The Language Practice Thread

[BiBunny]

Hey, y'all! I mentioned a couple times in some other threads that I was thinking of starting a language thread similar to @seela 's German thread. @IrisAlthea suggested that I make an all-purpose one, where we could practice whatever languages we wanted, which I thought was a great idea. So, with apologies to seela, here is the BDSM Cafe Language Practice Thread!

Rules:

• You can post in any language you want, including English.
• You can reply to others' posts, either in English or in whatever language the post you're replying to is in
• Please no pedantry about grammar, spelling, etc. We're all here to learn!

Feel free to make use of any translation tools you may need. I most certainly will be! If Google Translate fails me, I may ask you to translate your post into English. Don't be offended if I do. It has nothing to do with your language skills and everything to do with the fact that Google doesn't always get it right.

Ok, I'm gonna post this and then a Spanish post to get us started. Everyone come on in and practice your language skills!

 

[BiBunny]

Ayer, yo estaba manejando por la calle en mi carro pequeño cuando ví un vehículo que parecía familiar. ¡Me pasó y me di cuenta que fue mi camioneta vieja! No sé, eso fue gracioso para mi.

 

[BiBunny]

I got a call before I could finish that last post, and now I forgot what I was going to say. Go figure.

 

[BiBunny]

Okè, ik beloof dat ik nu naar bed ga, maar ik hoop dat ik nederlands ook met iemand kan oefenen. Welterusten, iedereen!

 

[IrisAlthea]

Ayer, yo estaba manejando por la calle en mi carro pequeño cuando ví un vehículo que parecía familiar. ¡Me pasó y me di cuenta que fue mi camioneta vieja! No sé, eso fue gracioso para mi.

Giving it a try here without help:
¡Es un coincidente!

Never learned Spanish but a bit of school French and summer flirt Italian helps a bit.

Okè, ik beloof dat ik nu naar bed ga, maar ik hoop dat ik nederlands ook met iemand kan oefenen. Welterusten, iedereen!

I hope you sleep well and that you find someone who can practice Dutch with you!
And then I think you are wishing us all something but I can’t figure out what?

 

[BiBunny]

Giving it a try here without help:
¡Es un coincidente!

Never learned Spanish but a bit of school French and summer flirt Italian helps a bit.



I hope you sleep well and that you find someone who can practice Dutch with you!
And then I think you are wishing us all something but I can’t figure out what?

Yay, I'm glad I mostly said what I meant to say, lol.

I've been studying Spanish off and on for half my life. I'm working on Italian and French in Duolingo now. I'm not very good at either of them yet.

You got the Dutch right, too! It was "good night" at the end. For some reason, in Dutch, it goes goedemorgen, goedendag, goedenavond, and then welterusten instead of the goede nacht you would expect. Or at least, that's what Duo taught me, so who knows?

 

[BiBunny]

For those of you doing Duolingo, which languages are you currently learning? I'm doing Spanish, Dutch, Russian (which I've finished and am just reviewing), Ukrainian (which I've also finished and am just reviewing), Italian, French, German, and Hindi. I tried Mandarin, but I couldn't get the characters to stick in my mind. As soon as the app moved on to the next question, I'd immediately forget the characters in the one before it, so I had to give that one up.

 

[LustyScribe]

For those of you doing Duolingo, which languages are you currently learning? I'm doing Spanish, Dutch, Russian (which I've finished and am just reviewing), Ukrainian (which I've also finished and am just reviewing), Italian, French, German, and Hindi. I tried Mandarin, but I couldn't get the characters to stick in my mind. As soon as the app moved on to the next question, I'd immediately forget the characters in the one before it, so I had to give that one up.

That is tackling a LOT of information at once! I am a native English speaker and an ESL teacher. I took German through high school and then was stationed there for a bit. Taught myself Romanian while doing several trips there. At 52, I went back to college, got an Associate's degree in Spanish, which I use every day in my classes. I'm currently working on my doctorate. I have had people say they can't learn a new language because they're "too old" and I just shake my head. You're never too old until you're too dead! I used cassettes & a small book (Berlitz, maybe?) for Romanian. My Spanish professor used Duolingo to augment instruction, and it was very helpful. Next up: sign language and...Mandarin?

