Learning another language

As someone who knows ASL, I would highly recommend learning it. Especially if you are in close proximity to a large group of persons whose native language is ASL. That will give you many more opportunities to be immersed in the culture and the language and to really learn it.

 

I worked for several years for a company that was based in Denmark, and dealt with enough written communication in Danish that, after going through a few books and CDs, I became able to speak, read and write it fairly well. The one thing I couldn't do: Hear it. You can only get to that point through immersion, I think.

 

Interesting article in the Times:

 

yeah, i still remember all my hiragana and katakana. but the kanji? i haven't even tried.

i've been pretty much half-assing the podcasts, so as so many posted above, it's pretty close to pointless. unless you use it regularly, focus intently on the learning, or are immersed, you're just not going to really pick it up. or pick it back up, in my case.

 

I took Spanish in high school and college and have subsequently dabbled in French, Italian, Danish and American Sign Language.

My father's parents are from Cuba, so that gave me a bit of an advantage when I started Spanish classes. Because my father still can speak Spanish and his partner teaches foreign languages and has taught Spanish, I still was able to retain much of my Spanish. At my previous call center, I even occasionally took Spanish calls.

I speak Spanish well enough now to basically get across what I need to, but not well enough to answer calls for my current call center considering how much specialized language banking has.

I would recommend that if you are serious about taking a foreign language, that you find a way to use that language regularly, whether it's part of a beat or whether it's part of your job functions or you meet someone with whom you can converse in the language. I've had conversations with people in Spanish before, and that's helped me retain what I have retained in that language.

 

Can I get his number? Chukran bzaf.

 

I'm still trying to learn English, which is becoming more difficult the more I hear it and read it.

 

It's hard to learn a new language once you get past a certain age. Still. It's possible. In some circumstances it's enough to know a little conversational boilerplate.

 

I'm learning ASL, too.

http://www.youtube.com/user/thfemale/featured

 

Just stick with American. It's close enough most of the time.

 

Oooooooh ...

 

I've been using these folks, whom I highly recommend. It's not easy, but it's effective: http://www.textfugu.com/