Chat Thread: Chopsticks and teacups

[Calixti]

Aino Ailill

Calixti

Sophist

I think for a Masters (or Doctorate's?) in Spanish I'm required to know at least one or two other (romance?) languages, and I was considering French because I wasn't too enthusiastic with the semester of Italian I took, and Portuguese to me sounds too slippery and melded together. If that makes sense? sweatdrop

I'm suddenly very glad I'm only minoring in Spanish, and only for my Bachelor's. Don't think I could handle another language, especially a related one. gonk

Hah, the more languages the merrier is my policy! .... so long as I don't have to speak/hear French. xP I'm majoring in Latin and Greek and it is required that we take another language that is a modern language. I haven't decided what mine will be yet.

Nooooooo! crying

I tried to take Spanish and Latin in high school. Note: tried. I nearly failed Spanish. I did fail Latin.  

[Sivirs]

I once took 1st year Mandarin and 3rd year Japanese at the same time.

It wasn't hard like I thought it would be, but it was INFURIATING using Chinese simplified characters when I'd already spent some years learning the traditional characters for use in Japanese. I used to jokingly complain to my professor that the characters needed to be harder because dammit I already knew the hard version!  

[Ainwyn]

Sophist

Calixti

Sophist

I think for a Masters (or Doctorate's?) in Spanish I'm required to know at least one or two other (romance?) languages, and I was considering French because I wasn't too enthusiastic with the semester of Italian I took, and Portuguese to me sounds too slippery and melded together. If that makes sense? sweatdrop

I'm suddenly very glad I'm only minoring in Spanish, and only for my Bachelor's. Don't think I could handle another language, especially a related one. gonk

I remember having the same complaint that I have about Portuguese now for Spanish when I was first learning it. "How the ******** am I ever gonna tell these words apaaaaaart?! gonk " I think what helped a lot was listening to a lot of music in Spanish. Anybody know any famous Portuguese language singers?

Look into Fado, it's a kind of folk music, I can't remember any singers off the top of my head though. I don't know any specific Brasilian singers either. Sorry.

And, if you have to take a Romance language and want something a little different... take Romanian? I actually like Portuguese a lot more than Spanish, but then, we grew up with a lot of Brasilian culture in our house because my mom grew up there. We celebrated Brasilian Independence Day every year until my mom moved to Korea, especially after moving here. Traditional Brasilian bbqs rock!  

[Bastemhet]

Aino Ailill

Sophist

Aino Ailill

The word '********' is very pleasing to me. Not the meaning, but the sound and the feel of it.

I hate French when spoken. It is a beautiful language over-all, and a gorgeous written language, but it incorporates the phlegmy sounds such as can be found in German which utterly ruins what is otherwise a wonderful language. It is rather like listening to Classical music and throwing in some very brief and randomly placed instances of Scream-o. That being said, I very much love to hear German spoken.

/randomness

I make the same complaint about French, but no one ever understands what I'm talking about. I think for a Masters (or Doctorate's?) in Spanish I'm required to know at least one or two other (romance?) languages, and I was considering French because I wasn't too enthusiastic with the semester of Italian I took, and Portuguese to me sounds too slippery and melded together. If that makes sense? sweatdrop

I hadn't heard Portugese so I went to youtube and am now watching Ratatouille in that language. I don't get that impression.

I think it's the sibilance and frequent use of double vowel sounds like "mui" and "eu" that make it sound all bendy to me.  

[TeaDidikai]

Gift Tax in the US sucks.  

[Collowrath]

Just earlier today I was likening the differences between Slovak and Serbian to being like Spanish and Portuguese, largely because of the strange vowel changes. For instance, in Slovak we might say "posal'" and in Serbian it would come off as "posao." I hated it at first, but it's grown on me. =D  

[Bastemhet]

Calixti

Music in Spanish? biggrin Any recommendations? I've noticed lately that listening to Spanish, in music or movies or whatever, has had a positive affect on my listening comprehension.

Hoboy... *goes and gets her ipod*

So, some of my favorites for rock and pop are:

The Juanes albums "Un Día Normal", "Mi Sangre," and "La Vida es un Ratico."

Amaral's self-titled album and "Pájaros en la Cabeza."

Café Tacuba's "Sino" and "Cuatro Caminos."

La oreja de Van Gogh's self-titled album and "Lo que te conté mientras te hacías la dormida."

Chetes' "Blanco Fácil" and a little bit less his "Efecto Dominó."

Gustavo Cerati's "Ahí Vamos."

Jesse & Joy's "Esta es Mi Vida."

Bebe's "Pafuera Telarañas."

Belanova's "Dulce Beat" and "Fantasía Pop."

Miranda!'s "El Disco de tu Corazón."

Moenia's "Solar."

Gotan Project's "Lunático."

