The Student Thread
- Thread starter Dragonfly
- Start date
allmaple
Judge
I've always felt horrible about this, but I speak English, and well, english. I've tried to learn other languages, I really have, but I just can't
i only speak english as well, but i dont really feel bad about it. its funny, i took 11 years of french in grade school and youd think that should be enough to learn a language but no. the way they teach it doesnt really help you learn how to speak french or use it in conversation. after grade 11 there were too many courses i wanted and was not willing to give up for language.
i didnt even take an english course in undergrad :lol: all my non science courses (grand total of 3 :lol: well, and band as a credit) had to do with ancient greece and rome. luckily the school im at now accepted my classical mythology course as an english
my first vet school exam is in two days, and i just want to get it over with!! i have studied more for this test than for any other test in undergrad combined!!
Fighter
Lab Technician
I do remember names of those, even I don't remember ending for 'em. THose are called: nominatiivi, genetiivi, akkusatiivi, partitiivi, essiivi, inessiivi, elatiivi, illatiivi, adessiivi, ablatiivi, allatiivi, abessiivi, komitatiivi and instruktiivi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language
Yup, dats the language.
*sniff* our finno-ugric languages are just soo... lovely complicated.. and we have 8 vowels instead of 5
Lol, there was time when I really wanted to learn Finnish (don’t exactly know why, probably it had sth to do with the Silmarillion, Tolkien inspired by Finnish Kalevala and also I liked the sound of your language
) but now I’m glad that urge passed :lol: I realized that if I had problems with Latin at school (yeah, that course was obligatory :/) it’s not wise to choose a language with even more cases :lol:
It's all very confusing
IMO German grammar isn’t that difficult once you get the basics – for example, English has much more tenses and half of them aren’t even used in everyday conversations - but poor foreign students have to learn them :lol: because really – how often do you make sentences in Future Perfect or Past Perfect Continuous?
but with German I really don’t like that the verb is often at the end of a sentence – I can cope with it in writing but haven’t managed to speak fluently, guess I don’t think fast enough to have subject and predicate separated by the rest of the sentence and still know what I'm talking about:lol:
what I hate about teaching languages in schools is that it’s very often so artificial – no speaking, real-life conversations just dull grammar, and more grammar. I know German Rektion (is it case government in English?) pretty well but I can’t say three sentences because all that learning was so passive and I didn’t exactly had time and money to do some extra language course, with smaller groups and a sufficient number of CD players :lol:
Roosey
Captain
YAY! Foreign languages discussion.. I hope I'm allowed to participate in this thread though :lol: as I'll go to uni next year. I can't wait though.
I was raised Dutch.. of course, like many people from the Netherlands. I started learning English when I was about 7 though so I've been learning English for about 10 years now. I used to have this little notebook in which I wrote English 'stories' when I was about 8.. when I read it now it's sooo cute! My English has really improved since I decided to register on internet forums. I also speak a lot of English at work, I work in the tourist business. I'm also about to do an exam for my CAE ESOL certificate (Cambridge certificate in Advanced English for English speakers of other Languages or something). I had my speaking exam last Saturday and I thought it went well.
Secondly, I speak French. I always get nervous when I have to speak it because I'm afraid to make a whole lot of mistakes. I do understand French though and I'm also able to read French texts. I've been learning French for a little over 5 years now, but I really have to improve my skills.
I also speak German. Once again, I get nervous whenever I have to speak the language, but I'm pretty good (cough cough) at reading and understanding the language though. So if you speak German, I'll be able to understand you but don't mind my mistakes when I speak German too. I've been learning German for 4 years now.
I really want to speak Chinese, Spanish and Italian. Just because they're cool languages. I speak a little Chinese, but the words I speak have to do with cheese, as I work on a cheese farm (I know, I am a keeper of the prejudices about the Dutch). Lizzy_004 (who used to be a regular visitor here) always made fun of me because of that. :lol: I also speak a little Spanish and Italian, but those are just the basic words.
I was raised Dutch.. of course, like many people from the Netherlands. I started learning English when I was about 7 though so I've been learning English for about 10 years now. I used to have this little notebook in which I wrote English 'stories' when I was about 8.. when I read it now it's sooo cute! My English has really improved since I decided to register on internet forums. I also speak a lot of English at work, I work in the tourist business. I'm also about to do an exam for my CAE ESOL certificate (Cambridge certificate in Advanced English for English speakers of other Languages or something). I had my speaking exam last Saturday and I thought it went well.
Secondly, I speak French. I always get nervous when I have to speak it because I'm afraid to make a whole lot of mistakes. I do understand French though and I'm also able to read French texts. I've been learning French for a little over 5 years now, but I really have to improve my skills.
I also speak German. Once again, I get nervous whenever I have to speak the language, but I'm pretty good (cough cough) at reading and understanding the language though. So if you speak German, I'll be able to understand you but don't mind my mistakes when I speak German too. I've been learning German for 4 years now.
I really want to speak Chinese, Spanish and Italian. Just because they're cool languages. I speak a little Chinese, but the words I speak have to do with cheese, as I work on a cheese farm (I know, I am a keeper of the prejudices about the Dutch). Lizzy_004 (who used to be a regular visitor here) always made fun of me because of that. :lol: I also speak a little Spanish and Italian, but those are just the basic words.
_Hush_
Winchester Inc.
