Foreign Languages

[Katana]

Since I'm only in seventh grade, I'm pretty new to the concept of learning a foreign language. It's mandatory that every seventh grader has to have one quarter of Spanish and one quarter of German. I'm in Spanish right now and have German 4th *dances*, and so far, I love Spanish!
I find it to be a pretty interesting language, seeing as how fast it's spoken and all. My mom teaches bilingel kids and she's amazed at how these little first and second graders can speak so fast.
I'll tell you right now why I hate German. I think it's stupid. I mean, what's the point of learning a language you'll NEVER use unless you plan on going into some sort of electronics job associated wtih Europe? I find it pointless to learn, seeing as how the Spanish population is growing and growing everyday and German is not.
I, personally, would've liked it if they (those "school board" people) have chosen something interesting, like Japanese! I have reason to back this up (besides the fact that I am a major Otaku ^^). The Japanese market is HUGE in the US! Lookie at all the stuff we get from that tiny little island country: TVs, cellphones, cars, computers, furniture, manga, anime (okay okay), food, jewelry, etc etc etc. And I don't know ONE thing the Germans give us.
If you think I'm racist, then haha. I'm not. I'm at [I]least[/I] a quarter German, so if I was racist, I'd hate myself. :blackeye: Plea, that's stupid.
*heaves heavy sigh* Okay! So what about you guys?

[CharmedImmortal]

[size=1]I think that learning foreign languages are very exciting too!
I've found it very much more fun than any of my other subjects, though we don't have any Foreign Languages subject. ^_^;
But at least I'm going to High School now, and if so that they have a subject where I could learn Foreign Language, I would want to learn Japanese, if they do teach it. o.O
Also, I would like to learn how to speak French.
And as for Spanish, I'm learning alot of words from my friends from Mexico.
It's very interesting how people speak in different language instead of speaking one language in the world. [/size]

[Lord Rannos]

I have French and i like it because its fairly easy to understand, i would like spanish if i didnt have the worst teacher in the world.She treats us like 1st graders.:flaming: Learning foreign languages is fun, especially because you can talk to people behind their back.Not that i would do that of course.heh heh heh.:devil:

[Eclectic]

I'm currently in my fourth year of French and couldn't love it more. At first, I only took it so I could go to France and talk to the guys there, but then I kinda thought about studying law, music, and fashion design abroad. If only they offered Italian (to go to Milan) and Japanese (fashion god to the world) at my school. I can see all the secret otakus (I go to an all-girls school) lining up now...

[wrist cutter]

My high school offers a Japanese class, so I feel a little spoiled. I take it and am in my third year of it, but so far it has yet to be of any use to me. If anything, all it has done is kept me motivated to continue studying privately. So I feel kind of bad that I, someone who doesn't really need it, has the option to take the class and so many who really want to learn Japanese don't have that luxury.

Other than that, I took a year of French back in my first year of middle school and it just wasn't for me.

[Sara]

[size=1]I love [i]language[/i]. Words fascinate me. I get all giddy and stuff, it's funny. *laughs softly*

I took German for three years during high school, and I'm now taking it outside of school with the same teacher. (There was no German IV class available, so we're making it up as we go along.)

I'm really enthusiastic about it (most of the time) and I feel guilty when I slip back into first-and-second-year level speech, because I'm able to do so much better than that.

It's frustrating in a way, because I would love to take more languages. An eastern language (Japanese, Chinese, etc.) would be fascinating, simply because they're so [i]different[/i] from English. I'll almost definitely be taking Latin in college, because, I mean, it's [i]Latin.[/i] I love words. Etymology, yay!

And for some reason, I keep talking about wanting to learn Swahili. (Go figure.)

But, yes. For me, it's not really about how [i]useful[/i] a language would be. I mean, I went to Germany this summer and had no trouble communicating at all when I used English. (Which I generally made a point of not doing, because it sort of defeats the purpose of being in a country where English isn't the official language.) It's just that fact that [i]knowing[/i] it would be so [i]awesome.[/i] Heck, I'd even specifically find a job that required the use of another language if it meant I'd be able to learn it. Heh.[/size]

[Dmitri_Dragoon]

I've taken German, that's all I really care to take. They offered Spanish and French here as well, but I care for neither of those languages, and considering I'm mostly of German descent I took German. It was a most interesting class, the teacher studied in Germany, speaks quite fluently, and even teaches us the culture. She even looks like the stereotypical German, blonde hair, blue eyes.

They at one time offered Latin, but got rid of it for some reason. I would have loved to have been able to take it, but alas, I was not. But oh well, things like that happens when the school decides to cut classes.

