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It hurt me being multi-lingual | ||
Tags: Native Language | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 4991 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 33 of 49 01 October 2010 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I just tried Google translate and I am impressed. The hover feature is very useful. The last Kindle had an English dictionary feature built into it that is similar. I wonder if the new ones have alternate dictionaries available in them. They said the goal was to have any book in any language.
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| aarontp Groupie United States Joined 5077 days ago 94 posts - 139 votes | Message 34 of 49 02 October 2010 at 4:47am | IP Logged | ||||||||
The time spent studying foreign languages is time that could be spent on other worthwhile activities; no doubt. Though I don't think that the tedious or mundane aspects of learning a language reduce its intellectual worth. I think this is true of nearly all intellectual pursuits. When I studied math and physics, I spent innumerable hours repeating variations of problems that I already understood. I think this is true of all or nearly all intellectual pursuits. There are hurdles to understanding, such as memorization of basic formulas or concepts, which can not be overcome without tedious repetition. At least for us normal folks, the geniuses among us seem to get by with very little memorization or mundane repetition, but I imagine they still need to do some. Edited by aarontp on 02 October 2010 at 4:48am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4983 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 35 of 49 02 October 2010 at 7:05pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree with you, aarontp, I have always thought of language learning, at least as a second language and not been exposed to it as a child, as an intellectual pursuit. I personally think it helps to make someone smarter. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| furrykef Senior Member United States furrykef.com/ Joined 6282 days ago 681 posts - 862 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Latin, Italian | Message 36 of 49 02 October 2010 at 7:23pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
No. Google Translate is garbage, even using it as a dictionary. Now, if we were to talk about a real mouseover dictionary tool, such as Rikaichan for Japanese, I would agree with you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Ichiro Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6019 days ago 111 posts - 152 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Malay | Message 37 of 49 02 October 2010 at 7:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I disagree with this. I've got friends who escaped to their current national homes, English-speaking countries, at the ages of 8 and 12 (different families, different countries) and who now speak native, creative English. One uses her native Russian with difficulty, but the other is perfect in his. So it's quite possible to be multilingual to native levels, but it's a balance of your personal aptitudes, desires and opportunities.
This is like complaining that some countries have bigger reserves of natural resources than others, or a larger population, or more access to the sea, or a less miserable climate. We all do the best with what we've got. Anyway, in the words of Helmut Kohl, if I'm selling I'll speak to you in English, but if I'm buying, denn muessen sie Deutsch sprechen.
I'm fully in agreement with this, though. I work with a whole bunch of Indians, who are probably not reading Shakespeare at home in the original** but who are able to tell me very well what they want or what they have done. Maybe I wouldn't express myself exactly as they do, but if I spent my time picking holes in their grammar, we would not have a very fruitful relationship, and I doubt I would last in my position. ** Although I hear that Tamil has a rich and powerful literary history spanning many hundreds of years. ************************************************************ *************** I do not understand what the original poster is complaining about. Here he is telling me in perfect written English that his English isn't good enough. His multilingualism allows him to do so. If I read his dates right, he didn't get to France until he was 26 and to the US until he was 33. He complains that having picked up these additional national languages at these advanced ages, he doesn't feel on a par with native speakers. Well, despite my comments above, I'm not surprised. But he's clearly not doing badly. Better than I did in Japanese. Far from harming him, his multilingualism has enabled him to live a satisfactory middle-class life, teaching and researching physics. What does he want? Should his university colleagues and students have learnt Polish? What should they do when a chemistry expert turns up there in the US from Lithuania? If he's not perfect in Polish either, then I agree it's very sad for him, but that's hardly a problem with multilingualism per se, rather a sad side-effect of the unsettled background he was born into. He should be complaining about Stalin, not the global dominance of English. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5796 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 38 of 49 02 October 2010 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Like I said, it varies from language to language, maybe the Japanese translations are horrible. When I've cross-checked GT translations with Wiktionary and other online dictionaries they're almost always correct, and when it makes mistakes they're blatantly obvious. I don't know why GT isn't "mouseover dictionary" enough for you, but the other mouseover programs I've tried to use are so cumbersome or slow that I might as well go to an online dictionary site and type words in manually. Sorry to distract from the OT. Edited by carlonove on 02 October 2010 at 11:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 4991 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 39 of 49 04 October 2010 at 6:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Who would want to have to abandon what would have been your native language under those circumstances? The story about his father was very sad but he seems to have done extremely well despite his difficult start. Edited by fireflies on 04 October 2010 at 7:07am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| reineke Senior Member United States https://learnalangua Joined 6257 days ago 851 posts - 1008 votes Studies: German | Message 40 of 49 04 October 2010 at 8:23am | IP Logged | ||||||||
It does work as a real mouse-over tool in a web browser. What's your complaint? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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