Learning new languages - [split from Translations]

[Nico Nico]

Gosh.. I'd love to speak Pig Latin

I'm a strange kind of italian.. not only I am tall and not really darkhaired, I speak a lot of foreign languages (actually I'm a strange kind of a human being, but that's another story).
My dad was an officer in the italian air force assigned to Nato. Until the age of 15, never been 2 years in the same place.. that is in Italy, US, UK, Belgium, Germany. It might have been self preservation and the need to meet new people FAST that gave me the ability to learn languages (and pronounciations) really quick.. I guess I started imitating the sounds I heard around me since I was born.. that's why I started burping at age 0

Italian (and a lot of dialects that can count as languages, believe me)
English (started speaking in El Paso, but Oxford then helped to loose the accent )
French (thou some french people would protest as I studied in the french part of Belgium)
Slovenian (or Slovene [which I think is the right way to say it], because of love and because it's so close from where I live)

Some basic spanish, german and swedish.. which I'm about to start studying seriously: my sister lives in Stockholm and even if everybody speak a good english there, I really feel bad when everybody is talking and I don't understand.

[porfavor]

Oh you're lucky about knowing so many languages. Well, I'm not considering the hard situation you might have had.
The last sentence impressed me a lot;) It's the same thing to me. If anyone's talking and I have no idea what about.
Unfortunately, the only foreign language I could say that I'm allright at speaking it, is english. Furthermore i know some basic french and spanish. But that's little.
And you know best, if you don't have the chance to talk to foreign people you won't learn a new language. You have to talk, that's the best practice, isn't it? For me this has only been english. I definitely know few french and spanish people, my uncle even is spanish... But I don't have to talk spanish so most of the time I don't do it.

[Nico Nico]

Right, if you have the chance to speak and practice it's a lot easier.
I found a way to improve a foreign language by reading a book while listening to the audiobook.. it helps

[porfavor]

Right, if you have the chance to speak and practice it's a lot easier.
I found a way to improve a foreign language by reading a book while listening to the audiobook.. it helps

I'm currently reading the last Harry Potter book in english. It's good practice and you learn loads of new words.

[jdh]

That book is long....I suppose that it really does have a lot of British vocabulary in it, that most USians (Americans) don't say day to day, but understand what they mean.

[porfavor]

absolutely jdh!

It's not easy to read it. There are many words I don't know. Especially when J.K. Rowling is describing places or feelings. There's a lot of special vocabulary, british vocabulary. But, however, I understand the sense. There isn't a problem for me to read it.
Less than the half of the book remaining.

[jdh]

Good luck! I got the book and read it in about 12ish hours...well, I read it in about 7, but I had to sleep a little too. lol

The book really is great...and she did a "good" job finishing it, I suppose. and for other-native-languagers like yourself, I am sure it really helps build vocabulary.

[porfavor]

you can't tell me you read the book in about 7hours?

it's impossible lol

[jdh]

lol. I did...it scared my parents.

The book won't make a good movie, btw....there is WAY too much for it to go into a movie, and it will be so cut up and fragmented...it will really suck. Period.

[porfavor]

we'll see if they can manage it.

But you know, this is always the problem with a film based on a book you have read.