Where are you and where are you going? Try to explain where you are besides saying "beginner, intermediate, advanced", instead explain what you can do with your language so far.

I speak English and Spanish fluently. I know enough French to read websites, forums, news articles and even albert camus. I know enough grammar to express myself but can read/understand better than I can recall. I can understand some music, radio, and tv/movies but not intuitively yet. I still have to process. IMO you're not fluent until you can process language full time, without translating in your head. I'm beginning to learn russian, I have the script down and can sound out most writing, but don't understand much yet. I've been learning grammar over the past weeks and am starting to distinguish grammar functions in writing. I can introduce myself and "wrongly" express a few things that can be understood(according to my fluent girlfriend). Due to the nature of russian and the very loose word order, trying to read will just render you a bunch of words in a seemingly random order until you learn all the endings. My goal is to learn conversational russian. I JUST started japanese and as of right now it's too early to tell whether I'll hold enough interest to continue learning it(I've demoed arabic and german the same way). After looking at others that have learned it, I'm starting by immediately working on the scripts, rather than beginning with audio/software like rosetta stone and pimsleur. This would be the third writing system I learn(after arabic[which i abandoned but can still recall] and russian).

The point of this thread is to try to get a little community started rather than just having this forum as a slow Q&A reference section. I'm willing to help anyone with spanish and noobs with basic-intermediate french, and encourage speakers of other languages to pitch in. On msn derdrache has been extremely helpful with russian and I will start to ask more general questions here rather than privately, again to get the mini-community going. I know yoyobek recently started learning russian to and I'd like her to keep asking questions like she did a few weeks ago.

Japanese learners, be sure to ask flat_head for help: http://www.totse.com/community/showthread.php?t=2143859
German learners, you can ask the mod, jakketch for help with any and all german. He is a professional translator. Come to think of it, totse has a strong german presence with jak, zok, sephiroth and some douchebag from SG whose name I don't recall. Derdrache also can help up to the intermediate level.

Well, every so often I fall in love with a language. In fact, I'd say I've had more of a bond with languages than I have had with different human beings.

First it was French, then it was Portuguese, then it was German (briefly), and now it's Russian. Embarassingly, I haven't fully mastered any of these languages yet, so that's my main goal. I plan on gaining native fluency in Russian, and then I'll go and fill in the blanks with all of the other languages. I might be fucked for learning French though, since I really don't have much interest in it anymore (it no longer sounds good to my ear, tbh).

After I'm fluent in all of those, (or at least 2 or 3) I'll maybe learn another Slavic language (Polish, maybe), and then Arabic.

These languages will hopefully/likely come into play for my future job, though that's not really why I do it. If I couldn't study languages for some reason, I'd be bored out of my fucking mind.

this forum doesn´t need a revival, it doesn´t need your endless texts and it doesn´t need your flaming nor does it need derdrache as an online translator user for help on learning languages. if you need a community to learn a language find another website. this forum is good as a question and answer forum the way it is, communication is limited to it´s needs ..

this forum doesn´t need a revival, it doesn´t need your endless texts and it doesn´t need your flaming nor does it need derdrache as an online translator user for help on learning languages. if you need a community to learn a language find another website. this forum is good as a question and answer forum the way it is, communication is limited to it´s needs ..

BSK:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iiqqDVl0p7A

geez I have a stalker, and I´m sure he still doesn´t understand that he´s on my ignore list for probably obvious reasons ..

this forum doesn´t need a revival, it doesn´t need your endless texts and it doesn´t need your flaming nor does it need derdrache as an online translator user for help on learning languages. if you need a community to learn a language find another website. this forum is good as a question and answer forum the way it is, communication is limited to it´s needs ..


The two don't interfere with each other.

geez i have a stalker, and i´m sure he still doesn´t understand that he´s on my ignore list for probably obvious reasons ..

