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Offline Rushy

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Foreign Language
« on: September 22, 2014, 11:49:29 PM »
I looked into some foreign language classes because I need some humanities credits, but wanted it to be something practically useful. Of course the top contenders were Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, being more popular per capita languages than English. Since I took Spanish in high school and learned very little (which was my own fault) I looked more closely into Mandarin. There is a big catch, though: only one Mandarin class is offered at the college I attend, and not only that, but the class is 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. 7 days a week for 16 weeks.

What wonderful stories does the FES have about foreign language encounters?


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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2014, 11:56:00 PM »
Took Spanish 3 times in middle school. Failed each time.


Have you considered Klingon?
« Last Edit: September 23, 2014, 12:43:25 AM by Vauxhall »

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Offline Particle Person

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2014, 11:58:42 PM »
I choose which languages to study based on the sort of women I want to seduce. So, naturally, Russian and Spanish are my focus. I recommend Spanish for you, since you've already been exposed to it and it will be more relevant than Mandarin for a US citizen.
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Offline rooster

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2014, 12:48:10 AM »
I took 2 years of French in middle school, 2 years of Spanish in high school, and 2 years of German in college. I suck at all of it.

I wanted to take Gaelic in college but they didn't offer it. I picked up on German better than the other two but I was more interested and more invested in making good grades. I dislike Spanish but French is really interesting if only because they don't pronounce half of the letters.

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Offline Lord Dave

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2014, 12:56:38 AM »
Pick spanish.  You won't remember it anyway and it's easier to pass.

The conviction will get overturned on appeal.

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Offline rooster

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2014, 01:14:19 AM »
Pick spanish.  You won't remember it anyway and it's easier to pass.
Yep, pretty much this.

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Offline Rushy

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2014, 01:53:21 AM »
But the Chinese are going to take over the world after they overthrow the Jews.

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Offline rooster

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2014, 01:58:54 AM »
But it's difficult to learn. If you're just looking for credits than take an easy one so you don't mess up your GPA. Spanish is both relatively easy and extremely practical for someone living in the south west.

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Offline Tau

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2014, 02:02:00 AM »
But the Chinese are going to take over the world after they overthrow the Jews.

It'll never happen. The Jews are already in control of China. Have you seen the Chinese president's nose?
That's how far the horizon is, not how far you can see.

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Offline spoon

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2014, 03:37:14 AM »
My school has a fantastic Norwegian department, so I'm taking the first course next fall.
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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2014, 03:55:23 AM »
I took English. Didn't go that well.

I also took a very small amount of German and Russian throughout compulsory education. I can just about read it very slowly, and I could maybe mutter out a half-comprehensible sentence in Russian if I really had to, but I'm not comfortable with either.
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Offline beardo

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2014, 04:08:35 AM »
But pizaaplanet! You speak Polish! That's practically Russian!
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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2014, 04:40:11 AM »
It does help in many ways, but it also fucks me up, because I try to apply what would intuitively make sense in Polish to Russian, and then it doesn't.

That said, if there is a language that I'm currently not proficient in but could become proficient in with relative ease, I'd say it would be Russian. I should stop being a lazy shit and learn it some day.
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Offline Rushy

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2014, 04:48:14 AM »
It does help in many ways, but it also fucks me up, because I try to apply what would intuitively make sense in Polish to Russian, and then it doesn't.

That said, if there is a language that I'm currently not proficient in but could become proficient in with relative ease, I'd say it would be Russian. I should stop being a lazy shit and learn it some day.

It's only a matter of time before they invade, anyway. You might as well accept your new Soviet masters by learning their angry language.

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Offline Particle Person

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2014, 04:50:44 AM »
cheeki breeki get out of here stalker
Your mom is when your mom and you arent your mom.

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #15 on: September 23, 2014, 05:02:07 AM »
It's only a matter of time before they invade, anyway. You might as well accept your new Soviet masters by learning their angry language.
It's okay, now that we still have Scotland we can use their angry yells to counter theirs, thus keeping my ass safe.
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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #16 on: September 23, 2014, 07:54:57 AM »
It does help in many ways, but it also fucks me up, because I try to apply what would intuitively make sense in Polish to Russian, and then it doesn't.

That said, if there is a language that I'm currently not proficient in but could become proficient in with relative ease, I'd say it would be Russian. I should stop being a lazy shit and learn it some day.

It's only a matter of time before they invade, anyway. You might as well accept your new Soviet masters by learning their angry language.

Poland is in NATO.

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Offline Ghost Spaghetti

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #17 on: September 23, 2014, 08:01:14 AM »
I found Russian quite easy, well, easy enough to self-teach enough of it to survive a couple of weeks in Ukraine and Petersburg. The language is quite literal and there doesn't seem to be much mucking about with tenses required.

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #18 on: September 23, 2014, 08:14:05 AM »
Conjugation and declension are what gets me. They're similar enough to Polish for me to want to fall back to what I already know, but different enough to make me sound like an idiot when I do. Not to mention the abundance of false-friend words. The Polish word for caviar means carpet in Russian - lol wut.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2014, 08:16:12 AM by pizaaplanet »
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Offline Lemon

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Re: Foreign Language
« Reply #19 on: September 23, 2014, 03:22:00 PM »
I took 2 years of French in middle school, 2 years of Spanish in high school, and 2 years of German in college. I suck at all of it.

I wanted to take Gaelic in college but they didn't offer it. I picked up on German better than the other two but I was more interested and more invested in making good grades. I dislike Spanish but French is really interesting if only because they don't pronounce half of the letters.

Which Gaelic? :) Irish or Scottish? Or perhaps Welsh?
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