Who here is multilingual

[Watson]

Depends on where you go. Anywhere in France you will go, almost no matter what, they will know you are american. In the north, however, its not a big deal, and most of the people there are totally awesome. Southern france, however, is where you will have some trouble.

My experience in France is that if you speak the language, you're in. As far as racism, I think how it manifests itself is that they don't like people of colour who act differently then what the dominant culture is (catholic, follow the regular civic holidays, etc.). If you do act the same, they care less. I have't been in many years though so I can't speak to the climate now.

 

[cookiva]

Le and la are the worst things EVER



Snooty southerners eh? I just need to get my deriere over there.

Its the weirdest thing. The northerners, especially in Normandy, love us. They realize that americans, for the whole, are good people. In the south, though, you will need to know your french pretty damn well.

 

[knowsbleed]

How many of you have actually used a Rosetta Stone program? How effective are they?

 

[Bubonic]

I once lost 30 points on a test purely b/c of misplaced accent marks

I know the feeling, most of the dictée I had to do came back soaked in red. I'm really upset at myself for writing off French though... I took for granted that I could speak it, I discouraged myself from taking an interest because I felt pressure from my peers to dismiss it and view English as the right way.

Totally, too bad I hear the racism has gotten pretty bad in France. Moroccans are moving in and the Frenchmen are not happy.

I've heard about the tensions between Arabs and the French. Here's a popular Tunisian rapper that takes on the subject, and then some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSU4sXcaLQM

 

[Colossal Spoons]

My experience in France is that if you speak the language, you're in. As far as racism, I think how it manifests itself is that they don't like people of colour who act differently then what the dominant culture is (catholic, follow the regular civic holidays, etc.). If you do act the same, they care less. I have't been in many years though so I can't speak to the climate now.

I used to be Catholic, I can totally pretend lol

Its the weirdest thing. The northerners, especially in Normandy, love us. They realize that americans, for the whole, are good people. In the south, though, you will need to know your french pretty damn well.

Interesting

 

[Colossal Spoons]

How many of you have actually used a Rosetta Stone program? How effective are they?

I plan on buying them first thing when I get settled

 

[cookiva]

My experience in France is that if you speak the language, you're in. As far as racism, I think how it manifests itself is that they don't like people of colour who act differently then what the dominant culture is (catholic, follow the regular civic holidays, etc.). If you do act the same, they care less. I have't been in many years though so I can't speak to the climate now.

Eh, thats how it is with everyone, though. The only country in which I haven't found people who wouldn't help you is in the Netherlands. They will speak english in a heartbeat to help you out.

Its crazy. To work in a McDonalds in Belgium, you must speak 3 languages (french, dutch, and either german or english). You MUST speak 3 languages. Here you are lucky to find people to speak 2, but these are people who work in fast food!

 

[cookiva]

I know the feeling, most of the dictée I had to do came back soaked in red. I'm really upset at myself for writing off French though... I took for granted that I could speak it, I discouraged myself from taking an interest because I felt pressure from my peers to dismiss it and view English as the right way.



I've heard about the tensions between Arabs and the French. Here's a popular Tunisian rapper that takes on the subject, and then some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSU4sXcaLQM

Hells yes! Sniper is awesome!

 

[cookiva]

You in the military, on the run from the Yakuza, or what? Haha, sounds like you've traveled a bit.

My dad's job forced us to move around alot. 5 years in Belgium, 1 in China, and 6 months in Paris, then back here. While I felt like we were always going somewhere new, it was the best time of my life. I would be a totally different person if I did not move around as a child.

 

[Watson]

Eh, thats how it is with everyone, though. The only country in which I haven't found people who wouldn't help you is in the Netherlands. They will speak english in a heartbeat to help you out.

Its crazy. To work in a McDonalds in Belgium, you must speak 3 languages (french, dutch, and either german or english). You MUST speak 3 languages. Here you are lucky to find people to speak 2, but these are people who work in fast food!

LMAO. Yet you only need two of the official languages of the UN to work at ANY of thier agencies.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

My dad's job forced us to move around alot. 5 years in Belgium, 1 in China, and 6 months in Paris, then back here. While I felt like we were always going somewhere new, it was the best time of my life. I would be a totally different person if I did not move around as a child.

