Let's have a good old fashioned language thread. All those interested in (certain) languages and linguistics are welcome to discuss. Tell us of your current interests, if you have any useful sites for those looking into starting on the language learning journey, if you're blocked and don't know where to start from/continue, or you want to try new methods/approaches of learning to reinvigorate your study/ies
I'm currently trying to learn the basics of Istanbul and Azeri Turkish (more Azeri, but I rely on Turkish materials as well). Trying to find an entry point into Turkic languages. I find them interesting in general. Ideally, I'd like to know at least one language of each Eurasian group (known, large groups) - this is a far fetched dream. Otherwise, at least three languages up to B1, comfortable discussion level
The material I use is Memrise (which has a lot of vocabulary drills on Turkish, far less on Azeri though), Duolingo (purely Turkish exercises and short grammar points), an Azeri language blog by an expatriate (azerbaijanilanguageDOTwordpressDOTcom), the brief UniLang (which is a fucking nice site) course, the very basics of what you can find in all Turkic languages and lastly, "Azerdict" as base dictionary. There's also Antimoon forum, but it's messy and linguaholic, if anyone's interested. The University of Texas also has a section of a few languages like old French, English, Albanian, Classical Armenian, Gothic, Old Church Slavonic and so on
If you're struck with the "ancient languages" fever, "lexicity" is for you. It's a linguistic gold mine, my favourite site on the internet
tl;dr, sorry bru but true
>>60258517
- Language thread
- What are you currently learning
- Do you have any material/advice for others
- Discuss languages here
- Useful links: Duolingo, Memrise, Antimoon forum, UniLang, Lexicity, utexas.edu
That's about it
pls respond
responding
>utexas.edu
thanks
>>60258974
>What are you currently learning
Mandarin
>Do you have any material/advice for others
Chinese skill obviously, I found allsetlearning to be really helpful.
>Discuss languages here
I wonder if it's as hard for Asians to learn a Western language than it is for us. It seems so hard and slow compared to any European language
>>60259908
Bol'shoje spasibo.... ochen' razocharovan. prosto mne ne suzhdeno
How good is Duolingo for learning basic German/Dutch?
ek munuð meyla - Old norse
Jeg elsker små piger - Modern danish
Minä rakastan pikkutyttöjä - Finnish
Ich liebe junge Mädchen - German
Amo a las niñas pequeñas - Spanish
mahal ko ang mga batang babae - Tagalog
J'aime les petites filles - French
幼女を愛してる - Japanese
어린 소녀들 사랑 해요 - Korean
i liebe jungi meitli - Swiss
我爱小女生 - Chinese (Standard)
Parvas puellas amo - Latin
Ik hou van kleine meisjes - Dutch
Mám rád malé holčičky - Czech
ฉันรักเด็กผู้หญิงเล็ก - Thai
ma armastan väikseid tüdrukuid - Estonian
Eu amo as meninas - Portugese
Αγαπάω μιkρά kορίτσια - Greek
Contributions and corrections accepted!
>>60260032
They probably just take as much time as we do to learn a language with a different alphabet...
>>60260523
>Amo a las niñas pequeñas - Spanish
>J'aime les petites filles - French
Following those two examples, this:
>Eu amo as meninas - Portuguese
Should be this:
>Eu amo as menininhas
or
>Eu amo as meninas pequenas
>Eu amo as pequenas meninas
>>60260523
Fucking nonce
>>60260687
Thank you, I'm trying to keep them relatively uniform
>>60259986
Here's a precise link, my Yehudi friend
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/index.html
>>60260032
>>60260032
Wouldn't it be harder for them than it is for us? Taking Mandarin for example. Tones are hard, so I've heard. I know a few Mandarin phrases, with solid tones, so I can't speak with absolute certainty, but their syntax and grammar don't seem as demanding. Now imagine being a Chinese person trying to learn German or Italian. That "compactness" of Asian languages is missing, replaced by elaborate European forms. Arabic, Farsi and Turkic languages (that I know) rely on compounds. They created this rigidity in their vocabulary with it. For example in Farsi, if they could find a way to break the compounds, the language would be literally infinite. This way, they bind themselves and limit their vocabulary extensively. In Turkic language, it's all about building blocks, suffixation, which again harms you if you're European. All sentences sound Neanderthal to you, directly translated. You might get the same feeling with directly translated Mandarin sentences
I'm learning the Arabic alphabet at the moment. No intention of learning any language that uses it but I like the way it looks desu
would like to learn german plz
:-DD
For Russian learners. Mega folder has a lot of materials in it.
