Are you learning/did you learn a new language?

[AJG96]

I'm just curious to see how many other people have been taking another language in preparation of visiting/immigrating to your S/Os country.

While my S/O is rather fluent in English, and most people in Norway have a good grasp of it as well, I've decided to learn anyway because people in Norway sort of expect you to know how to speak Norwegian. This ends up with incredibly awkward moments, especially at the cash registers at the stores. Also, I don't want my S/O to forever be my translator. Perhaps the toughest thing about learning Norwegian is that some words are interchangeable in most cases, but not all cases. And, some words sound similar but have totally different meanings.

So, what about the rest of you? Did you learn/are you learning a new language? If so, what are the hardest parts about learning it?

[differentcountries]

Hi,

I am learning Turkish. It helps that I already know some German, as there are some similarities. In the beginning, I felt the language was very weird because many sentences is just one word/a verb, I felt there was something missing .Then I understood that the verb is actually a stick and glue project! And often ,everything's in there .At this point, when I know some words and basic grammatical rules, it is relatively easy to understand what other people are saying, but it can still be hard to make up my own sentences. A challenge compared with my own language is that Turkish is so polite and indirect, while at the same time very blunt in matters my own language is polite about. One perk is that you can get away with saying "Çok güzel", very nice, about anything you want to compliment. I can make myself understood somewhat, I mean I can do shopping alone without problems. But I need to learn how to build up full long sentences. I do well with the shorter onces in the present or present continuing tense.

SO is slowly learning Norwegian. If he is going to work in my country he needs to know. He has good pronounciatuion but he struggles, like most Turks, with Y. He also has the same problem in English that I suspect he will have in Norwegian ,that is not seeing the difference between short and long vowels (his cousin just visited and asked me if we should go together to "the bitch"...aka the beach). Also, he needs to learn more culture to understand how to think like a Norwegian, for instance some of the things he says to strangers can be a bit intrusive for Norwegians who very easily feel overwealmed if a stranger approaches them (he is mostly very charming though, so I hope that will not be a problem).

[Lostviolinist]

Yea. I'm still trying to learn Mandarin Chinese. I was actually learning it before I met my SO. I'd say the biggest struggle I've had is getting enough experience with the language. I'm mainly self studying with some really old library books, they're great, but applying what you've learned from a book doesn't always come automatically. I can read so much, but my speech is so limited that it's frustrating. I have a few friends I can practice with for a short time each week but that's not good enough. The best I can do is listen to recordings, talk to myself and write journals in the language in my free time. lol. I've noticed the progress I've made. I've learned a lot for 2 years of self study. But I need to take in the language at a much faster pace for my plans to work. I'm hoping just 1 more year is enough to learn enough to express myself decently. As for problems with the language itself. I'd say the sentence structure. It doesn't always match the forms I'm used to from English and Spanish. The order of the words can be a little awkward for me, and the minimal use of words takes some getting used to.

[pandasrule38]

I'm just a banana Chinese American and he's totally fresh off the boat Chinese studying in Denmark. Ever since knowing him, I've been listening to every single Chinese song I come across, so I don't embarrass myself at Karaoke. We watch movies online by sharing screens on Skype, he reads Chinese news articles I find and make him read. I am constantly trying to find out more about China and the things Chinese people are interested in so we could be together without him feeling homesick. I also want to know how to talk to his friends and family, so I just speak Chinese constantly to get rid of my Chinglish accent and adopt a little bit northern Chinese speaking (just a little :P it's not the most graceful accent). It's hard, because I'm insecure. Every time I make a mistake I feel like if I don't do this I may lose him to someone who understands him more or someone who is equally outgoing but more Chinese than me.

[AJG96]

I'm mainly self studying with some really old library books, they're great, but applying what you've learned from a book doesn't always come automatically. I can read so much, but my speech is so limited that it's frustrating.

I'm sort of in the same boat when it comes to Norwegian. At this point, I can read and understand it, and write it, but as far as speaking it goes right now I can't really construct sentences that well. I'm sure it'll come to me in due time, but as of right now I need to really think about what I'm going to say or ask. I'm definitely going to have my S/O help me practice in the near future.

[Kristina88]

Cool to hear that you`re learning norwegian! I`m from Norway too.