 

[BiBunny]

That is tackling a LOT of information at once! I am a native English speaker and an ESL teacher. I took German through high school and then was stationed there for a bit. Taught myself Romanian while doing several trips there. At 52, I went back to college, got an Associate's degree in Spanish, which I use every day in my classes. I'm currently working on my doctorate. I have had people say they can't learn a new language because they're "too old" and I just shake my head. You're never too old until you're too dead! I used cassettes & a small book (Berlitz, maybe?) for Romanian. My Spanish professor used Duolingo to augment instruction, and it was very helpful. Next up: sign language and...Mandarin?

That's so awesome! I would like to learn Romanian at some point, too, but I currently am making myself not try to learn anymore until I finish another couple of courses on Duo. I'm close to finishing the Dutch course, but I'm going to try not to pick up another one just yet.

Good luck on sign language and Mandarin!

 

[Deprived_in_AZ]

Sounds like Duo is a pretty effective way to learn languages. Much respect for learning multiple ones at the same time! I don’t think I could do that without getting confused and mix up vocabulary and making a total mess of it.

Terrible story: many years ago we took a trip to France, I felt fairly confident using my school room French to get around and did pretty well…. Until one morning while checking out of a small hotel in Bayeux. I thought I had handled it splendidly, asking the lady a few questions, all in French of course… and she turned right around and gave the answers to my husband in English. My confidence was shattered. Also, rude, no??

 

[BiBunny]

Sounds like Duo is a pretty effective way to learn languages. Much respect for learning multiple ones at the same time! I don’t think I could do that without getting confused and mix up vocabulary and making a total mess of it.

Terrible story: many years ago we took a trip to France, I felt fairly confident using my school room French to get around and did pretty well…. Until one morning while checking out of a small hotel in Bayeux. I thought I had handled it splendidly, asking the lady a few questions, all in French of course… and she turned right around and gave the answers to my husband in English. My confidence was shattered. Also, rude, no??

Duo is really good if you learn well from game-type things. I can do pretty ok with it most of the time.

I should really probably only be doing one language at a time, but I get excited and want to do more, lol.

Oh, man, the French lady. That was very rude! I mean, maybe she thought she was being helpful, but ugh. I admit my French is very, very limited, so I'm sure you did better than what I could've done in that situation, lol.

 

[seela]

Let's give this thread a little bump!

Creo que este thread es una buena idea. Me gustan todos los idiomas y he estudiado...hmm...algunos. En la escuela estudié inglés, alemán, sueco, español, ruso y latin, despues estudié varios idiomas también. He olvidado mucho, pero estoy aprendido español de nuevo con Duolingo. El progreso es muy lento, porque español no es mi prioridad y cambio de un idioma al otro todo el tiempo. Mi idioma preferida aprender en Duolingo es galés, aunque el curso no es el mejor. Es un idioma muy interesante y recomiendo aprenderlo si alguien quiere probar algo un poco diferente.

Dw i'n dysgu cymraeg ar Duolingo a mae hi'n iaeth ddiddiorol iawn. Dw i wedi dysgu cymraeg dwy flynedd, ond dw i ddim yn gwybod llawer. Dydy'r cwrs ddim yn dda iawn. Gramadeg dim yn cael ei esboniad a does ddim unrhyw ymarferion siarad. Dw i ddim erioed wedi bod yng Nghymru, ond hoffwn i ymweld a'no. Mae Cymru yn wlad hardd a dw i eisiau clywed cymraeg! Ymwelais i ag Iwerddon yn yr haf diwetha a chlywais i pobl yn siarad Gwyddeleg. Roedd hi'n gwych!

 

[BiBunny]

Let's give this thread a little bump!

