Foreign languages

[N7AAO]

Honest question, folks... if you had to pick from German, French, or Spanish, which do you think would be of more use today? I took French and Spanish in school, but have forgotten most of them.

So what do ya run into more often out there on the airwaves? (On PSK31, I've been very lucky, "hearing" only English spealers).

[KG4CGC]

Aside from radio, French, Spanish, and German would all be useful. I'm a good spealer too!

[W5HTW]

If you plan to continue to live in the United States of America (Los Estados del norte de Mexico) Spanish would be the language of choice, especially if you think you might look for a job, go to the store, walk along the street, drive on the highways, or in any way deal with the public.

Ed

[KF0RT]

Spanish would be best here -- it's almost the only "foreign" language I hear these days. Closer to the Canadian border, maybe you hear more French?

[N7AAO]

Quote[/b] (KF0RT @ Sep. 17 2004,18:37)]Spanish would be best here -- it's almost the only "foreign" language I hear these days. Closer to the Canadian border, maybe you hear more French?
Not really, Quebec is a long ways east... most of the Canucks that come south into Washington speak good old English... some of them better than some Americans I know!

[WA5KRP]

I'm trying to convince my kids to study Chinese or Japanese. Our economy is more closely entertwined with China and Japan than any other country. European countries and their trade with the US pale in comparison.



WA5KRP
Texas

[N7AAO]

Quote[/b] (wa5krp @ Sep. 17 2004,18:44)]I'm trying to convince my kids to study Chinese or Japanese. Our economy is more closely entertwined with China and Japan than any other country. European countries and their trade with the US pale in comparison.



WA5KRP
Texas
I've got a Japanese book already... that is one tough language!

[k6bbc]

I live in Southern California so I too am going to learn a second language – ENGLISH!!!

K6BBC

[w5alt]

Quote[/b] (N7AAO @ Sep. 17 2004,21:31)]... if you had to pick from German, French, or Spanish, which do you think would be of more use today? ...
My recommendation is ... let me think a minute ...

My mother was German, I work for a French company in YV and write all my technical reports in Spanish.

Honestly, Spanish has served me better than the other languages, but your mileage may vary.

73,
Walt, W5ALT

[k6pme]

No habla espaniol, habla english por favor! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[KC7YRA]

While in America I will speak and listen to American. If somebody is here and they don't speak that (Excluding vacationers or business or another legitimate reason like that) then they had better no approach me. I took 4 years of Spanish and can get along very well but I once watched a spanish only speaking dude berate and throw a temper tantrum at some poor lady at McDonalds just because she only spoke American. That does not fly in my book. U.S. resident=U.S language Please note that I refer to "English" as AMERICAN. English is very different from what is spoken in England. We speak a melting pot of various languages so I call it AMERICAN.

[W5MEJ]

I'm afraid there is no one best answer to that question. #I grew up in Texas, so Spanish was a natural answer for me. #I made a career of the Army, my first assignment was in Germany. #When i got there, my first thought was "Why did I waste all that time taking Spanish classes in high school? #I should have learned German or French!"

After Germany, I spent a lot of time in various Asian countries...many more languages for me to butcher! #Several things stick in my mind:

1. #Almost all citizens of the world know some English. #It has become the language of business, and has been the language of radio for a long time. #Air Traffic Control is done in English no matter what country you are flying over, and hams in most countries will have a working knowledge of English.

2. #Schools all over the world teach English much better than schools in this country teach any foreign language. #Young people in almost every country I have been in have a better command of the English language than I do!

3. #Even though 1 and 2 above are true, you should still make the effort to learn the language in any country you find yourself spending any significant amount of time in. #You may find yourself having to revert to English from time to time to be fully understood, but you will still help to dispel the "Ugly American" image if you try your best to learn the language commonly used in your locale.

4. #Once you have learned one foreign language, it is much easier to learn another. #I can now order a beer almost anywhere in the world!

