Thread: languages

I can teach you, Cliffy!

hmmm... languages
English - i live in australia so...
Italian - been learning it for four years at school and i'm almost fluent in it
French - very very very basic i spent a year learning it at primary school
Russian - been trying to learn it for over a year but have gotten absolutely no where

i also have very limited vocab in tamil, elvish, atlantean, old english, ancient egyptian, and other various, useless languages that my boyfriend speaks (except for atlantean... that's my way of getting back at him but i liopai saano).

for the person who asked about ages i'm fifteen atm almost 16 but have only been learning languages for the last five years.

allora. for the americans/brits here could you tell me some slang you guys use? i'm interested in the difference between american/GB slang and aussie slang. and do you guys know what 1337 is? my friends use it but i don't get it oh well.

whoa! i didn't know there were so many russian learners around my age.(14) I thought i would be criticized for my youngness and youth-minded intellectual abilities

I was 12 years old when I began to learn Russian, so don't let age bother you! Although I don't really believe it's easier to learn languages at a younger age, you can think of all the time you saved by starting early!

About "1337" I had a good laugh. Dogboy, it's yours.

In britian i hear they walk around and say something is "Leet", while here in america we walk around saying "Man that was so one three three seven". I think that's the biggest diffrence i've seen.

(you're 14, i was 15, it's not that big of a deal).

I don't really believe it's easier to learn languages at a younger age

I know a brother and sister, moved here from Rostov 3 years ago. The Guy is 18, his sister is 15. The guy, can speak conversationaly perfect english, but he has an accent and sometimes fumbles. yet, his sister who is now 15, (moved here when she was 12) who i never talked to untill today, speaks perfectly perfect accentless normal english.

I think that age can play a diffrence... Once you get to a certain point, the muscles in your mouth (along with your brain) can't / wont want to work to creat difrent sounds, and your brain has a harder time accepting the info.

I know that difrent people have diffrent skills, they both seemed to learn english just fine, but i think it's pretty obvious age had something to do with it here.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

I think that age can play a diffrence... Once you get to a certain point, the muscles in your mouth (along with your brain) can't / wont want to work to creat difrent sounds, and your brain has a harder time accepting the info.

I think I can vouch for that assessment Dogboy I'm so old that I've forgotten how old I am - if I knew I was going to live this long I'd have taken more care - but I didn't And, so Dogboy, your description is perfect.......

That reminds me, Dogboy. A friend of mine father came from Russia at age 1. He spoke English with a Russian accent, even though he had lived in the USA for almost his whole life. And his wife came here at age 15, and she spoke English with no accent at all. Though she wrote things phonetically. I think you can't generalize it, because for each person it's different.

Originally Posted by Евгения Белякова

A friend of mine father came from Russia at age 1. He spoke English with a Russian accent, even though he had lived in the USA for almost his whole life.

Bollocks. At the ripe old age of 1 no one can be said to have a specific accent - at that age you just babble producing all sorts of sounds in all kinds of accents. Either he grew up in a Russian ghetto surrounded by speakers of Russian 24/7, or you're telling porkies.

I have an Arabic friend who's 17 and his older brother is 20-something. My friend still speaks with an accent yet his older brother speaks with a completely normal American accent.

Perhaps it is easier to pick up on accents and such when you're younger, but I don't believe it is easier to actually learn/master languages when you're young. Most people master languages when they are older, as far as I would know.

BTW, I have never heard anyone say "one three three seven." I was expecting a hax0r worthy definition of 1337 from you, Dogboy! Shame!

1337 is a language used primarily by reclusive gamers (myself) and h4x0rs (myself) to hide from the real world. It is pronounced leet, and derives from the number 31337 (pronounced elite), the internet port used primarily for system exploitation (hacking), in the early days (Apple ][)

I speak English, French, and Spanish fluently. I've studied French for 4 years and Spanish for 3 years consistently. I'm now studying German, but my vocabulary is very limited. On the other hand, I know everything about the grammar! I study Russian also, Russian is my favourite language of all! My grandmother is Russian, but I never see her. I think Russian sounds the best of any other language known to this world!

ROFL. Age 1 ? I don't believe you. You can't even talk at age 1... (maybe like "poo poo, weener" but no real words". It's impossible to say that someone has an accent when moving at age 1.

I too know someone, Сергей, the Serjified russian, who moved here from belorus when HE was 1 (so small, he tells me, he couldn't walk up our big american stairs), and he now knows perfect english.

lol, 1... are u sure u don't me like, 111.

@pravit. Die.

thanks for sort of explaining 1337 (or leet) to me... i sort of get it now although i still don't understand it and why do you use it as a descriptive word... to me, being an aussie, it's just another useless sms language or a way to write three word stories. mnah doesn't matter i'll survive without it

It just means like cool. But, no one really says it to be seriouse... Usually its just joking around.

Like, wow MR forum is so 1337.

BTW, i downloaded this sweet 5 Kiloton nuke add on for OFP... 1337.

BJ Hendy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

People in my neck of the woods use it all the time.

"Dude, I'm F****** 1337!"
"This new X-Box game is teh uber 1337!"
"OMFG PWN!"

You guys have once again broken the rules and strayed away from the topic, but I shall follow. I have never heard 1337 before in my life. That's hysterical. I'm sure if I said it around here I'd either get laughed at or shot at. Depends on the neck of the woods, of course. Leet. Is it in the dictionary?
@Dogboy...you're really beginning to bring me down with all this death talk. Seek help.

Note to self: This was my 100th post!

I don't even remember my 100th post. Oh wait, yes i do, i was like, man im n00b.

Fluent english and French, good German, understanding a bit of Spanish and try to learn Russian. Italian is my native language.
I wish to improve English, French and German and move on to Russian, Spanish and Portoguese seriously. By the way, recently I passed my First Certificate Exam in English with grade A . Now I'm looking forward for the CAE in English and DELF in French.

Anyway, I really love this forum, where there are so many people interested in languages and loving to study them. I feel like at home...

Ciao a tutti

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

I don't even remember my 100th post. Oh wait, yes i do, i was like, man im n00b.

Oh hush, Dogboy. Gimme 2 years. I'll be right where you are! And you will probably be president of some former USSR country or something.