Learning a second language.
Posted By: globetrotter on 2008-07-18
In Reply to: Often wondered why - .
You raised some important points on which I would like to comment. If you are an MT, some of this will already be familiar to you, since we all have gone through the process of acquiring advanced medical language skills.
My husband speaks 5 languages (Farsi (L), Armenian, Greek, German (L) and English (L), and is literate (L) in 3. We met in 1990 as pen pals, a hobby he had adopted to facilitate acquiring and refining his literacy in English. From what he tells me and what I learned from this process, there seem to be certain distinct stages of learning and using another language.
Formal classes or other types of instruction to learn basic vocabulary, phonetics, entymology, grammar/syntax, reading, writing and comprehension, both written and verbal.
Practice, practice and practice some more. Use it or lose it. Typically, beyond the basics, the student will progress through the easiest to the most difficult skills in stages. The first 4 basics (stage 1), followed by the next 2 (stage 2), then written/reading and verbal comprehension (stage 3).
Verbal comprehension in and of itself is also a 2-stage process. In that final stage, most often the student will understand the foreign language much more easily (and for a much longer period of time) when it is spoken to them or around them. The most difficult stage of foreign language usage is the final stage of actually being able to produce coherent conversation with confidence.
Most of us never really get beyond the classroom/instruction level. It is a real challenge to find the time and the stage on which the remainder of the process can be played out. Here are a few ideas on how to overcome that obstacle.
· Finding venues for Spanish acquisition is pretty easy. Watch TV in that language. Start out with children’s programs and advance according to your comfort level.
· Rent movies. The ones with subtitles are particularly helpful.
· Listen to music and/or radio stations.
· Read books. Again, start with children’s and work your way up.
· Put yourself in environments where that language is being used. Perhaps you could volunteer to tutor an ESL student who speaks your language of interest. Church services, ethnic restaurants, public events, etc. Speaking events, such as public political forums, where both languages may be spoken are particularly helpful.
· Find an on-line language partner. See below.
· Make friends with someone who speaks that language.
· Find a pen pal.
Here are a few resources:
- ESL Idea Generator. Great ideas on how to teach English as a second language. Find access to a language partner and you and your partner could try some of these suggestions. It is really fun to do…kind of like a game of charades.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Houston-TeachingIdeas.html
http://www.sharedtalk.com/index.aspx?SRC=GAds.SN.en.Language.Exchange&gclid=CIqy8JrcyZQCFSEragodImWSkw
- TT 4 You On-Line Language Exchange. Voice chat forum / enhance conversation skills. Handy translation query text box
http://www.tt4you.com/
Most importantly, keep is casual and fun.
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learning curve
We (the royal we) are still learning to post according to your requirements of what is important to post about. Please be patient.
Learning to adapt...
I am now in school to earn an accounting degree and I am most definitely taking the Speaking Spanish In Business class as an elective because it is here people - like it or not. You are all going to have to wake up and see where our future is heading and prepare for it - what is the problem with learning another language anyway? I don't say make their language "THE" language - but we have to live together and we might as well be able to work together!
I am learning too but interested in
even-sided with obama and dodd's names all over the place?
"I am learning at the feet of the masters."
As I said, you seem to need to lace your posts with insults. You've never answered how that comprises good debating technique. You have only blamed other posters for your own behavior.
You continue to call me Teddy as some sort of taunt I suppose. And I remember you accusing me of being other folks posting....heck we even invited you to email several of us in order to prove via email that we were different people but you declined to do so. Apparently the belief that we were all the same person was somehow comforting in a world full of evil liberals!
I know I'm learning real fast here
I keep seeing posts about how awful the republicans are, blah, blah, blah. Then comes the lies and false statement without any facts. But the minute you put something out there about Obama with a link and reliable sources you get jumped on and called evil. I'll tell ya, makes me think Hitler is still alive and visits this board. HA HA. I've seen the attacks on Sam before so I guess I should have realized this. Guess it just shocked me.
Be worried about blind loyalty, not learning from history....sm
be worried about people who put party politics before the good of the country and its people, be worried about waging foreign wars we have NO RIGHT to fight (and by the way, what are we winning there, please remind me). And where do all you DOOMSDAY PROPHETS get all your future information, do you channel Nostradamus,have a crystal ball, or what???
As a mom of 3, I think that is absolutely great, the gift of experience, fun adventure, and learning
There are many ways to "gift" a person! I think they are very wise and caring parents, just from what I observe from the outside.
Cut the language out. (sm)
It isn't your God-given right on this site, which is privately owned.
Coarse opinions we can tolerate but leave the language out.
Moderator
Semitic language
The Semitic language is spoken in a variety of dialects spoken by nearly 200 million people. One branch is Hebrew, another is Arabic to name a few. Just because Barack's name means "blessing" does not mean anything.
Foreign language
Forgot to say that my foreign language was Latin and my memory is about as dead as the language.
the English language - that's
what I HAVE. Comes in handy with my job.