у вас есть маленкий хуй

Regarding the original purpose of the thread:
I started learning Japanese at the start of high school, and now, 7 years later it still interests me, so i keep going. I can recognise a fair few kanji, but probably could not write many, because school is finished and i mainly learn the spoken components now through Japanese DVDs and youtube channels, and written from news websites. I'm perfect however, at the phonetic scripts, and while i could probably only write 10% of the kanji I have learned, I could recognise and read about 95% of it. My goal is to keep studying it until I can understand TV and native speakers without thinking twice about what they said and to be able to convey anything I want to say quickly, accurately and with a limited amount of typical foreigner mistakes.
I love hearing about the workings of other languages, and would one day like to seriously take up a European one as well. I will probably be an international commercial pilot in a couple of years and wherever I fly to I will learn how to talk to the passengers over the intercom as well :)

I've taken several years of french and spanish, but I know more french. I could get around in france and maybe in spanish speaking countries. Though now I'm focusing all my energy on german. I'm trying to be as fluent as possible in it. I'm studying abroad in Berlin in the fall so hopefully that will give me a huge boost.

I am equally fluent in English and German; grew up mostly in east Germany and Slovakia. I know enough Spanish to understand most conversations, however, I don't know any grammar.
I am learning Arabic well, my goal is to be able to communicate fluently in the Iraq/Iran area. Eventually I would like to learn Russian, the sound has always appealed to me.

The Agency.

Italian is my mother language, I'm also at native level in English since I've been living in the UK for the past five years and I did my BA and my Masters degree over here, I used to speak French very well, but unfortunately I haven't been practicing it in the past few years, however I'm sure than in two weeks in France I would regain my confidence in that language.

I also studied German in High School but I was always crap at it, pronounciation has always been my weak spot, plus I didn't even enjoy reading in that language.

I'm planning on learning Arabic, I can go live with some relatives in Syria and study it at the University of Damascus, I'm probably going down there as soon as I hand in my masters dissertation at the end of August.

I don't know how long it'll take me to learn Arabic, I'm staying down there for a few months and see how it goes, it shouldn't be too hard for me since I'll be leaving with relatives who can help me out.

Italian is my mother language, I'm also at native level in English since I've been living in the UK for the past five years and I did my BA and my Masters degree over here, I used to speak French very well, but unfortunately I haven't been practicing it in the past few years, however I'm sure than in two weeks in France I would regain my confidence in that language.

I also studied German in High School but I was always crap at it, pronounciation has always been my weak spot, plus I didn't even enjoy reading in that language.

I'm planning on learning Arabic, I can go live with some relatives in Syria and study it at the University of Damascus, I'm probably going down there as soon as I hand in my masters dissertation at the end of August.

I don't know how long it'll take me to learn Arabic, I'm staying down there for a few months and see how it goes, it shouldn't be too hard for me since I'll be leaving with relatives who can help me out.

Are you a trust fund baby? How can you afford so many years of school without a full-time job? My other guess is your dad's in the mafia, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt ;) .

Are you a trust fund baby? How can you afford so many years of school without a full-time job? My other guess is your dad's in the mafia, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt ;) .

My mom works for the UN, they paid my tuition fees for my undergraduate studies, plus I was also entitled to more money for books and expenses.

I intend to become capable of reading German and French fluently. This will allow me to read my favourite men of letters in their original language. Some of them -- Kant, for example -- have been translated by several different translators, each disagreeing on some minor or fundamental point. Reading them in their original language will therefore better facilitate me to make up my mind on these points for myself.

Currently, I am studying French. I use the Michel Thomas audio series, simply because they are the only audiotapes that really work for me, and I read French poetry and comics to improve my reading skills. I can currently kind of get the gist of what is written in simple texts by just looking at them, and can understand them if I really analyze them. When I am done (figuratively, I doubt you are ever really done learning a language) with French, I will move on to German and use Michel Thomas for that too.

у вас есть маленкий хуй

tee hee hee.

из пизда! в рот ебете твой костили!

oh a small penis? is that all you got to say to prove you are some whiny bitch plucking my leg for attention?

Well, naturally, I speak fluent English.

