Here we can all be heard for a little while. Part 3

Georgiegirl256

I hope ER is on the mend when you go in today WW. Well done for spotting the signs of a water infection. I'm sure the hospital will be fine with you, and used to relatives being firm with them as after all, it's a stressful time and they'll understand that and that you're only looking out for her.

Well yay the sun is shining! Means I won't get soaked to the skin on my bike ride today! :j I know as well as a good section of flat, there are also some downhills on the way there....which means only one thing....up hill on the way back! My poor legs haven't fully recovered from the other day yet, but I will not be beaten by a 75 year old!

Lambyr

Hi Pyxis,

Evening classes are probably a non-starter due to looking after mum. I can usually get out for an hour or two during the day but the evening is usually when I'm most needed.

But I dunno, maybe if Project A can generate some cash then I could afford to buy a language learning thing. Linguaphone offer a 6-month basic German e-learning course for £40 and Rosetta Stone do online learning courses too (though a lot pricier but you get online classrooms and online tutors so might be worth the extra) so there's another possibility.

Not that I'm an expert but Dutch is roughly half-way between English and German. It's speculated that if the Norman Conquest of England had never happened but somehow everything else remained the same, English and Dutch would be almost as close as Spanish and Portuguese.

So my "wing it" comment was based on knowing English and German, and being able to fill in the gaps in Dutch with some logic. There's differences between German and Dutch, obviously - like G's are always hard sounds in German (like 'go' as opposed to 'germ').

Haha, yes, "du" is fine... I'm not one for formalities.

It's a bit tricky to know what to aim for without knowing where we may end up. I have friends scattered across France, Germany, Belgium (Flanders region), Netherlands and Italy (from when I used to be able to travel 2-3 times per year!). I figure, assuming we get that far and E can relocate to one of those places, then it'd make sense to go somewhere where I know people who can help us get settled.

I can probably rule Italy out, simply because it'd be too hot in the summer! So I think maybe, since I do have a basic grasp of German, it might be an idea to actually become fluent in German and then progress to Dutch. Whatever happens, I'm in the UK for five or six more years anyway, so that's ample time to actually learn both languages and I can rope my European friends into helping by insist they converse with me in their native tongue! :rotfl:

And I guess there's nothing wrong with aiming to know English, Dutch and German.

I sort of know French, in the sense that I can read some French text and get an understanding of what it says but I can't speak it or understand people talking in it (well done, High School!). Maybe if I get to the point where I've mastered the "necessary" languages, I could try and sort out French too?

Although should probably walk before I run and focus on one language to begin with.

I always felt kinda humbled travelling in Europe. Everyone spoke English. I know why - it's due to British and American cultural imperialism - they're watching our TV shows, they're listening to our music etc. - but when you walk into a fast-food restaurant, and the server immediately realises that you're English they just switch over and here I am armed with a handful of phrases, always including "Sorry, I don't speak your language".

I was in Brussels once and a woman approached me and asked me something in French, so I responded with "Je suis desole. Je ne comprend pas Francais. Je suis Anglais" - judging by her reaction, I think she thought I was taking the mick.

Another time, I managed to get lost in Brugges. I asked a man for directions, of course immediately asking whether he spoke English. "Yes, a little," he replies, before reeling off directions in flawless English. He spoke the language better than me and it's my native tongue. I'm also a writer (creative by dream, copy by pre-carer profession!) so I should know what I'm doing. I wondered what he considered to be "a lot" of English!

Anyhoo, should probably stop babbling on about linguistics. Need to do some work on Project A today. Got everything I need for it. Now it's just a case of doing it.

onomatopoeia99

Lambyr wrote: »

I always felt kinda humbled travelling in Europe. Everyone spoke English. I know why - it's due to British and American cultural imperialism - they're watching our TV shows, they're listening to our music etc. - but when you walk into a fast-food restaurant, and the server immediately realises that you're English they just switch over and here I am armed with a handful of phrases, always including "Sorry, I don't speak your language".

Though when one has made an attempt to learn the language, uses it and then everyone replies in English it becomes a little disheartening!

