Learning another language

In Germany most TV programmes are either made in German or dubbed into German, hardly any use subtitles. However, most music in Germany is in English, so anyone on a long car journey with the radio on will be bombarded with English. And that reminds me...

Another language learning tip. We all know how songs get impregnated in our heads, so we can sing along years later as we still know the words. Just ask Eileen! When I started learning German I bought lots of music CDs (remember them?) and got to know them. That help.my vocabulary enormously, and also help with grammar and pronunciation. Just a thought.

 

I think that you have to be very careful with songs, as lyricists often bend grammar and pronunciation rules in order to get something to fit a particular rhyme or melody.

Let me give you this brilliant, and completely true example:

One of the most common mistakes Russians make in English is their pronoun of the word "hotel". They all pronounce it "HOtel", with the stress on the first syllable. This is despite the fact, that the Russian word "otel" is stressed in exactly the same place as the English word - "hoTEL". I could never figure out why this mistake was so common, until a Russian friend told me that "Hotel California" was one of the few western songs allowed by the Soviet censors, and was a huge hit in the USSR. Obviously a Russian writer of English school and university textbooks in the 1970's listened to the song, decided that this is how native speakers of English pronounced the word, and since then it's been the standard Runglish way of pronouncing "hotel". All thanks to The Eagles.

 

Agreed in principle, but I honestly believe that music helps, when combined with other learning methods. Many of us spend hours driving each week - this is "free" time which I used to learn German back in the day, by listening to German music and language "tapes" in the car. Pronunciation is not as important as having a wide ranging vocabulary, in my opinion.

As an aside, my wife speaks both German and English. The German word for "November" is "November", pronounced almost the same. When she's speaking German, she says "NoVember", but when she's speaking English, she says "NoWember". It's completely bizarre and she can't explain it.

Please don't tell her I've posted this on here

 

Nowember Rain is a great track.

 

At 62 years of age I don't give a toss.. Lol

 

It's pretty close, Kushnarenkovo, a 40 minute drive away. Ufa's a pretty nice place, though I'd love to visit Kazan.

Trips there are always made more confusing with the dual Russian/Bashkir signage, and her family being Tatar. I'm always relieved when I don't understand a word of what's going on to learn that they were speaking Tatar.

 

Tatar is actually much closer to Turkish than Russian as far as I'm aware. So it's not surprising you couldn't understand any of it! Is the Bashkir language similar?

 

Was gonna say the same about watching TV channels in different languages, same with reading online in another language,
Decided to try my hand at spanish. It's keeping it going without forgetting to keep practicing that is the hard part. More you immerse yourself, the better..

 

It's similar as far as I can tell! Turkic language with the θ sound, which makes English pronunciation pretty easy for them. The only time I really heard it was when Uncle Ramil (the only Bashkir in the family) got annoyed that I was beating him at Дурак

 

My ex-girlfriend was half Swedish. Her dad apparently always claimed not to know a word of Swedish but she said she could tell that he understood enough to know what anybody was saying about him!

 

I did A level French (I’m 65 now) - after holidaying in France approx 10 years ago, I decided to re-learn French - from the library I borrowed a set of CDs by Paul Pimsleur (ie the Pimsleur method) - superb! Beginners, intermediate & advanced - I listened to it in the car every journey.
The trick then is to go to the country & immerse yourself - the French love it if you at least try & will help!
You can also download 15-min podcasts called Coffee Break French which is also pretty decent
I have the Michel Thomas stuff & am glad I used Pimsleur 1st

Pimsleur do the same in lots of languages (including Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese & Russian) - there are also podcasts of Coffee Break Spanish!

Although the French tend to speak too quickly for me still, I get complimented for my spoken French - it’s well worth doing - I’d suggest downloading the Coffee Break stuff until you get to the library but would fully support Pimsleur

 

I can imagine he didn't take too kindly to that. You should have seen what happened when I beat an old Russian dude at chess. He started claiming that I had castled illegally (I hadn't), and got so angry I refused to play with him any more!

 

Sounds like Narcos would be the ideal show for your daughter to restore the English-Spanish balance!

 

Duolingo is supposed to be very good.