Is English your third language or what?
Sheep are easily fleeced. Oh-baaaaaaaaaa-ma.
I don't believe that the language of your parents. sm
has anything to do with being qualified to be the POTUS. We are about to have a POTUS whose father was not a US citizen.
Well, there you have it, the language of obama
when is a tax not a tax? when it is a cost of living increase brought on by government regulations that are expensive to comply with.
when are promises made to be broken? when they are airy-fairy generalities made in order to buy votes. *no tax increase* can now be claimed to have meant about anything. he will claim he meant no income tax increase, but didn't mean: no tobacco tax, gasoline tax, excise tax, tax on internet, etc.
how silly all of you are who voted for obama thinking you would have more money in your pockets (taken from the wealthy), healthcare would be free and manna would fall from heaven. you fell for the biggest sucker play in history.
Well, there you have it, the language of obama
when is a tax not a tax? when it is a cost of living increase brought on by government regulations that are expensive to comply with.
when are promises made to be broken? when they are airy-fairy generalities made in order to buy votes. *no tax increase* can now be claimed to have meant about anything. he will claim he meant no income tax increase, but didn't mean: no tobacco tax, gasoline tax, excise tax, tax on internet, etc.
how silly all of you are who voted for obama thinking you would have more money in your pockets (taken from the wealthy), healthcare would be free and manna would fall from heaven. you fell for the biggest sucker play in history.
Still can't come up with that refundable credit language?
x
I NEVER START with rude language,
I only REACT to it.
Like SELF-DEFENCE. ever heard of this?
You only complain about 'bad language' if it's aimed at
!
Obama's New Spanish Language TV Ad Es Erróneo...sm
Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper
From the Fact Check Desk: Obama's New Spanish Language TV Ad Es Erróneo
September 17, 2008 5:53 PM
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has launched a new Spanish-language TV ad that seeks to paint Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as anti-immigrant, even tying the Republican to his longtime conservative talk-radio nemesis Rush Limbaugh.
As first reported by the Washington Post, Obama's ad features a narrator saying: "They want us to forget the insults we’ve put up with…the intolerance…they made us feel marginalized in this country we love so much."
The screen then shows these two quotes from Limbaugh:
“…stupid and unskilled Mexicans”
—Rush Limbaugh
"You shut your mouth or you get out!”
—Rush Limbaugh
The narrator then says, “John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote…and another, even worse, that continues the policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families. John McCain…more of the same old Republican tricks.”
There are some real factual problems with this ad, which is titled “Dos Caras,” or two faces.
First of all, tying Sen. McCain – especially on the issue of immigration reform – to Limbaugh is unfair.
Limbaugh opposed McCain on that issue. Vociferously. And in a larger sense, it’s unfair to link McCain to Limbaugh on a host of issues since Limbaugh, as any even occasional listener of his knows, doesn’t particularly care for McCain.
Second, the quotes of Limbaugh’s are out of context.
Railing against NAFTA in 1993, Limbaugh said, "If you are unskilled and uneducated, your job is going south. Skilled workers, educated people are going to do fine 'cause those are the kinds of jobs NAFTA is going to create. If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people, I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do -- let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."
Not one of his most eloquent moments, to be sure, but his larger point was that NAFTA would mean that unskilled stupid Mexicans would be doing the jobs of unskilled stupid Americans.
I’m not going to defend how he said it, but to act as if this was just a moment of Limbaugh slurring Mexicans is not accurate. Though again, certainly if people were offended I could understand why.
The second quote is totally unfair. In 2006, Limbaugh was mocking Mexican law, and he wrote:
“Everybody's making immigration proposals these days. Let me add mine to the mix. Call it The Limbaugh Laws:
“First: If you immigrate to our country, you have to speak the native language. You have to be a professional or an investor; no unskilled workers allowed. Also, there will be no special bilingual programs in the schools with the Limbaugh Laws. No special ballots for elections. No government business will be conducted in your language. Foreigners will not have the right to vote or hold political office.
“If you're in our country, you cannot be a burden to taxpayers. You are not entitled to welfare, food stamps, or other government goodies. You can come if you invest here: an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage. If not, stay home. But if you want to buy land, it'll be restricted. No waterfront, for instance. As a foreigner, you must relinquish individual rights to the property.
“And another thing: You don't have the right to protest. You're allowed no demonstrations, no foreign flag waving, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our President or his policies. You're a foreigner: shut your mouth or get out! And if you come here illegally, you're going to jail.
“You think the Limbaugh Laws are harsh? Well, every one of the laws I just mentioned are actual laws of Mexico today! That' how the Mexican government handles immigrants to their country. Yet Mexicans come here illegally and protest in our streets!
“How do you say ‘double standard’ in Spanish? How about: ‘No mas!’”
But even if one is uninclined to see Limbaugh's quotes as having been taken unfairly out of context, linking them to McCain makes as much sense as running a quote from Bill Maher and linking it to Obama.
