Bilingual?

Is anyone in here bilingual? If so... when did you learn this language, how has it affected your life & do you feel as if it has benefited you? Do you feel as if you are fluent in this other language (Oh and please state what language you learned)... 

If you migrated to the US, and learned English, do you feel as if you were discriminated against at fist for not knowing English right away? 

*Thanks for the answers. I am struggling to write a paper for my language class about the benefits of learning a second language. Any information is better than none! 

jezebelina-- Remind me what it is? Either I haven't studied it or I just don't remember the name. haha

Original Post by alibsam:

jezebelina-- Remind me what it is? Either I haven't studied it or I just don't remember the name. haha

ali - decelnsions (for nouns, pronouns, adjectives, then the 1st, 2nd, 3rd declensions)...

edit:  plus i have noticed that people have trouble with properly using the grammatical gender in declensions and verb tenses

2nd edit:  although I did know a few who were PERFECTLY fluent  so it can definitely be done (lol - i remember thinking as a child even that russian was the hardest language in the world - lol)

i think it's probably true that learning more than one language increases one's understanding of language, period.

which languages are 'best', in which order one should learn them, yadda yadda yadda, i couldn't say

i only have direct knowledge of the magnet immersion schools in the u.s. (of which there are spanish, japanese, russian, and i think some newer ones have been started with mandarin)

afaik, an extremely high percentage of the children in these schools go on to excel in their studies though college, which suggests that it's not the specific language one is immersed in, but that a broader exploration of Language is achieved

i have often wondered why we've set up the ESOL education program as we have for immigrant children instead of delivering to them an 'English immersion' system of teaching

i really don't think it matters which language

immersion works

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Ah, but English doesn't really have exceptions because the grammatical rules taught in school are inaccurate due to being oversimplified.  

how so?

It all comes down to how those who get graduate degrees in education have the lowest GRE scores out of any other field that requires a GRE score.  I don't trust them to come up with anything worthwhile. :D

Original Post by jezebelina:

Original Post by alibsam:

jezebelina-- Remind me what it is? Either I haven't studied it or I just don't remember the name. haha

ali - decelnsions (for nouns, pronouns, adjectives, then the 1st, 2nd, 3rd declensions)...

edit:  plus i have noticed that people have trouble with properly using the grammatical gender in declensions and verb tenses

 Declensions are the fun part of Russian.  I always found them to be strangely logical.

If grammatical gender is a problem in Russian, then it is in Spanish as well. 

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

afaik, an extremely high percentage of the children in these schools go on to excel in their studies though college, which suggests that it's not the specific language one is immersed in, but that a broader exploration of Language is achieved

I certainly know that I had an easy time in school because of it, so it's true

i have often wondered why we've set up the ESOL education program as we have for immigrant children instead of delivering to them an 'English immersion' system of teaching

For all intents and purposes, it is an immersion system of teaching (as I have undergone it).  There is, at least in my state, one ESL class per day, and the rest of the time the student attends all the classes everyone else does. 

i really don't think it matters which language

You have now agreed with me - it does not have to be a consistent language

immersion works

AGREED

Original Post by dnrothx:

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Ah, but English doesn't really have exceptions because the grammatical rules taught in school are inaccurate due to being oversimplified.  

how so?

It all comes down to how those who get graduate degrees in education have the lowest GRE scores out of any other field that requires a GRE score.  I don't trust them to come up with anything worthwhile. :D

i was hoping you'd share one of the oversimplified grammatical rules that aren't really rules and then share what the real, more complicated, unsimplified rule is

you know, so that i can learn

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Ah, but English doesn't really have exceptions because the grammatical rules taught in school are inaccurate due to being oversimplified.  

how so?

It all comes down to how those who get graduate degrees in education have the lowest GRE scores out of any other field that requires a GRE score.  I don't trust them to come up with anything worthwhile. :D

i was hoping you'd share one of the oversimplified grammatical rules that aren't really rules and then share what the real, more complicated, unsimplified rule is

you know, so that i can learn

 I don't want you to learn. :D

Original Post by dnrothx:

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

Original Post by dnrothx:

Ah, but English doesn't really have exceptions because the grammatical rules taught in school are inaccurate due to being oversimplified.  

how so?

It all comes down to how those who get graduate degrees in education have the lowest GRE scores out of any other field that requires a GRE score.  I don't trust them to come up with anything worthwhile. :D

i was hoping you'd share one of the oversimplified grammatical rules that aren't really rules and then share what the real, more complicated, unsimplified rule is

you know, so that i can learn

 I don't want you to learn. :D

just as i thought

more nonsense

Uh Oh, the nonsense baboon is at it again!

I was always fascinated by languages as a child. I would pretend to speak in other languages. I took 4 years of french and 1 year of spanish in high school. (graduated 1978) I went to college and majored in french and international business. I began russian while at college. Unfortunately, I partied my way out of school and never kept up. I can still read french and speak french, but very slowly and most of my vocabulary is gone. I can often get the gist of something written. I can only understand someone in french if they speak very slowly and simply. I only remember a few spanish and russian words. I would love to study languages again.