I have six and a half years of French training under my belt. As a Canadian, this is not terribly unusual. However, I live on the West coast, where emphasis on French is not very important, so my teachers were, for the most part, not very inspiring at all. At a point, I obtained a degree of conversational French... alas, I've not been able to retain most of that. Regardless, if you dropped me anywhere in la Francophonie, I would know enough to get by. I plan to study French much more in the next few years; I really like the language -- though I still believe English is the 'ultimate' language -- we take a little bit from every language and make it into a lovely sing-song little structure. I love the fact that I speak fluent English and will always be able to.

When I was 15 or 16, I became incredibly interested in WWII and German history in general. I received no formal training, but I studied the language for a little over a year. I could not have a conversation with a German speaker, but I have retained a basic knowledge of pronunciation and grammatical structure. I hope to learn much more German in the future.

Right now, I am studying Spanish at a University level. I'm just reaching an intermediate level, and I am able to have very basic conversations with the Mexicans I work with. I'm planning to continue for another year or two. I must admit, though -- I don't find Spanish to be a very nice language at all. I can appreciate the 'latin-ness' of it (as I plan to master the major Romance languages throughout my live), but I pretty much despise most accents excluding those found in Northern Spain. I would say I'm using Spanish as a 'base' for my further Romance language studies. I chose it mainly because I was so sad I lost my French semi-fluency; I consider learning Spanish as purely a base for perfecting my French and Italian later in life. I'm not trying to offend any Hispanics here, but the more I learn the language, the greater my distaste grows for it. I consider Spanish to be my training wheels for eventually mastering French, Italian, Portuguese, and possibly Romanian (and, perhaps, the other less-know dialects like Galician and Catalan).

I work with quite a few Russians, and lately that language has been sounding more and more appealing to me. I'm considering taking it up during my third year at Uni. It's very interesting, and would be quite an asset considering I study International Relations (well, Poli Sci now, after next year it'll be IR).

I love languages. It's like adopting a whole new way of looking at the world. I love it. Love it.

Well, naturally, I speak fluent English.

I have six and a half years of French training under my belt. As a Canadian, this is not terribly unusual. However, I live on the West coast, where emphasis on French is not very important, so my teachers were, for the most part, not very inspiring at all. At a point, I obtained a degree of conversational French... alas, I've not been able to retain most of that. Regardless, if you dropped me anywhere in la Francophonie, I would know enough to get by. I plan to study French much more in the next few years; I really like the language -- though I still believe English is the 'ultimate' language -- we take a little bit from every language and make it into a lovely sing-song little structure. I love the fact that I speak fluent English and will always be able to.

When I was 15 or 16, I became incredibly interested in WWII and German history in general. I received no formal training, but I studied the language for a little over a year. I could not have a conversation with a German speaker, but I have retained a basic knowledge of pronunciation and grammatical structure. I hope to learn much more German in the future.

Right now, I am studying Spanish at a University level. I'm just reaching an intermediate level, and I am able to have very basic conversations with the Mexicans I work with. I'm planning to continue for another year or two. I must admit, though -- I don't find Spanish to be a very nice language at all. I can appreciate the 'latin-ness' of it (as I plan to master the major Romance languages throughout my live), but I pretty much despise most accents excluding those found in Northern Spain. I would say I'm using Spanish as a 'base' for my further Romance language studies. I chose it mainly because I was so sad I lost my French semi-fluency; I consider learning Spanish as purely a base for perfecting my French and Italian later in life. I'm not trying to offend any Hispanics here, but the more I learn the language, the greater my distaste grows for it. I consider Spanish to be my training wheels for eventually mastering French, Italian, Portuguese, and possibly Romanian (and, perhaps, the other less-know dialects like Galician and Catalan).

I work with quite a few Russians, and lately that language has been sounding more and more appealing to me. I'm considering taking it up during my third year at Uni. It's very interesting, and would be quite an asset considering I study International Relations (well, Poli Sci now, after next year it'll be IR).

I love languages. It's like adopting a whole new way of looking at the world. I love it. Love it.

There's a saying that goes something like "For every language you know, you live another life." That's the thing I love most about languages. I mean, for the vast majority of people...they're born into a culture and that's what they are for their whole life. When you are seeking fluency in another language, eventually you'll find yourself being "reborn", so to speak.

So you work with both russians and mexicans?

So you work with both russians and mexicans?