Creo que este thread es una buena idea. Me gustan todos los idiomas y he estudiado...hmm...algunos. En la escuela estudié inglés, alemán, sueco, español, ruso y latin, despues estudié varios idiomas también. He olvidado mucho, pero estoy aprendido español de nuevo con Duolingo. El progreso es muy lento, porque español no es mi prioridad y cambio de un idioma al otro todo el tiempo. Mi idioma preferida aprender en Duolingo es galés, aunque el curso no es el mejor. Es un idioma muy interesante y recomiendo aprenderlo si alguien quiere probar algo un poco diferente.

¡Yay, estoy tan feliz que te gusta mi idea para un thread!

Estudié solo español en la escuela. Todos los otros, he estudiado en Duolingo. Parece que no sé mucho de ninguno de ellos, pero disfruto aprender de todos modes.

¡Espero que podamos continuar con este thread! ¡Es divertido!

 

[Shuttermaster65]

Sto imparando l'italiano su duolingo per quattro mesi. Parla italiano?

 

[IrisAlthea]

Capisco un pocco. Una vicina di casa parlava italiano con me quando ero bambino.
(Or is that bambina?)

 

[BiBunny]

Sto imparando l'italiano su duolingo per quattro mesi. Parla italiano?

Capisco un pocco. Una vicina di casa parlava italiano con me quando ero bambino.
(Or is that bambina?)

Parlo un po d'italiano. L'ho studiato per alcuni anni, ma non abbastanza spesso. Trovo che il corso di Duolingo sia più difficile da capire rispetto a molti altri. Quindi non lo faccio così spesso. Il vostro italiano è molto meglio del mio!

(I hope that made sense. I had to lean pretty heavy on Google Translate for that little paragraph, lol.)


Здесь кто-нибудь говорит по-русски? Я умею немного говорить.

 

[Shuttermaster65]

Duolingo può essere molto difficile do capire. A volte, non c'è spiegazione.

 

[curious_slut]

Mi piace il gufo di Duolingo ma mi ha paura. Ho completato 2300 giorni. Imparo italiano, spagnolo, francese, tedesco, e polacco.

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

On Duolingo; working on French and Indonesian. I have completed Latin, and Dutch & Ukrainian are sort of dormant.
Outside Duolingo, I collect profanity. Hungarian is a wonderful language for swearing, almost poetic. Russian is solid and communicates a visceral feel for how frustrated you might be. German is too stiff for really sincere profanity.

 

[Shuttermaster65]

Mi piace il gufo di Duolingo ma mi ha paura. Ho completato 2300 giorni. Imparo italiano, spagnolo, francese, tedesco, e polacco.

Davvero!! 2300 giorni - molto impressionante!!

 

[BiBunny]

Ik weet niet waarom, maar ik wil nederlands spreken.

For some reason, I seem to have the most luck with Dutch. Then Spanish, because I've been learning it longest, so my vocabulary is biggest. Those are the only two I truly feel at least sort of comfortable speaking.

Then, I guess Russian and Ukrainian, although I don't feel like I know much of either because the Duolingo courses for both are not very long. I've completed them both, but I feel like I know very little of either.

After that, I guess German and then Italian, French, and Hindi in that order. I know very little German and Italian, though I can guess a little more than I've learned because I know some Spanish and Dutch. French and Hindi, though, I can basically say, "I eat apples," and that's it.


Which languages are y'all working on, and which ones would you like to learn if you had time?

 

[seela]

Which languages are y'all working on, and which ones would you like to learn if you had time?

I’ve been working on the Welsh course a lot lately, almost exclusively Welsh, actually.

I’m three lessons away from finishing the whole Duolingo course, and it’s all golden too. For non-Duo users, the regular course is just random colors, but after you’ve finished it in that random color, you can then upgrade it to golden, legendary level by doing more. So I’m basically legendary, y’all. Or at least I will be after I finish the course today.