On-topic: Yes, I am trying to learn my SO`s language. I picked up on a lot since I spent 1,5 months there now. But it`s difficult to speak it, but at least I understand quite a bit.
I do not need to learn it, since everyone is fluent in english as well..but it`s fun though.

[differentcountries]

In Turkey, people generally aren't that fluent in English. Even people working in tourist resorts, international airports etc. speak only rudimentary English. A lot of people know German, though, so if all goes wrong I will start to speak German. His family speaks very little English, and we get buy with German, English, Turkish, gestures and translation apps. I prefer to not let SO translate to me although he has to do it sometimes. In Norway ,I go to Turkish class .I also do self studies with books, online learning, reading newspapers ,watching movies etc and of course try to speak it to people in the market and elsewhere.

I believe that slowly it will become natural for us to speak both more Turkish and more Norwegian together .We are already "flavouring" our English together with certain Turkish/Norwegian words and expressions. In time I also hope to learn some basic Arabic as that is his 2nd mother tounge. My husband also wants to learn Turkish and Arabic and he will hopefully start Turkish class next month .

[R&R]

My SO is Mexican but born and raised in the US. He is fluent in Spanish and has many family members who don't (and chose not to) speak English. Once we close the distance, he seems to think I will pick it up pretty easily. His conversations flow from English to Spanish to English when he is talking to others who are bi-lingual, so I'm sure I'll be able to stat picking it up. I aced Spanish in school but that was a long time ago......and they speak so damn fast!!

[Alyhere]

I learn a little bit of Dutch every time I am over, I have mastered counting to 10 and how to order beer, basically, lol.
But I don't feel the need to learn it if I'm honest, people are extremely well spoken in English there, and I've been told I could probably move there and find a job fine without speaking the language (as long as it doesn't involve too much talking to people, at least).

I do like learning things though, I always ask and even tried duolingo once, I just got busy and gave up over time

[voskaya]

I'm actually trying to learn Norwegian too, but I've been having a really tough time.
I live in California and we mostly have people of Asian or Hispanic descent, so there's a lot of resources for Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, etc. European-Language books are a bit hard to find here (at least for me it has been), let alone finding a Norwegian one. Of course, I've found websites that teach you the basics, but anything beyond that such as learning the sentence structure or finding videos to help my accent is hard to find.

[SailorRei]

I'm fluent in Norwegian, and English ofc, learned both of them in school. Norwegian because I moved there and been living there for years (I'm native polish). And now I'm getting better and better in Danish. Also tried to learn Spanish (had it in high school and it was good!) but now I don't have the time to simply sit and study it

My SO wanted to learn Norwegian to be able to talk to my family, but decided to give it a try with Polish instead

[Honour]

If American English counts as learning another language, since I'm English, then count me in

[delitonik]

My native language is Spanish, but I dominate English. I work as an interpreter/ trasnlator... so I live from my second language. But I love languages and right now I am learning French, hopefully someday I can add it to my list of interprete/tranlate languages. SO is leaning Spanish and that is something really fun to help him with !

[farandaway]

My SO is American so no new languages for me. He's also fluent in Chinese but I'm going to skip that :-)
He started learning some Finnish. I know with his mathematical mind and enough motivation, he will conquer it one day.

[delitonik]

My SO is Mexican but born and raised in the US. He is fluent in Spanish and has many family members who don't (and chose not to) speak English. Once we close the distance, he seems to think I will pick it up pretty easily. His conversations flow from English to Spanish to English when he is talking to others who are bi-lingual, so I'm sure I'll be able to stat picking it up. I aced Spanish in school but that was a long time ago......and they speak so damn fast!!

I am mexican just like your SO and what you say sounds so true for each one of us. If we are bilingual we may change from one language to the other in no time and we talk soooooo fast! No doubts about that either. Probably you'll just need practice and ask everyone to speak slower ... which obviouly we struggle with. We may slow down for a bit and then start picking up speed once again lol. My SO is trying to learn spanish also, he says he needs to learn it just for the sake of understanding what on earth am I saying when I get upset with him :P , that hasn't happened yet but he says he have seen other friends with mexican wives that do not know spanish and stuggle with that and that he doesn't want to go through it lol.