Silk Road forums
Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: PsilocybinTendencies on June 29, 2012, 03:39 am
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So I was just admiring this thread: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=11870.0
Russian is complete gibberish to me. But I love to look at it because it kind of resembles latin characters (its a greek alphabet, right?), but I can't figure out what a single word means based on my knowledge of romance languages.
I wish I had the means to travel around and learn a couple of different languages. I think it would be super fucking cool to compose thoughts in a language with a different writing system, with completely different grammar. I do not know why the idea appeals to me though. I think it's because of the utility. Being able to communicate with millions of new people feels like power to me.
Anyway that inspired me to post about language learning. Any of you guys do it?
It takes a fuck-ton of brainpower to learn languages from the comfort of your own home, even with a basic understanding in place. I've been chipping away at French when the mood strikes ever since I studied it in high school and did a couple college classes. I don't think I'll ever become fluent unless I go somewhere where French is actually used and chill for a long time.
Livemocha is neat as fuck but I feel like there needs to be more structure in the way you interact with native speakers of other languages. They just kind of throw you two in there with a couple dictionaries and let you figure it out for yourselves.
Any of you guys amazing enough to actually get decent at a language without visiting the country? Surely you'll still be horrible at it, in terms of pronunciation at least, but with a big enough vocabulary you could probably pick it up in no time if dropped into said country.
How do you go about doing it? I think I'm about to invest in one of those books that are written side by side in both languages... I want it to be cool, and teach me new things but not let it go over my head. Most of the available titles I see are lame. Any of you guys know where I could get some good books that are English-french side by side? I figure maybe something like Harry Potter would be simple enough for me without being too simple to not suck...
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I've studied Latin and Greek while in school, and they were both a pretty mindblowing experience. The grammatical structure in both those languages feels more like a math equation than English grammar. I've actually been debating/procrastinating learning Russian, maybe I'll get around to it these next few weeks. I remember reading one infograph/picture that basically explained how to read Korean. Surprisingly, their letters are more similar in function to our alphabet than to Chinese characters; instead of standing for words or ideas themselves, they stand for sounds.
When I was in Central America, my Latin came in handy when trying to speak Spanish, luckily enough. However, I doubt I could live in the Vatican or in Greece at all with my current knowledge.
P.S. Russian is a cyrllic (spelling?) language. It looks very similar to Greek, but they share next to nothing when looking at their etymologies.
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I'm currently trying to learn Spanish (very badly). My sister is married to a Spanish guy, so it would be nice to be able to communicate with his family when we visit!...and he has some seriously hot nieces that i'd love to get stuck into, so knowing their language would make it a lot easier! :)