|
 |
My Language Crisis (Relatively Speaking) | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5254 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 17 of 31 09 August 2012 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Something you may not have thought of or be aware of, there is a large Brazilian Portuguese speaking community in Japan, especially Nagoya: NHK Português Nagoya. Some basic online lessons with Japanese base and the option for English navigation are available from TUFS Tokyo University Foreign Studies Portuguese. The lessons have audio and video. French is also available but it seems to be Canadian French. TUFS French
Portuguese is a world language. Brazil and Portugal are fun places to visit. You could meet and speak with Japanese Brazilians in Japan and find common cause as fellow "strangers in a strange land" while practicing both languages. Edited by iguanamon on 09 August 2012 at 4:00pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6589 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 18 of 31 09 August 2012 at 6:04pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Yes, Portuguese would be a great choice too :)))
And language learning doesn't have to be something you set aside the time for. It's indeed easier to set aside the time for one language than for more... But you can simply have your fun in your target languages. Do you like French music? Movies? Are you interested in topics like science, politics, economics, society? Unfortunately, Esperanto can offer very few things like that compared to the big languages - or even to, say, Romanian. You have to love it so much that you enjoy these things BECAUSE they're in Esperanto. There are fantastic free courses but then not that many real materials. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4839 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 19 of 31 10 August 2012 at 2:33am | IP Logged | ||
|
@iguanamon and @Serpent - Are you trying to add to my crisis? :) Portuguese is the
language I would love to learn after I reach C1 or C2 in Japanese, but I thought I should always learn French first, because there are many countries that use the language, and it could be useful for travel. My wife and I like to travel when we can, and there's still a lot of travel in Europe we want to do: France, Switzerland, etc. We also want to go to places like Tahiti, Mauritius, Quebec and New Caledonia someday. While we could certainly go to Portugal when we go to Europe, going somewhere like Brazil from Japan would be costly and time-consuming (although out of all the countries in the world that I haven't been to, that is the one I want to go to the most). But iguanamon, you are right: there is a big Portuguese speaking community here. There are not as many Portuguese speakers in Osaka as in Nagoya, but they are here, too. There is a Brazilian restaurant run by a Brazilian not too far from where I live. They had her on local TV once as well; seems like a charming lady. There are both Portuguese and Esperanto speakers around, but I would probably have a greater chance of running into a Portuguese speaker. Also, I took both French and Portuguese classes at my university back in the U.S., and I remember being infatuated more with the sound of Portuguese. The pronunciation came easier to me than in French (even the nasal sounds), plus I loved the dancing, the futebol samba, bossa nova, etc. But being a graduate student-taught class, I couldn't use it for my foreign language credit. Plus my friends, who took French or Spanish, didn't think it would be "useful." I shouldn't have listened. :) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4839 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 20 of 31 10 August 2012 at 2:38am | IP Logged | ||
I was hoping you would chime in, emk. Your situation, as you pointed out yourself, seems similar to mine, so your input is most welcome. And as you said, I shouldn't be afraid of taking on French. As I mentioned in the last post, I would use it for traveling. I have no desire to be fluent in it, so I don't need to put that much effort into it. I should be able to study tourist-related language and basic conversation without interfering with my Japanese studies. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4839 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 21 of 31 10 August 2012 at 2:41am | IP Logged | ||
|
Sorry for all the posts - so much I want to reply to, because you guys are AWESOME!
@iguanamon - I checked out those links. Thank you very much! Now my Portuguese wanderlust has jumped up tremendously! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5254 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 22 of 31 10 August 2012 at 2:50am | IP Logged | ||
|
You're welcome. NHK is a good resource for Portuguese. NHK News in Portuguese has Brazilian Portuguese audio with transcripts of the news from a Japanese perspective. You might also look into "reverse engineering" the NHK Curso de Japonês.
Portuguese has a wealth of good literature, films and music. It will take you to Europe, South America, Africa and a small bit of Asia. As with Japan, you'll be surprised where you'll run into it when traveling. It is indeed worthy of your consideration. With your knowledge of Japanese and some Portuguese, you'll be a hit in the São Paulo neighborhood of Liberdade. São Paulo is said to be the largest Japanese city outside of Japan. I was there in February and thoroughly enjoyed the Nippo-Brazilian culture. Edited by iguanamon on 10 August 2012 at 8:59pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6589 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 23 of 31 10 August 2012 at 2:59am | IP Logged | ||
|
It does sound like you're more interested in Portuguese than in French!!!
You're already tired of one language because of its overwhelming usefulness, are you sure you want more? Most people in Switzerland speak English, and if Brazil is such a sweet thought I'm sure one day you'll manage to go there. And nothing prevents you from brushing up on your French when you have specific plans for going to a French-speaking country. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4839 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese | Message 24 of 31 10 August 2012 at 3:52am | IP Logged | ||
|
Again, thank you all! I'll take some time to think about what I want to do.
1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
