Multilingual and Polyglot Wannabe Thread MK II

Original post by L'Evil Fish

Are you looking forward to next year?

Just bought an arabic book recommended by Cambridge for AMES

Hopefully it's decent

I am actually, the units I've chosen sound pretty interesting and now that I'm home, I miss all of the activity and social side of uni. Definitely looking forward to moving back down to Bristol

Reply 6802

super_kawaii

55.8% average for this year. Not as well as I could've done, but I'll take it

Reply 6803

thatitootoo

Original post by scott18044

I am actually, the units I've chosen sound pretty interesting and now that I'm home, I miss all of the activity and social side of uni. Definitely looking forward to moving back down to Bristol

Original post by super_kawaii

55.8% average for this year. Not as well as I could've done, but I'll take it

Well done guys! :smile:

I'm sure you're both looking forward to working even harder next year :wink:

Stay focused! :thumbsup:

Reply 6804

Original post by scott18044

got a first in German language for the year :biggrin:

That is great! you can be proud of yourself! German is one of the most difficult languages for English-speakers, eh?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 6805

Original post by Kallisto

That is great! you can be proud of yourself! English is one of the most difficult languages for English-speakers, eh?

Admittedly English isn't the easiest language, but I hope you mean German in this sentence. Otherwise I may have something to worry about...

Recently I've found that, although I can say what I want to in German, it's often not the 'German way' to express it. Hopefully that's something that will become easier though, it seems as though everything is going well so far. It has nothing on Russian though, which is a constant source of headaches. :P

Reply 6806

Original post by scott18044

Admittedly English isn't the easiest language, but I hope you mean German in this sentence. Otherwise I may have something to worry about...(...)

Well spotted, I have talked about German, a foreign language.

Original post by scott18044

(...)Recently I've found that, although I can say what I want to in German, it's often not the 'German way' to express it. Hopefully that's something that will become easier though, it seems as though everything is going well so far. It has nothing on Russian though, which is a constant source of headaches. :P

Does that mean you have learnt Russian as well?

Reply 6807

Original post by Kallisto

Well spotted, I have talked about German, a foreign language.

Does that mean you have learnt Russian as well?

Well, I've started but really haven't progressed all that far. I study German and Russian at uni, but I only started learning Russian in September so it's all still fairly new.

Reply 6808

Original post by scott18044

I am actually, the units I've chosen sound pretty interesting and now that I'm home, I miss all of the activity and social side of uni. Definitely looking forward to moving back down to Bristol

Which units are you going to be doing? I love the feeling of anticipation. Less so when you don't get to choose your units and the ones coming up for the next semester seem like the driest **** known to man. Hopefully it'll reveal itself to be far more interesting than it currently seems...

Original post by Kallisto

That is great! you can be proud of yourself! German is one of the most difficult languages for English-speakers, eh?

Everyone says this about their language. :wink:

Original post by scott18044

Recently I've found that, although I can say what I want to in German, it's often not the 'German way' to express it. Hopefully that's something that will become easier though, it seems as though everything is going well so far. It has nothing on Russian though, which is a constant source of headaches. :P

This never seems to end. It's all exposure, though.

Reply 6809

Original post by Ronove

This never seems to end. It's all exposure, though.

I probably should preface this by saying that I'm excited to start these units, even if they sound dull. I'm only doing one German unit this year though, which I'm a bit disappointed about now to be honest, but oh well. So I picked to do Business German, Czech, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian Thought in the 19th Century. :P

Reply 6810

Original post by scott18044

Numbers 2 and 4 sound good. I don't know enough basic background on Russian culture to know whether number 3 would be something I'd be interested in or not. :tongue:

Reply 6811

Original post by Ronove

Numbers 2 and 4 sound good. I don't know enough basic background on Russian culture to know whether number 3 would be something I'd be interested in or not. :tongue:

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to starting Czech. It'll be something new, but it's a lot more work than normal units because you get more contact hours per week and it lasts all year. Looking forward to the Business German unit too actually. I'm looking at working/ interning in Germany on my year abroad so it may be a useful one to do.

Reply 6812

Original post by scott18044

Well, I've started but really haven't progressed all that far. I study German and Russian at uni, but I only started learning Russian in September so it's all still fairly new.

Respect! what was your reason to study Russian at university?

Original post by Ronove

Everyone says this about their language.

Yeah, but in the other way round, it is rather completely different. Most of Germans who I know have no problems with English as foreign language. By the way it is a nice feeling to read a comment by you after a long time. :smile:

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 6813

Original post by Kallisto

Respect! what was your reason to study Russian at university?

I... am not entirely sure, to be honest. I did Spanish and some French at school but decided I wanted to try something different at uni, and Russian seemed different enough. :tongue:

I wouldn't want to study Russian without any formal teaching though: if I didn't study it at uni, I don't think I would ever have learnt.

Reply 6814

Original post by Kallisto

OK fair enough, English is very much the exception. I should have qualified my statement with 'except English speakers'. :wink:

The exposure to English and the importance placed on it by just about every country is a pretty good explanation for most foreigners' proficiency in it. :smile:

Reply 6815

Original post by scott18044

I... am not entirely sure, to be honest. I did Spanish and some French at school but decided I wanted to try something different at uni, and Russian seemed different enough. :tongue:

I wouldn't want to study Russian without any formal teaching though: if I didn't study it at uni, I don't think I would ever have learnt.

In other words: you are studying Russian at university to be at a high advanced level after that. Are you intending going to Russia one day?

Original post by Ronove

OK fair enough, English is very much the exception. I should have qualified my statement with 'except English speakers'. :wink:

The exposure to English and the importance placed on it by just about every country is a pretty good explanation for most foreigners' proficiency in it. :smile:

Yeah, I - as non-English-native-speaker, should be thankful that Great Britain became a naval supremacy and many countries became British colonies. Imagine what were happened, if France would have had such a power and such a great influence in the whole world. It is highly likely that I would have learnt French as world language...

Kallisto ist böse.

Original post by Kallisto

In other words: you are studying Russian at university to be at a high advanced level after that. Are you intending going to Russia one day?

I guess that is ultimately the aim, although I'm not sure that it was entirely the reason when I was applying. I hadn't enjoyed the culture side of Spanish A-Level as much, which prompted me to pick something new. I find Imperial Russia quite interesting, so that was part of it, but I think it was mainly about the language.

I was planning to visit St. Petersburg this summer but it didn't end up happening. I definitely intend to go though, and I'm looking forward to doing the second half of my year abroad there next year.

Reply 6818

Original post by Kallisto

Yeah, I - as non-English-native-speaker, should be thankful that Great Britain became a naval supremacy and many countries became British colonies.

I have a feeling this might be you attempting to be what we call tongue-in-cheek, am I right? :wink:

Imagine what were happened, if France would have had such a power and such a great influence in the whole world. It is highly likely that I would have learnt French as world language...

The thought of it... :afraid:

Reply 6819