eh, I find it depends on your social circle, I was once a half decent russian speaker, I learned but I also had a group of friends with whom I could practice with, it also helped all the hotties were from the land of the volga and nothing motivates like pussy (see all the english teachers in asia)
True. I have no friends that speak Mandarin in public. Some speak mandarin at home. My base is so minimal, I can't even try if the opportunity presented itself.
When I hang out with our German friends, I get their five year old to teach me. He speaks a hilarious German/English bastardized language where for each word he uses the easiest language. It's actually a great way to learn as you completely understand half the words which helps you fill in the gaps on the strange german words. If reminded he speaks german and english really well. His english has a thick german accent. I can't discern accents in german so I have no idea if there is one there.
Mandarin is hard. Well at least I find it really hard. You are working with a different alphabet, different sounds and very little passive exposure to it. I was trying to learn mandarin in Uni as I was annoyed at flocks of chinese students chatting and I had no idea what they were saying. I can't passively learn mandarin. I have to actively work at it and don't want to dedicate the time and focus required. French/German/Spanish/Italian I can have playing in the background and pick things up over time.
I once had an opportunity to work for an Italian company. The job would have been in Brantford but bootcamp was making me seriously consider it. They send you to Italy for a month to learn Italian, then put you through their employee culture indoctrination in Italian for three months after. The interviewer rode and was going to lend me a spare bike to boot around on while I was there. They couldn't pull the trigger in time and I went for a different opportunity.
I admittedly had a far easier time learning English (passively, simply going to school, I didn't have ESL because I picked it up that fast) even tho Mandarin is my mother tongue and I'm an immigrant.
Mandarin, on the other hand, is something I can speak but had great difficulties learning how to write/read. I know less than 10 characters in writing and only recently relearned how to write my name because I forgot lol.
So yeah, echoing everyone's thoughts....use it or lose it.
I watch a lot of subtitled tv series and films. It’s a good way to keep your ear tuned. My wife likes Nordic Noire films and TV so there’s a lot of Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish playing. Can't understand much of the language but we’ve watched enough to recognize a few words. Watching French news is good.
Wish i had more seriously studied French when i had the chance.
The German i learned in high school is pretty much gone and the Swedish i spoke when i lived there is also almost toast since i have no one to converse with anymore. I have a good friend whose parents immigrated here from Italy when he was about 7 years old. They made it a requirement to speak Italian in the home growing up. Now he has 2 kids of his own and he's maintained the language in the house requirement. I envy him, it opens up so many more doors.
When my daughter was in hgh school she took German. I came someone day and there was a shopping bag of magazines hanging on the door knob. I peeked inside and saw German so figured they were for her and threw them into her bedroom advising her when she got home. She came down a few minutes later and said "Do you want me reading these?" They were German porn.
It turns out that someone got addresses mixed up. We chucked them.
Mandarin is hard. Well at least I find it really hard. You are working with a different alphabet, different sounds and very little passive exposure to it. I was trying to learn mandarin in Uni as I was annoyed at flocks of chinese students chatting and I had no idea what they were saying. I can't passively learn mandarin. I have to actively work at it and don't want to dedicate the time and focus required. French/German/Spanish/Italian I can have playing in the background and pick things up over time.
I once had an opportunity to work for an Italian company. The job would have been in Brantford but bootcamp was making me seriously consider it. They send you to Italy for a month to learn Italian, then put you through their employee culture indoctrination in Italian for three months after. The interviewer rode and was going to lend me a spare bike to boot around on while I was there. They couldn't pull the trigger in time and I went for a different opportunity.
Decades ago the food terminal was mostly Italian and I worked a summer there, mostly hand packing watermelons. I didn't learn to speak Italian but could count to twenty in the language as we tossed them in a line.
Nah, I still got my ass beaten to death for that LOL
Doesn't mean my mind changed!
I went into software, so my audience is worldwide. I understand our education system had no way to predict what the internet would do to globalization...nor do they understand why learning the most popular languages would be most beneficial for our economy though lol
....honestly, I just wish I learned to read Chinese so I could read Japanese manga and hentai <_<
If you need to be on the leading edge of technology you need to understand the language of the country leading that technology. One can usually learn tourist level languages fairly easily but the nuances for technology and politics is harder. Culture and humour are totally different as well.
I am convinced we need to give it a shot and have enrolled kiddo to French Immersion. As parents, we need to provide kids with the opportunities at the least, whether they will excel at any or not is secondary, That's my view.
I am convinced we need to give it a shot and have enrolled kiddo to French Immersion. As parents, we need to provide kids with the opportunities at the least, whether they will excel at any or not is secondary, That's my view.
Not a fan, I think the system is geared to kids with parents that speak French. That's not a complaint, just an observation.
Here are a few observations:
- kids without a Francophone in their homes often opt out after year 1 or 2. It's tougher for parents to help with school worl/projects if they don't speak French. The year after changing streams is hard for them.
- kids in elementary school miss out on community, many are bussed or driven from communities outside the school area. Most K-8 kids are walking distance to schools and have schoolmate friends in their local community.
- kids that finish K-8 with no French community or need to speak will lose their French quickly. My sis and SIL are examples, they never had a need at home or work - by 40 they couldn't tell you if a chien was a dog or cat. Neither enrolled any of their children in FI.
