Unfortunately I've never learnt Thai. I had some lessons when I first went there but didn't keep going. I don't get the tonal system and not beong able to read makes it tough.
I did French and German at A-Level and I can speak and understand both of those better than the language of the place I've lived for several years.
Asian languages are not the nicest on the ear, especially Chinese women (sorry Jessie) and Thai men speaking loudly in a group.
Portuguese is a strange hybrid of Germanic and Latin, it does sound more eastern European than Latin as others have said. Brazilian Portuguese is like American English.
I read an interesting thing about the British a few years ago. While we are (generally) notoriously poor at learning other languages, we are the best at understanding foreigners who have limited English. For example, if a Croatian comes up to you in central London and says "Downing Street 10, where is at?" we would point, talk slowly and clearly and try to help them out. Well most of us would anyway.
If you get a syllable out of place when trying to speak French in Paris, they look at you as if you are mad.
Here in the bit of Portugal where I live, if you speak to them in accented Portuguese, they either answer you in English, or talk to you like a native, often using their own regional dialect or accent. A rapid stream of words is fired at you, so you ask, in your best Portuguese if they could say it more slowly. They look at you for a second or two, and then repeat it exactly the same way they said it in the first place...
I used to be in a relationship with a Norwegian and picked up some of it. It's the only language I know where my speaking is better than my reading (O level French and later learnt some Spanish). I wish I'd taken languages more seriously as a kid, but apart from a German exchange student who came into school, my Polish dentist and some Asian kids I knew, I don't think I'd met anyone who spoke a different language and I didn't go abroad till I was 23. Insular times.
Norwegian is fairly straightforward in that the grammar is simplified like English, and there are a lot of common words (more so if you're Scots or Geordie as the word for child is barn). What was interesting is that there are loads of cultural differences that get in the way of understanding, particularly if you've learnt it conversationally. So, if I say I'll meet you at half four, you'd expect me to turn up at 4.30. To a Norwegian, half four is 3.30. And they think a mile is 10km. The extra letters aren't difficult, and at least there's some consistency in vowel sounds. æ , å ø are the extra letters and all the sounds we have in English, the letters I struggled with were the sounds for o and u, which are pronounced more like oo and uou, which also leads to some amusing Norwegian pronunciations to English speaking ears, so Oasis became Oo-aa-sis, Pulp were Pooolp and you'd put mang-oo chutney on your curry.
As already mentioned, Basque (Euskera) is indeed a very interesting language which has puzzled linguistic scholars for centuries and its origin still remains unsolved to this day. I have a number of Basque relatives and first visited San Sebastián in 1957 long before tourism to Spain became an every day occurrence. That year I also went to San Fermin in Pamplona and as a child of nine I roamed around freely all day......it was like wonderland an experience that lives with me to this day. I watched the running of the bulls every day in total awe!
As already mentioned, Basque (Euskera) is indeed a very interesting language which has puzzled linguistic scholars for centuries and its origin still remains unsolved to this day. I have a number of Basque relatives and first visited San Sebastián in 1957 long before tourism to Spain became an every day occurrence. That year I also went to San Fermin in Pamplona and as a child of nine I roamed around freely all day......it was like wonderland an experience that lives with me to this day. I watched the running of the bulls every day in total awe!
I envy you your childhood experiences in Spain as a kid. Eye opener, I bet, compared to home.
When I was a kid back in the 60s, the nearest I went to going abroad was going to The Den to watch us playing the Scum.
I clicked on your link at the weekend and when I went into my Amazon account this morning, I found your wife's book in the basket!
Oops. I wasn't trying to advertise and I am not on commission! I felt linking the reviews wouldn't look like touting. Don't know how Amazon does that! She has published several more Chinese language textbooks.
As already mentioned, Basque (Euskera) is indeed a very interesting language which has puzzled linguistic scholars for centuries and its origin still remains unsolved to this day. I have a number of Basque relatives and first visited San Sebastián in 1957 long before tourism to Spain became an every day occurrence. That year I also went to San Fermin in Pamplona and as a child of nine I roamed around freely all day......it was like wonderland an experience that lives with me to this day. I watched the running of the bulls every day in total awe!
My favourite thing about the Spanish is that they really do love kids. Italian (Sicilian) friends have told me that the Italian/ kid thing is a bit of a myth as fathers have little to do with children
Spanish is a great language to learn - relatively easy, the official language of twenty countries and once you have a decent level it is quite easy to read and understand Italian.
I've tried learning Hungarian over the last couple of years as our adopted daughter is from there and we needed to use it with her before she learned English, but it is unbelievably difficult with barely any relation to any other language and the pronunciation is also really hard - it's supposed to be one of the hardest languages to learn. Luckily she's got enough English now that I don't have to rely on my dismal Hungarian!
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that Hungarian and Finnish share a remarkable number of similar characteristics, even though the two countries aren’t that close to each other and have a bunch of other countries between them that use completely unrelated languages.