73
Chuck

[K6UEY]

Si' If it is for Amateur Radio the language that will do you the most good would be CW,the second language would be Spanish. It will give you the ability maybe not to speak fluently but be able to find your way in the dark in many other languages. If you are seeking a Technical Expertise,such as Electronics,then German would give you access to many Technical papers written in German,also Russian can be handy in a technical area.French at one time was known as the International Language,but like most things French,over time it has lost it's demand. English would be a good International language and again the Universality of Spanish over the globe.

[WA2ZDY]

Learn russky tovarishch. Sound like from Rodina.

[w6ez]

Quote[/b] (W5HTW @ Sep. 17 2004,18:36)]If you plan to continue to live in the United States of America (Los Estados del norte de Mexico) Spanish would be the language of choice, especially if you think you might look for a job, go to the store, walk along the street, drive on the highways, or in any way deal with the public.

Ed
How true.

[ai4ep]

how about pig latin ?

[N5RLR]

Проблэма? Что проблэма?

¿Yo quiero Taco Bell? #http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[ai4ep]

anca ouya peaksa igpa atinla ?

[AI4FR]

I'm studying German now but almost wish I started with Spanish instead.

Good luck with what ever you decide.

[KC9CFB]

AI4EP, that would be "Anca ouya eakspa igpa atinla" if the a's at the end of each word are spoken with the long a sound, as in the word "aim".

I would suggest Spanish, really, it's not hard to learn if you like speaking in the present tense a lot (just learning preterite today, actually, I'm in Spanish II).

"Me gusta bailar con el queso, pero el queso no le gusta bailar conmigo!"

[N8CPA]

Whatever other languages you decide, from English, you can best grease the rails with Latin. After working with 5 grammatical cases for a while, and learning how to inflect the various parts of speech to fulfill the various syntactical roles, even German will be simple.

CFB, what kind of music does the cheese like to dance to?

[WA2ZDY]

Quote[/b] (N5RLR @ Sep. 17 2004,23:45)]Проблэма? Что проблэма?

¿Yo quiero Taco Bell? #:D
The only problem is that I have never figured out how to get the cryllic font working on my computer. I suspect that would be fun.

I was working on the cryllic morse code at one time. Yeahhhhhh lots of fun.

[XV2PS]

Not German.

[KC7HDE]

Learn to speak proper American, No more No less.
That would be a form of English that is supposed to be taught in one form or another from birth OR in order to receive US citizenship.

Go to another country and it's " when in rome do as the romens do ".



Norm T

[K8YS]

I would learn proper ENGLISH, ASK not AXE... etc.

English is the language of commerce. If you really want a hobby language, perhaps Mand. Chinese, since a great deal of foreign made products comes from China.

I would forget French, the French look down upon anyone that is not a native speaker, and besides, it is FRENCH.

Spanish would make another hobby language too, but again, commerce is done in English.

[N7AAO]

Uh, guys, I already know English... I actually got straight A's in English. I am looking at other languages, I do not require additional education in my mother tongue. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[W3MIV]

I attended the US Army Intelligence School, Europe, which was located in Oberammergau, in the Alps. It is now a NATO school. I studied German intensely in very small classes full time and was quite close to true fluency (though with a very heavy accent) when I graduated. Have rarely used it since; only on a few ski trips to Germany and Austria, during which I was surprised at how quickly it returns. Here in the US, German or French would be next to useless, I think.

I would have to recommend learning Spanish.

More and more Latinos have been coming to the US (many legally, I might add) and they are a fast-growing segment of our population. This would be useful. You really cannot participate in meaningful interchange with another culture/heritage without being able to really communicate. I mean at a deeper level than "mi casa su casa."

Also, there are many Asians moving into the US, but learning most of the Asian languages beyond facile survival-level skills presents a real challenge for most adults.

[K4JSR]

How about Farsi if Kerry wins in November?

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[K9STH]

Gaul ist divisos in tres partes (per Julius Caesar).

Illigitimi non carborundum (per common sense).

Back when I was in high school the "joke" going around was that the optimists insisted that the school children should learn Russian and that the pessimists insisted that school children should learn Chinese.

