Teach me your language I teach you mine

[Rubie girl]

^
Im brazilian and Iam studying french for almost 3 years,and to me french is easier than english and more fun to learn.Most people in my class don't find it hard as well,but I think it's impossible to learn it without a teacher

 

[Lucia-]

Does lidt = little?

...and do you guys have Lidl in Danmark, too?

Tak!

Yes, it does mean little and we do have Lidl here too

You're good at this, tortoisie!

 

[stersita]

carioca, I don't find French that difficult to learn either although I guess that's different for everyone and depends on what languages you speak already but I'm sure it's easier to learn it in a class than on your own, and you can always go to France sometime to finish learning it properly go for it!

 

[miu_miu]

Carioca I started learning French when I was six, I've always studied it with a teacher. I've also studied Italian, German and Russian. German I actually found most difficult, I have more of an ear for the Romantic languages What I've noticed is, once you have a good grounding from a teacher, you can pick up more yourself from other places, visiting France, or listening to radio and watching TV. There's lots that you can do to help youself, after your course has finished. I don't think it's going to be that difficult to learn, conversational French you will definitely pick up a lot quicker than written academic French. Also, knowledge of French made it easier for me to learn Italian, and I've heard Spanish is a lot easier to learn this way too - could be very useful to you, it definitely has been for me

 

[carioca]

thank you all for your response i guess i'll go for it. karmas all around.

 

[tortoisie]

^ It's always good to learn another language.

If you love it, you'll have fun and you'll learn fast.

Yes, it does mean little and we do have Lidl here too

You're good at this, tortoisie!

Tak, Lucia-!

I was in Sweden this year and Danish is very 'slakt' with Swedish, so I recognise a few words here and there.

 

[Mélange]

^ It's always good to learn another language.

I think nobody loves languages as much as you - you are a real polyglot!

 

[tortoisie]

^ I actually write it. I barely speak it!

It's bad!!!

 

[Barbizon]

this seemed like the best place to ask i guess. i have a question for non-native french speakers. i have to make a quick decision about taking up french, as the class registration deadline is very soon. i just wanted to know, for non-native speakers, how difficult would you rate French in learning and if it's possible to learn it in a classroom setting (as i know a lot of people who have studied a language for many years and still can't speak it. and i really would like to learn french but don't want to pay the unit fees if i'm just going to fail it )
thanks a lot for any response.

Go for it! French grammar is hard (even for me) but many words are similar to english! It's just stupid rules that you just have to "know" that make it hard. That's why it would probably help if you watched french tv and movies.....even if you don't understand anything at first......And I'd be happy to help you if you ever need it! Good luck!

 

[carioca]

thanks for your offer Barbizon. i've registered for the course.

 

[stersita]

^

 

[tortoisie]

Congratz, Carioca!

Good luck!

...and have fun, of course!

 

[seanutbutter]

Can anyone recommend some good websites/books for learning Russian?

I own The New Penguin Russian Course and a Russian-English dictionary, and frequently visit listen2russian.com, ielanguages.com and masterrussian.com, but are there any other books/websites worth a try? Thanks in advance!

 

[notmanons]

I switched german for Russian. I'm finding it difficult to learn the alphabet .

 

[miu_miu]

^But once you learn the alphabet, the difference is amazing - it's not so daunting

And seanut, the best thing you could do is find a native speaker to practice with - there's one book I can recommend, but I need to look up the title. But you'll have the best understanding and pronunciation with real interaction

 

[seanutbutter]

^ That's what I'm figuring will work best. I know a few people from Russia, so perhaps I'll ask for a little help. Thanks for the advice.

But once you learn the alphabet, the difference is amazing - it's not so daunting

I definitely second this. I translated a big chunk of text today from Russian to English - once you've got the alphabet down, learning the language is quite simple!

 

[Kate_Moore]

Anybody with a little pacience could correct this text for me? Thanks a bunch in advance.

The disappearance of Dan Wilson

6th August
I started my investigation, something very strange happened to a pilot from the Yellow Valley Air Base. He disappeared from the plane while he was flying. All seemed to be okay when he took off but suddenly Amy King, the flight controller, lost the contact with him.
I inspected the plane, but I found nothing unusual. Everything seemed to be in its right place, all the controls were working well and there weren’t any warning signs in the engine.

