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05-08-2003, 06:36 PM | #21 |
Rohirrim Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 590
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I'm in High School right now and in the U.S. most High Schools require a certain amount of credits of a secondary language to graduate. The most common languages available are Spanish, French, Latin, German and Italian.
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05-08-2003, 06:47 PM | #22 |
FloraAzul
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Anywhere as long as there is a library in a one mile radius of here
Posts: 751
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One thing I want to say is this. Why can't you take Sign language as a second language? Some people can only speak it so you should be able to take it right? My 'school' only offers Spanish. A forced language course
What language are you taking Ragnarok? Some people should take English cause they can't speak it right in the first place. (like me in some cases)
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Atheism: A Non-Prophet Organization Yet many shall be amazed when they see Him-yes even far off foreign nations and thier kings; they shall stand dumb-founded, speechless in his prescence. For they shall see and understand what they had not seen before-Isaiah 52:15a Civil War- 498,332 dead WWI-116,708 dead WWII-407,316 dead Korean War-54,246 dead Vietnam War-58,665 dead Persian Gulf-372 dead War on The Unborn=35,000,000 dead and counting |
05-08-2003, 06:49 PM | #23 | |
The Buddy Rabbit
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Trapped in the headlights..
Posts: 3,372
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05-08-2003, 06:52 PM | #24 |
FloraAzul
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Anywhere as long as there is a library in a one mile radius of here
Posts: 751
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I'm sure the rude ones just came naturally huh?
You're right though. I am self taught Signer but I can only handspell. And that takes awhile
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Atheism: A Non-Prophet Organization Yet many shall be amazed when they see Him-yes even far off foreign nations and thier kings; they shall stand dumb-founded, speechless in his prescence. For they shall see and understand what they had not seen before-Isaiah 52:15a Civil War- 498,332 dead WWI-116,708 dead WWII-407,316 dead Korean War-54,246 dead Vietnam War-58,665 dead Persian Gulf-372 dead War on The Unborn=35,000,000 dead and counting |
05-08-2003, 06:55 PM | #25 |
Rohirrim Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 590
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Aralyn
I have two years of Spanish under my belt and I'm taking Latin right now. |
05-08-2003, 06:56 PM | #26 | |
The Buddy Rabbit
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Trapped in the headlights..
Posts: 3,372
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Quote:
When ya progress wi' the Sign.............yer'll learn that the users can insult far more effectively than us verbal types ....(in my neck-of-the-woods that's how they "test" ya, if ya can curse in Sign.......they know ya in the know ) |
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05-08-2003, 07:02 PM | #27 |
'Sober' Mullet Frosh
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Queen's
Posts: 1,245
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I'm from Canada (Toronto) and I know very little French-I only took it up to Grade 10, and the University I go to has no foreign language requirement. I do, however, speak Hebrew, thanks to the private school I went to-so I could go to Israel, read the signs, and have the natives speak English with me.
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"Earnur was a man like his father in valour, but not in wisdom" |
05-08-2003, 07:12 PM | #28 |
The Insufferable
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,333
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*sigh*
I /still/ speak only english fluently, but it's not for lack of trying. At various times I've studied mandarin, spanish, german, latin, hebrew, sindarin, quenya, and esperanto. I've dabbled in gaelic and a few others. Never picked any of them up... Then again, my english grammer is a good sight better than most americans, maybe it has to do with the way my brain is organized...
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Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned |
05-08-2003, 07:29 PM | #29 |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Plainsboro, NJ
Posts: 9,431
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As has been stated in the thread and I've stated before - it's not that Americans don't want to learn foreign languages - it's that there is no place to practice them. Of course 15 year olds on the European continent speak multiple languages. If I traveled the same distance in Europe as I do from NJ to Indiana - I would be going through several countries all speaking their own language (and until recently their currency). You can't compare Americans ability or desire to speak a foreign language to Europeans. For Europeans it's basically a requirement in order to just get around.
I took two years Spanish in high school and 2 years French in college. On the side I have attempted to learn Latin, Russian, Italian, Spanish and French. I have no one to tell me what's wrong or right - or anyway of practicing. I've stated this before I've lived in 6 states, New Jersey, California, Indiana, Illinois, Oregon, West Virginia. That is equivalent of living from the Ural Mountains of Russia to London England. I've been to 40 states. I would like to know how many Europeans have that kind of experience. I'm also curious how many Britons actually go to the continent? Do a lot of people take advantage of the ferry and the Chunnel? I can see where Britons would have less of a need to learn a foreign language too - since they are cut off from the European Continent and isn't exactly the same as a Italian deciding to just take a day trip to Germany or Hungary.
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Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide |
05-08-2003, 07:38 PM | #30 | ||
The Buddy Rabbit
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Trapped in the headlights..
