Language Nerd Thread

[Kia ora]

I had to learn German for archaeology. And French. So many site reports are still in the original languages, so you have to be able to read them.

 

that's the same for what i was doing before i got into linguistics, which is classics.

 

a huge proportion of classics was, is and always will be published in german, french, italian, spanish, dutch etc. 

[Archaeology cat]

that's the same for what i was doing before i got into linguistics, which is classics.

 

a huge proportion of classics was, is and always will be published in german, french, italian, spanish, dutch etc. 

Yep. 

[Norseman82]

My friend is a linguistics major, and he told me I must learn a language and under no circumstances can it be French. Everyone learns French. It's annoying. Other languages exist. I feel like the only reason people learn French is because in America we have this perception of all things French being refined and romantic, which is weird considering French people are notorious d-bags.

 

Well, if you are considering a career in the NHL and you think you may be traded to Quebec, I can see where French may come in handy. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5l0PD80u9k

 

It's quite interesting how World War II has made the culture very biased against anything German. I hear constantly from people that German sounds super angry and mean, but then I show them a clip of Germans speaking, and they tell me it "doesn't sound like real German." I then have the privilege of explaining to them that watching 2 seconds of a speech by Hitler is not a good reference for what 99% of Germans sound like when they talk, no more than listening to 2 seconds of a speech from Al Sharpton is a good point of reference for how 99% of English-speaking people sound.

 

Reminds me of a Fawlty Towers episode:

 

[media] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfl6Lu3xQW0 [/media]

Edited February 3, 2015 by Norseman82

[Norseman82]

I am currently learning the glory that is the German language. I'm in the beginning stages, but I'm very conflicted as to what language I should devote myself to. I like German, but if I had to choose I'd honestly rather learn ancient Greek or Latin. Even Hebrew would be preferable, actually.

 

 

Hm... This is hard for me. I'm a Catholic enthusiast, and I love reading documents and old prayers, so Latin is the most practical language in that sense. 

 

If you are acitvely discerning a vocation to the priesthood, obviously Latin, Greek, and Hebrew are good for understanding theological documents and the scriptures in the ancient languages.  However, another thing to consider is where you will be assigned.  If you are considering diocesan priesthood, if the diocese has a large Hispanic population, you may be required to learn Spanish (I know that in Chicago that is a requirement, from what I hear; unless it is still Spanish or Polish).  If you are considering an order and they have foreign missions, the order may have you learn the language of the land you will be ministering in.  If you are planning on study in Rome, Italian may be useful.    

[PhuturePriest]

If you are acitvely discerning a vocation to the priesthood, obviously Latin, Greek, and Hebrew are good for understanding theological documents and the scriptures in the ancient languages.  However, another thing to consider is where you will be assigned.  If you are considering diocesan priesthood, if the diocese has a large Hispanic population, you may be required to learn Spanish (I know that in Chicago that is a requirement, from what I hear; unless it is still Spanish or Polish).  If you are considering an order and they have foreign missions, the order may have you learn the language of the land you will be ministering in.  If you are planning on study in Rome, Italian may be useful.    

 

In my old diocese, Spanish is a requirement. In my new one, however, everyone takes Spanish, but they only make the people who get the best grades do Spanish Masses. Hence why several very intelligent seminarians I know who otherwise get perfect grades just can't seem to get better than a C+ in their Spanish classes.

[Norseman82]

In my old diocese, Spanish is a requirement. In my new one, however, everyone takes Spanish, but they only make the people who get the best grades do Spanish Masses. Hence why several very intelligent seminarians I know who otherwise get perfect grades just can't seem to get better than a C+ in their Spanish classes.

 

To me, the challenge wouldn't be saying Mass in a foreign language as much as it would be to hear confessions. 

[truthfinder]

I'd have to agree, especially when sins are sometimes told euphemistically. 

[PhuturePriest]

To me, the challenge wouldn't be saying Mass in a foreign language as much as it would be to hear confessions. 

