Languages

Lol!

Rut roh.

"Spanish: 325 days. Level 24. I've noticed that I'm understanding more of what I'm hearing around me, such as radio commercials and people talking. I've also noticed that I can understand a little Portguese and Italian as a result of this."

Yep. Spanish, Portuguese and Italian have their roots in Latin. But you knew that.

The troups are curious how you're coming along with spelling Portuguese [in English] correctly...?

:-)

Mico-education or learning only needs 15-20 per day.

If someone can do 45-60 per day behind the wheel while concentrating on traffic, they'll get it down.

Oh and I began following the YouTube channel Dreaming Spanish, which has been fun and helpful.

Quick update, in case anyone else is doing Duolingo, or gives a damn.

Spanish: 325 days. Level 24. I've noticed that I'm understanding more of what I'm hearing around me, such as radio commercials and people talking. I've also noticed that I can understand a little Portguese and Italian as a result of this. I'm hoping it's not going to be much longer before I try having crude conversations with people.

Chinese: 225 days*. Level 10. Whoo boy. This shit is rough. But I've come so very far in some ways. Duolingo refuses to slow the Chinese down much for you the way it lets you do in Spanish, and for a long time it just sounded like a flurry of nonsense when I'm listening with nothing to read. But while I can't explain why, it's becoming more clear why it was doing this, to get me more used to the natural pacing of the language.

I've also learned a significant amount in what goes into the writing. I was so excited that I successfully read "Is her bed comfortable?" and read and chose the right answer of "No, her bed is old." All in Chinese writing with no help or context.

The interesting this is that because Chinese is so far removed from English, you have to learn to let go of the idea of word for word translations and looking for patterns and rules similar to those in English. In other words, your English is your worst enemy in learning Chinese. I'm told that this is what makes it easier to learn more languages, because you learn to stop letting your native language interfere with the one you're trying to learn.

*Duolingo doesn't track days per language, just how many days you have a streak for. I started Chinese about 100 days in, so I'm just going to always take 100 days off my Spanish #.

I can understand the general gist of Spanish conversations so long as the speaker isn't Cuban. I can read a little more than that.

I can understand uncomplicated conversations in Hebrew, but reading it is tougher because only new words or media meant for children and new immigrants have vowels added in, so you really need to already know the words to read them. Also, if I try to read Hebrew, which goes from right to left, I read and write backwards in English for a few hours.

I used to be fluent in Puerto Rican when my father was around. Since he left I've had very little reason to use it so it's kind of gone away a little.

But I was in PR last year and was happy to find that o could have decent conversations with people. I was a little hurt that I lost the accent so they immediately knew I want a native speaker.

I can speak enough French to ask directions or order from a menu. Basic present tense conversation. I used to be much better but as time passes without practice you lose it really quickly.
I can read Spanish, French, and Italian enough and use deciphering clues to get a general idea because I was taught Latin by a tiny scary nun for 4 years that those Latin skills have stuck with me out of fear of her haunting me about living up to my potential ??

I know a few words and phrases of Spanish and am slowly learning enunciations & references. My direct neighbors are Puerto Rican & Guatamalan in the same household and across the cul-de-sac, Mexican. My direct neighbors, surrounding neighbors and I hate the guy and his roommate that live across the cul-de-sac from me, not because of their Mexican decent, but because they are assholes and are a nuisance to the neighborhood!

I know a few words of other languages here and there, just because I have heard those words many times over the years.

Nein is German for 'no.' Dummkopf is German for 'dummy.' Oi is British English for grabbing someone's attention in a rude way, to express your own disapproval of something. Ciao is Latin and Italian based on Latin, for 'hello' and 'goodbye.'

I stopped speaking English as a child and would only speak Bisaya.

Do you speak any language other than English? If so, at what level?

I once spoke some shitty Quebecois (Quebec's dialect of French). Enough to conduct some basic conversation, and I can still read some to an extent. I had just a smidgen of Plautdietsch from my early childhood, but it's long gone.

I had fooled around with learning Spanish for years, mostly because I'm surrounded by it and am often the only white guy on my baseball teams. But beginning in January I began taking it more seriously and started with Duolingo. I'm now at 191 days, almost to level 20, which is still beginner. I'm simultaneously also doing Mandarin Chinese - at level 7.

What say you?