Foreign Languages

[Stingy Jack]

America is the only industrialized nation whose population (in general) speaks only a single language. It seems that people don't want to learn another language because they don't intend to use it, regardless of the value (both cultrally and intellectually) learning another can be. I think this really reflects the intellectual stagnancy that Americans have become mired in. "If it has no practical use, why do I need to know it?" Makes me sad, really.

[Sam The Egg]

you have to take at least one year of a foreign language at our school in order to graduate...that is, when the remember to hire a teacher for the class :mad:

[Ritualistic]

I myself think it is good for the mind, I would like to learn other languages.. BUT I dont think I should learn another language because other people in USA country dont speak english... I dont feel the need to accomodate to foreigns

[Haunted]

I know that many hate the French, but I used to speak pretty decent French. I really want to learn German, as I think its a beautiful language.

Also, yes, I think learning a foreign language would be good for the mind and for cultural boundaries.

[xGuardianx03]

I took two years of French in high school but alas, I can hardly remember a word. :o

I also took sign language when I was in high school but I've also forgotten alot of that. If you don't use it, you will lose it. (hey a poem)

I would like to learn Japanese. I think it's a beautiful sounding language and I'm infatuated with their culture.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
you have to take at least one year of a foreign language at our school in order to graduate...that is, when the remember to hire a teacher for the class :mad: Sam I am taking a English class this semester, AND I have had 3 different teachers so far...it has really pissed us off

[orangestar]

Sí señor. Yo quiero el español mucho. Es mi clase favorita.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by xGuardianx03


I also took sign language when I was in high school but I've also forgotten alot of that. If you don't use it, you will lose it. (hey a poem)
yeah this is very true..

But here is a resolution.... I took a typing class in HS and for some odd reason in my head while I was bored I would think of where the letters were on the keyboard.. Not until I was 20 did I type on a keyboard again... but between the ages of 15 and 20 I typed in my mind. I guess some people could do this with other lang or sign lang.

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Stingy Jack
America is the only industrialized nation whose population (in general) speaks only a single language. It seems that people don't want to learn another language because they don't intend to use it, regardless of the value (both cultrally and intellectually) learning another can be. I think this really reflects the intellectual stagnancy that Americans have become mired in. "If it has no practical use, why do I need to know it?" Makes me sad, really. ... :rolleyes: *asks why stingy recycles my statements*

[Stingy Jack]

Originally posted by Haunted
I know that many hate the French, but I used to speak pretty decent French. I really want to learn German, as I think its a beautiful language.

Also, yes, I think learning a foreign language would be good for the mind and for cultural boundaries.

I speak French. My mother's family is French Canadian, and she grew up speaking it ... and taught it to me at a young age. Of course, the dialect I speak is different from Parisian French that they teach in schools (but I took those French classes also.)

My wife speaks fluent French and German. You should really give German a shot, it is easier to learn than other foreign languages because it is semantically simpler than English. But I don't know how beautiful it sounds ... it always sounds to me as if they're constantly trying to dislodge something from their throats.

[MichaelMyers]

My friend is getting a degree in Japanese and lived in Japan for two years. He read the Shogun as a kid and fell in love with the culture.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by massacre man
... :rolleyes: *asks why stingy recycles my statements* LOL MM I just noticed your title underneath your avatar... we need buttons with our faces on them now

[xGuardianx03]

Originally posted by Ritualistic
yeah this is very true..

But here is a resolution.... I took a typing class in HS and for some odd reason in my head while I was bored I would think of where the letters were on the keyboard.. Not until I was 20 did I type on a keyboard again... but between the ages of 15 and 20 I typed in my mind. I guess some people could do this with other lang or sign lang.

Yeah, I don't see why that wouldn't work. If you keep it fresh in your mind, you won't forget it. Of course, I think sign language may be a little hard to remember without actually using your hands.

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Ritualistic
LOL MM I just noticed your title underneath your avatar... we need buttons with our faces on them now we need midgets on unicycles holding flags that say


VOTE RITUALISTIC/MASSACRE MAN

[Stingy Jack]

Originally posted by massacre man
... :rolleyes: *asks why stingy recycles my statements*

lol! I didn't recycle your statement. Your statement was, and I quote:

if your living in america you should just have to know some goddamn english

and

if i plan to move from america then i'll learn another language

[xGuardianx03]

Originally posted by MichaelMyers
My friend is getting a degree in Japanese and lived in Japan for two years. He read the Shogun as a kid and fell in love with the culture.


