Learning New Languages

[RobertX]

Did you ever have to learn new languages, or have a talent or hobby of learning new languages.

The languages I want to pick up are Mandarin Chinese and French.

I'm fairly familiar with Mandarin because of my past knowledge with Cantonese; it was my mother tongue. I am also a bit familiar with French because I learned parts of it in grade school. I want to do more than being "familiar;" I want to be fluent.

I know that being at a young age welcomes the picking of languages more quickly, and that knowing some languages can lead to knowing more of what you're already familiar with. My difficulty with Mandarin and French is that I need to listen to the speeches more slower than those who are already familiar. Still, I am resolute.

I try to speak it as much as possible, I still speak English and Cantonese in my daily life, but I want to intermingle the new languages with the fluent so I can quickly assimilate them in my daily life.

How do you guys adjust to newfound languages? I am seeking advice as much as creating a discussion about this matter so speak your mind.

[ill88eagle]

Fastest way to pick up a new language is by living with people who speak it. Second best is watching movies, reading books and listening to music in that language. I learned Spanish from scratch by necessity cause I was living in Spain and they can't speak English for shit. Also, Mandarin should be relatively easy for you as it is similar to but simpler than Cantonese in structure (the whole tone thing).

[RobertX]

Yeah, you wouldn't have a reason to learn Cantonese unless you're either adventurous or living in Hong Kong; the last time I was there, I met very little people who speak it.

In the Hong Kong protests that I saw from the Apple Daily feed (not Macintosh Apple, but a news source), there hasn't been a Mandarin word spoken.

Other than that, you're right; Hanyu Pinyin is simpler than Jyutping.

And I watch Dragon Ball Super in Mandarin, not Cantonese; can't find the Cantonese version and, like I said, it is in Mandarin.

I try to speak as much Mandarin possible, but I still speak Cantonese to my mother and Hong Konger-owned markets to stay on-sync. A big dilemma.

[theSEMAR]

there are four parts:
reading, writing, listening and speaking.

to know whole concepts, i think you must know their letters fist, how letters make words and words make sentence(s).
after know their letters, then go to practice some listening and speaking skill.

why i say like this? because i have some neigbors wich go to singapore as housemaid or similiar jobs like that. they fluent to listen and speak english, but when i ask them to write on paper about what they said, a disaster.

indonesian and english have same letters (and numbers) symbol. but, because the pronunciation of each letter is different, then someone who is already proficient in indonesian will start from the beginning when he wants to learn english.

most of them (housemaids) will write like this:
ai lov yu (i love you)
gud aftenuun (good afternoon)
tengkyu veri mach (thank you very much)
they can't read/write in english but able to speak/listen in english.

so once again, whatever language you will learn, maybe better if you start with reading and writing, then continue to listening and speaking.

NB: i still learn vocabulary and grammar. so sorry if there is an incorrect in my write all this time.

[RobertX]

Well, Chinese characters don't involve letters; they have phonetic systems to read (both Hanyu Pinyin and jyutping), but the official language does not employ letters.

I recall that in heritage language programmes that help you become more familiar to your native language, Chinese is among the few that involves the hard-wiring non-phonetic characters into your brain. They never teach Pinyin or Jyutping, which is kind of a loss to the kids who can't get into learning the language properly.

By the say:

Hanyu Pinyin is the system for pronouncing in Mandarin and Jyutping is the system for pronouncing in Cantonese.

Anyone here fluent in French?