7th August
I interviewed Amy King, the flight controller. She’s brunette, she looks very intelligent and powerful but now, with all that mystery, she’s become a little shy and quiet. I asked her some questions that I thought would help me to explain all these unknown answers about the disappearance of her colleague.
‘Hello, I’m Louise Wood and I’m the FBI Agent who’s investigating Dan Wilson’s chase.’ I started.
‘Nice to meet you, Louise. I’m Amy King, and I was at the tour of control when Dan’s plane took off. Everything was okay, but after having climbed over 25,000 metres he told me that he was seeing some lights, some strange lights in front of him…’ she started explaining, trying to remember as much as she could.
‘What else? I know that after seeing the lights the plane disappeared, didn’t it?’
‘Yes, the radio went silent and I didn’t get any respond from Dan. Then, after a short time, the plane reappeared and started to slow down: it was coming back to the air base! I thought Dan had had a problem with his radio and that it was over.’
‘But, when the plane arrived…Dan wasn’t there.’
‘No, he wasn’t in the cockpit!!! I looked everywhere, but couldn’t find him.’
‘Where do you think he might be?’
‘I don’t know…I’m scared.’

8th August
I was with Amy in the tower of control, checking the controls of all the planes taking off and landing in the air base. We were enjoying some coffee and suddenly…Amy’s cup felt off… Dan Wilson had just appeared, fit and healthy. It was like seeing a ghost. Was it really him?
Amy and I could say anything at all.
‘Dan???’ she cried.
‘Yes, it’s me. Why are you so anxious?’
‘You…You…You had disappeared!!!’ Amy’s words didn’t make any sense to Mr. Wilson. He looked so content and couldn’t understand why his friend was so scared about him.
‘Dan, I’ll like to talk to you.’ I told him ‘Two days ago, when your plane was already on flight, it disappeared for a few seconds and then it came back to the air base, but you weren’t inside the cockpit when it landed. That’s why Amy’s so worried about your comeback.
‘Really? Did I really disappear?’ he looked at me fascinated. He couldn’t remember anything. Everything that I told him seemed a science-fiction story.

I’ve been thinking about it for long but I can’t explain the mystery. I guess I’ll have to sleep every night with that doubt in my mind, wondering if there’s anybody who can explain it or, at least, invent something funny that can be believable to people.

 

[thejarc]

I switched german for Russian. I'm finding it difficult to learn the alphabet .

the german of the russian alphabet

 

[Suka]

translation for "und so wiete" please??babel fish sucks!

 

[carioca]

Anybody with a little pacience could correct this text for me? Thanks a bunch in advance.

The disappearance of Dan Wilson

6th August
I started my investigation, something very strange happened to a pilot from the Yellow Valley Air Base. He disappeared from the plane while he was flying. All seemed to be okay when he took off but suddenly Amy King, the flight controller, lost the contact with him.
I inspected the plane, but I found nothing unusual. Everything seemed to be in its right place, all the controls were working well and there weren’t any warning signs in the engine.

7th August
I interviewed Amy King, the flight controller. She’s brunette, she looks very intelligent and powerful but now, with all that mystery, she’s become a little shy and quiet. I asked her some questions that I thought would help me to explain all these unknown answers about the disappearance of her colleague.
‘Hello, I’m Louise Wood and I’m the FBI Agent who’s investigating Dan Wilson’s chase.’ I started.
‘Nice to meet you, Louise. I’m Amy King, and I was at the tour of control when Dan’s plane took off. Everything was okay, but after having climbed over 25,000 metres he told me that he was seeing some lights, some strange lights in front of him…’ she started explaining, trying to remember as much as she could.
‘What else? I know that after seeing the lights the plane disappeared, didn’t it?’
‘Yes, the radio went silent and I didn’t get any respond from Dan. Then, after a short time, the plane reappeared and started to slow down: it was coming back to the air base! I thought Dan had had a problem with his radio and that it was over.’
‘But, when the plane arrived…Dan wasn’t there.’
‘No, he wasn’t in the cockpit!!! I looked everywhere, but couldn’t find him.’
‘Where do you think he might be?’
‘I don’t know…I’m scared.’

8th August
I was with Amy in the tower of control, checking the controls of all the planes taking off and landing in the air base. We were enjoying some coffee and suddenly…Amy’s cup felt off… Dan Wilson had just appeared, fit and healthy. It was like seeing a ghost. Was it really him?
Amy and I could say anything at all.
‘Dan???’ she cried.
‘Yes, it’s me. Why are you so anxious?’
‘You…You…You had disappeared!!!’ Amy’s words didn’t make any sense to Mr. Wilson. He looked so content and couldn’t understand why his friend was so scared about him.
‘Dan, I’ll like to talk to you.’ I told him ‘Two days ago, when your plane was already on flight, it disappeared for a few seconds and then it came back to the air base, but you weren’t inside the cockpit when it landed. That’s why Amy’s so worried about your comeback.
‘Really? Did I really disappear?’ he looked at me fascinated. He couldn’t remember anything. Everything that I told him seemed a science-fiction story.

I’ve been thinking about it for long but I can’t explain the mystery. I guess I’ll have to sleep every night with that doubt in my mind, wondering if there’s anybody who can explain it or, at least, invent something funny that can be believable to people.

i'll send you the corrections through PM so far i've read the first sentence and it sounds good