Studying Languages

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Skitty; impaled.
Cliché Catastrophe
Skitty; impaled.
Age: 16
Gender: Male
Posts: 670
September 6th, 2008 at 08:40pm
Well I studied French for four years, and Latin for two. I did very well in Latin, I got the best mark in my school for my exams. Cute
I enjoy learning new languages too. But at my school, we were only offered French or Latin. From what I've heard, most people in my year hated French but everyone loved Latin. I know people are all 'oh it's a dead language' but in actual fact, it's helped my English too. I think the stories and everything are just really interesting.
Kurtni O'Hara
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Kurtni O'Hara
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Posts: 3417
September 7th, 2008 at 12:07am
LaughingToLeave:

tehe thank you, i'll take that as a compliment, but no, English is not my first language, it's Serbian (it's kind of similar to Russian, not the same but there are some similarities)
Thank you Con

Serbian, eh? I'm trying to learn Croatian which is similar. tehe Its a difficult language.
LaughingToLeave
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LaughingToLeave
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Posts: 1118
September 7th, 2008 at 10:41am
^Yeah, grammar structure is the same, couple of words are different. In past it was the one language Serbian-Croatian (something like that) although Croatian is more beautiful than Serbian. Both are very difficult languages, good luck.
Wednesday Addams
Amateur Author
Wednesday Addams
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Posts: 287
September 8th, 2008 at 05:56pm
I'm kind of messy as far as foreign languages are concerned, because I keep moving schools and they keep changing the syllabus... I'm in Northern ireland btw.

I started learning French in P4 (7-8 years old), and that was actually really fun. Our teacher was from Germany originally and spoke French, German and English all perfectly. Then I moved schools at the end of P4 and went to a school that started French in P6 (age 9-10). So I started French from scratch again... and then I went to high school and in year 8 (11-12 years old) I started from scratch AGAIN because most primary schools don't teach French.

Then in year 9 (12-13 years old) some of the 'smarter people' took up Spanish, and then at the end of the year we could choose whether to continue Spanish or quit it and take up German instead... crazy Smile

You have to do a language up until GCSE at my school though, and if you were never one of the 'smarter people' then that language had to be French. Which I think is stupid, because not everyone likes French. Maybe if those kids got a chance to do Spanish or German they'd be good at it, but... that's how it goes...
Warhol.
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Warhol.
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Posts: 102
September 11th, 2008 at 06:48am
I'm not sure if I'm in the right spot, but I'm taking spanish right now and I'm finding it to be a little difficult with all he masculine/feminine rules and stuff...

That being said, I was wondering if anybody could help me out. If you take spanish... or can explain what all that masculine/feminine stuff means I would greatly appreciate it.
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Ink Slinger
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Age: 14
Gender: Female
Posts: 882
September 11th, 2008 at 11:08am
It's like Americans don't speak real English. They've changed words like "mum" into "mom" and "colour" into "color."

Although I write in that way just to be different from my peers, I prefer the real English language, which I use in class.
Bells.
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Bells.
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Posts: 1071
September 11th, 2008 at 11:22am
I think learning another language should be compulsory. I wrote an essay on it the other day... Here are my main points: you are more likely to be employed; you learn about another culture, another way of life; easier to travel and communicate with people; you learn more about your own language. In saying that, since Americans don't know their own language, they should learn another and develop both.
kafka.
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kafka.
Age: 16
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Posts: 3018
September 11th, 2008 at 04:23pm
oreo cookie.:
It's like Americans don't speak real English. They've changed words like "mum" into "mom" and "colour" into "color."

Although I write in that way just to be different from my peers, I prefer the real English language, which I use in class.

The language changes with time.
If you read a Shakespearean play you'll see that his English is not the English we use now but that doesn't mean that's not real English.

I really want to pick up a bit of Turkish because I've been really interested in Ottoman culture lately. Or maybe Old Persian. OH. And I want to learn to write in Egyptian hieroglyphs. That would be just beyond cool, I've heard they're rather simple and logical to learn.
I'm sure to fail though, I pick up too many things.
Rocky Raccoon.
Writer's Block
Rocky Raccoon.
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Posts: 51
September 11th, 2008 at 08:21pm
I've studied French since I was six, and I'm pretty good...I do German too, but I'm not as good at that, ha.
Kurtni O'Hara
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Kurtni O'Hara
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Posts: 3417
September 12th, 2008 at 03:52pm
LaughingToLeave:
^Yeah, grammar structure is the same, couple of words are different. In past it was the one language Serbian-Croatian (something like that) although Croatian is more beautiful than Serbian. Both are very difficult languages, good luck.