I started with German in college. However, the instructor, although from the Atlanta area, had spent several years in Germany "learning" the language and about half of the students in the class were "Army brats" who had lived in Germany for several years. The instructor's physical characteristics were virtually "perfect" for the Arian race (blonde hair, muscles, tall, etc.) and he could have been a poster during the period before World War II in Germany.

Unfortunately, after the first week the instructor decided to leave those of us who had not lived in Germany behind and went into about a 3rd year German course. Since I did not have to have a foreign language I switched to "Social Studies" the next quarter.

It is very interesting to sit in a restaurant in Dallas and listen to a portion of the populace's conversations. Many of the Hispanics have conversations that almost every other word is Engligh and Spanish. That is one word will be English and the next word Spanish. If someone who speaks only English stops by they automatically switch to entirely English and if someone who speaks primarily Spanish stops by they switch automatically to Spanish.

With the spread of Spanish speaking people around the country even areas like Chicago have a fairly high percentage of Spanish speaking people. In my "home" county (LaPorte) in Indiana the Hispanic population is now between 10 percent and 15 percent. The result was that the Spanish community leaders started demanding that Spanish be used in announcements, that a Spanish interpreter be assigned to public meetings, etc. Well, that went over like a "lead balloon"! There are still quite a number of first generation Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Russians, etc., who point out that when "they" came over "they" had to learn English to survive and that no one officially helped them out.

The result is that there is a part-time interpreter available "on call" if law enforcement really needs someone to interpret with a Spanish speaking person. The rest of the "demands" were very firmly denied.

Here in the City of Richardson, Texas, a while back, there was a police officer who had married a Mexican woman and who had learned to speak Spanish very well. Whenever he would stop a Hispanic for a traffic violation they would immediately "no habla English". He would then inform them in Spanish, using Mexican "slang", etc., that they really did speak English and that if they didn't start speaking English immediately that he was going to "haul them off to jail". For some "strange" reason the persons in the vehicle suddenly acquired the use of the English language!

Anyway, after several years of Latin in high school I can still make sense out of a lot of Spanish writing and some French and Italian writing. Spoken words not so much. Also, for those who say that Latin is a "dead" language, all I have to do is to point them to Switzerland where about 5 percent of the population speak "Romansche" which is a form of Latin. Of course almost 70 percent speak German and the rest usually speak French.

Glen, K9STH

[ai4ep]

pig latin is easy to speak, but hard to listen to for me.

So far as the folks aspeaking spanish and claiming they cant speak english for law enforcement folks---- a lot of cops are learning that a lot of them are lying and playing dumb to try to confuse the cops or get out of a ticket.

Like stated earlier, other folks from other nations learned the ENGLISH language when they came to the USA, why cant the Mexican folks...are they " special " ? { I think not }

[KA3RFE]

My great-grandparents on my mother's side were Swedish. They came here around the turn of the 20th century and became citizens. I've got cousins and great uncles and aunts galore in Sweden. GGpappy was an LT in the U.S. Navy. Both great grandparents spoke fluent English when I knew them, with a very light accent. Unfortunately, I wasn't around them long enough to learn much Swedish and what I did used to know, I've forgotten.

There have been some relatives from Sweden visit with my grandparents and great uncle whom I havd met and they spoke fluent English.

So I guess I would choose Swedish, except that my family and I are going to have to learn sign lanquige in the near future. I am going deaf and speech is becoming more and more difficult to understand.

73, Pete KA3RFE

[KB1GYQ]

From what's frequently posted on the BBS, all anyone needs is CW. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[K7KBN]

ニホンゴ.

And then, ワブン.

[N7AAO]

Quote[/b] (k7kbn @ Sep. 18 2004,10:27)]ニホンゴ.

And then, ワブン.
Hey, I am learning to speak Japanese, not read it! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[K7KBN]

Okay - search Google for "katakana chart", and you'll see a link to www.kids-japan.com, where you can download a 3-page katakana chart. #From which you can find that my first recommendation is (surprise!) #Nihongo.

