Readers Against Prejudice and Racism discussion

What other languages do you want to learn besides your own language? I always wanted to learn Russian, Japanese, Chinese, German and French.

I should learn Spanish. I tried twice but had lousy teachers both times. My brother was in the Peace Corps so he can get along in several languages - he says Japanese is very hard for English speakers.

Oh yeah, I heard that Japanese was pretty difficult to learn, so was Russian and Chinese. Our schools rarely had classes that teaches Japanese and other languages aside from French and Spanish.

Russian would not be as hard to learn as Chinese and Japanese. Yes, you have a different script, but because Russian, like English, German, French, Spanish etc. is an Indo-European language, at least the basic grammar rules are similar, while both Chinese and Japanese not only have a different script, they also have very different language rules with regard to word order, grammar and sentence structure. Personally, I would like to brush up on my French and Spanish, learn Latin and ancient Greek, as well as how to read Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. And, I would also love to learn Elfish (Sindarin, from Tolkien's LOTR).

Oh! I didn't know that Japanese and Chinese were harder to learn than Russian. Thanks for the info Gundula!

i really wanna learn mandarin and japanese and arabic..and i hope to be fluent in english as well!

Ooh!! Mandarin sounds like an interesting language to learn Lolliepop!

Ronyell wrote: "Ooh!! Mandarin sounds like an interesting language to learn Lolliepop!"

yup! that's why i am currently looking for language centre at my area..but, no luck yet!

When we were in school, my sister took Latin while I took Spanish. I used to laugh at her for taking a dead language. She's got the last laugh on me as she now speaks High and Low German, French, Italian, and Spanish...besides her Latin.

I've got a bit of Spanish and French but nowhere near as fluent as my sis. I think Mandarin would be interesting to learn...

I took a couple semesters of Russian at my local college. Not too hard. I would like to learn Japanese!

Tammy wrote: "I took a couple semesters of Russian at my local college. Not too hard. I would like to learn Japanese!"

Ooh! You did? What was it like?

All of the Scandinavian languages, especially Swedish (many books I could then read in the original)

Japanese (to read Murakami in the original)

Better French (to speak it more fluently)

Ancient Greek (New Testament but mostly because it looks so beautiful to me)

And, of course, German. So much to read. Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus (just 1 example)

Ellie wrote: "All of the Scandinavian languages, especially Swedish (many books I could then read in the original)

Japanese (to read Murakami in the original)

Better French (to speak it more fluently)

Ancient..."

Swedish for sure (I would love to be able to read Astrid Lindgren in the original). Better French, always (if I can get my ass in gear I might have chance to take Ancient Greek and Latin this summer).

Ellie, if you really want to learn German primarily for reading, German Quickly: A Grammar for Reading German and German for Reading Knowledge might be good books to invest in. Most textbooks spend more time on communication and are also more suited for in-class college or university use, although I can recommend a few good textbooks if you are interested.

Thanks Gundula-it's hard to know which text to get, so that's a big help.

Ellie wrote: "All of the Scandinavian languages, especially Swedish (many books I could then read in the original)

Japanese (to read Murakami in the original)

Better French (to speak it more fluently)

Ancient..."

Wow! That's alot of languages to learn Ellie!! Awesome!!

Well, I don't know if I'll be able to do it but I'm hoping to start with German & move from there into the Scandinavian languages.
Acquiring a reading level in a language (I can read in French fairly well-especially 17th century-Proust but I've done Amelie Northomb as well) & some Spanish. So I think it's possible.
Japanese may be too ambitious (it's very difficult & an entirely new form of writing) but my desire to read Murakami may be sufficient incentive! Maybe.

I would like to learn Russian (which I am learning now), Hebrew, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, French, and Arabic. I know Spanish. Italian is quite similar, but I wouldn't mind learning it as well. I love language.

You're learning Russian Danielle? That's great! How's the language so far? I have learned Spanish for many years, so I'm sort of fluent in that language.

Yes, I am using a book: Russian in 10 Minutes a Day. It's a good guide. I'm also going to get an audio cd to use. My sister suggested getting a Russian pen pal to converse with. I think it would be helpful.

Russian is a fun language to learn. At first, the Cyrillic (written alphabet) can through you, because some of the letters look like English, but they are pronounced different. After you get that down, it's not too hard. I am enjoying it, since I have a fascination/admiration for Russian culture/language/people.

I'm really interested in Russian culture too Danielle! I find the language and the country fascinating to learn about! I'll have to check out the book Russian in 10 minutes a Day book myself!

It's definitely worth getting a copy of, Ronyell.

Thanks Danielle!

NP!

