I started the day by taking a shower. I am thinking of having post-its in the shower, but that isn't going to work :-D Maybe I could laminate something, but what would that something be? Maybe multilingual flashcard about all the words and sentences that have to do with showering. Describing what I need to do when I shower in 20 languages or so :-D
Then I went to Duolingo. I had some problems with some French sentences, and went to see the discussion, and people were ARGUING about "nobody says "whom" in real life!".
I do.
I know there are two schools (at least two) about learning languages, and
one of them is "I want to learn to use a language like those do who use the language every day", and then they wouldn't want to learn to use words like "whom", because that's just posh and stupid and, as said, nobody talks like that.
And then there is the other school, who says that I want to learn grammatically correct, good language, I can learn the colloquial slang and lingo later. I AM a foreigner, and I don't mind if one can hear it.
I also have been told that my Swedish grammar is better than that of most Swedes, and I think that is a compliment. I'd rather speak grammatically correct than sound like a native speaker.
Especially considering how some native speakers sound...
Or how they write. There, their, they're. "I should of". Ur.
Some people are discussing Finnish, and the fact that we have the formal Finnish; the way news readers speak, and then the colloquial Finnish. Or book language and talk language. The problem with talk language is that it is regional. EVERYBODY understands the formal Finnish. It's not like choosing an Arabic dialect.
Last night before I fell asleep, I was thinking about my language journey. It started with "this is Jack, this is Jill, this is Ann and this is Bill". It was the first sentence in my big sister's English book. She started studying English in school at 3rd grade - like all Finnish children (or at least all who start studying a foreign language first in school). I was 5. I was instantly hooked. And I don't know why.
I don't know why languages fascinate me. Perhaps it's like a code. I mean, I can't pass Voynich manuscript without trying to decipher it. And this time there's a lot of people who know what the coded message means.
Anyway, I have studied today:
- French
- Korean
- Danish
- Norwegian
Now, one might think it's stupid to study two languages so close to each other, due to the risk of confusion, but I don't think the risk is that big...
I was going through my Spanish flashcards yesterday, and of course I was thinking of the Romance languages I know, as a memory aid, and of course I suggested an Italian or French word every now and then, but the thing is, that we are talking about languages. What I mean with that is that if I am discussing with someone who knows the language, they will be able to deduce what I mean.
Most Danish and Norwegian people understand each other's languages. So if I say "mand" and not "mann", it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I say "dreng" and not "gutt". The problems start when I say "rolig" when I mean to say "artig", because in Swedish "artig" is polite and "rolig" is fun, and in Norwegian "rolig" is peaceful and "artig" is fun and "høflig" is polite. :-D "False Friends", you know.
Nevertheless, I was fully aware of that the word I remembered was Italian or French or so, because the pronunciation in my head was unmistakable. Nación, nazione, nation, nação or naţiune, it really doesn't much matter.
Now, Romanian is interesting in that the verb form does NOT follow the "usual"...
In most cases, one can easily get from one language to another by changing the -tion ending to
-țiune in Romanian, -ção in Portuguese, -ción in Spanish, -zione in Italian and -tion in French
(and -ция in Russian and -tio in Finnish and -tion (pronounced shoon) in Swedish and so on and so forth), but in Romanian it can just as easily be -are or -ere. Which I read as a verb. But the infinite of verbs in Romanian is "a acumula". Not "acumulare", that is accumulation. There IS "acumulațiune", but that is archaic and no-one uses that form anymore. That means that people will understand you if you say acumulațiune and not acumulare, and you are somewhat excused for being a stupid Foreigner.
English - Portuguese - Spanish - Italian - French - Romanian
to accumulate - acumular - acumular - accumulare - accumuler - a acumula
to dilute - diluir - diluir - diluire - diluer - a dilua
to form - formar - formar - formare - former - a forma
I noticed an interesting tweet.
Editions Assimil:
Professor Alexander Arguelles celebrates Assimil's 90th anniversary his own way with a very nice present
Err... ok. I suppose.
