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Learning a language by watching TV? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Music, Movies, TV & Radio |  | |
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6934 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 57 of 134 13 January 2009 at 10:01am | IP Logged | ||||||||
More people in general, for sure, but among the people who would actually go to the trouble of learning a foreign languages to a decent level of proficiency without living in the country where it is spoken, the distribution of interests may be different. Also, the issue is not just high literature versus pop music and TV, there are other kinds of reading one can do. There is entertainment literature, newspapers, magazines, forums, e-mail, etc. Edited by frenkeld on 13 January 2009 at 10:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| reineke Senior Member United States https://learnalangua Joined 6438 days ago 851 posts - 1008 votes Studies: German | Message 58 of 134 13 January 2009 at 12:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I don't believe you need to mention people's names in this manner. You will find plenty of people here who like and dislike the "ProfasAR", lol. My impression has always been that this forum is full of people who are all into cheap entertainment. I have a very good feeling your girlfriend will leave a pretty bad impression. Some people don’t run after native speakers of other languages and dislike the empty chit-chat with perfect strangers. They find it silly and awkward when someone approaches them in this manner. Your talk about “posh French,” “snobbery”, “your snobbery” “you "literature" people” “literature craze” “some accented foreigner” the need to protect “the world-view of this community” etc. is very pretentious, pompous and hostile. I personally learn languages mostly because of books and movies. A Persian rug salesman or an Italian meat mincer factory rep don’t quite justify the effort. A saleswoman might. “High literature” is worth the effort – for some people. Trash is fun. Trash is called trash for a reason. You are what you eat and otherwise consume. Draw your own conclusion. In order to learn a language to a very high level one needs a lot of different kinds of input. One also needs to communicate daily about a variety of topics and not simply imitate the Swedish Chef. Edited by reineke on 13 January 2009 at 1:03pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5829 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 59 of 134 13 January 2009 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Huh???
Am I a snob because I want to speak clear well-articulated English with a good vocabulary and correct grammar? I'd argue no! Most British people notice after a few minutes at the most that I have a foreign accent. (some Northerners don't notice and most Americans don't notice). But why on earth would I want to speak UK slang like Cockney or any regional speech? I live in London (not East End, for the record..) and I have no family connection to the UK at all. I learnt standard British English in school, and this is also what I had opportunity to practice. What English accent other than BBC English would make sense for me to use? Yorkshire? Brummie? Or why not... US Texas!! All make equally little sense. This has nothing to do with snobbery, just common sense! Lastly, I work in a professional job and live in a nice part of London. Frankly, I speak in a similar way as most of my UK friends and colleagues albeit with a very faint accent which I cannot fully get rid of. The Radio 4 tip was a suggestion by my (then) fiancee who admittedly was a bit of a snob. But he was only trying to be helpful. The suggestion came after he jokingly complained because I had picked up some American expressions (in Asia) like "elevator", "period!" and a few others I can't remember anymore. I wasn't able to understand some old English sayings, and his view was that Radio 4 was a way to fix this. I quite enjoyed listening to some of the programs but there are only so many 'Gardeners' Question Time" and "The Archers" that a normal person can endure... Innit mate, laterz ;-) Edited by cordelia0507 on 13 January 2009 at 5:30pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5829 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 60 of 134 13 January 2009 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Also - I have to disagree with the posters who think it's a good idea to learn colloquial and slang.
Slang and swearing is the LAST thing to introduce as you start practicing a ne language! Get the basics right first. Of course it's convenient to understand commonly used slang. But new learners should stay well clear! It is very easy to use an extremely rude expression without realising the full content of how rude and stupid you sounded. What would you think if school kids learning English started using American slang, swear words and colloquial expressions before they can construct and pronounce a correct sentence in English? Quite sad, I imagine! The idea of doing this when learning any European language is equally inapproproiate... Personally I think it sounds really silly when people who use slang in a language that they don't really master. The point of slang is that you are very familiar with the language and ways of speaking. Sort of an 'insider' thing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6934 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 61 of 134 13 January 2009 at 4:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Uh, yes, you are, but then, why should you or anyone else be any less of a snob in a foreign language than in your own, even when you are advanced in it. One can, however, find an educated variety of the language in appropriately selected movies and TV shows. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6430 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 62 of 134 13 January 2009 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
You and I have different definitions of snob, Frenkeld; I wouldn't call that snobbishness. Looking down on others for not choosing to do the same might be, but having it as a personal aim doesn't strike me as being a snob: high standards are not the same as snobbery; condescension is much closer to snobbery, in my opinion. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6934 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 63 of 134 13 January 2009 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
That would depend on _why_ it is one's personal aim. In any case, the post was meant to have a smiley, except I purposely left it out to see what happens. It happened. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6430 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 64 of 134 13 January 2009 at 5:30pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Granted.
What happened: we disagreed. ;-) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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