Blog Babble, Dailies
Learning the Language
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Originally uploaded by: Magnet Chick
When I first heard of a computer, I thought the machine would actually talk to me everytime I press on its keyboard. Then one day, my first chat encounter was from the IRC and I actually realized that it simply like a talking machine, and I still thought, until this time, that they are just a bunch of silly machine. I was hooked. And people would start talking “LOL” and wondered what he or she was saying, and what exactly he did, because he said so many words in different acronyms.
At the age of six or so, I believed I was soooo smart. I spoke THREE languages, my provincial Bicol dialect, Tagalog and English, that’s it. During my time at school, in College, Spanish courses was offered to every student. It wasn’t an option but teachers who teaches this course was to point out which of the words Filipinos are using in the “Filipino” language is of Spanish origin. I cannot estimate how many words in the Filipino language being of Spanish origin? I recalled, my Bicol dialect has a lot of words to share.
I almost caught myself wondering how the hell the Spaniards managed to make sense of anything. I was so frustrated by the cases and lack of sentence structure just to memorize a letter wrote by our National Hero, Dr Jose Rizal to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, the El Filibusterismo and translate them to Tagalog. Many Filipinos thought why did the Spaniards colonized the Philippines and learning Spanish language was a must. I don’t know if any of these courses are still taught in today’s generations. It made me confused which part of the languages are used to communicate better.
So I asked, why do we want to learn languages? And why would anyone want to learn someone else’s language? The answer probably is different for many people. For me, it’s critical than learning math. Do I need to learn other languages? Say, on my recent survey at work, I randomly asked few of my colleagues and 3, out of 5, have different reasons. Every answer is valid I suppose. There maybe right reason for each person, so then every language is the right language. My assumption is that, there is no wrong language to learn.
So, why learn languages? Ok, so there are some benefits. In a word - Yes. I’m sure if you look around you will see lots of opportunities to use different languages. We are all surrounded by people who use other languages, and most of the time opportunities which we could benefit from by using other languages. Reading the last few conversations of Duke, Jack & Range at my previous post, I begin to realize it makes it easier to learn other languages and understand other people how language and communication works all together. I believe that the languages are not just a word for word translation of English. If you ask me to translate my Tagalog word by word in English, then I would probably laugh at myself. I mean, I just can’t interpret a certain Tagalog words into English or it will sound a little different already. English is just full of words from many other languages.
I’ve been told that in case I want to work outside my country, I should learn different languages. That time, it was only an option if I was going to take Tourism, which I eventually regreted that I didn’t got the chance but later finished my Nursing (not that I hated it!) - ok, my parents said it was “in-demand” in other countries, then I should study other languages. Now that I’m here, English is not always the case to find a job related to my Medical degree. I’ve tried many times in my life to broaden my job skills and career options but in the end, the position that I really want needs at least a Cantonese or Mandarin speaking. It’s always not very easy to learn these languages. Learning a language isn’t just learning some new grammar concepts, vocabulary and different sounds. It gives insights into other cultures - a better understanding of what it’s like to be an immigrant.
English may be spoken by many people and it’s easy for me. Some language that many people learnt are in the internet, it is not only gives us new knowledge, but expands our existing knowledge of English and gives us a whole new way of understanding it. And I still ask, why would I like to learn other languages? Maybe, it’s simply fun! You know each language are full of little nuggets that are downright enjoyable to learn. So, Can I ask again? Can I learn the languages?
Peace!
Perfect World
by: Erin Bode
Sorry about that whole conversation I was having with Jack Yan in French, with duke too, but since you talk Tagalog on this blog, I guess French must be fine too. Sometimes its frustrating not to understand, however its interesting to know that all these people from the world are reading your words.
Cheers.
No not a problem Range. I did enjoy reading them. Infact, it gave me this whole idea to blog about “language”. True, not easy to understand but it made me practice to pronounce as far as I can read them correctly.
I love reading different people using other languages. French is one of the GREATEST languages in the World. (typing this, I’m watching the World Cup and FRANCE just got 1 score VS Portugal getting 0 :lol:). There’s full of uniqueness and charm in your language although relatively a difficult language to pronounce correctly esp for a native English speaker, but it sure interesting.
Keep FRench-ing.
The interesting thing, as a native English speaker with very little proficiency in other languages, was that I was able to follow Jack, range’s and Duke’s conversation, although it was a struggle at points. French in a weak aspect of my experiences, but I have dabbled in everything from Spanish to Cantonese to Russian to German to Gaelic. The more I explore other languages (admittedly to learn new words), the more I realise that there is a lot of similarity between language groups.
I learn bits and pieces of other languages to understand a culture different form my own. I am fascinated with how words shape our world and there are differences in the way each culture approaches the same topics.