My guilty pleasure: RBD's "Empezar Desde Cero."


If through randomly searching on youtube or whatever you find something good, please let me know! You should be able to tell my preferences from this list. biggrin  

[Bastemhet]

Ainwyn

Look into Fado, it's a kind of folk music, I can't remember any singers off the top of my head though. I don't know any specific Brasilian singers either. Sorry.

And, if you have to take a Romance language and want something a little different... take Romanian? I actually like Portuguese a lot more than Spanish, but then, we grew up with a lot of Brasilian culture in our house because my mom grew up there. We celebrated Brasilian Independence Day every year until my mom moved to Korea, especially after moving here. Traditional Brasilian bbqs rock!

Romanian could technically work but I wanted to stick to a language close to Spain and Spanish. I wonder if there are any colleges that teach Catalan nearby?

Before my bellydance class was the Samba class and the music and dancing looked so fun that I'd start dancing along in the hallway. Love it! I bet if I just listen to more Portuguese music I might get over my bias.  

[Bastemhet]

Collowrath

Just earlier today I was likening the differences between Slovak and Serbian to being like Spanish and Portuguese, largely because of the strange vowel changes. For instance, in Slovak we might say "posal'" and in Serbian it would come off as "posao." I hated it at first, but it's grown on me. =D

Yes, that's it! Spanish has much more consonant sounds compared to Portuguese. That's really interesting that there's a homologous relationship present with Slovak and Serbian as well.  

[Ainwyn]

I remember the hell I went through with my one semester of Italian after taking Spanish for 5 years. It was horrible, even though I sang in the language on a daily basis! I totally failed the oral part of our final because I got in there, and all I remembered was Spanish. So I totally understand what you mean.

The languages that I want to learn the most are Russian and Gaeilge. If I'd lived in a place with a large Russian population where I grew up, I probably would be fluent in it, because I took classes in it from 10-12, but no luck. I should probably start trying to figure out ancient Greek though, because it sounds like my fiancee wants to teach our kids that.  

[Bastemhet]

Ainwyn

I remember the hell I went through with my one semester of Italian after taking Spanish for 5 years. It was horrible, even though I sang in the language on a daily basis! I totally failed the oral part of our final because I got in there, and all I remembered was Spanish. So I totally understand what you mean.

Really? I think I had the opposite experience. I was taking Spanish 4 and Italian 1 at the same time, and found the Italian pretty easy to remember. I did confuse some of the words together sometimes, but that actually worked to my benefit. One of the test questions was the word "slow" and I guessed "lentamente" from Spanish because I couldn't remember. Turns out it's the exact same thing in Italian. xd

But I said I wasn't feeling it because...I dunno, I just didn't get that "I love learning this!" feeling learning Italian like I did with Spanish. Same thing with Japanese. Maybe I should give them more than just a semester to make a decision, though.  

[Ainwyn]

Sophist

Ainwyn

I remember the hell I went through with my one semester of Italian after taking Spanish for 5 years. It was horrible, even though I sang in the language on a daily basis! I totally failed the oral part of our final because I got in there, and all I remembered was Spanish. So I totally understand what you mean.

Really? I think I had the opposite experience. I was taking Spanish 4 and Italian 1 at the same time, and found the Italian pretty easy to remember. I did confuse some of the words together sometimes, but that actually worked to my benefit. One of the test questions was the word "slow" and I guessed "lentamente" from Spanish because I couldn't remember. Turns out it's the exact same thing in Italian. xd

But I said I wasn't feeling it because...I dunno, I just didn't get that "I love learning this!" feeling learning Italian like I did with Spanish. Same thing with Japanese. Maybe I should give them more than just a semester to make a decision, though.

The issue that sticks out most in my head is when I was having a conversation with the guest professor who came in for the oral exam, and I was supposed to reply with a "you're welcome", and all I could think was "de nada". As soon as I left the room, I was like, "********! Prego!!!" *headdesk*

There were parts of Italian that were really easy for me though, because I'm a music major. My pronunciation was nearly perfect, because I'd been singing in it for several years. One thing Italian really helped me with though was my memorization. I really suck at memorizing words, but with just a little knowledge in the language, I got to the point I could just throw in other Italian words on the fly, which works wonderfully if no one around you speaks Italian. >_>  

[Bastemhet]

Ainwyn

The issue that sticks out most in my head is when I was having a conversation with the guest professor who came in for the oral exam, and I was supposed to reply with a "you're welcome", and all I could think was "de nada". As soon as I left the room, I was like, "********! Prego!!!" *headdesk*

Haha, I have those allll the time in Spanish, mostly me saying something then figuring out a better way to say it five seconds later. stressed  

[Calixti]

Holy cow, Sophist. Thanks. *runs off to youtube, all starry-eyed*  

[TeaDidikai]

mrow.