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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4830 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 9 of 35 28 September 2012 at 10:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, it must have been a daunting task back then with no Anki, no Kindles iPads or iPhones, pop-up dictionaries, mp3s, and all the paraphernalia we have now.
The people I most admire I think (although I am not religious in a conventional sense) are the early translators of the Bible, translating from what must have been to them obscure languages, with minimal assistance, probably under difficult circumstances with no artificial lighting, probably not that great heating, and quite likely having to do it in secret. (What sort/quality of dictionaries did they have, for example?) Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German single-handed (I believe), in about 6 weeks. (It was a short time, anyway). (You can visit the rooms he worked in at the Wartburg castle, Eisenach, Thuringen, Eastern Germany). The Old Testament was more of a collaborative effort, done later. Quoting from Wikipedia:
Luther Bible Much the same of course, is said of the King James Version of the bible in English, which was also not the first English translation. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4780 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes Speaks: Russian | Message 10 of 35 29 September 2012 at 3:04am | IP Logged | ||
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I would like to share with you some thoughts on Persian, which I have been studying for the last 2 months.
Inspired by the recent TV series, "Shahs of Sunset", I went out and bought 2 Persian self-study books for English speakers at a used bookstore. The authors are Abbas Yamini Sharif and Hooshang and Farideh Amuzegar. Unlike Russian or Armenian, Persian so far has given me practically no pushback. The language is so playful and poetic, I actually look forward to the reviews and lessons. I am able to make complicated sentences on my first attempt, something I have never experienced before. Could this be because Persian is considered Level II difficulty for English speakers, on a par with Greek or German, as opposed to Russian or Armenian, which are level III? There is some shared vocabulary between Armenian and Persian, but unfortunately there is not a lot of carry-over from Armenian to Persian. Persian calligraphy, of course, is awesome. I'm not there yet, but my reading and writing is progressing nicely. I am able to spell about half the words without checking beforehand. The one major problem area for me is the "alef" and when it is pronounced like the a in "at" or the a in "car". I am also still not clear whether fluency in Persian allows you to claim fluency in Tajik and Dari as well, but that would definitely be a bonus. I am putting less pressure on myself, with no expectations and no deadlines. I have a daily session of semi-immersion, which so far has yielded little result. I am focusing mainly on number sequences, one of the trickiest aspects of language learning. I have found that many Persian-Americans treat you like royalty, because they consider themselves royalty. They also seem to like hearing themselves speak in their own language. Along those lines, there is a saying about a Muslim man having 4 wives, and why one of them should always be Persian. Anywho Persian is one of the world's great languages because it has unified a multi-ethnic society for centuries. Persian learners/speakers seem to be scarce on this forum but I would like to know if there are any here and what their experiences are. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4670 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 11 of 35 29 September 2012 at 11:25pm | IP Logged | ||
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German is easy to write, read aloud, and pronounce.
(Unlike English which is a nightmare for foreign learners, when we come across a word we don't know, he cannot know for sure how it is pronounced). The verbal system is much easier than the English one The most difficult thing is memorizing the gender of nouns, but you can manage it if you memorize only the feminine and neutral nouns (leaving all other 55% nouns as default/masculine). Edited by Medulin on 29 September 2012 at 11:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4640 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 12 of 35 30 September 2012 at 3:07am | IP Logged | ||
I just wanted to point out that in my experience, if you learn the Farsi dialect of Persian (which is what I'm assuming is the focus of your study as of right now), then the Dari and Tajiki dialects are mutually intelligible. Although there are some differences (one of the most notable being that Tajiki uses mostly Cyrillic script), the similarities are more profound. In short, proficiency in the Farsi/Iranian dialect definitely helps claim a high proficiency in the other two main dialects. The key, of course, is finding ways to listen to Dari and Tajiki, which can be difficult if you don't know people from Afghanistan or Tajikistan. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6584 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 13 of 35 30 September 2012 at 12:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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To keep on with the essay theme, here's the classic Why Chinese is So Damn Hard. Of course, he's talking about Mandarin, which is a lot easier than Cantonese. :)
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6274 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 14 of 35 30 September 2012 at 1:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I used to wonder how Germans cope with three genders, but they do, and with time and effort, the foreign learner can and does master them. Anyone scared of German will be terrified of the non-Indo-European languages out there, which make German seem like a walk in the park...
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5058 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 15 of 35 30 September 2012 at 2:13pm | IP Logged | ||
Why? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4670 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 16 of 35 30 September 2012 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've never heard adult foreigners speak convincing Norwegian or Swedish (because the correct ''singy'' pronunciation is practically un-imitable for nonScandinavians).
On the other hand, many people who came to Germany as adults, learned to speak with virtually no accent, for example Argentina's PÍA CASTRO (who works for Deutsche Welle in Berlin now): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l1KyKcVOTg Edited by Medulin on 30 September 2012 at 4:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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