Very nice! :)

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by xGuardianx03
Yeah, I don't see why that wouldn't work. If you keep it fresh in your mind, you won't forget it. Of course, I think sign language may be a little hard to remember without actually using your hands. very true

[orangestar]

I think Spanish (or almost any foreign language) is easier than English because vowels only make one sound and things like that. Its a little harder in Spanish becuase there is a different way to say things based on who you are talking to or about.

Either way, Spanish is the one thing that I naturally excell at in school so I love it

[massacre man]

Originally posted by Stingy Jack
lol! I didn't recycle your statement. Your statement was, and I quote:

if your living in america you should just have to know some goddamn english

and

if i plan to move from america then i'll learn another language i forgot you never saw that part on blue collar comedy tour lol

[xGuardianx03]

Originally posted by Stingy Jack
But I don't know how beautiful it sounds ... it always sounds to me as if they're constantly trying to dislodge something from their throats.


LMAO! I've always thought the same thing. Like you may come away from a conversation in German, soaking wet with spit. ;) :D

[Egekrusher]

I would like to learn German and Japanese.

German because it just sounds cool. Japanese for when they eventually become the dominant nation and everyone has to speak it.

[Ritualistic]

I would also like to learn another lang because when someone is being rude and talking another lang in front of me (and knowing they can speak english) I can just come back at them with a smartass remark

[Sam The Egg]

3 teachers is better than 0. Last year, I heard the German teacher was leaving, and that another teacher, the Spanish one, was taking over. So, I signed up for German II. It was on the sheet, so I assumed there wouldn't be a problem. Then, we registered. It was on the schedule I was given, so I assumed there wouldn't be a problem. There was a problem. That problem was that there was no German teacher.



I'll let that sink in...



Good. Yes, it's true, they didn't hire a German teacher. Since the fault is obviously theirs, one would assume they'd have some options for those of us who foolishly signed up for it, right? Well, they did. The options were a) Find a way to get to Hazelwood Central (a nearby school that HAD a German teacher) and take the class there, or b) Transfer to Central. Luckily, the idiot administration managed to hire a German teacher like a week before school started.




Still, they're all fucking retarded.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by Sam The Egg
3 teachers is better than 0. Last year, I heard the German teacher was leaving, and that another teacher, the Spanish one, was taking over. So, I signed up for German II. It was on the sheet, so I assumed there wouldn't be a problem. Then, we registered. It was on the schedule I was given, so I assumed there wouldn't be a problem. There was a problem. That problem was that there was no German teacher.



I'll let that sink in...



Good. Yes, it's true, they didn't hire a German teacher. Since the fault is obviously theirs, one would assume they'd have some options for those of us who foolishly signed up for it, right? Well, they did. The options were a) Find a way to get to Hazelwood Central (a nearby school that HAD a German teacher) and take the class there, or b) Transfer to Central. Luckily, the idiot administration managed to hire a German teacher like a week before school started.




Still, they're all fucking retarded. We finally got a teacher for my english class BUT this woman has taught in 10 yrs.. I also think she has some type of nerve problem, or she might be on some type of meds.. LOL

[mayoisthedevil]

i took spanish for 3 years and didn't learn shit. i know random words. but if a person is to learn a different lang and wants to know how to speak it fluently, they should live in the place that speaks the lang. i went to Japan for a month to visit family and i learned soo much. learning is good for the mind. keeps it from rotting

[Vampenguin]

If you count Pig-Latin, Im fluently Biligual



If you dont, Im partially Bilingual anyway, not fluently.....but Ive been taking French for quite awhile.

[meetthecreeper]

Speak and understand a little Spanish, enough to get me by I guess. What I really want to learn is Russian, I would so love to go to the former Soviet Union.

I used to work with a guy who was from Lithuania (forgive if I spelled it wrong) he could speak like 17 different languages and different dialects of some of them also.

[fluffho]

i dont see a problem with learning ANYTHING and i think learning a language helps with abstract thinking as well as actually teacing us grammar. theres a difference between learning a language and fully understanding it, than speaking the way most of us do which is by memory. i didnt know all this subjunctive crap til i etook german

anyway. im gonna be a cop and it would be better to learn a language so im thinking of leraning tagalog. i already understand a good 90% of it so figure why not go all the way. not interested in spanish at all though, but i do plan on learning at least the basics.