- kids that finish K-8 with a French community or employment need can leverage their FI. Another SIL moved to the Capital region where se needed French for her job, she enrolled her kids in FI and they did well and while not needing it on a day to day basis, are connected in a French community and remain fluent.
My wife and eldest son both started in FI, they transferred out because of geographic moves to places with no FI option, they both had adjustment challenges for about a year as they caught up on reading and writing fundamentals they never learned in Gr 1&2.
My middle son moved to a small city with lots of French speakers. As an adult he is learning French, in 6 months he's made some progress and is starting to understand conversations. He figures in about a year he'll be able to get by, within 3 years he will be comfortable.
I figure that another language is a good skill, if you have a French speaker in your family OR live in an area where French is common - it's going to be a positive experience. But so is developing skills in an art or sport.
Ultimately each family weighs the pros and cons. I decided yes to FI for my first, and no for #2 and #3. Instead one danced and two played hockey.
I remember asking my grade 4 teacher "why do I need to learn French when I know Mandarin and there are more Mandarin people than French people?" She couldn't answer.
It would have been far more practical to teach everyone Mandarin; you'd learn to read 50% of Japanese, and can communicate with Cantonese speakers via writing then.
I was pity passed in grade 9 with a 50%; I told every teacher I'm not taking French seriously and it's a waste of time. Most understood why.
Am not sure about reading 50% of Japanese.... I studied Japanese in my university, I still need to guess a lot to navigate through an article or lyrics in Japanese although Mandarin is my mother tongue... But I can read books from HK or Taiwan (which are in traditional Chinese characters).
Not many choices of Mandarin -as-second-language school here. I sent kids to Saturday Mandarin school but they are not interested. I didn't stick to Mandarin at home... biggest regret ...
What are you guys talking about? I'm in Peel, Peel doesnt favor french speaking parents, ask me how i know. It's a lottery.
Maybe for French Schools (like actually full french school) not French immersion you find in most schools in Peel.
As to whether it helped me? It did help me in my first few forays in customer service. But after that, most business is conducted in English only.
Now i still think it's a good skill to have for your brain/learning to know another language...And as someone mentioned, it might open up random opportunities while in a specific role that you wouldn't have even imagined.
(i grew up in quebec city and moved here 12 years ago in the gta)
It’s never too late. It just takes longer when you’re older.
I used to have a small crowd of locals around me when I started speaking Spanish as they wondered how someone so obviously stupid that spoke without using verbs was able to care for themselves on a daily basis and travel to far away places. Along the lines of “hey, come and listen to this gringo mangle our language”. It’s a lot better now.
One of my mates from france came to visit a few years ago. Took him around to the usual tourist attractions including Montreal and Quebec ... He couldn't believe how much Canadians butcher the actual french language lol I dont speak it so couldnt really tell a difference between his dialect and the locals in Quebec, but to him it was like nails on a chalkboard.
They teach Parisian french in schools here, not Quebecois
My wife was born and raised in Laval, moved to Mississauga for grade 11. French will be an easy A.
NOPE, failed, could hardly carry a conversation.
I couldn't speak a word of french when I met her, but you learn fast. Immersion is the key.
By the third family gig, it starts off well but after a couple o beers, they're all speaking french again, AND THEY'RE TALKIN ABOUT YOU... you pick it up quick.
Am not sure about reading 50% of Japanese.... I studied Japanese in my university, I still need to guess a lot to navigate through an article or lyrics in Japanese although Mandarin is my mother tongue... But I can read books from HK or Taiwan (which are in traditional Chinese characters).
Not many choices of Mandarin -as-second-language school here. I sent kids to Saturday Mandarin school but they are not interested. I didn't stick to Mandarin at home... biggest regret ...
I used to bring imported Japanese games, before they had Asia versions with English, to a friend's house and he'd translate all kanji. Maybe he was making all that **** up lol
I'd say not sticking to Mandarin school is also one of my biggest regrets. I was made fun of for speaking Chinese in a predominately (guess the ethnicity) school. As much as I wanna blame the racist little *****, the one who pulled the trigger to give up was stupid ass me =(
Need a time machines so I can slap some sense into my younger self! I've definitely gained a lot simply being able to speak another language.
Dianne Wife to one of the guys I ride with had a dad that only spoke french and a mom only english,
she can switch back and forth in mid sentence, you never seen anything like it. it's awesome.
One of my mates from france came to visit a few years ago. Took him around to the usual tourist attractions including Montreal and Quebec ... He couldn't believe how much Canadians butcher the actual french language lol I dont speak it so couldnt really tell a difference between his dialect and the locals in Quebec, but to him it was like nails on a chalkboard.
The French traditionally hate the English...when I worked in France I wasn’t the most hated guy there.....the guy from Quebec was because he didn’t have an excuse to butcher the language.
One of my mates from france came to visit a few years ago. Took him around to the usual tourist attractions including Montreal and Quebec ... He couldn't believe how much Canadians butcher the actual french language lol I dont speak it so couldnt really tell a difference between his dialect and the locals in Quebec, but to him it was like nails on a chalkboard.
If you look at the translation voice actor credits for many blockbuster movies there is often a different cast (completely different set of voice actors) for French and for Quebecois....
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Wife to one of the guys I ride with had a dad that only spoke french and a mom only english,