Hey guys,

I wonder if anyone is interested insetting up a thread for tandem language learning (you know, I teach you one language, you teach me another). Also, a thread for questions regarding foreign language grammar questions etc. would also be a good idea. I would certainly be willing to answer (as well as I can) any questions regarding German grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

That's a great idea Gundula!!! I'll start a discussion topic on it!

Gundula wrote: "Hey guys,

I wonder if anyone is interested insetting up a thread for tandem language learning (you know, I teach you one language, you teach me another). Also, a thread for questions regarding fo..."

I've just started the thread. Anyone interested in learning other languages feel free to come here.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

I speak only Hebrew and English. I am beginning to learn Arabic and Italian. Want to learn Russian and French.

If anyone wants notes on French on specifics or help with chasing fluency I'd happily give my penny's forth. It's my fist language.

I want to learn Cherokee. I know a few words already since I signed up for online classes. And I think after I learn Cherokee, I might learn Navajo.

I can't even imagine what is sounds like, to be truthful.

Blood Bone and Muscle wrote: "If anyone wants notes on French on specifics or help with chasing fluency I'd happily give my penny's forth. It's my fist language."

Oh! I like to learn French! I've always wanted to learn French, but I could never get the classes to take them.

What classes does your school teach for languages?...

And what dialect from China?

Blood Bone and Muscle wrote: "What classes does your school teach for languages?...

And what dialect from China?"

My schools usually teach Spanish, French and German. I haven't seen my schools teach Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Swahili and other languages, but I would definitely like to learn the other languages!

Ronyell wrote: "Blood Bone and Muscle wrote: "What classes does your school teach for languages?...

And what dialect from China?"

My schools usually teach Spanish, French and German. I haven't seen my schoo..."

Our schools teach English and Spanish (English is the only class we can speak English otherwise your bound to French).

Urdu would be interesting. Swahili is a fun language to speak. Jambo. Habari?

Blood Bone and Muscle wrote: "Ronyell wrote: "Blood Bone and Muscle wrote: "What classes does your school teach for languages?...

And what dialect from China?"

My schools usually teach Spanish, French and German. I haven't s..."

Ooh! Is "Jambo" and "Habari" apart of Swahili?

Yes. It's 'hello' and 'how are you'... I can't remember what 'caribu' means; its been so long since I've visited Africa.

Sometimes you wish you could remember it because it's almost the third language in our schools. Some kids speak it just as much as english.

Again, what dialect from China? Mandarin? Cantonese?

I'd like to learn Latin. It's the root for all the Romance languages and I'd like to be able to understand the Latin tags that show up in various books...

One conseille with Latin is remember that words (nouns, verbs, etc) change given their time and who they are used for.

Good prep...!

Latin example:

He will get a rose: Is mos adepto a rose

He was given a rose: Qui datus est rosa

Notice how the word 'rose' changes given the time and place? Now it gets more complicated when you make it female:

She was given a rose: Rosa quae data.

Kathy wrote: "I'd like to learn Latin. It's the root for all the Romance languages and I'd like to be able to understand the Latin tags that show up in various books..."

Latin, Greek, but what I really want to learn is Swedish and Old Norse (and Sindarin, ha).

Korean and Spanish. I'd like to learn Korean because it would be nice to listen to K-pop and K-dramas without bad translations, and because a lot of people in my family know Spanish.

i speak arabic know little french and italian
i would like to learn spanish to read all my favorite novels in its original language ..
to avoid some inaccuracy in translation...
also wanna learn persian to read olot of the persian sufi literature....that i love....

Sharell wrote: "Korean and Spanish. I'd like to learn Korean because it would be nice to listen to K-pop and K-dramas without bad translations, and because a lot of people in my family know Spanish."

I also want to learn how to speak Korean also! I love the J-Pop and K-Pop music, but I could never translate the lyrics very well, so hopefully I'll be able to understand them better if I learn some Korean and Japanese!

Im gonna start Arabic language studies in the fall. I could perfect Arabic as kid and forget when i came to Sweden. I think its a beautiful singing language and it will open North African,Middle eastern literature,history reading in their own languages for me.

Russian

Mohammed wrote: "Im gonna start Arabic language studies in the fall. I could perfect Arabic as kid and forget when i came to Sweden. I think its a beautiful singing language and it will open North African,Middle ..."

i am ready for any help in Arabic....

:)

Has anyone made any inroads into their language studies lately?

I haven't had as much time to devote to my Russian language studies, lately. I need to get back into my CD.

Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress wrote: "Has anyone made any inroads into their language studies lately?

I haven't had as much time to devote to my Russian language studies, lately. I need to get back into my CD."

No, I've been kind of busy these past few weeks and I wanted to learn some French and Japanese. So, hopefully I'll get enough time to study both languages and more.

It's not the most fruitful way of learning a language, but I do like my language book and my audio CD. I also have found some good Russian language websites.