I remember when I was in school taking part in a language comprehension study that was all in Finnish. It was explained that they were using Finninsh because it was unrelated to most other European languages so it was a pure test of language skills which could exclude the educated guesswork of working with languages related to English.
I remembre doing that too - pretty certain it was Finnish. I got a terrible result, so my O level in German was a bit of a one finger salute to the Finland exam. I speak fluent Spanish now (albeit with a broad south London accent, which makes it hard to understand) but that's the result of living here for over 25 years rather than any language ability on my part. I used to work in a bar with a coupel of Dutch people, who spoke fluent English. They tried to teach me a bit of Dutch, but that is a language which seems to need a lot of throat clearing and gutteral noises and my pronunciation was bedlam Not a language I enjoy hearing, truth be known, though at least the people are a decent bunch.
I used to be in a relationship with a Norwegian and picked up some of it. It's the only language I know where my speaking is better than my reading (O level French and later learnt some Spanish). I wish I'd taken languages more seriously as a kid, but apart from a German exchange student who came into school, my Polish dentist and some Asian kids I knew, I don't think I'd met anyone who spoke a different language and I didn't go abroad till I was 23. Insular times.
Norwegian is fairly straightforward in that the grammar is simplified like English, and there are a lot of common words (more so if you're Scots or Geordie as the word for child is barn). What was interesting is that there are loads of cultural differences that get in the way of understanding, particularly if you've learnt it conversationally. So, if I say I'll meet you at half four, you'd expect me to turn up at 4.30. To a Norwegian, half four is 3.30. And they think a mile is 10km. The extra letters aren't difficult, and at least there's some consistency in vowel sounds. æ , å ø are the extra letters and all the sounds we have in English, the letters I struggled with were the sounds for o and u, which are pronounced more like oo and uou, which also leads to some amusing Norwegian pronunciations to English speaking ears, so Oasis became Oo-aa-sis, Pulp were Pooolp and you'd put mang-oo chutney on your curry.
Very much the same with Swedish, you swap the verb. Before I went to language school an English geezer over there said "f*** the grammar to begin with, just make yourself understood". That was sound advice. Swedish is a 'forgiving' language in that you can speak it minus an accent. Almost without exception if you speak in Swedish they would reply back in English! The key is to then reply in Swedish and they would continue the conversation in Swedish.
Spanish is a great language to learn - relatively easy, the official language of twenty countries and once you have a decent level it is quite easy to read and understand Italian.
I've tried learning Hungarian over the last couple of years as our adopted daughter is from there and we needed to use it with her before she learned English, but it is unbelievably difficult with barely any relation to any other language and the pronunciation is also really hard - it's supposed to be one of the hardest languages to learn. Luckily she's got enough English now that I don't have to rely on my dismal Hungarian!
I’m pretty sure I’ve read that Hungarian and Finnish share a remarkable number of similar characteristics, even though the two countries aren’t that close to each other and have a bunch of other countries between them that use completely unrelated languages.
I remember when I was in school taking part in a language comprehension study that was all in Finnish. It was explained that they were using Finninsh because it was unrelated to most other European languages so it was a pure test of language skills which could exclude the educated guesswork of working with languages related to English.
I remembre doing that too - pretty certain it was Finnish. I got a terrible result, so my O level in German was a bit of a one finger salute to the Finland exam. I speak fluent Spanish now (albeit with a broad south London accent, which makes it hard to understand) but that's the result of living here for over 25 years rather than any language ability on my part. I used to work in a bar with a coupel of Dutch people, who spoke fluent English. They tried to teach me a bit of Dutch, but that is a language which seems to need a lot of throat clearing and gutteral noises and my pronunciation was bedlam Not a language I enjoy hearing, truth be known, though at least the people are a decent bunch.
Whilst in Sweden Kalmar played Feyenoord, this was played in Boras, the city the mighty Elfsborg are based. Anyway, about 10 dutch geezers came into this boozer we were in. Me and my mate joked that there would probably be a row on who spoke the better English, the swedes or the cloggies!
As already mentioned, Basque (Euskera) is indeed a very interesting language which has puzzled linguistic scholars for centuries and its origin still remains unsolved to this day. I have a number of Basque relatives and first visited San Sebastián in 1957 long before tourism to Spain became an every day occurrence. That year I also went to San Fermin in Pamplona and as a child of nine I roamed around freely all day......it was like wonderland an experience that lives with me to this day. I watched the running of the bulls every day in total awe!
I'll probably get raised eyebrows for this, but I love listening to Japanese. It's so expressive - not as 'sing-song' as Mandarin or Cantonese, but more 'abrupt'. It sounds beautiful to me.
Spanish is a great language to learn - as mentioned before it's relatively straightforward once you master your tenses and the masculine/feminine, once you are familiar with it, it'll help you with other romance languages like Italian and French and isspoken widely around the world.
My ex was Sicilian, and listening to her family talk was amazing - it's different enough from Italian that it straddles that border between 'dialect' and 'language', and is one of those regional variations that seem to have sprung up simply because its too feckin hot to bother with pronouncing anything properly (like the Andalucian Spanish accent).