If I had the brain capacity to learn all the major languages of the world, fluently, I would do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I am a visual person and I cannot pronouce words correctly, but I can “see” them perfectly. The languages I would put on my list:
Arabic
Latin
French
Spanish
German
Pali
Cantonese
Lakota or Cheyanne
Swahili
and
Russian
I think, if I could garner a working knowledge of all these, I might
be able to understand a bulk of the world’s languages.
But, there is never enough time….
“Unfortunately, I am a visual person and I cannot pronouce words correctly, but I can “see” them perfectly.”
I think the pronouncing the word would not be difficult but how would you actually use a certain words into sentence. Also, how do you translate one that has a lot of idioms, those quirky little phrases that don’t translate well but are so common and useful in every language. Like an example in English - ‘to give the cold shoulder’ or ‘it’s a piece of cake!’
Does it literally translated to another language by not changing its meaning? But what exactly is Lakota or Cheyanne?
I’d go for
Arabic
Russian
Spanish
Hindi
Cantonese
Classical Greek
Swedish
Arggh range, those languages. I will go with the Spanish. How about a Latin?
To speak or not, no one understands me anyway.. Haha.
Haha, internet chat is so freaking crazy. Oh should i just say, it’s pure humor. Haha.
K, believe me when i say this… it’s a MUST to learn mandarin here in sg. Otherwise, you can’t get a job that easy. It’s so fucking irritating when the employers go.. “only mandarin speaking wanted”. Argh.
Yes, I’m complaining!
Haha, internet chat is so freaking crazy. Oh should i just say, it’s pure humor.
Tell me about it. I learned many funny things in the chat. It took me several weeks to find out what LOL LOTFLMAO really means. Then we got the yahoo and we uses these smiley’s. I always see people writing this —> (_0_) or this (_x_) or this (_._). What’s all these? hahaha.
Asha, I don’t know, I like the sounds of Cantonese more than Mandarin.
Maybe it’s because of all the HK films that I’ve watched over the years with subtitles.
Maybe it’s because of all the HK films that I’ve watched over the years with subtitles.
Wow a Jackie Chan fan? Honestly, I hate subtitles whenever I’m watching a chinese-speaking movie on TV. I tend to follow the words but I have very often got problems with subtitles, it’s like spending more time reading than actually watching.
As expected movies shown in all the cinemas here are with subtitles. I think the real turn off watching an english comedy movies are the subtitles. I find it rather annoying when somebody caught ‘laughing so out loud’ before a funny scene, which is pretty obvious that the subtitles are shown a bit earlier on the screen.
A few times, watching a Filipino (in tagalog) movies for International release has English subtitles. The tagalog was basically translated to English word by word. It didn’t give much justice to the movie because the translation sucks (rather funny).
let me see….chinese, check. german, check. japanese, check.
i ‘TRIED’ studying these. but with no one else to talk to and practise those with, i got stuck with my english.
I actually learned a bit of Japanese, very intermediate, normal conversation and greetings. I think it’s easier because the japanese letter words are more ‘pronounceable’. You’re right, practice it with someone makes it better than just memorizing it.
Though it’s good that I’m fluent in English, French and German. I could probably relearn an Indian language, if I put my mind to it.
Hehehe Range, I’ll refer your answer to Asha. She can teach you. Perhaps the only difference with learning these are the tones. I do encounter Asian pronouncing English differently. If you may, I sounded half american and half english, I mimic for some part but my filipino accents are strong depending on whom I’m speaking with.
I’d learn another language because I believe that brings people together. I would like to master Swedish. Jag skulle vilja lara sig talar svenska.
@Jack Yan, I’m no were near swedish, though I do have a grasp of Spanish if people talk slowly. Because I speak German, I could have good pronounciation in Arabic.
Jag skulle vilja lara sig talar svenska.”
I translate that as: “I want to master Swedish because it’s interesting?” Hahaha. I tried.
Language takes practise and also if it’s neccessary as well. But I believe that Filipinos are born bilinguals. They catch up language easily. Here in Norway, even though people can speak English they required that you must speak Norwegian. I became fluent with the language in less than 9 months (this is my 5th language that I learned) and also can understand both Swedish and Danish. It’s quite funny actually talking to Danish or Swedish people in Norwegian but we understood each other quite well.
But I believe that Filipinos are born bilinguals.
And Filipinos has many dialects, not just tagalog. It’s the same thing when we talk in our own dialects, no one would ever understand what we were saying, very unique in a way but I think the Cebuanos tend to mix english to what they say since they find it hard to speak in tagalog.
