.

 

That sums up history in my first year at secondary school, where the
syllabus seemed to consist entirely of coronation and battle dates.
Utterly pointless.

From the second year onwards it was proper analytical history though.

 

Probably just to understand half of your posts on here.

 

Definitely "if that".

 

But I bet not this:
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00011&RL=00172

 

Teach 'em when they're young. From about 2 upwards. Works for my nippers.
Cass is fluent [1] in French and Spanish and understand English perfectly. Alex
is fluent [1] in English and French and is now picking up Spanish.

[1] And I mean that they speak the langauges as opposed to just understands
them. Mind you, French is the first language, naturally.

 

About that.

English went over one million words (officially) last year.

 

But... how would you know?

 

Mind you, French is the first language, naturally.
Ah. So nothing like their father, then.....

 

Piano.

 

Heheh. It's already got to the stage where Miss corrects me every so often.

 

Yup, they're doing that in some parts of Germany (starting to teach a
foreign language during the first 2-3 years in school) and the results
are pretty impressive compared to the older curriculum where they
started teaching foreign languages during 5th grade.

 

Oh I don't know. At the time most people could have a go a translating
the Clangers' language.

 

I foxed the examiner in my French oral. He asked me to talk about my
hobbies. I started rabbiting on about tire les lapins or some such. He then
asked how often I did this. I replied not often because of, then asked him
what was the French for myxomatosis. He hadn't a clue. La myxomatose,
apparently.

 

Yes, but the Clanger's script was written in English. If you know what
the script says you can definitely hear that they're just "whistling"
the words.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clangers#Swear_words

 

"Vot ist your nem?"

 

I used to work for Student Support when I was an undegrad, in the 03/04
academic year. Some of the work involved attending lectures with disabled
students and taking notes on their behalf. I was quite surprised at the
basic level of maths on the biosciences maths module.