Though... hundreds of people publish their reviews of different things. I don't think that's a gift. Especially when everyone already knows what Alexander Arguelles thinks about Assimil. He like says it all the time. But, what ever. You liked it. Good. Give him a lifelong subscription to all Assimil courses - if you haven't already. He has earned it.
So... it is interesting this with people jabbering about fluency.
Let's say, that you need about 1000 words vocabulary to manage. You need about 3000 words to pass as fluent. Yes. only 3000... if they are the right words and you use them fluently. An average native speaker of any language uses about 10.000 words, but have a passive vocabulary of some 25.000 words. So - 3000. Fine to use the frequency lists and just learn by heart like a parrot. But it might be worth it to go and also learn a couple of sentences made with these words...
And when you know the 3000 words - and it really shouldn't take more than a month - it's just to keep increasing your vocabulary BY READING BOOKS.
So, I'm re-reading Heisig's Remembering Kanji.
"We call this a baseball team". What?
"Because there's nine members in a team." What? Is there? How are people supposed to know this?
To me this is very specified information. I don't know if all Americans even know this. I mean, I don't know how many members there are in a Finnish baseball team, and its our national sport.
BTW, if someone asks you a question about your languge, let's say "Why isn't ''buena mañana'used in Spanish?".
NO NAY NEVER ANSWER
"Because languages are weird and illogical"
"Because different languages are different"
"Because Spanish is a language that evolved independently from English"
"Because you have to speak Spanish the Spanish way."
"Because languages are what they are"
"don't waste your time asking Why...?"
or any variant of the above.
1) Languages are not weird and illogical. All languages are 100% logical. There is ALWAYS a reason to why things are said in a certain way and not in another.
2) We KNOW different languages are different languages, developed differently, the reasons to why things are said are different for all the different languages, and every language is to be spoken the way it is spoken, and not using another language's grammar, vocabulary, ways of doing things. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS ALREADY. If you say things like that, you are just being an asshole. Seriously.
3) Asking questions, ANY QUESTIONS, is not waste of time, if one seriously wants to know the answer. It might be that the question could be formulated differently, that the querent isn't totally clear about what they really want to know, or other things, but NO QUESTION IS WASTE OF TIME. That you can't answer the question, or that you are too stupid to even ask the question, doesn't mean the question is stupid.
Answer "I don't know" - or don't answer at all, if you don't know. It might do you good to follow the question to find out.
Answer by stating if 'buena mañana' could be theoretically possible - yes, it could - and if it is grammatically correct (it is), but it is not being used, because in Spanish speaking countries - and in all Romance language speaking countries - the people wish you a good continuation of the day, and not just a good morning. In Finland, for example, "hyvää päivää" (good day) exists, but it is considered rather woody expression. "Hyvää huomenta" (good morning) is said all the time. It means "I wish you have a good morning", but it also means "it is good to have woken up today and experience this good morning, with you". Which is basically the way Spanish speaking countries use the 'buena mañana'. Not as a greeting, but as a statement. Es una buena mañana.
You could answer "In French French number are soixante, soixante-dix, quatre-vingts and quatre-vingt-dix, but in Swiss French they are soixante, septante, huitante or octante and nonante. The French French will understand the Swiss numbers, and in some dialects in France those forms are being used."
Now, quatre-vingts is four score. I like counting in scores. The Danes do it, too. Halvtreds, tres, halvfjerds, firs, halvfems.
But I also like to count in pairs. "kaks, neljä, kuus, kaheksan, kymmenen..." (kaksi, neljä, kuusi, kahdeksan, kymmenen - 2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
(when counting quickly in Finnish, the numbers are shortened into
"yy kaa koo nee vii kuu sei kasi ysi kymmene
yytoi kaatoi kootoi neetoi viitoi kuutoi seitoi kasitoi ysitoi kakskymmentä
kasys kaskas kaskol kasnel kasviis kaskuus kassei kaskasi kasysi kolkymmentä
kolys kolkas... neljäkymment, nelyy, nelkaa... viikaa, kuukaa, seikaa, kasinel, ysiviis...")