Believe me, it’s more difficult to learn other filipino dialects really.
have to agree with vina. you have to put them in use for them to sink in ur coconut. i studied chinese for 6 long yrs way bk my elementary days. forgotten most of it and a lil more everyday.
In Pinas naman kase, if we talk more english, people would see you as arrogant dahil pa english english, although marunong naman sasabihin, “SOSYAL”. I still find many Pinoys na hindi pa rin marunong ng tamang english (isa na ako dun) ang nangyayari tuloy, nag tataglish mga tao.
Pag nagbakasyon ka sa Pinas, pagbalik mo, english mo masyadong accented sa Tagalog, bakit kaya?
Shit! I forgot that I am logged in on my other wordpress account “demo design”
Aha! Charles, you have a wordpress account? Oppss.
out of topic: searched ur blog k. seems that i’ve been on 4 of ur entries. duke was a whopping 7. gosh.. u love us… *teary eyed*
The Duke is hard to beat.
WHAT? hahaha wala kang magawa. Syempre love ko kayong dalawa. Yaan mo I will make a story about you para matalo mo si Ms Duke.
range : you’re funny! c’est pas vrai LOL
Yuri - wow what a research! K must really love us… we love him back too
K, when I was in school I studied language because I had to. Then I saw the need of learning it when I started traveling.
When I was living there in HK, I was having a difficult time finding work because I couldn’t speak Cantonese. I had to learn even just a little Cantonese to make myself “marketable” in the workforce.
When I finally found work, no one spoke English to me except the manager. The rest were all in cantonese.
When I left tofu town, I left behind all my cantonese… I only remember a few words ” mmmmkoi sai, yat, yee , sa, sei… etc”
French, because of husband and family. I wanted to be able to communicate better with his family and since he was patient enough to sit with me and teach me the language over and over again, I got the hang of it.
The funny thing is, I’m a jack of all trades in language but a master of none. I wish I was like the pope. At least 10 language fluent!
my to learn list :
1. Turkish
2. Italian
3. Swedish
4. re learn my Russian
5. Polish
6. cantonese
psssst! you can still learn soem language.
want to start with french? I can give you a link to a good podcast!
ps. sorry my post is way too long.. got carried away
When I left tofu town, I left behind all my cantonese… I only remember a few words ” mmmmkoi sai, yat, yee , sa, sei… etc”
Funny when you say that.
a tofu place has a little spark in your heart I suppose. At least you still remember a few Cantonese. When I first landed here, I first learned the numbers, I’d spend time going to the market just to practice speaking Sap Man ($10), Yat Pa Man ($100) and of course I mastered the bad words very easily.
Wanna try? YA MO KAW CHOO WAH! CHI ZIN!
I know mkoi and a few others in Cantonese. I love Stephen Chow.
He’s quite a funny guy on his movies but he’s actually a very ’silent’ actor, not a real ass hole in person. He’s just a very typical HK with a cool expensive car.
Now that reminds me, I need to go for some noodles.
i guess there are really people who can adapt easily to different cultures, and yes, languages. i’m not sure if i’m one of them.
siyanga pala, natawa lang ako dun kay yuri (as always) kasi like him, i also studied chinese in my elementary years. it was just a special class. mga 2 years lang. i passed, but only because i was seated next to a chinese kid.
o ayan yuri ha! pareho na naman tayo!
Baka mag ka klase kayo in elementary school? There are many types of chinese languages and most of them are not easy. But yeah, we can adapt to diff cultures but not exactly their language. Pero bakit hindi tayo maka intindi ng ibang filipino dialects? Ang labo.
lol!
I can ‘t beleeve you said KAW CHOO TO ME! wahahahahahaha
hamsap!
Well that’s not really a bad word. I hear locals say these all the time so might as well “join eating the noodles”.
Wanna try another? Forget it.
Now I don’t know what’s being said!
What I said was all about Duke, being a silly girl, rage, no pun intended but just wanted her to remember that she also say those words when she was still in Hong Kong.
I’m loving reading through all these comments - so many different languages here, some of which I understand, some of which I don’t, but it’s interesting that it all seems really inclusive. I’m reminded of my schooldays when there were girls from lots of different places - a lot of Cantonese and Filipino, as well as English, French, Nigerian and others. Like you say, though, K, you tend to learn only the rude words lol!
Like you say, though, K, you tend to learn only the rude words lol!
Hahaha, only when provoked it’s easier than using my middle finger. For me it’s just for fun, they think it’s cute whenever I said it.
Thanks Kat for coming. I’m just trying to keep it simple here. I love interaction, people always “start with one hello” and it circulates easily like coComment.
Of course, that’s the 1st thing you learn in any language!