 

In learning the little German I know (Or nua ein besien Deutch, I should say), I've already found that understanding the language is a lot easier than speaking it. I can hear a simple conversation in German and understand every word of it, but once it comes time to say something in response, I have to think hard about what to say, even though if I heard another person respond I would understand everything he says.

[marigold]

In learning the little German I know (Or nua ein besien Deutch, I should say), I've already found that understanding the language is a lot easier than speaking it. I can hear a simple conversation in German and understand every word of it, but once it comes time to say something in response, I have to think hard about what to say, even though if I heard another person respond I would understand everything he says.

 

Same.

[Luigi]

In learning the little German I know (Or nua ein besien Deutch, I should say), I've already found that understanding the language is a lot easier than speaking it. I can hear a simple conversation in German and understand every word of it, but once it comes time to say something in response, I have to think hard about what to say, even though if I heard another person respond I would understand everything he says.

 

That's normal.

 

One's receptive/listening language skills are almost always better than one's expressive language skills. Because when you're receiving/listening, the language is already properly encoded - all you have to do is recognize it and decode it. But when you're expressing/speaking, you have to remember all the rules to be encoded - singular-plural, masculine-feminine, verb endings, syntactic order, plus pronunciation. That requires a lot more mental juggling.  

 

And literacy skills are typically better than aural-oral skills, because you have more time to think while you're reading compared to listening, and even more time to think while you're writing compared to speaking.

 

Now one of the things that can interfere with listening skills is your ear - if you haven't learned the sounds of the language, or you don't have "a good ear," you can hear perfectly produced speech and still not understand it.

 

So the four language skills, ranked, are usually:

BEST: Reading - it's more passive, plus you have more time

BETTER: Writing - it's more active, but you have more time to process all the variables

GOOD: Listening - it's more passive, even if you don't have a lot of time

WORST: Speaking - it's more active, and you don't have a lot of time.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Luigi

[Nihil Obstat]

I tend to find listening and interpreting to be the hardest part of language acquisition, at least in my experience. That was with French some time ago, and Chinese recently.

[Norseman82]

In learning the little German I know (Or nua ein besien Deutch, I should say), I've already found that understanding the language is a lot easier than speaking it. I can hear a simple conversation in German and understand every word of it, but once it comes time to say something in response, I have to think hard about what to say, even though if I heard another person respond I would understand everything he says.

 

Then I guess all you need to do is learn the phrase "For your penance, diagram the rosary" in whatever language you choose. 

[Luigi]

I LOVE diagramming sentences! I even have a book on the history of diagramming sentences (Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog - can't remember the author's name off the top of my head).

 

And it's an excellent exercise for teaching yourself the syntactic relationships of the parts of any given sentence.

 

 

Now as far as penance goes...

 

If I were a teaching brother in a Catholic high school, I think that a punishment I might impose would be to diagram the closing prayer of the Angelus ("Pour forth we beseech Thee, O Lord..."). If that didn't make the little miscreant shape up, his next punishments would be to diagram the Memorare, the Salve Regina, the Rosary Prayer (O God, whose only begotten son...) and other gems of antiquated, formal verbiage. THAT'LL LEARN 'EM!

[Kia ora]

It's also good for me that I listen more than I speak in another language. I've had entire conversations where I listen, just listen. I feel it makes me a better conversationalist to speak little. I feel like I understand more, and interrupt less.

 

[Luigi]

An excellent resource for improving listening skills in living languages is the Internet. 

 

You can usually find the national radio stations online, and they usually make podcasts available. You can:

 

1. Just listen land let the language flow in your ears without paying a whole lot of attention to meaning; 

2. Listen semi-attentively, picking out words or phrases you recognize and repeating them;

3. Listen attentively, with a dictionary in hand (or an online dictionary open in another tab - I prefer WordReference. com);  when you hear a new word, guess at the spelling and look it up; 

4. Listen attentively and make notes about the the content; 

5. Listen attentively and repeat as much as you can, sotto voce, to practice your pronunciation. When you fall off the horse, just get back on and start repeating again. 

 

Any of these exercises work best if you are familiar with the topic - what I call a "warm topic." Having some background information and context gives you a better chance of catching & figuring out new vocabulary.