| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Poll: To keep up in my second language (s), I mainly: Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "To keep up in my second language (s), I mainly:".
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A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629
| | | | | Other - all of the above | Nov 27, 2007 |
I live in my target language country ... so I do all of the above, all the time.
To keep up in my native language, I mainly read.
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I just work a lot )
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There really should have been an option "I live in a country where my second language is spoken"!
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| All of the above | Nov 27, 2007 |
I do all of the above really, my husband is Mexican so we speak mainly Spanish at home, and then we talk to his familiy and our joint friends on the phone / internet in Spanish. I love reading, listening to music and watching films in my other languages as well. I think this is one of the greatest advantages of being able to speak other languages, to really get to know their culture through reading books and news, listening to songs and the radio, watching films etc.
| | | | Williamson 
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:23
Flemish to English
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| Travel, Cercles polyglottes, Satellite dish and specialised reading... | Nov 27, 2007 |
The distance between the U.K. and Belgium from Brussels South Station to St.Pancreas is 1.51 minutes and costs €80 if you book well in advance.
AFAIK in the UK, English is the official language, although in London and in Belgium French, Dutch and German are the official languages.
To practise languages , I bought a satellite dish and programmed channels which broadcast in the following languages: English, French, German, Dutch,Spanish (active languages), Italian, Portuguese, Romani... See more The distance between the U.K. and Belgium from Brussels South Station to St.Pancreas is 1.51 minutes and costs €80 if you book well in advance.
AFAIK in the UK, English is the official language, although in London and in Belgium French, Dutch and German are the official languages.
To practise languages , I bought a satellite dish and programmed channels which broadcast in the following languages: English, French, German, Dutch,Spanish (active languages), Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, (languages I understand) Polish and Russian (language of basic understanding), Japanese and Chinese (languages I am curious to hear how these languages sound) programmed.
For the rest, when you stroll along the street of Brussels, you can hear about every language in the world and it is pretty easy to find/contact a native speaker of whatever language. If you want to practise spoken language there are "cercles polyglottes", http://users.swing.be/polyglot.be . You can buy quality newspapers available in many languages (even in Finnish). In the period around Christmas, if you walk around the Grand Place, there are stalls with specialities from every E.U.-Member State. Just open your ears and you can listen to +25 different languages on the Grande Place.
[Edited at 2007-11-27 15:00] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | All of the above | Nov 27, 2007 |
I don't live in a country where my 2nd language (English) is spoken, but an "all of the above" option would have been the right one for me as well.
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| | | | Nesrin
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:23
English to Arabic
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I do live in the country of my source language, but unfortunately I wouldn't say that my interactions with native speakers are so substantial as to help me "keep up" with English - unless you count my stubbornly English-speaking kids as native speakers!
I love radio and have it on all morning (BBC 2-4) till the family comes home, so that is my most important source of English language by far
[Edited at 2007-11-27 16:21]
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Sames goes for me - I live in my source language, so I concentrate my efforts on keeping my native language fresh.
[Edited at 2007-11-28 10:05]
| | | | John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 04:23
Spanish to English
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| Other - all of the above and more | Nov 27, 2007 |
Marie-Hélène Hayles wrote:
There really should have been an option "I live in a country where my second language is spoken"!
I live in the country where my second (and third) languages are spoken, but I still need to make an effort to keep up with them. It's so easy to forget words you don't hear or use on a regular basis.
Personally, I find that talking with people doesn't do that much for me because everyday conversation doesn't involve that much vocabulary acquisition. The best way for me to learn and maintain a decent vocabulary is to watch the news and especially all kinds of documentaries.
Actually, after 22 years in Spain, I find that it's almost more important for me to work at keeping up my first language!
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translate!
This keeps me updated, makes me read, find out information, reminds me of pronunciation, makes me look up words in French dictionaries, etc, etc. It's the best way!!
| | | | Coslada
Local time: 19:23
English to Spanish
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| All of the above | Nov 27, 2007 |
I live in the country of my target language (English). I interact with native speakers, read, watch movies, listen to the news, attend College in my second language... I LIVE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!
I keep up with my native language (Spanish) by teaching it as foreign language. I also keep in touch (daily) with my family in Spain and meet regularly with native Spanish speakers to talk (some of us have a Spanish Book Club, as well).
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| Couldn't put it better | Nov 27, 2007 |
[quote]Coslada wrote:
I live in the country of my target language (English). I interact with native speakers, read, watch movies, listen to the news, attend College in my second language... I LIVE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!
I could not put it better.
I gained a PhD degree in my second language! Moreover, I even dream in English.
| | | | | source vs. target language | Nov 27, 2007 |
I may be wrong, but I think some of you are confusing the definitions of 'source' and 'target' languages. The source language would be the foreign or second language that you are translating FROM, and the target language would be your native tongue or first language, which you should be translating INTO. N'est-ce pas?
| | | | R. Alex Jenkins
Brazil
Local time: 23:23
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
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| A question of conversational choice | Nov 27, 2007 |
Well I usually just speak Portuguese really as that's what nearly everyone speaks over here. I wish I could go out into the street and have a conversation in English with the neighbours or whoever I come across, but if I did, they wouldn't understand a word of it, so there's little point.
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