[James]

[color=#707875]I learned French, Idonesian, Japanese and Mandarin during Primary/High School.

I spent the least time on Mandarin...but I also found it to be the most difficult language. There is something like 2000 characters in the alphabet, which, as you can imagine, means that you'll be learning Mandarin until you're 80 and still discovering more and more. Although I guess that's the same with most languages.

In any case, it was interesting. But as with all languages, if you don't use it, you won't remember it. I can barely remember any Mandarina (Ne How Ma?).

And uh...yeah, I did a semester of French. French is easy and I picked it up quickly. I was also able to pronounce the words correctly...whereas quite a few kids in my class couldn't. The same goes for Indonesian -- I learned it for three and a half years and while I was relatively far from fluency, I could still hold a conversation.

I remember that my aunt invited her Japanese friend over to Christmas dinner one year (she was here to teach Japanese...but could barely speak English) and nobody could communicate with her. However, she herself knew how to speak Indonesian. So I was the only family member who could actually talk to her. lol

Indonesian is pretty easy, much like French. It's an asian language, but it utilizes the English alphabet, with some differences ("c" makes a "ch" sound, for instance). The only real difficulty is that the sentence structure is reversed for most things. So you'd never say "I'm taking my friend to see a movie". It's considered rude to refer to yourself first. You'd instead say "My friend is going with me to the movies."

[/color]

[amibasuki]

[FONT=arial]I was learning Japanese for awhile, but then it kinda.....died. plus, I still need to get my grammar/kana/vocabulary books back from someone I lent them to *grr*. I'm taking Spanish this year in school though, and I'm lovin' every bit of it. aside from band and chorus (they don't and shouldn't count, lol), that's the class I'm making the best grades in. I guess learning a little of another language before taking a foreign language class helped me pick up on remembering certain things easier or something.[/FONT]

[outlawstar69]

Hey, if you guys like learning languages, but have trouble learning the words, go to [url]www.unforgettablelanguages.com[/url] .You have to buy the courses, but they make them in a way that's easy to remember. For example, read this:

"The Japanese word for

BREAD is PAN [pan]

Imagine a PAN full of BREAD."

They use memory techniques to get you to remember the words quite easily, and they don't cost much either. These won't have you mastering a language in a day, but they will let you get by in a conversation. And that's how you start learning, isn't it? (Look at this... lol. I hope this isn't considered to be advertising, because I don't work for them or anything.. I just wanted to help out in case you haven't heard of it.) When they make an Arabic course that's more than a survival course, I'll be buying it. It may take them some time, as I have already asked about it, but I'm patient. I think its something to look at, anyway. (If putting this in is considered spamming or advertising, just let me know, ok? I wasn't sure.)

[wrist cutter]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by outlawstar69 [/i]
[B]"The Japanese word for

BREAD is PAN [pan]

Imagine a PAN full of BREAD." [/B][/QUOTE]

How many people will think the Japanese word "pan" is actually said the same as the English word now? It's not. It's pronounced like "pawn", not like pan of bread.

[craig8429]

I have taken spanish when I was in 2-8th grade, I may take french for my two years of highschool, but at the moment i'm undecided....

[The Original]

I'm currently taking Spanish, second year. It's alright; what I really wanted to take was Japanese. Alas, they did not have it in Junior High, so I signed up for Spanish. Now I'm in High School, and Japanese is available. Now I'm too into Spanish! Man, I wish I'da waited a year. Bleh. Oh well, suppose it would be harder than Spanish anyway.

[Drix D'Zanth]

Decidía mecanografiar este poste entero en español. Hablo español muy bien porque mi profesor utilizó el método de enseñanza conocido como TPRS. Puedo casi dibujar sobre palabras múltiples sin el pensamiento debido a mi de la clase. Soy muy agradecido para el hecho que he podido aprender la lengua pues me ha ayudado en mi escuela. También me ayudará en mi carrera. Debo ahora parar.

[Guest Stealth Knight]

I am in now in my second year of spanish and I love it. I think that Spanish is the most easiest language to learn. The culture of the Spanish language is also interesting. We have to learn that but I don't know about other schools.

[Gohan Egret]

Wow, Drix D'Zanth, I feel bad that I do not use my Spanish as much as I should. :p

I took 4 years of Honors Spanish in high school as well as (so I am told...) I knew and spoke Italian when I was younger. How the Italian happened, I really have no clue nor memories of it happening, but I will take my parents' word for it.

My dad constantly tells me to speak in Spanish and I understand him (literally and figuratively); I can understand the programs on TV and the news; I can sort of speak it well, but I end up stuttering when I try (more of a "Crap, I am going to mess up" rather than a "Crap, I forgot how to say this").