That sounds awesome. There are times when I wonder how my life would have been had my dad accepted a position he was offered in Iceland.

 

[AndThePickles]

That sounds awesome. There are times when I wonder how my life would have been had my dad accepted a position he was offered in Iceland.

It would have been not as awesome because you would have never met me

I wish I had been more exposed to other languages. Even my Spanish was a joke...the teachers barely taught and just showed American movies with some Spanish in them.

Mandarin would have been great if the professor had been more helpful.

 

[cookiva]

LMAO. Yet you only need two of the official languages of the UN to work at ANY of thier agencies.

I was always surprised as a 10 year old who had near to none idea on how to speak french that I was able to converse with fast food guys.

Once I finish uni, I'm hoping to move back to Bruxelles. Greatest city I have ever been to. It has everything anyone would ever want.

 

[jaguarr]

That be a great gift to your child, and the earlier on you teach them, the more intuitive it will be for them.
Apart from speaking it with your wife, I suggest you read some Spanish literature if you ever have the time.
I'm not at that level yet, but once my professor puts the basis in my head, she says the best thing is to read.
You'll get a better sense of how Spanish is naturally used.

Thinking of it, I'd do myself a favour if I picked up a French book.

Yeah, my wife has some great literature in Spanish that I've read through a bit with her help. Very useful for teaching yourself a language. So is watching a television station or DVD with the Spanish closed captions on or even Univision with no captions at all, trying to figure out what's being said.

To answer knowsbleed's question, Rosetta Stone is awesome as long as you bother to really use it.

jag

 

[cookiva]

It would have been not as awesome because you would have never met me

I wish I had been more exposed to other languages. Even my Spanish was a joke...the teachers barely taught and just showed American movies with some Spanish in them.

Mandarin would have been great if the professor had been more helpful.

Which is why I hate high school languages here. No emphasis upon learning the language, only 2 years of fun easy classes, then drop them. I HAD to take french every year living in Belgium and France, and same goes for Mandarin in Shanghai. University is leaps and bounds better than HS, but thats for obvious reasons.

I do love, however, that I'm read novels in French lit this year that I read in 9th grade...

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Once I finish uni, I'm hoping to move back to Bruxelles. Greatest city I have ever been to. It has everything anyone would ever want.

How so?

 

[Bubonic]

Do Ebonics count? Please say no.

Well no, since its pidgin, but it has an useful tense which "regular" English doesn't have, the continuative tense.

Excellent. I'm re-learning it after not having taken it for about 8 years. I don't mind the conjugation so much(just hard to remember), but the pronouns (whether to use aux, des, a la, etc) just kill me.

Well a thing to remember is that the adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun. La is feminine, le is masculine. Even though flower is feminine, la fleur, if there are many it converts to les fleurs, which is different then the Spanish which also has plural feminine pronouns.

Aux will be used to say "to the", but there is a singular form as well... It gets to be a headache.

I had the most fun of my life learning Mandarin. Its easy for me to learn languages, however. When I was a kid, I was pretty good in spanish and dutch, but now its gone. I was able to go thru 2 years of Mandarin in one, but that was while living in Shanghai.

If you have a chance, try picking it up. Great fun.

I keep hearing that it is a very logical, easy to pick up language... But I just can't see how!
Whereas learning Spanish is facilitated for me by already speaking to languages with latin roots, Mandarin is Sino-Tibetan, uses characters, and is a tonal language, where your enunciation is absolutely crucial to being understood!
I'm pretty intimidated by the prospect of learning it.

Which brings me to the question, after a certain age, how many languages can the brain handle?
I could see the dilema of constantly getting mixed up if I learnt Italian and Portuguese after Spanish, as the cognates are many.

 

[cookiva]

How so?

Entertainment-wise, its very similar to a large american city, with midsize theaters and pop/rock concerts, giving me that touch of pop culture in my mind still. It has amazing operas and museums. Architecture is my favorite in all of Europe. Amazing food. Great people. Just an all around amazing city. I have friends that still live there, and we usually meet up once a year, and every time I go, I come back missing it more.

