Languages

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Re: Languages

Postby ktrout » Thu Mar 07, 2013 2:27 am

My ex was barely helpful, but after 10 years of marriage and a few months roaming around by myself in the country I made some progress. Keep at it, son!
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Re: Languages

Postby JITW » Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:09 pm

Osiris wrote:I'm learning Mandarin right now. Someone mentioned to me it takes about 3000 hours of practice to be fluent..


Non-native Mandarin speakers will never become fluent - you will still sound like a white guy speaking Mandarin (given, you will still be speaking Mandarin)

I have a buddy that went to the States and Armys Mandarin Language School (then didn't re-up, lol), it was like 3 years solid of full time language school (with no other distractions), his Mandarin is great but he still sound like a white guy speaking great Mandarin

He ended up going backpacking in China after he got out of the Army, people would freak out when this Blond Haired, Blue Eyed White dude would walk into a village and start throwing out Mandarin

He tried for years to get a Translator or any job related to his Mandarin skills and never found a gig - he is a security contractor in A-Stan now

Language Skills: the hardest, most time consuming, most interesting and impressive skill you will ever have that will get you a job as a security guard or at home depo

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Re: Languages

Postby roach coach » Fri Apr 05, 2013 10:33 pm

marie-angelique wrote:Russian isn't that hard if your first language is English. It is in the Indo-European family.

At least Arabic has an alphabet. You are going to have to study for a long time before you will know how to look up words in the dictionary. They order them by the 3 letter root word. You need to decide which Arabic to study. Most learn Modern Standard or Egyptian. Use the search function. Lots of flaggers have studied in Yemen and seemed to find it a good experience.

Mandarin is worlds harder than the rest unless you have a really good ear. It's a tonal language. There are no familiar words. At least the grammar isn't too bad.

I hope you plan to major in something else as well.


Because of the Arab Spring and recent instability, I wonder if there are any new programs available for Arabic over there, I already have a year of MSA (and some Egyptian) under my belt. Syria used to be a huge hub for students, of course that's kind of not available for now.
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Re: Languages

Postby ktrout » Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:37 am

JITW wrote:He ended up going backpacking in China after he got out of the Army, people would freak out when this Blond Haired, Blue Eyed White dude would walk into a village and start throwing out Mandarin

Done that kind of shit on a bicycle. Yeah, they freak out in the middle of China when they see a white guy. Even happens in cities of half a million. It's a pretty outgoing culture, actually.
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Re: Languages

Postby Osiris » Wed Apr 10, 2013 1:43 pm

I'm living in a city of 5 million and people still stop me to take my picture.
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Re: Languages

Postby ktrout » Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:53 pm

Osiris wrote:I'm living in a city of 5 million and people still stop me to take my picture.

You would think they never get any visitors. When I visited my ex wife's home town (绵竹) a girl ran from one shop to another saying “一个外国人来了! " - A foreigner is coming!
JITW wrote:I have a buddy that went to the States and Armys Mandarin Language School (then didn't re-up, lol), it was like 3 years solid of full time language school (with no other distractions), his Mandarin is great but he still sound like a white guy speaking great Mandarin

I think it helps to sleep with one for a long time. I don't think you get the same level of immersion from a school. Especially from a government school.
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Re: Languages

Postby Osiris » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:08 pm

I can get into a name calling match with a five year old and hold my own in Chinese. They don't teach you that kind of stuff in school.

"You're a hippo!"
"You're a hedgehog!"
"You're a dinosaur!"
"You're ugly!"
"You're fat!"
"You're a t-Rex!"
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Re: Languages

Postby rickshaw92 » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:18 pm

Osiris wrote:I can get into a name calling match with a five year old and hold my own in Chinese. They don't teach you that kind of stuff in school.

"You're a hippo!"
"You're a hedgehog!"
"You're a dinosaur!"
"You're ugly!"
"You're fat!"
"You're a t-Rex!"


What about "you're a fucktarded douche"?
Im reallly fuclimg pissed but fespite that I can still hit a tarfet at 1000m plus. mayVRVe bnot tonight but it qint beyond the wit if man. Nowhammy.
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Re: Languages

Postby Osiris » Wed Apr 17, 2013 10:24 am

I should probably learn a little more before I say something that'll get me knocked the fuck out.
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Re: Languages

Postby JITW » Wed Apr 17, 2013 2:51 pm

ktrout wrote:
JITW wrote:I have a buddy that went to the States and Armys Mandarin Language School (then didn't re-up, lol), it was like 3 years solid of full time language school (with no other distractions), his Mandarin is great but he still sound like a white guy speaking great Mandarin

I think it helps to sleep with one for a long time. I don't think you get the same level of immersion from a school. Especially from a government school.


I don't want to sleep with him


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Re: Languages

Postby ktrout » Wed Apr 17, 2013 5:19 pm

JITW wrote:I don't want to sleep with him

LOL, that's not what I meant. He probably would have learned a lot more by finding a pretty Chinese woman to marry. It was certainly educational for me.
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Re: Languages

Postby JITW » Fri Apr 19, 2013 1:28 am

ktrout wrote:
JITW wrote:I don't want to sleep with him

LOL, that's not what I meant. He probably would have learned a lot more by finding a pretty Chinese woman to marry. It was certainly educational for me.


Every white dude I know who has married a Chinese gal from the motherland has gotten divorced - but if he ever pisses me off I'll make that suggestion to him


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Re: Languages

Postby ktrout » Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:15 am

JITW wrote:Every white dude I know who has married a Chinese gal from the motherland has gotten divorced - but if he ever pisses me off I'll make that suggestion to him

HA! It's tough. They're really fucked in the head because their culture is completely fucked. I don't know if someone raised after Mao would be better because it's still pretty fucked up. But then again, I would rather be married to a mainland Chinese woman than a Christian fundamentalist. The level of mind fuck is pretty similar.
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Re: Languages

Postby stealth1 » Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:42 pm

Thai and Spanish...

The kids know a bit of Mandarin and are studying it in school.
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Re: Languages

Postby db36046 » Sun Nov 15, 2015 10:05 pm

Just remember these tips for language learning:
1. Language is about 95% motor skill, 5% intellectual. You have to actually speak it to learn it. Train the muscles of the vocal apparatus in muscle memory. Concentrate mostly on the phonetics (correct pronunciation). The rest will follow.
2. The best language learners are little kids, for a number of reasons. If you want to learn a language, forget your inhibitions and be willing to sound like a little child as you learn.
3. If you are extremely adept at language learning, with a child's facility for it, and fully immerse yourself (which means putting yourself into a situation where you have to speak the language to survive), after 5 years of constant effort you will be able to speak about as well as a 5 year old native speaker.
4. For each major language you learn there are several million people with whom you will be able to visit, who were completely inaccessible to you before that. It's a wonderful experience!
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