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Why it pays to study only one language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Links & Internet Resources |  | |
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6921 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 8 10 February 2012 at 3:19am | IP Logged | ||
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Does anyone know where this girl learned Chinese? She is fantastic!
Obsessed with Lady Gaga English for Mandarin speakers OMG! Meiyu is a daily three minute video produced by Voice of America. It’s aimed at helping Chinese speakers learn American English. Meiyu (美语) means American English. According to host Jessica Beinecke– who we hear from in the pod– the title is a nod to the phrase Oh My Lady Gaga. In both cases, there’s English, there’s Chinese (sort of) but most of all, there’s a playfulness around the language. Beinecke’s videos have become wildly popular in China, not least because of her slangy approach to English teaching. Why teach an English learner bottom or rear end when there’s a more memorable word to pass on like badonkadonk. Here are the payoff sentences from her lesson on physical fitness: “She stopped working out and she got a little jiggly. I hear she has a muffin top, and a big badonkadonk!” Edited by translator2 on 10 February 2012 at 3:27am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| 이희선 Groupie Australia Joined 4971 days ago 56 posts - 97 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian | Message 2 of 8 10 February 2012 at 7:05am | IP Logged | ||
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Looks like a mix of University studies and living abroad and working in a field using the language. Her profile is
public on LinkedIn 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6705 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 8 10 February 2012 at 9:55am | IP Logged | ||
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But how does it prove that it pays just to study one language, cfr. the title of the thread?
7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Camundonguinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4751 days ago 273 posts - 500 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish Studies: Swedish | Message 4 of 8 10 February 2012 at 10:43am | IP Logged | ||
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Learning slang can be fun, but slang is the part of a language that changes most rapidly.
So, if you learn slang mostly, in 5 year's time you'll speak ''dated slang''. Not many people use words that were ''totally'' popular but faded away, like 1. groovy (1960/70 slang) 2. rad or radical (1980 slang). Learning slang actively is a poor investment. It's better to concentrate on words tagged with ''colloquial'' or ''informal'' (like SIZZLING = hot; PESKY = annoying; AWESOME = excellent). They seem to last longer than words dictionaries label with ''slang'' tag only (like DIG = to like). You can sound very informal without getting into the evanescent ever-changing field of slang. Life is never rosy, not even for most slang words. ;) I heard an expression (Vamos pa mi kely) in Spanish from a friend of mine, and I used it with another friend (who is from SPain too), and he asked me ''Why are you using dated juvenile slang?'' haha. So, be careful with slang words, you're always in the gray zone. In Brazil and in the US we are slang-tolerant, so if a 40 year old uses a juvenile slang word, it will be funny at most, but it will never sound ugly. In some countries, people are less tolerant of slang, for example in Spain you are supposed to use serious words and not juvenile slang when you are older than 26-30 years of age. Edited by Camundonguinho on 10 February 2012 at 11:03am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6599 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 5 of 8 10 February 2012 at 12:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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Heck, English (online) slang has changed since I started learning it, and I'm just 21!
And I don't mean netspeak but just the words people use. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6921 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 8 10 February 2012 at 1:42pm | IP Logged | ||
I admit the title was intentionally controversial for the purpose of attracting attention. However, by learning at least one language (at a time) to proficiency (Chinese) she has been able to do something quite useful and practical with her language. I think the internet (and youtube especially) has and will allow more and more people to showcase their language talents and encourage others to learn languages who otherwise would not have. Gone are the days when I used to have to hide my studies out of fear of being ridiculed. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6921 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 8 10 February 2012 at 1:45pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, it always makes me chuckle when I see videos teaching foreigners English (there is also a man with a youtube channel who teaches English slang to French speakers) and they teach a slang phrase that I have never heard of. For example, in this case, I have never seen or heard the expression "totes magotes". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| unzum Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom soyouwanttolearnalan Joined 6916 days ago 371 posts - 478 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin | Message 8 of 8 24 February 2012 at 5:16pm | IP Logged | ||
I do kind-of agree. Getting a textbook or vocabulary book with lists of slang and learning is not always very useful, because slang varies according to region as well as time, so some native speakers may have not even heard of the words you spent so long learning! I think it could be more useful to learn slang words from your native speaker friends or from authentic materials. But even then you can end up using slang that sounds weird or dated to another native speaker. Maybe the best bet is to play it safe and use slang with someone only if you've heard them say it themselves? 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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