anotherlimey

Also depends which stats you believe....

Philgr

Bob - I assume you are referring to this...http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/german.htm urban legend

Having pointed that out I'd also like to ask - why should people coming here learn to speak English when the President hasn't even bothered?

ImHere

Well like American is a form of English I suppose.

Bob

yeah, but we can understand them...depending on the spanish, can be quite different, well my mate had real trouble with it in Equador

ImHere

Ever tried talking to someone from deepest darkest Alabama?

Tone

Ydw wir

Bob

Ever tried speaking to someone in the north counties of maine?
Yup, fair point... *lol*

anotherlimey

This shows differences in a language. Apparently 'servicios' is not acceptable in my fiancee's version of Spanish (Dominican).

NC Penguin

Just like English, there are regional versions of Spanish spoken in Latin America. This is probably why there is more than one word for toilet in Spanish.




NC Penguin

anotherlimey

That reminds me of the story about the two American girls in the UK....

...the two girls in question walked into a pub on a particularly windy day, both were wearing skirts so they were using their hands to keep them from blowing around. After making it through the entrance one said to the other "I really wish I'd worn pants today", at which point every Englishman in the room looked round.

tony126

Done some French at school but always wanted to learn German. I think it is an asset to speak another language.

Bob

easier said than done though
I'm terrible with languages, have given a few a go, but lack the knack...

Franklin

Try Arabic ... might be easier for you ... you write backwards.

ImHere

You speak English dont you? What makes you think you cant speak another one? Its more likely the learning method you find hard not the language itself.

Ive had this argumenrt with language teacher in the past. When we learn our first language as a child we just point and say words then we slowly learn to construct sentences by mimicking what we hear. We dont give a shit about nouns, pronouns, verb conjugation et al until way after we can actually speak a language pretty well...even then most adults go through life without knowing what a bloody pronoun is! Yet when we try to learn a second language we do it all back to front...hundreds of verb tables and grammatical contructs we havent a hope of remembering. No wonder we struggle! Best way to learn is to mix with native speakers and go for the "Point and speak" method. Trust me its a whole lot easier since thats how our brains are programmed to learn a language.

fatbrit

I see you're using the military method for language learning: don't think, do! You should try Berlitz for any new languages you wish to learn -- this is their method.

However, as some folks get older the way their brain works changes and they cannot learn in the same way a child would. These folks often need some grammar "hooks" to hang their understanding on -- it helps.

Horses for courses...