The Duo course has given me zero speaking skills, because the course has zero speaking exercises and I haven’t really had a person to ever try to speak it with. It has given me a really good feel of the language though, some basic grammar and vocabulary. I’m able to write about simple things at least. I still don’t remember how all the mutations work, and sometimes I don’t understand why a certain mutation is needed, but I’m sure I’ve gotten a pretty good foundation of the basics. The vocab is a little lacking, though. But all in all a very pleasant taste of Welsh. Would love to learn more, but unsurprisingly there isn’t exactly an overflow of classes available. I’ll have to see about what to do with the language next or if I’ll just move on to something else.

I also started to learn Persian this year and did a spring term’s worth of mostly leisurely learning. My vocabulary is limited and weird, but I’ve really enjoyed the language and the teacher, so I’ve signed up for the fall term’s class, too.

And yesterday I spoke a little bit of Persian with someone, I think it was the first time I used the language in the wild, so to say. I asked them what they are going to do this weekend and they answered that their parents are visiting and something I didn’t understand, but I did understand that they then asked what I’m doing. I answered that I’m going to Germany, because that’s all I could think of at the moment that I could say. Going was the only verb that I remembered the present tense stem for that moment. It was a lie, of course, because I’m (sadly) not in Germany currently, but I spoke Persian! I lied in Persian!!!

 

[seela]

Well I just finished the Welsh course, and what a disappointment that was. Duo didn’t give me any special trophy or even a “congrats on finishing the course” screen. Boo.

I don’t know what Duo language to focus on next. Maybe Yiddish. I took a few Yiddish classes in the university so mostly the Duo course so far has been about learning a few new words and a new dialect (learned standard Yiddish in uni). The course lacks audio for the more advanced lessons where I’m currently sitting, so I kind of stopped doing the course but I guess I might as well finish it. I’m about half way through.

(Edit: I checked out the Yiddish course and looks like they’ve updated the course and there’s at least some audio for the lessons I’m at! I was farther along than I remembered. Only about a quarter of the course missing, so I think finishing this will be my next project.)

I’m a little tempted to start something completely new, too.

 

[LustyScribe]

I’ve been working on the Welsh course a lot lately, almost exclusively Welsh, actually.

I’m three lessons away from finishing the whole Duolingo course, and it’s all golden too. For non-Duo users, the regular course is just random colors, but after you’ve finished it in that random color, you can then upgrade it to golden, legendary level by doing more. So I’m basically legendary, y’all. Or at least I will be after I finish the course today.

The Duo course has given me zero speaking skills, because the course has zero speaking exercises and I haven’t really had a person to ever try to speak it with. It has given me a really good feel of the language though, some basic grammar and vocabulary. I’m able to write about simple things at least. I still don’t remember how all the mutations work, and sometimes I don’t understand why a certain mutation is needed, but I’m sure I’ve gotten a pretty good foundation of the basics. The vocab is a little lacking, though. But all in all a very pleasant taste of Welsh. Would love to learn more, but unsurprisingly there isn’t exactly an overflow of classes available. I’ll have to see about what to do with the language next or if I’ll just move on to something else.

I also started to learn Persian this year and did a spring term’s worth of mostly leisurely learning. My vocabulary is limited and weird, but I’ve really enjoyed the language and the teacher, so I’ve signed up for the fall term’s class, too.

And yesterday I spoke a little bit of Persian with someone, I think it was the first time I used the language in the wild, so to say. I asked them what they are going to do this weekend and they answered that their parents are visiting and something I didn’t understand, but I did understand that they then asked what I’m doing. I answered that I’m going to Germany, because that’s all I could think of at the moment that I could say. Going was the only verb that I remembered the present tense stem for that moment. It was a lie, of course, because I’m (sadly) not in Germany currently, but I spoke Persian! I lied in Persian!!!

Isn't that an awesome feeling? It's like, Hey, all that work IS worth it! I have several students (high school) whose home languages are diverse Mayan languages, many of which are very rare. I started trying to find info, and finally found some on one kid's dialect. When he came in one day, I said just basically "How are you?" In Acateko(sp?). His whole face lit up! So worth it.

 

[BiBunny]

Me duele el cuello hoy. No dormí bien anoche por eso y todavía me duele hoy. Ugh.

Sorry, I felt the need to complain about it, so I thought I'd do it here, lol.