Worst to listen to for me has to be Swedish. It's impossible for a Swede to say anything that doesn't sound like they're taking the piss out of you.
Accent-wise, I HATE the New South Wales accent, Kiwi accent and Californian/Valley Girl.
I'm also not overly find of Catalan, and Basque always sounds like someone wants a fight (actually pretty accurate, if you're unfortunate enough to come from Spain outside the Basque region 😂). No doubt Euskara is fascinating though - its one of the most unique languages on Earth, sharing less in common with its neighbours than pretty much any other major language.
I am currently learning Vietnamese and it is very challenging. The same word can be pronounced in 4 ways with each tone completely changing the meaning. About 6-7 weeks into the journey and it’s probably one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever done.
I learnt Spanish many years ago and whilst it’s clear from reading this thread that it’s a relatively easy language to learn, I definitely feel it’s much harder to learn new skills now than when I was in my early 20s
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Don’t want to get ahead of myself, but might want to find out a bit more about it soon...
ฉันพูดภาษาไทยไม่ได้ ฉันต้องการ แต่มันเป็นเรื่องยากเกินไป
I read an interesting thing about the British a few years ago. While we are (generally) notoriously poor at learning other languages, we are the best at understanding foreigners who have limited English. For example, if a Croatian comes up to you in central London and says "Downing Street 10, where is at?" we would point, talk slowly and clearly and try to help them out. Well most of us would anyway.
If you get a syllable out of place when trying to speak French in Paris, they look at you as if you are mad.
Here in the bit of Portugal where I live, if you speak to them in accented Portuguese, they either answer you in English, or talk to you like a native, often using their own regional dialect or accent. A rapid stream of words is fired at you, so you ask, in your best Portuguese if they could say it more slowly. They look at you for a second or two, and then repeat it exactly the same way they said it in the first place...
Norwegian is fairly straightforward in that the grammar is simplified like English, and there are a lot of common words (more so if you're Scots or Geordie as the word for child is barn). What was interesting is that there are loads of cultural differences that get in the way of understanding, particularly if you've learnt it conversationally. So, if I say I'll meet you at half four, you'd expect me to turn up at 4.30. To a Norwegian, half four is 3.30. And they think a mile is 10km. The extra letters aren't difficult, and at least there's some consistency in vowel sounds. æ , å ø are the extra letters and all the sounds we have in English, the letters I struggled with were the sounds for o and u, which are pronounced more like oo and uou, which also leads to some amusing Norwegian pronunciations to English speaking ears, so Oasis became Oo-aa-sis, Pulp were Pooolp and you'd put mang-oo chutney on your curry.
I have a number of Basque relatives and first visited San Sebastián in 1957 long before tourism to Spain became an every day occurrence.
That year I also went to San Fermin in Pamplona and as a child of nine I roamed around freely all day......it was like wonderland an experience that lives with me to this day.
I watched the running of the bulls every day in total awe!
When I was a kid back in the 60s, the nearest I went to going abroad was going to The Den to watch us playing the Scum.
I wasn't trying to advertise and I am not on commission!
I felt linking the reviews wouldn't look like touting. Don't know how Amazon does that!
She has published several more Chinese language textbooks.
I used to work in a bar with a coupel of Dutch people, who spoke fluent English. They tried to teach me a bit of Dutch, but that is a language which seems to need a lot of throat clearing and gutteral noises and my pronunciation was bedlam Not a language I enjoy hearing, truth be known, though at least the people are a decent bunch.
Before I went to language school an English geezer over there said "f*** the grammar to begin with, just make yourself understood". That was sound advice.
Swedish is a 'forgiving' language in that you can speak it minus an accent.
Almost without exception if you speak in Swedish they would reply back in English! The key is to then reply in Swedish and they would continue the conversation in Swedish.
Anyway, about 10 dutch geezers came into this boozer we were in. Me and my mate joked that there would probably be a row on who spoke the better English, the swedes or the cloggies!
Spanish is a great language to learn - as mentioned before it's relatively straightforward once you master your tenses and the masculine/feminine, once you are familiar with it, it'll help you with other romance languages like Italian and French and isspoken widely around the world.
My ex was Sicilian, and listening to her family talk was amazing - it's different enough from Italian that it straddles that border between 'dialect' and 'language', and is one of those regional variations that seem to have sprung up simply because its too feckin hot to bother with pronouncing anything properly (like the Andalucian Spanish accent).
Worst to listen to for me has to be Swedish. It's impossible for a Swede to say anything that doesn't sound like they're taking the piss out of you.
Accent-wise, I HATE the New South Wales accent, Kiwi accent and Californian/Valley Girl.
I'm also not overly find of Catalan, and Basque always sounds like someone wants a fight (actually pretty accurate, if you're unfortunate enough to come from Spain outside the Basque region 😂). No doubt Euskara is fascinating though - its one of the most unique languages on Earth, sharing less in common with its neighbours than pretty much any other major language.