But...*shrugs* I am an English-aholic. Maybe when I go to Mexico in 2005 for a long time (a month or more) I will become more in tune with my Spanish.

:)

[QUOTE]And I don't know ONE thing the Germans give us.[/QUOTE]

You know those nice Volkswagen's and BMW's you see on the road? Yeah. German-engineered. :p

Also, if I recall correctly, German is one of the premier business languages in the world, along with Japanese and English.

[Ares]

I'm trying to get into a Japanese class, because it would be interesting to learn such a cool language. Also, I'm moving to Japan at around age 22, so I'll want to know the language pretty well, ya know? It's hard to find this class for me, though. Maybe I'll find one when I move to Florida next year.

[Sara]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by wrist cutter [/i]
[B]How many people will think the Japanese word "pan" is actually said the same as the English word now? It's not. It's pronounced like "pawn", not like pan of bread. [/B][/QUOTE] [FONT=arial]I guess that's true. But once you've spent a little time on a language, you start to assume the correct pronunciation of vowels and whatnot. Japanese vowel sounds are pretty uniform, right? (Unless I'm mixing it up.) Even the if English word isn't [i]said[/i] the same way, it's a decent mindhook to remember what the stuff is called. If you're serious about learning, your mind will automatically supply the right sounds for you. (Unless you're learning some screwy language like, say, English.)[/FONT]

[Bio]

I really like spanish, thanks to my teacher. He's only in his 20's, and he's hardly strict. I'm not too good, but here goes...

Me gusta el Otakuboards. (Is the word 'otakuboards' masculine or feminine?)

I forgot my spanish binder and I forgot some key words. I'm hopeless.

Well here's what I got from Drix's post:

I decided to write this post entirely in spanish. My teacher is very good ----------------. I take many language classes. I'm very fluent with these languages. For this line, I think it's something about your career or job. No Idea about this last line...

Okay! that's all I got!

Yo mal es espanol.

(It's supposed to say "I'm bad at spanish," but it might say "I bad the spanish.")

[Wondershot]

Well...I am from a half-Portuguese family, so I grew up learning the language. I don't practice too often, though, so whenever I talk to my grandmother, I stumble or need to ask my mom for help. I take French because I live in a french-speaking community, so it's an essential part. (sadly, I am poor at it) However, some languages are similar, and sometimes I can confuse French and Portuguese. Apparently, some words in Japanese are based on Portuguese too.
I might try taking Japanese lessons sometime, now that I go to a school with people from other countries (almost half the school is asian, and we have people from South America and Africa too). I love to travel, so it might come in handy.

[G.D. Ryoko]

I took French for three years in Jr. High but in My Highschool schedual, I don`t have a forign language class so I don`t take another language now. I really like French though, it`s pretty easy to learn, compared to Japanese, although Japanese is really cool too. I like learning different lanuages.

[Fyxe]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=darkblue]My school is boring, it doesn't offer many languages. Only two, Spanish and German. I love German class and this summer we get to go to Germany! ^_^ We sold all these mouth watering german candies to raise the money, but it was expensive!
I wish our school offered Japanese or something, I guess I'll just have to wait till college for that. That is one of the big downsides of living in a small town that nobody knows of. :(
So yeah, I take German and proud of it! Don't dis German, 'cuse it's cool. ( to me anyway. ^^;; )[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[outlawstar69]

Well, it's better than nothing. I'd rather remember some words pronounced badly than none at all... They would be able to understand you, anyway. I mean, you can understand foriegners with accents, even if they say things wrong, right? (And we would be just that...) I took spanish for two years, and I'm still in high school and forgot it already. I didn't like the teacher either. Oh well.

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]I really need to learn Spanish.

I took four years of French and I hardly remember how to formulate a sentence correctly anymore. I can read it, but I can't speak or write it very well at all. It was kind of a waste of a class all those years when I could have been taking a valuable language like Spanish.

Living in Southern California really makes you realize how much the Spanish language is integrated into the United States. If I knew Spanish I could speak a lot more easily with the Spanish-only speaking families I could photograph, and being in small town Mexican villages would be a lot easier.

Hopefully I can learn Spanish sooner or later, I'm sure that it will be nothing but beneficial to me in the long run :)[/color]

[IkkiMechaPilot]

At my highschool japanese is big so its hard to get into the class meaning i wont be in it till next semester but for now a friend is teaching me dutch ive been learning some japanese from another friends and i applied to take german is early collage classes so im hoping to get into that cause i love words too and cause ive learned so much english in my 17 years of reading to many books that i think ive just about learned all the english there is to learn. also since i like words and languages i have made up several laguages myself but realy its pointless cause no one but me can speak them and no one is likely to.