Sebro-Croatian I think

and Yeah I've noticed. Cheese It's extremely difficult.
Bloodraine
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Bloodraine
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Posts: 1335
September 12th, 2008 at 10:20pm
Warhol.:
I'm not sure if I'm in the right spot, but I'm taking spanish right now and I'm finding it to be a little difficult with all he masculine/feminine rules and stuff...

That being said, I was wondering if anybody could help me out. If you take spanish... or can explain what all that masculine/feminine stuff means I would greatly appreciate it.

With Spanish (and a lot of other languages, too) every object (or noun) has a gender. 'El' is masculine singular and 'la' is femenine singular. Likewise, 'los' is masculine plural and 'las' is feminine plural.
The rule for determining what nouns have what gender is somewhat more difficult to explain, as it depends on the ending of a word, and, of course, there are always exceptions there to trip you up.

I hope that helped, although I don't think I explained it too well. If you want me to clarify that, then please ask. (:
Eyes Only.
Grammar Guru
Eyes Only.
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Posts: 4637
September 13th, 2008 at 12:23am
I learn French, German, Cantonese, Spanish and Russian.

But Russian is my main one, followed by Cantonese. (Which my cantonese friends teach me.)
Eyes Only.
Grammar Guru
Eyes Only.
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Posts: 4637
September 13th, 2008 at 12:24am
Kurtni St. Cyr:
LaughingToLeave:

tehe thank you, i'll take that as a compliment, but no, English is not my first language, it's Serbian (it's kind of similar to Russian, not the same but there are some similarities)
Thank you Con

Serbian, eh? I'm trying to learn Croatian which is similar. tehe Its a difficult language.


I learn Russian... its difficult too!
Umbrella Pwnage
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Umbrella Pwnage
Age: 15
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Posts: 1983
September 13th, 2008 at 02:32am
I just started learning French. I'm really enjoying it. I go to a small school so we don't get the opportunity to learn another language until we enter high school. Even then we only have the choice of French or Spanish. My mom tells me it's more practical to learn Spanish because of immigrants but I'm not really drawn to it.
Not to sound rude but it kind of bores me.
Mia Bell.
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Mia Bell.
Age: 87
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Posts: 959
September 15th, 2008 at 09:58am
I'm trying to teach myself German..We don't have languages at our school.
AngelDemon
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AngelDemon
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Posts: 135
September 16th, 2008 at 08:10pm
In Ireland, you have to learn a language (not including Irish, which everyone does, except me 'cause I'm originally from England), usually either French or German. This because you need one of those to get into an Irish university, I believe is the point of it all. But I'm lucky because I actually enjoy learning French. XD
Shattered Music
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Shattered Music
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Posts: 172
September 25th, 2008 at 08:49pm
I am actually learning Italian at the moment. Hopefully, this will give me a break from all the Spanish so I can learn both languages properly. Which might be a bit confusing since some of their words are similar.
sunshines
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sunshines
Age: 25
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Posts: 2908
September 26th, 2008 at 06:40am
I think learning a language is very good for a student. It broadens their views on the world, teachers them how to be more excepting of other cultures, apparently 'increases the usage of brain cells' or something like that Unsure, it helps a student with both their first language and second language, makes you more likely to get a job, makes it easier to communicate in countries that speak that language [more traveling opportunities], can assist you if you plan on applying for a job overseas in a country that speaks that language.

Overall, I think it's a great opportunity. But here's to the hypocrite who dropped French 'cause they couldn't fit it in with all their other subjects. XD
Lucky Stars
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Lucky Stars
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Posts: 207
October 28th, 2008 at 02:45pm
My school is a 'designated language college', apparently.
Meaning that we HAVE to study French and one other foreign language, and at least one language for GCSE.

We can choose from Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, and French.
I was studying Spanish and French.. but I chose French for GCSE. I'm pretty good at it.. Rolling Eyes

It's a great opportunity though, to know at least one other language.
Electric Feel.
Amateur Author
Electric Feel.
Age: 12
Gender: Female
Posts: 232
October 28th, 2008 at 05:10pm
Meh , my school [which is in Ireland] offers French , German , Spanish and Italian.
French & German are compulsory for one year , then you have to choose one , and study that until fourth year. You can then drop it. In fourth year you can either take Spanish or Italian , but you can only take it for a year.

Irish and English of course , are compulsory.

I think knowing another language is cool , and is bound to come in handy.