The council adult learning service where I work runs as many daytime courses as evening courses, often in 9-11am and 2-4pm slots as well as the 7-9pm slot that I used to attend before our class went private, so if your availability during the day is better this may be an option for you (if your local council runs adult learning classes at all).

tea_lover

I've just been having a conversation along these lines with a colleague of mine. She's fluent in 3 languages (pretty diverse ones!), and a good conversational level in 2 or 3 more. Totally puts me to shame. She was even saying the other day that she thinks in English most of the time now (she's German) - I'm so jealous! My brain just doesn't work like that.

Lambyr

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Though when one has made an attempt to learn the language, uses it and then everyone replies in English it becomes a little disheartening!

The council adult learning service where I work runs as many daytime courses as evening courses, often in 9-11am and 2-4pm slots as well as the 7-9pm slot that I used to attend before our class went private, so if your availability during the day is better this may be an option for you (if your local council runs adult learning classes at all).

Haha! I'd have no problem if they responded in English but I wouldn't want to live somewhere if I wasn't able to speak the native language. Part of it would be for a sense of security, like if I or E needed medical attention and the first responder/paramedic didn't speak English... but mostly I guess I see it as the polite thing to do!

I might have a look and see if our council offer anything, though they've been taking a hatchet to a lot of services lately. Two hour lessons would be pushing the limit of how long I can be out of the house for, unless the venue was a five min drive away. But I shall see!

Thanks for the idea.

Solarjunkie

You can often get language courses, cds etc, free from the library.

whitewing

Hospital were lovely actually and have done a chest xray too. ER is a lot better, apart from the fact that she is not telling the nurses about her pain etc.

She can't talk too much but was having a lovely reminisce.

Pyxis

Lambyr, as well as the possibility of daytime courses, whether Local Authority or a local college, you could also try the U3A. It's not just for retired people or people over a certain age; they changed the rules so that it's for anyone not in full-time occupation.

Fees vary from area to area, but near me they are £40-50 for the academic year and you can do up to four courses for that, more if there are vacancies in the classes.

The tutors aren't necessarily trained teachers, but for that price, it's a good way to get some practice and learn a bit more in a structured environment.


Might be worth checking on Freecycle or Freegle as sometimes people give away language courses. I've seen some advertised in the past. Or even on eBay, second-hand ones going cheap! Quite a few advertised here......
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC2.A0.H0.Xgerman+language+course.TRS0&_nkw=german+language+course&_sacat=0

Also, although people in tourist areas usually speak English to you all the time, that isn't necessarily true of other places within the country. When I was in Spain in May, I was astonished at how few people I came across spoke English. If only I'd known some Spanish, it would have been fantastic practice. Instead, I ended up talking Italian and miming a lot! Hahahahahahaha!



The hospital rang me earlier and gave me an appointment for Friday morning for the scans etc., so that's good.

System

I'm terrible at languages, i started learning French at an after school club in primary school, on the plus side byt the time i got to secondaryi knew all the basics so had a bit of a head start but once we progressed to more complicated things i just couldn;t get my head around it I also did Russian for a year! And that has a whole different alphabet to learn! I wish i;d done German (they alternated it with Russian, i got the Russian year) as my dad frequently travels over there and knows people there and speaks it pretty well but alas i didn;t get the chance!

My ex tried to teach my Spanish but that never got very far. :0

codemonkey

Lambyr check out duolingo which is free or 50 languages which is £9 for 50 language courses. I'm using the former to learn Portuguese (Eu falo um pouco Português e não sou uma tartaruga) and the latter to learn some Slovenian for my holiday, although my brain and the way it's structured means I only remember hello (dober don), here (tukaj) and he and she (on in ona). So that's useful. I suck at languages though. I also speak French and Spanish but the neural pathways have got confused and now I end up starting a sentence in French and finishing it in Spanish.

I am having a bad day today and I just want to go home and cry/eat all the chocolate/stab my annoying colleagues through the ears with a sharpened biro. Which reminds me, I also know the Portuguese for where are the bodies? (Onde estão os corpos?) And the bodies are under the tree (Os corpos estão debaixo da arvore). Duolingo teaches weird phrases.