Asked for backup as to how Obama could link McCain to Limbaugh, the campaign provided this interview with McCain refusing to condemn the Minutemen from from the Kansas City Star:
Q: ‘Are they a good thing? The Civil Defense Corps, do you think -- do they help in the immigration fight, or not?’
A: ‘I think they're citizens who are entitled to being engaged in the process. They're obviously very concerned about immigration.’
Q: ‘Are they helpful?’
A: ‘I think that's up to others to judge. I don't agree with them, but they certainly are exercising their legal rights as citizens.’
Asked about the “lies” they’re accusing McCain of telling, the Obama campaign provided evidence that McCain in July 2008 told LA Raza that he would have voted for the DREAM act, a bill that provides scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants, even thought he earlier in the campaign season said he would have voted against the bill.
Let’s delver further into this.
In the November 2007, Myrtle Beach Sun-News, McCain said of the DREAM Act, which he had cosponsored in the past, "I think it has certain virtues associated with it. And I think other things have virtues associated with it. But the message is they want the borders secured first."
The newspaper noted that McCain said he’d vote against a temporary worker program, even though he supports the idea. "I will vote against anything until we secure the borders," he said. "There is no way we're going to enact piecemeal immigration reform."
Before La Raza, McCain was asked by a young Latina if he’d support the DREAM Act, and he said, “Yes. Yes.”
The full exchange, however, goes like this:
QUESTIONER: Hi. I’m a part of One Dream 2009 and I am one of the 6 million who either have an undocumented parent or is undocumented and I wanted to know if you would support humanity all around the world and support our Dream Act that we are trying to pass.
MCCAIN: Yes. Yes. Thank you. But I will also enforce the existing laws of a country. And a nation’s first requirement is the nation’s security, and that’s why we have to have our borders secured. But, we can have a way and a process of people obtaining citizenship in this country. And, we cannot penalize people who come here legally and people who wait legally. And so, that’s a fundamental principle on which we have to operate. Thank you.
The Obama campaign also provided a number of seemingly conflicting comments McCain has made about offering greater funding for education programs in the No Child Left Behind act -- telling the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in June that he “would fully fund those programs that have never been fully funded,” while not suggesting any greater funding for the bill when he’s talked about education in front of whiter audiences.
That ignores the fact that McCain has suggested reallocating the way the $23 billion for NCLB is spent.
McCain has changed his rhetoric and his emphasis when discussing immigration after almost losing the GOP presidential nomination because of it.
He now says the borders must be secured before anything else happens. And in that, he’s opened himself up to charges of flip-flopping, though the Obama campaign is quoting him selectively and unfairly to make their points.
The greater implication the ad makes, however, is that McCain is no friend to Latinos at all, beyond issues of funding the DREAM act or how NCLB money is distributed. By linking McCain to Limbaugh’s quotes, twisting Limbaugh’s quotes, and tying McCain to more extremist anti-immigration voices, the Obama campaign has crossed a line into misleading the viewers of its new TV ad. In Spanish, the word is erróneo.
-- jpt
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/from-the-fact-1.html
ohhhh so now that I found the refundable language you were looking for...
now you are yiping double standard.
Does McCain's tax credit for health care remove someone's federal tax liability? No.
Is it aimed specifically at the "bottom?" No.
Not even remotely the same. Obama has said himself...spread the wealth. Start from the bottom up. Redistribute that wealth. Have you looked at his history at all? Of course not...wouldn't want that idol to have clay feet.
Now you're speaking my language. Single parenthood
world void of credit cards. Never used one. Not once. Have only paid off one car loan in my entire (long) life...the rest of it, cash and carry, pay as you go. Paid for my condo that way and became proud owner of Acura 2.2 CL in the absence of interest back in the 90s, good ole days from where I sit now. Passed these survival skills along to my son. Credit crunch has left us unscathed. We are wondering how the rest of the folks will fare once the recession (let's not quibble and say it OUT LOUD) sets in. Guess they will have to see what it feels like to live like the great unwashed underbelly. We expect the tables will turn on some of them but will be happy to help them out and give them a "hand up," when the time comes.
freedom of speech excludes and stops at slander and foul language...sm
You are slandering the President of the United States out of ignorance, shame on you!
Where is this written in the Constitution that it is allowed to grossly insult the President?
Even if I disagree with the decisions of the President, I would NEVER slander him.
I am an independent, not a liberal, and I never slandered Bush, although I very much disagreed with him.
Therefore there are presidential elections set every 4 years, when we can elect another President, but we are disrespecting ourselves by slandering the President the majority of the population voted.
And you are calling yourselves
American citizens?
What a hypocrisy.
You are insulting the incumbent President of the United States of America and it is not even PROVEN that he made mistakes up until now. That you disagree with him, does not make it a mistakes from O's side. Or do you want to say that you are better qualified to be the President of the United States?
Can you all look into the future, like Nostradamus?
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