Indeed. Brazilians, Jamaicans (their patois sounds... wild) and Eastern Europeans as well. Canada really likes the idea that we're incredibly diverse, so we tend to push it to the extreme, especially in the workplace. I actually find it quite enjoyable. I love talking with them about how complex English is, and what their lifestyle was like back at home. Most of them are in some sort of guest worker program, so they really enjoy living and working here and are generally very agreeable and easy to talk to. I'm glad Canada has this sort of open-door policy; exposure to other cultures is like water to me. Perhaps Americans can learn a thing from this?

Indeed. Brazilians and Eastern Europeans as well. Canada really likes the idea that we're incredibly diverse, so we tend to push it to the extreme, especially in the workplace.

It's pretty wildly diverse here in Montreal too. In like a 2 mile radius of where I live, there's Little Italy, a Portuguese neighborhood, and I've even seen lots of Mexicans (yes, Mexicans) in the area. There's also a Russian neighborhood on the west side of the city, or so I hear. It's pretty useful from a language standpoint...

It's pretty wildly diverse here in Montreal too. In like a 2 mile radius of where I live, there's Little Italy, a Portuguese neighborhood, and I've even seen lots of Mexicans (yes, Mexicans) in the area. There's also a Russian neighborhood on the west side of the city, or so I hear. It's pretty useful from a language standpoint...

Yeah, I'd like to go to Montreal after I've got a degree, try out my joual and whatnot. There is a huge mix of mostly European ethnicities there; quite interesting from a linguistic standpoint. Vancouver is great for that too, but it's all East-Asian languages... and to be honest, I don't want to learn 3,000 characters just to read a fucking newspaper. Maybe in the future, but for now European languages are my main interest.

ed- Don't you just HATE it when somebody quotes you before you've edited your post :p?

Yeah, I'd like to go to Montreal after I've got a degree, try out my joual and whatnot. There is a huge mix of mostly European ethnicities there; quite interesting from a linguistic standpoint. Vancouver is great for that too, but it's all East-Asian languages... and to be honest, I don't want to learn 3,000 characters just to read a fucking newspaper. Maybe in the future, but for now European languages are my main interest.

ed- Don't you just HATE it when somebody quotes you before you've edited your post :p?

Well, about your open-door policy idea...meh. This is thread-derailing terrority, so we should probably not even bother.

Well, about your open-door policy idea...meh. This is thread-derailing terrority, so we should probably not even bother.

That's what I was thinking when I wrote that. So, uh, anyway, uh... anybody here know Serbo-Croatian? That's another one I'd like to learn at some point; the Balkans have always fascinated me, and I'd love to have a villa somewhere in Croatia someday... I've attempted a bit of it, but off the top of my head, the only word I can recall is 'hrvatski' :p.

when I was in the army I was an sfor soldier in sarajevo, and we got some translation cards in case of emergency. the most important sentence everyone had to know was "stani ili putsam", meaning "stop or I shoot" ..

i plan to learn arabic some time in the future:)

I'm born in Montreal, and my motherly tongue is French. I think my English's pretty good right now, although I do not tend to call myself a bilingual yet. I started to learn Spanish this year, but I'm still a beginner. I'm entering to college in Arts and Letters ; German. By the end of the next two years, I should be able to fluently speak French, English, Spanish and German, which is quite good for a 19 years old student, I guess. I'd really like to learn Arabic in the future.

Studied French in school/college for roughly 7 years but I messed around so much and as a result I'm still at a high beginner/low intermediate level. I know present, pasts and future tenses but not too much vocab. I'm doing evening classes in mid-september to hopefully get back up to scratch.

Additionally, I'm doing Pimsleur Japanese lessons at home. On lesson 15 at the moment, have learnt Hiragana, and working on level 10 kanji readings. My aim's just to keep at self studying until I can get lessons.

Got an interview for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Wednesday, if I pass that, I'll be entitled to 250 hours worth of free language lessons and oppurtunities to work in British embassies abroad in the future. :D

Learn the languages i know a little of ie. Japanese, Italian(and spanish to some degree), and French

I've got a sweet book for learning french aswell :) (i think it was printed in like 1950~)