Then I went to Duolingo. I had some problems with some French sentences, and went to see the discussion, and people were ARGUING about "nobody says "whom" in real life!".
I do.
I know there are two schools (at least two) about learning languages, and
one of them is "I want to learn to use a language like those do who use the language every day", and then they wouldn't want to learn to use words like "whom", because that's just posh and stupid and, as said, nobody talks like that.
And then there is the other school, who says that I want to learn grammatically correct, good language, I can learn the colloquial slang and lingo later. I AM a foreigner, and I don't mind if one can hear it.
I also have been told that my Swedish grammar is better than that of most Swedes, and I think that is a compliment. I'd rather speak grammatically correct than sound like a native speaker.
Especially considering how some native speakers sound...
Or how they write. There, their, they're. "I should of". Ur.
Some people are discussing Finnish, and the fact that we have the formal Finnish; the way news readers speak, and then the colloquial Finnish. Or book language and talk language. The problem with talk language is that it is regional. EVERYBODY understands the formal Finnish. It's not like choosing an Arabic dialect.
Last night before I fell asleep, I was thinking about my language journey. It started with "this is Jack, this is Jill, this is Ann and this is Bill". It was the first sentence in my big sister's English book. She started studying English in school at 3rd grade - like all Finnish children (or at least all who start studying a foreign language first in school). I was 5. I was instantly hooked. And I don't know why.
I don't know why languages fascinate me. Perhaps it's like a code. I mean, I can't pass Voynich manuscript without trying to decipher it. And this time there's a lot of people who know what the coded message means.
Anyway, I have studied today:
- French
- Korean
- Danish
- Norwegian
Now, one might think it's stupid to study two languages so close to each other, due to the risk of confusion, but I don't think the risk is that big...
I was going through my Spanish flashcards yesterday, and of course I was thinking of the Romance languages I know, as a memory aid, and of course I suggested an Italian or French word every now and then, but the thing is, that we are talking about languages. What I mean with that is that if I am discussing with someone who knows the language, they will be able to deduce what I mean.
Most Danish and Norwegian people understand each other's languages. So if I say "mand" and not "mann", it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I say "dreng" and not "gutt". The problems start when I say "rolig" when I mean to say "artig", because in Swedish "artig" is polite and "rolig" is fun, and in Norwegian "rolig" is peaceful and "artig" is fun and "høflig" is polite. :-D "False Friends", you know.
Nevertheless, I was fully aware of that the word I remembered was Italian or French or so, because the pronunciation in my head was unmistakable. Nación, nazione, nation, nação or naţiune, it really doesn't much matter.
Now, Romanian is interesting in that the verb form does NOT follow the "usual"...
In most cases, one can easily get from one language to another by changing the -tion ending to
-țiune in Romanian, -ção in Portuguese, -ción in Spanish, -zione in Italian and -tion in French
(and -ция in Russian and -tio in Finnish and -tion (pronounced shoon) in Swedish and so on and so forth), but in Romanian it can just as easily be -are or -ere. Which I read as a verb. But the infinite of verbs in Romanian is "a acumula". Not "acumulare", that is accumulation. There IS "acumulațiune", but that is archaic and no-one uses that form anymore. That means that people will understand you if you say acumulațiune and not acumulare, and you are somewhat excused for being a stupid Foreigner.
English - Portuguese - Spanish - Italian - French - Romanian
to accumulate - acumular - acumular - accumulare - accumuler - a acumula
to dilute - diluir - diluir - diluire - diluer - a dilua
to form - formar - formar - formare - former - a forma
Editions Assimil:
Professor Alexander Arguelles celebrates Assimil's 90th anniversary his own way with a very nice present
Err... ok. I suppose.
Though... hundreds of people publish their reviews of different things. I don't think that's a gift. Especially when everyone already knows what Alexander Arguelles thinks about Assimil. He like says it all the time. But, what ever. You liked it. Good. Give him a lifelong subscription to all Assimil courses - if you haven't already. He has earned it.
