tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post318565032911367799..comments2024-02-15T17:04:14.226+01:00Comments on Jane Is The One: talking foreignjanestheonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17617250693471034197noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-35295744674124944732010-07-05T19:02:35.947+02:002010-07-05T19:02:35.947+02:00Wrong thread. Jeffrey John .Wrong thread. Jeffrey John .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-29592019295395884972010-07-05T17:14:13.131+02:002010-07-05T17:14:13.131+02:00Hmm. Well, nothing surprises me with these contin...Hmm. Well, nothing surprises me with these continental types. <br /><br />Leurs manières étrangères sont aussi mystérieux pour moi comme leur langue.Martin S MP, Readinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783602783518333110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-86175770081020207902010-07-05T15:37:08.516+02:002010-07-05T15:37:08.516+02:00bien sur que oui, je l'ai lu, mais cela prend ...bien sur que oui, je l'ai lu, mais cela prend bien du temps! En fait Proust etait lui-meme "closet gay", n'est-ce pas?janestheonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17617250693471034197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-79045610495690027752010-07-05T14:43:45.757+02:002010-07-05T14:43:45.757+02:00Pardon. Je ne comprends pas. S'il vous plait ...Pardon. Je ne comprends pas. S'il vous plait parlez Anglais. <br /><br />I'm incapable of learning to talk foreign. <br /><br />En passant, avez-vous jamais lu A la recherche du temps perdu de Proust? C'est magnifique.Martin S MP, Readinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11783602783518333110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-27011862205527632242010-07-04T08:52:58.319+02:002010-07-04T08:52:58.319+02:00anon 0109 - yes of course. My point was not that ...anon 0109 - yes of course. My point was not that anyone can do anything, but that if you work at something consistently you will learn and make progress. Whoever you are. Whatever your talents and capabilities. Whether you are a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learner. And often it is worth doing. What late hours you peeps do keep.janestheonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17617250693471034197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-86404411288516897802010-07-04T03:52:43.903+02:002010-07-04T03:52:43.903+02:00Some people (with good ears?) are better at the au...Some people (with good ears?) are better at the aural/oral side of languages, while others are better at the written side.<br /><br />I can work out roughly what language someone is speaking, but I find it difficult to understand virtually any language.<br /><br />However, I can learn different alphabets, and can understand grammar, so that I can pick up a book and translate it, occasionally using a dictionary.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-88861864656412576982010-07-04T01:09:40.600+02:002010-07-04T01:09:40.600+02:00I can play one - but am not especially good at lan...I can play one - but am not especially good at languages, although have never tried the hour a day suggestion and it might make a difference if I did.<br /><br />I don't agree, however, that anyone can learn anything. <br />I was never called thick or stupid at school - indeed, quite the reverse - but could not do maths - cannot do maths - could not do physics - cannot do physics.<br /><br />Far from being shunted into the academic dustbin as far as these subjects were concerned,I was forced to spend time and energy convincing teachers and the school that - NO - I was never going to be able to do maths - was never going to be able to convert a fail with the lowest possible grade into even the lowest possible pass and that, rather than waste my sixth form years re-sitting and therefore taking time away from chosen A level subjects - I should just be allowed to give the subject up. <br />I was eventually allowed to do so - but not before my parents, the Head and both Deputies had been called in to a 'summit'.<br />I got 3 Grade As at A level to go with the other 11 O levels - and yes, I am extremely proud of that.<br /><br />Don't care about not getting maths - or not being able to ride a bike or drive a car - can't do those things. Can't do whizz bang things on a computer either and school-style French is about my limit.Don't care about that either. <br />Fortunately ,we are not all the same - don't have the same brains etc etc.<br /><br />And I am pleased that I can read, analyse and discuss books. Not everybody can - or would be able to - but I can. So I am pleased about that and don't care about the rest.<br />It will the the same for others about other things.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-86229175382221783682010-07-03T21:51:40.588+02:002010-07-03T21:51:40.588+02:00I have only recently understood, perhaps in the la...I have only recently understood, perhaps in the last five years, that if you work regularly at some kind of study then you will make progress, no matter what your perceived or actual level of capability is. Apologies if readers knew this, but the milieu in which I was educated labelled a person as "stupid" or "clever" very early. This is not helpful to either category. People who find language learning difficult are those who believe, or who are taught, that their own language is the only "real" one.and who also know that their language is spoken in many places in the world. And I am not musical. I wish I was. I cannot sing, though I bawl cheerfully in church every Sunday, and I cannot play an instrument despite childhood violin lessons (which I enjoyed and which taught me to read music, for which I am grateful, especially when I don't know the hymns in church) and teenage flirtation with guitar (which I cannot play). Now I would like a piano. Which I cannot play.janestheonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17617250693471034197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2932765464128103640.post-3908885163698215902010-07-03T17:30:43.153+02:002010-07-03T17:30:43.153+02:00Thanks for that - genuinely interesting. Every fe...Thanks for that - genuinely interesting. Every few years I try to learn koine Greek, and find that I have even forgotten the wretched alphabet, never mind the personal pronouns. Seriously, why do some people find language learning so difficult? I once saw a TV programme about the CIA's attempts to teach its staff various Asian languages: the agents were keen, money was no object, time was made available to them, but still the results were poor. Another serious question - are you musical? There seems to be some sort of correlation between musicianship and language skills - or is it that most linguists I know happen to sing in choirs?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com