Range, you are really multilingual! I know you have French and English there in Canada, but how did you come across German?
Well it depends on the person speaking really. Cantonese has many difficult sound that creates different meaning to one single word. Ask Jack to say swear words over here and I’m sure he can pronounce it better than me. kawchoowah.
Check this out Jack Yan,
Indian parents but born in Germany, lived there for 7 years. German is my mother tongue. Moved to France, learned French, lived there for 4 years. Started learning English. Moved to Quebec, was in school in French perfected my English by watching American cartoons.
“…perfected my English by watching American cartoons.”
Forgive me but I’ve been doing that since I first came here. I do watch the old black & white Cantonese movies (cuz my mother loves them) and eventhough I picked up some words (like swearing), it never has ocurred to me that it’s easy to remember and learn it.
Maybe I’ll put more passion to it.
Amazing! Do you speak any Indian dialects?
I speak Cantonese (mother tongue), Toishanese (a variant, but different enough for me to not understand my paternal grandmother when I was a kid), English and French. Swedish I only began learning so I can’t add it to the tally, and my German is limited to asking for orange juice on flights and stamps at the post office.
Mahlelam, a dialect from Kerala, where my parents are from. I have forgotten most of it, but the way I know myself, I’d be able to relearn it pretty quickly if I was totally immersed in it.
Spanish, just a bit from movies and friends.
Learning languages when you are under 10 years old is easy, a lot easier than if you learn them later on. When you learn them at that stage it is easy to be fluent, not have an accent, because a different part of the brain is used to learn it.
When you get older, another part of the brain is used. Most of the time, you can never get rid of your accent, but you can have better vocabulary than someone who learnt the language as a child.
I don’t remember which parts of the brain I am talking about, they must be related to the learning centres of the brain, I do remember that they are different
When I was learning my elementary Japanese, I used a simple language learning tip, a flashcards - I think it’s very effective way to review, to refresh my memory and expand vocabulary. I keep them with me at all times, in my pocket and look at them for a quick review. But it seemed a bit inconvenience when you are actually talking to a person face to face, it turns out that I was trying to make a prolonged pause just to remember what the hell was written on the card.
One time, when I went to Thailand, I went to a restaurant and I tried as I could to say what I read in the travellers book. Since I’m very Asian and a little Thai-looking, the waitress came over and started to talk in Thai. I was embarrassed I had no clue what to say, so I just said THANK YOU (Sawasdee Krup) in Thai and the rest was history.
Learning other language is really such a lifetime commitment.
It’s good that you still have that grounding in Mahlelam, and that you can slip back into it. My Spanish is limited though I can catch the odd word; same with Italian where I seem to be able to understand responses (if I know the topic), though I would not be able to contribute to the conversation in their language.
… I seem to be able to understand responses (if I know the topic), though I would not be able to contribute to the conversation in their language.
It’s the same thing happens with me everytime I try to join in a cantonese conversation. I could understand but couldn’t share. Well at least, I’m a good listener.
It’s also handy because you would know if they were talking negatively about you!
That’s true. It happens many times to me at the mall - the sales woman was complaining that I was giving them the hard time finding the right size for my shoes. Of course you’re the one who’s going to wear it and I don’t want to leave the shop with the wrong size, but then they started murmuring at each other in Cantonese (they thought I didn’t understood) so I approached the Supervisor and made my complaint. The lady was so embarassed and apologized.
Yeah, that one sucks. People sometimes take advantage of you if they think you don’t understand the language.
I could not find my size in Bangkok, but fortunately I didn’t overhear any murmuring (not that I speak Thai!). But I have had that happen to me when someone here thought I did not speak Cantonese (back in the day when a lot of young Chinese here were locally born and spoke English mostly), at a watch repair shop.
The helpers in Montreal are quite ok, no problems whatsoever.
I believe that to have another language is to possess a second soul. In my case, I should really need to practice my Cantonese while I’m working/living here.
It would be good, K, otherwise you might regret not using it while you have such a wonderful opportunity to.
Yes I was told from work that I should. It’s never too late to study but when you really push yourself to do these, it’s going to be great.
I will look into these opportunities once I find the right class. I think I’ll spend a little for few lessons and do it my own.
Find one you’re comfortable with, otherwise you’ll find it a chore. Maybe one with a pretty teacher: always an incentive to go. Not that you’d make an advance, but at least you can take pleasure in ogling!
I’ll visit the DYMOCKS bookstore to find a Madarin book with CD audio. I’m going to start with that and consider joining on a class. I made some inquiries and they charge too much, it’s a group class around 10 or so students.
Total immersion is the way to go. You learn a lot faster that way.
Keep pushing me on this range, I’ll put this on my agenda. Thanks.