>>60260517
Pretty good for the necessary/basic vocabulary. Every day descriptions as well. It will equip you with the "survival" verbs (to be, to eat/sleep/drink, to live, to love/like, to have, to think, to speak and such), accompanied by a core vocabulary of family, dates, colours, professions, time/date
For grammar points, definitely not
An American also asked this a week or so ago... You must use the above to form your own sentences. This core vocabulary and survival verbs are great to push yourself and continue your studies. There's no greater reward than successfully putting your knowledge to use and building your own sentences is a must with the above. To put it simply and bluntly, if you keep getting a Duolingo sentence: "I love chocolate chip cookies", after you finish your session, think about what else do you love, and already have in your learned vocabulary. Mix sentences and verbs. It's a daily, mini encouragement you can give yourself. A proof that it's working and you're doing something right. Afterwards, expand it towards this scheme: Noun (+ adjective) + verb (+ location (+) time/date)
>>60260856
That's why I'm wondering, it's hard to imagine. Nothing seems really complicated compared to French it's the same level of complexity, apart from German I guess. Now that I think about it most Chinese people I speak to make tons of mistakes in both English and French, sometimes really obvious ones. It's probably easier for them to get to a decent level, but if you try to speak like a native it becomes really hard considering all the rules maybe
>>60260873
I completely get what you're saying. But you might change your mind with Farsi. It's a beautiful language (not as coarse, "Semitic" as Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ge'ez...) that employs the Perso-Arabic alphabet
I remember when I started learning the alphabet. Clustered together, the letters look like intimidating gibberish, but learning them one by one, it's really intuitive
>>60261374
As far as I know, Mandarin doesn't have genders, elaborate tenses as European languages do (take their past tense for example, Slavic languages kill you with tenses, Mandarin (I think) adds a particle in front and you have your past tense). Particles in general make lots of their grammar. European languages have a lot of "meaningful" words. "Full" words that can stand for themselves, while Mandarin seems to have bases and expansions as a norm, an inverse pyramid vocabulary (considering they can also have words being verbs and nouns, or adjectives)
pls respond #2
It's a good thread
>>60261580
>Slavic languages kill you with tenses
What's special about it?
>>60260523
If that has a pedo sense, and refers to non-specific girls, it should be something like this in Spanish:
Me encantan las niñas pequeñas
or
Me gustan las niñas pequeñas.
"Amo a las niñas pequeñas" -might be- correct, but it sounds weird.
Contribution, in Catalan:
M'encanten les nenes petites.
or
M'agraden les nenes petites.
I'm learning french and I really wan't to learn russian
you should learn br portuguese, its the most comfy language of all time
I'm thinking about learning Chinese. How do you choose which language to learn? What do you think will be a popular language 50 years from now?
>>60258461
Any Swedish speakers here? How easy it it? Is it possible to master it? I'm currently learning right now I'm currently learning German
>>60258461
Nice thread.
>>60267970
Choose whichever language interests you the most. That way you'll have the most motivation to learn it.
>>60260873
Learning other languages' alphabets can come in use. I studied Arabic for a short while, and I plan on starting to study Uyghur soon, which means I just have to review the Arabic alphabet plus learn the letters unique to Uyghur, making it quicker than starting completely from scratch.
Anybody know of some good resources for learning Belorussian?
>>60267970
I had a look at a university prospectus and thought "Mandarin & Business would be pretty cool"
The thought of doing a language hadn't even crossed my mind before then
>>60258461
Been learning Norwegian on Duolingo but only done like 3 of the modules so far. Any advice?
>>60266145
Thank you! I'll add Catalan and make a note about the Spanish one on the other document
>>60267970
Learning a language requires an immense amount of time and effort.
People will always tell you to learn the language that interests you the most but do you really want to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of hours learning a useless language?
Go with Mandarin. It's interesting as fuck and being able to read more and more Mandarin everyday will motivate you to keep going.
>>60272508
I fucking hate esperanto
I know English, Dutch, and German very well, but all any one ever speaks to me is English. I hate this life.
korean be ugly desu
jol jol jol jol jol jol jol jol jol jol jol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JETS-71QowY
>>60274274
No one speaks Dutch to you?
>>60272508
I feel bad for esperantists.
>>60272508
Why even learn Esperanto when you can just learn Spanish?
>>60274559
Everyone speaks English at the university, because the program I follow is taught in English. I pretty much only use Dutch when I speak to the people ringing me up or answering the door. Or when I'm talking shit about the fucking international students.
learning French using Duolingo
>>60275288
Duolingo is a nice first step. But it lacks in details and shit.
>>60260523
>J'aime les petites filles
J'aime les filles petites*
Nouns before adjectives in all Romance languages
>>60261150
are there similar 'language flowcharts' for other languages?