So... it is interesting this with people jabbering about fluency.
Let's say, that you need about 1000 words vocabulary to manage. You need about 3000 words to pass as fluent. Yes. only 3000... if they are the right words and you use them fluently. An average native speaker of any language uses about 10.000 words, but have a passive vocabulary of some 25.000 words. So - 3000. Fine to use the frequency lists and just learn by heart like a parrot. But it might be worth it to go and also learn a couple of sentences made with these words...
And when you know the 3000 words - and it really shouldn't take more than a month - it's just to keep increasing your vocabulary BY READING BOOKS.
Alouette, gentille alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai.
So, I'm re-reading Heisig's Remembering Kanji.
"We call this a baseball team". What?
"Because there's nine members in a team." What? Is there? How are people supposed to know this?
To me this is very specified information. I don't know if all Americans even know this. I mean, I don't know how many members there are in a Finnish baseball team, and its our national sport.
BTW, if someone asks you a question about your languge, let's say "Why isn't ''buena mañana'used in Spanish?".
NO NAY NEVER ANSWER
"Because languages are weird and illogical"
"Because different languages are different"
"Because Spanish is a language that evolved independently from English"
"Because you have to speak Spanish the Spanish way."
"Because languages are what they are"
"don't waste your time asking Why...?"
or any variant of the above.
1) Languages are not weird and illogical. All languages are 100% logical. There is ALWAYS a reason to why things are said in a certain way and not in another.
2) We KNOW different languages are different languages, developed differently, the reasons to why things are said are different for all the different languages, and every language is to be spoken the way it is spoken, and not using another language's grammar, vocabulary, ways of doing things. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS ALREADY. If you say things like that, you are just being an asshole. Seriously.
3) Asking questions, ANY QUESTIONS, is not waste of time, if one seriously wants to know the answer. It might be that the question could be formulated differently, that the querent isn't totally clear about what they really want to know, or other things, but NO QUESTION IS WASTE OF TIME. That you can't answer the question, or that you are too stupid to even ask the question, doesn't mean the question is stupid.
Answer "I don't know" - or don't answer at all, if you don't know. It might do you good to follow the question to find out.
Answer by stating if 'buena mañana' could be theoretically possible - yes, it could - and if it is grammatically correct (it is), but it is not being used, because in Spanish speaking countries - and in all Romance language speaking countries - the people wish you a good continuation of the day, and not just a good morning. In Finland, for example, "hyvää päivää" (good day) exists, but it is considered rather woody expression. "Hyvää huomenta" (good morning) is said all the time. It means "I wish you have a good morning", but it also means "it is good to have woken up today and experience this good morning, with you". Which is basically the way Spanish speaking countries use the 'buena mañana'. Not as a greeting, but as a statement. Es una buena mañana.
You could answer "In French French number are soixante, soixante-dix, quatre-vingts and quatre-vingt-dix, but in Swiss French they are soixante, septante, huitante or octante and nonante. The French French will understand the Swiss numbers, and in some dialects in France those forms are being used."
Now, quatre-vingts is four score. I like counting in scores. The Danes do it, too. Halvtreds, tres, halvfjerds, firs, halvfems.
But I also like to count in pairs. "kaks, neljä, kuus, kaheksan, kymmenen..." (kaksi, neljä, kuusi, kahdeksan, kymmenen - 2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
(when counting quickly in Finnish, the numbers are shortened into
"yy kaa koo nee vii kuu sei kasi ysi kymmene
yytoi kaatoi kootoi neetoi viitoi kuutoi seitoi kasitoi ysitoi kakskymmentä
kasys kaskas kaskol kasnel kasviis kaskuus kassei kaskasi kasysi kolkymmentä
kolys kolkas... neljäkymment, nelyy, nelkaa... viikaa, kuukaa, seikaa, kasinel, ysiviis...")
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