I absolutely agree that learning other languages expands your horizons in many ways, even if you don't keep up the skill. I also learned far more about english grammar when I started to learn french. Before that time I didn't really understand what it meant to conjugate a verb. I did it and knew which forms were correct, but I didn't understand what it actually was.

English...Tagalog (still learning)...Japanese...andeven though we speak english in the caribbean it sounds like a completely different language when we want to keep something from normal english speakers....lol

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. -- Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel)

Yep - multilingual. English native, Spanish 1st second language (fluent), Italian 2nd second language (more reading and writing than speaking). Also, I've studied Japanese and have some experience with Russian and Greek alphabets. The next language I really need to tackle is Greek since now I have familiy to communicate with who are native speakers. My language interests change based on who I need/want to connect with, and I've found that random language knowledge can come in handy in unexpected scenarios.

Learning other languages has added to my life by allowing me to communicate with more people and to develop a sense of what it takes to live and work with people from different cultures. I've traveled with, studied with, lived with and worked with people from all over the world. One of the main things I've gained from it is the expertise to know how I learn languages which supports my interest in learning about other people and cultures.

Check out omniglot.com if you are looking for more information about other languages.

Original Post by jezebelina:

Original Post by alibsam:

jezebelina-- Remind me what it is? Either I haven't studied it or I just don't remember the name. haha

ali - decelnsions (for nouns, pronouns, adjectives, then the 1st, 2nd, 3rd declensions)...

edit:  plus i have noticed that people have trouble with properly using the grammatical gender in declensions and verb tenses

2nd edit:  although I did know a few who were PERFECTLY fluent  so it can definitely be done (lol - i remember thinking as a child even that russian was the hardest language in the world - lol)

Ahhh. Nope. I never had any problems with it. I don't know why I found Russian so easy. For me, the grammar rules just made sense. I struggled more with French than Russian. But I also think part of it was that I was so interested in learning Russian and was fascinated by Russian history that I tried really hard and studied all the time. 

I am a Canadian who speaks "ze French" as well as English. Grew up in full-French schools but speaking English at home.

Love it. Gave me and is still giving me tons of life opportunities. I have a tiny bit of an accent in French, none in English. (didn't have the accent in french, either, until I practically stopped speaking it for 8 years, during my university studies in English followed by 4 years in the States).

I plan to send my kids to full-French schools and speak to them in english at home (my partner doesn't speak much french). Then again he is fluent in Spanish so maybe we'll try to make them trilingual (I speak reasonable spanish, but nowhere near fluent).

Original Post by alibsam:

Original Post by jezebelina:

Original Post by alibsam:

jezebelina-- Remind me what it is? Either I haven't studied it or I just don't remember the name. haha

ali - decelnsions (for nouns, pronouns, adjectives, then the 1st, 2nd, 3rd declensions)...

edit:  plus i have noticed that people have trouble with properly using the grammatical gender in declensions and verb tenses

2nd edit:  although I did know a few who were PERFECTLY fluent  so it can definitely be done (lol - i remember thinking as a child even that russian was the hardest language in the world - lol)

Ahhh. Nope. I never had any problems with it. I don't know why I found Russian so easy. For me, the grammar rules just made sense. I struggled more with French than Russian. But I also think part of it was that I was so interested in learning Russian and was fascinated by Russian history that I tried really hard and studied all the time. 

 I think there are two types of people...those that find it easy to learn languages with a near word-to-word match (like English to Spanish or Spanish to Italian), and those (like me) that find the "simpler" grammar of Russian (i.e. fewer verb tenses...who cares if you have to switch the end of a noun around...) easy enough to get your gist across.

Of course, those in the latter group will inherit the Earth.

Let's plan our takeover. haha

Original Post by dnrothx:

I think there are two types of people...those that find it easy to learn languages with a near word-to-word match (like English to Spanish or Spanish to Italian), and those (like me) that find the "simpler" grammar of Russian (i.e. fewer verb tenses...who cares if you have to switch the end of a noun around...) easy enough to get your gist across.

Of course, those in the latter group will inherit the Earth.

 :-) I can see it from your perspective, but I think there are other types of language learners as well: those who pick up languages easily from books and those who learn better from experience. Also, I think your way of learning languages can change the more experience you have at it. For instance, after 11 years of book study in Spanish, I *finally* got it when I went to live in a Spanish-speaking country for awhile. I also figured out what the best way is for me to learn other languages and have been able to use books to teach myself some Italian and Japanese (while dabbling in other languages, too). So I started off an experience learner and became a decent book learner.

Right now, I'm trying to find some good resources for Modern Greek, but no real luck... I'd really love a workbook to practice writing in. If anyone has some suggestions for resources, they would be appreciated.

Check Amazon, carryonandon. Just read the reviews for the books and go with what looks best.