^ It's amazing how your English improves by being on discussion boards. I also gained most of my knowledge from being on the internet, but most of all, by watching english series without subtitles. It's gotten so bad that the dutch subtitles on tv really started to annoy me :lol:
I forgot to say that I took Latin during High School. I'm mentioning it because it really helps to understand other languages (romanic ones, that is), even if I've never learned them. Also, it helped to understand all the german cases, which function they had etc.
Oh, and I can speak a little Swahili and a little Ciluba. They're African languages and I know them because my uncle's from Rwanda. He taught us how to count, say hello, and a few words for different kinds of food. I don't know that much, but it's enough to impress people sometimes
(Oh, and I can also say 'Mind your own business' in Lingala, but that's all I can say in that language :lol
I forgot to say that I took Latin during High School. I'm mentioning it because it really helps to understand other languages (romanic ones, that is), even if I've never learned them. Also, it helped to understand all the german cases, which function they had etc.
Oh, and I can speak a little Swahili and a little Ciluba. They're African languages and I know them because my uncle's from Rwanda. He taught us how to count, say hello, and a few words for different kinds of food. I don't know that much, but it's enough to impress people sometimes
(Oh, and I can also say 'Mind your own business' in Lingala, but that's all I can say in that language :lol
You see, I guess I probably don't know all the english cases myself! We don't get taught them at school, which is stupid!
I agree with the German, it's hard to dothe verb at the end when speaking!
Swahili sounds awesome Hakuna Matata ( i know that's probably spelt wrong!)
I agree with the German, it's hard to dothe verb at the end when speaking!
Swahili sounds awesome
Hakuna Matata ( i know that's probably spelt wrong!)
Roosey
Captain
Oh yeah! I also gained a lot of knowledge by watching English series without subtitles! I used to look up every word I didn't know and that's how my vocabulary knowledge expanded.
I also took Latin during high school. I loved it, but it was so hard.. all those subjectivums and blah-dee-blah.. my brains were so full of all those tivums that I dropped it after 4 years. I also took Greek (old Greek, that is).. I can still read that Greek alphabet and I can understand a few words, but that's all. I should go to Greece someday to spice up my knowledge of Greek.. good excuse, eh? :lol:
_Hush_
Winchester Inc.
^Oh, you dropped it right before the fun part started. 5th and 6th year we only translated texts. No more grammar since. It was my favourite class. Not that I was extremely good at it, but we had philosophy, ancient law, ancient history (aaaaaaaaaaaaall those gods and their story).
God it was fun.
But from what I've learned from the Lion King, it's probably right :lol:
*goes back to Anglosaxon history* bleh
God it was fun.
I have no idea if it's spelt wrong. We only learned to speak itSwahili sounds awesome
But from what I've learned from the Lion King, it's probably right :lol:*goes back to Anglosaxon history* bleh
Deirdre
Coroner
I do remember names of those, even I don't remember ending for 'em. THose are called: nominatiivi, genetiivi, akkusatiivi, partitiivi, essiivi, inessiivi, elatiivi, illatiivi, adessiivi, ablatiivi, allatiivi, abessiivi, komitatiivi and instruktiivi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language
Yup, dats the language.
*sniff* our finno-ugric languages are just soo... lovely complicated.. and we have 8 vowels instead of 5
Lol, there was time when I really wanted to learn Finnish (don’t exactly know why, probably it had sth to do with the Silmarillion, Tolkien inspired by Finnish Kalevala and also I liked the sound of your language
And I thought that I'm the only crazy... But actually, I was learning Finnish. And I wasn't that bad but those small things which are making Finnish are scary - all these words endings etc. I still love Kalevala, I have one in Polish (not the best translation but only one complete) and in Finnish, an old one. And I didn't buy it in Finland, but in... Sweden. I found it in Stockholm, in the old part of the city, a bookstore was in the building which was beside the Finnish Church (Suomalainen Kirkko, ha, I remember, lol).
It's all very confusing
IMO German grammar isn’t that difficult once you get the basics – for example, English has much more tenses and half of them aren’t even used in everyday conversations - but poor foreign students have to learn them :lol: because really – how often do you make sentences in Future Perfect or Past Perfect Continuous?
but with German I really don’t like that the verb is often at the end of a sentence – I can cope with it in writing but haven’t managed to speak fluently, guess I don’t think fast enough to have subject and predicate separated by the rest of the sentence and still know what I'm talking about:lol:
German has one of the simplest grammar, really. But I always was too lazy to learn it, lol. Or when I finally decided to remember - I just wrote the test and then forgot. In my uni was idea to add German. I'd go and give up English lessons 'cause they're very boring. But ehh, no German.
Deirdre
Coroner
Of course it's easy, just compare it with Finnish:lol: I was learning German for 6 or 7 years too. And I'm not using this language just because I didn't want to learn it at all. My English could end it up the same - but I'm learning thanks for using it everyday, not school which would never learn you any language, even your native when teacher is not good. BTW, we don't speak German and we can only blame ourselves - not school system (of course, bad teacher can make you not want to learn it, but well... anyway, I regret a bit, just a bit...)
(of course, bad teacher can make you not want to learn it, but well... anyway, I regret a bit, just a bit...)
delkosgirl88
Hit and Run
Yay, a thread just for students. I'm studying nursing at Oakland University in Michigan. This semester is basically over, only exams left. Next semester (my last pre-RN semester) I'm taking Anatomy, Organic Chemistry, and Logic. I'll be appying for nursing school sometime next semester. I took two semesters of university Spanish my first year of college though I've learned more Spanish at work. (most of my co-workers are Mexican)