 

[AndThePickles]

I keep hearing that it is a very logical, easy to pick up language... But I just can't see how!
Whereas learning Spanish is facilitated for me by already speaking to languages with latin roots, Mandarin is Sino-Tibetan, uses characters, and is a tonal language, where your enunciation is absolutely crucial to being understood!
I'm pretty intimidated by the prospect of learning it.

It's logical, but I would never call it easy. It's difficult, and I would recommend learning it at a slow pace, because you MUST master the basics in order to learn anything. You really have to want to learn it...although, if you do, it can be a lot of fun.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Entertainment-wise, its very similar to a large american city, with midsize theaters and pop/rock concerts, giving me that touch of pop culture in my mind still. It has amazing operas and museums. Architecture is my favorite in all of Europe. Amazing food. Great people. Just an all around amazing city. I have friends that still live there, and we usually meet up once a year, and every time I go, I come back missing it more.

Fascinating

If I lived in France for any extended period of time, I'd have to seek out a techno dance club. I couldn't come back to America before getting my fill of the European rave scene.

 

[cookiva]

I keep hearing that it is a very logical, easy to pick up language... But I just can't see how!
Whereas learning Spanish is facilitated for me by already speaking to languages with latin roots, Mandarin is Sino-Tibetan, uses characters, and is a tonal language, where your enunciation is absolutely crucial to being understood!
I'm pretty intimidated by the prospect of learning it.

If you are truley interested, go to a used book store and pick up a Mandarin study book. See if its something you would want to follow up on.

Which brings me to the question, after a certain age, how many languages can the brain handle?
I could see the dilema of constantly getting mixed up if I learnt Italian and Portuguese after Spanish, as the cognates are many.

I would say that if you have the time, you could potentially pick up more and more. I know its easier to pick them up as a child, but I think a part of that is due to the less amount of time you spend working on things of this nature as an adult.

This convo is making me want to go pick up a new book in french. I usually do that once a month or so, as most of my french friends moved awhile away, and dont catch up with them as much as I would like to.

 

[Bubonic]

Yeah, my wife has some great literature in Spanish that I've read through a bit with her help. Very useful for teaching yourself a language. So is watching a television station or DVD with the Spanish closed captions on or even Univision with no captions at all, trying to figure out what's being said.

jag

Although I can go over text and usually get a pretty good idea of what is going on, when I hear Spanish spoken on t.v., I can usually pick out a few words if even that much.
I tried to eavesdrop on a Spanish conversation in the subway, same problem.
When people are speaking amongst themselves, they aren't slowing down since they have a clear understanding... I'd have to be spoken to like I had special needs.

My teacher did say something encouraging though, that the differences between Spanish of Guatemala, Spain, the Caribbean or whatnot are less pronounced phonotecally then between a Scot, a dude from Liverpool, and a Texan. Or a Parisian and a Quebecer.

 

[cookiva]

Fascinating

If I lived in France for any extended period of time, I'd have to seek out a techno dance club. I couldn't come back to America before getting my fill of the European rave scene.

Oh my god. If that is true, watch out. Alot of drugs get passed around, and accidents happen. I know that sounds funny, but its true. Someone is always there to put drugs in someone else's drink. Nothing lethal, but if you dont expect it, you wont have fun.

Then again, if you do expect it, you will have the most fun of your life.

 

[cookiva]

Although I can go over text and usually get a pretty good idea of what is going on, when I hear Spanish spoken on t.v., I can usually pick out a few words if even that much.
I tried to eavesdrop on a Spanish conversation in the subway, same problem.
When people are speaking amongst themselves, they aren't slowing down since they have a clear understanding... I'd have to be spoken to like I had special needs.

My teacher did say something encouraging though, that the differences between Spanish of Guatemala, Spain, the Caribbean or whatnot are less pronounced phonotecally then between a Scot, a dude from Liverpool, and a Texan. Or a Parisian and a Quebecer.

This is how I am with Dutch, at the moment. I want to get back into it, as its another fun language to learn.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Oh my god. If that is true, watch out. Alot of drugs get passed around, and accidents happen. I know that sounds funny, but its true. Someone is always there to put drugs in someone else's drink. Nothing lethal, but if you dont expect it, you wont have fun.

Then again, if you do expect it, you will have the most fun of your life.

*looks around*

Guess I'm havin fun