Posts: 3,372
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But as a sign of lazyness (and to Europeans credit) we don't bother learning the lingo because those in foreign shores speak English so well Quote:
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05-08-2003, 07:52 PM | #31 | |||
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Plainsboro, NJ
Posts: 9,431
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Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide |
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05-08-2003, 08:05 PM | #32 | |||
The Buddy Rabbit
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Trapped in the headlights..
Posts: 3,372
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To be honest, I've never met anyone who has become frustrated at the lack of communication.........then again, I've only ever visited as a tourist :/ Quote:
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05-08-2003, 08:22 PM | #33 | ||
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: I have no idea.
Posts: 5,441
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I want to learn latin, but I don't have the time and I've got no one to practice with. Quote:
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05-08-2003, 09:39 PM | #34 | |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA
Posts: 10,820
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Quote:
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle |
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05-08-2003, 10:15 PM | #35 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Oxford, MS
Posts: 274
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I have always been totally annoyed by most Americans' (and English too I guess) antipathy toward learning additional languages. First, this business of not "needing" to, since "everyone" speaks English these days. What is it with people who don't wish to acquire knowledge unless they "need" to? And of course, though it may not be strictly necessary, it will in fact endear you to the natives if you speak even a noun-only caveman version of their language, because in my experience people of other countries are pleasantly astounded when an English-speaker has actually bothered to learn a few words, since so few of us do it. Besides the issue of laziness and arrogance, there is also a strong misunderstanding in America (I can't speak for England) about learning language. Here there is an erroneous belief that requiring children below high-school age to learn a second language is some cruel unusual punishment, it's "too hard." Those who think this are thinking as adults. The human brain is hardwired at birth to learn language; it's a pure animal instinct in us. You can just pour a language into an infant's head. If there are two tongues spoken in the house, the kid will fluently know two tongues. Or three or ten. And though this instinct fades as we age, it is still much stronger in young children. At about puberty, the language instinct fades and learning a language becomes an intellectual excercise and thus much more difficult. Which is why kids in other countries who start learning English at age six speak it so well, while we Americans struggle with first-year French; our school system begins teaching languages at precisely the age when we've lost the instinct for learning them.
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05-08-2003, 10:25 PM | #36 |
Rohirrim Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 590
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Huan how many languages do you speak fluently?
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05-08-2003, 10:29 PM | #37 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 482
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Jesus, I'd learn more languages than English if I could! My school requires 4 years of language, but only offers three: Latin, Spanish, and French. I take French and Latin, and will learn some Japanese at camp. I'm just so bothered by the fact that there is so little demand for more than 3 languages, so there are no more. I want to learn so many more, but how can I? I try to teach myself some stuff, but you can't do that too well, can you? I know some Quenya.
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"Lot of people say this city looks like Hell," Allie said. She took a long drag from her cigarette. The glowing tip burned a hole in the darkness. "Most people never been to Hell," Jacob said. She looked at him and he could hear the smile in her voice. "And I suppose you have?" |
05-08-2003, 10:35 PM | #38 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Oxford, MS
Posts: 274
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Ragnarok, I don't speak any languages but English fluently, I'm an American . However, I have studied Greek, French, Spanish, German, Old and Middle English (useless obviously), and a wee bit of Latin.
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05-08-2003, 10:47 PM | #39 | ||
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Plainsboro, NJ
Posts: 9,431
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Huan - that's rather arrogant of you to state that. Where is a 6 year old supposed to speak French or Italian in the US? True in New Jersey I can go to a pizzeria and pick up Italian. But where in Mississippi are you going to be able to perfect your language skills in a foreign language?
Also - it's not instinct that enables a child to easily learn languages - it's the fact that the connections that make the brain process and understand language haven't been hard wired yet. As a person ages - these connections get more set and it's hard to make new connections in the brain that "Je ne sais pas" can mean "I don't know". The hard part isn't even the new words. It's the pronounciation - the grammar rules, the nuances of the language. The rules such as using one version "to know" when "you know something" versus the "to know" which means "to know someone." that is the hard part and that is only reinforced through constant use. If you start teaching a 6 year old to speak a foreign language and they have no place to use it - they will lose it. And that's just a plain fact. Also - in New Jersey a lot of schools do teach foreign languages in elementary schools. Quote:
These are the courses that are offered and their required text books that are offered in my school district.... Quote:
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Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide |
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05-08-2003, 11:04 PM | #40 | |
FloraAzul
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Anywhere as long as there is a library in a one mile radius of here
Posts: 751
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Quote:
__________________
Atheism: A Non-Prophet Organization Yet many shall be amazed when they see Him-yes even far off foreign nations and thier kings; they shall stand dumb-founded, speechless in his prescence. For they shall see and understand what they had not seen before-Isaiah 52:15a Civil War- 498,332 dead WWI-116,708 dead WWII-407,316 dead Korean War-54,246 dead Vietnam War-58,665 dead Persian Gulf-372 dead War on The Unborn=35,000,000 dead and counting |
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