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The journey so far... | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Members profiles |  | |
| Christine Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 6617 days ago 41 posts - 47 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Japanese, Modern Hebrew | Message 1 of 5 01 February 2007 at 2:30am | IP Logged |
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Having written several posts yesterday, it is about time to document my language journey so far. I'm a fourth-year law student from Germany and I guess I have always loved languages.
Of course, everything started with English. In Germany, everybody has to learn English at school. I have had English classes from 5th to 13th grade. While they were kind of useful in conveying the basics concerning grammar and vocabulary, they don't really make you fluent in English. By reading lots of English books and participating in English-speaking forums on the internet when I was about 16 or 17, I have managed to noticeably boost my English skills, which most likely wouldn't have happened if I had continued to rely on the classes at school. Unfortunately, after having graduated from school, I didn't have as many opportunities to use my English as before as we weren't allowed to take English classes in our first year of university - there were too many students and they lacked tutors -, and I suddenly didn't have as much time to read as I used to, so my writing and speaking skills have suffered a lot, as you may have already noticed. I desperately need to reactivate them. The second language I had learned at school was Latin. Today, I have no idea why I chose Latin instead of French in sixth grade. I never liked it, barely remember anything of it, and find it anything but useful besides the fact that it sometimes comes in handy when learning French or another Romance language. It is hard to resist the temptation of hitting my head against the wall every time I think of that choice I made back then. Spanish. When I was in sixth or seventh grade, a new teacher came to our school. Since she was allowed to teach Spanish, she set up a voluntary Spanish course. (There were lots of voluntary classes at my school - they usually took place in the afternoon and there were neither tests nor grades.) It was fun, but we didn't learn much and she unfortunately left after a year, so I don't remember anything but a handful of phrases. Italian: Another voluntary course I took at school. I was attending it for two years, but I soon found it very boring as we didn't do anything but discuss articles (il, gli...) in the second year. I don't remember much more of it than I do of Spanish. Japanese: In about 1999, a new voluntary course was set up at our school: Japanese. I found it very interesting and went there for four years. When the teacher (a German who had lived in Japan for several years) left, she was substituted by a new Japanese teacher who would only speak to us in Japanese even though her German was really good, which was a big challenge. I didn't learn very much as there were no grades and I was too lazy to keep up with what was taught in class (however, I have to admit that I was very busy pursuing the mandatory schedule at that time). As I still loved to learn the language a couple of years later, I decided to start from scratch at university because I had forgotten almost all of the kana characters I had learned at school, not to mention the kanji. Now I have passed the first course, which was at the same time demanding (learning speed is much higher) and fun (everybody is really motivated). I plan to continue taking these classes. Finally, I have to mention French. Back in my last years of school, I came to the conclusion that I should have taken French instead of Latin because I found it much more useful and I loved the sound of the language. The first thing I did in my second term of university was signing up for a beginner's class in French. Now I have passed five French classes (which equals two and a half years), and I still love it even though my vocabulary is rather small and I don't understand a single word when I hear native speakers talking, so I intend to work on it. Unfortunately, I can't use French in Action, which has been recommended here, so I guess I have to search for other ressources. To sum everything up, I have started learning several languages yet, but the only one I can actually use is English, which really saddens me. However, this amazing website has already motivated me to work on my French (I have already started to use flash cards instead of creating word lists) and I really look forward to participating in these forums and maybe pick up a piece of advice here and there. It's great to be here! Edited by Christine on 02 February 2007 at 4:49am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7006 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 5 01 February 2007 at 11:16am | IP Logged |
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Welcome to the forum!
P.S. Your English is excellent. I wouldn't say that it's deteriorated at all! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Marj Senior Member United States Joined 6557 days ago 257 posts - 283 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, French | Message 3 of 5 01 February 2007 at 1:05pm | IP Logged |
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Christine, I agree with patuco, your English is excellent.
And even if you don't remember much of your Spanish, Latin and Italian, they were steps on the way of learning new languages, and were possibly of some help in your learning of French. Good luck on improving your French, and I'm sure you will get a lot of good ideas from the Forum, I know I have. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Christine Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 6617 days ago 41 posts - 47 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Japanese, Modern Hebrew | Message 4 of 5 27 February 2012 at 3:02am | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone,
I haven't been around here for ages, so I thought the best way to rejoin the discussion is to bring up my old introduction again. Since my last login in early 2008, I haven't had much time or opportunity to focus on my language learning. I completed the four Japanese courses for beginners my university offers. There used to be a combined course for anybody whose Japanese is beyond that, but unfortunately it isn't offered anymore, so I guess I have to resort to studying on my own now. I still have to work hard on my French since I am really out of practice. I tuned in to a French radio station this afternoon and didn't understand much more than a couple of phrases or key words. I felt as if I had never learned more than a couple of words in French, which was really frustrating since my reading is much better. I am able to understand basic Wikipedia articles and fairly easy lecture such as Francois Lelord's "Le Voyage d'Hector" which I bought last year in order to work on my French. The main reason for coming back here is that I have started learning another language, just for the fun of it - Modern Hebrew. I am neither a Jew nor in any other way related to Israel, I just fell in love with the way it sounds. Currently I'm working through a book on the writing system. Remembering the letters is fairly easy for me as I have already coped with the much more complex writing system of Japanese, yet the lack of vowels in everyday Hebrew is still challenging. I also bought a Hebrew language course that covers levels A1 and A2 of the CEFR. I guess this should keep me busy for a while - and I look forward to exchanging experiences with other learners of this fascinating language (while working on the others I have already studied, of course). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5838 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 5 27 February 2012 at 12:18pm | IP Logged |
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Welcome back on the HTLAL - forum! I joined the forum in summer 2008 at that time under my former nickname Babylonia. I hope that some people will inspire you here and that you find some useful discussions to read.
Kind regards, Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 27 February 2012 at 12:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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