And then: #wabun (Japanese "Morse" code). #In order for a Japanese ham to get the equivalent of Amateur Extra, it used to be required (probably still is) to be able to send and receive wabun at the 5 wpm level. #Wabun is more efficient than Morse code, because each sound pattern represents a syllable rather than just a letter.

[w3sy]

What? Kama Sutra chart? What was that again??

Over...?

[KB1GYQ]

Quote[/b] (w3sy @ Sep. 18 2004,17:05)]What? Kama Sutra chart? What was that again??

Over...?
That's a great exercise book!

[WA2ZDY]

Quote[/b] (K9STH @ Sep. 18 2004,11:18)]Illigitimi non carborundum (per common sense).

. . .

It is very interesting to sit in a restaurant in Dallas and listen to a portion of the populace's conversations. #Many of the Hispanics have conversations that almost every other word is Engligh and Spanish. #That is one word will be English and the next word Spanish. #If someone who speaks only English stops by they automatically switch to entirely English and if someone who speaks primarily Spanish stops by they switch automatically to Spanish.

. . .
As a teenager, I learned what illigitimi non carborundum means and I've always tried to live by that rule.

As for the bilingual mixed language there Glen, your example shows folks to be decent and respectful. Here in NJ, two folks speaking like that would switch to 100% Spanish if an Anglophone showed up. That is if they could, but I believe the cultural heritage and such is so far diluted, most bilingual speakers really aren't.

From what I've seen in my line of work, everything is getting watered down and nothing is quite what it used to be anymore. As an example, a non-Spanish language example at that, I worked with a guy who was a native of Curacao. They have three commonly spoken languages there apparently: Dutch, Spanish and Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English dialect.) He spoke none of them well.

[kc2kde]

Quote[/b] (W5HTW @ Sep. 17 2004,18:36)]If you plan to continue to live in the United States of America (Los Estados del norte de Mexico) Spanish would be the language of choice, especially if you think you might look for a job, go to the store, walk along the street, drive on the highways, or in any way deal with the public.

Ed
I'll second that one.

[K8YS]

Quote[/b] (KB1GYQ @ Sep. 17 2004,15:09)]Quote[/b] (w3sy @ Sep. 18 2004,17:05)]What? Kama Sutra chart? What was that again??

Over...?
That's a great exercise book!
better than a Richard Simmons book -- ANY DAY!

[N7AAO]

Quote[/b] (K8YS @ Sep. 18 2004,18:11)]Quote[/b] (KB1GYQ @ Sep. 17 2004,15:09)]Quote[/b] (w3sy @ Sep. 18 2004,17:05)]What? Kama Sutra chart? What was that again??

Over...?
That's a great exercise book!
better than a Richard Simmons book -- ANY DAY!
Anything is better than Richard Simmons!

I understand that the Chinese government uses Richard Simmons tapes as torture devices.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/unclesam.gif

[XV2PS]

CW?...

[K7KBN]

I speak Esperanto like a native.

[k5rna]

I saw on the news some time back school teachers here in the USA actually have books to study so they can understand what the kids are saying.

[k5rna]

One more thing and this is no joke.These kids using the boom boxes in ther cars better start learning sign language.First thing they will notice later is they have a difficult time understanding what people are saying,and /or two or more people talking at once they won't be able to understand either.Later they will be forced to buy hearing aids but they only make people mumble louder.Of course each thnks it will never happen to them and they will never get any older.

[N7AAO]

Quote[/b] (k5rna @ Sep. 19 2004,00:34)]One more thing and this is no joke.These kids using the boom boxes in ther cars better start learning sign language.First thing they will notice later is they have a difficult time understanding what people are saying,and /or two or more people talking at once they won't be able to understand either.Later they will be forced to buy hearing aids but they only make people mumble louder.Of course each thnks it will never happen to them and they will never get any older.
I have actually seen kids in a convertible with the boom box up so loud they couldn't hear a fire truck siren... or maybe they were just ignoring it.

They sure moved (both themselves and the car) when the fire truck got right up behind them and blew his horn, tho!

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/unclesam.gif