[Azathmaster]

What's up people!

I was reading through the New Year's Resolution thread and it hit me that a quite a few people were interested in either improving a foreign language or starting to learn one. Given that, and given my language nerdiness, I was thinking maybe this forum could set up a language exchange for whatever languages people are interested in learning so people can have a bit more exposure and practice to their target language. I'm not entirely sure what the exact setup would be, but I had a few ideas that I'd love all of your opinions on.

So my questions to you all are:

What languages are you interested in learning? What languages do you currently know? Are there any you aren't learning right now that you would like to in the future? Which option do you think is best for making this idea into reality?

And if you already know a language that isn't English and you see some interest in it, would you be interested in participating to help the learners? Do you have any TV/Movie/Book recommendations in that language?

As for me, I'm a native English speaker but I also speak Spanish and German decently, though my Spanish is definitely better than my German.

[Macros]

German, and I fully support this idea.

The biggest problem we have is pretty much everyone here speaks excellent English, so what do I have to offer in return?

No, dick pics are not on the table

[Azathmaster]

I'm not entirely sure, I was thinking that at the minimum this could evolve into different threads in the Inn or somewhere else where people can talk in other languages (either their non-english native language or their target language) about whatever they want, where native speakers and more skilled second language speakers could correct and give advice to newer learners.

As for what you could offer, I'm sure you have sort of knowledge or advice, etc that you could offer someone as a repayment for them helping you with German. If we had started this a few months ago I'd say we could buy a secret santa gift for anyone who was super active with helping others to learn, but I guess in theory we could still do that. I'm open to any ideas though, the whole idea for this just popped into my head earlier today so its still very much up for discussion.

Viel Glück mit Deutsch!

This post has been edited by Azathmaster: 04 January 2019 - 06:58 PM

[Vengeance]

Azathmaster, on 04 January 2019 - 06:58 PM, said:

I'm not entirely sure, I was thinking that at the minimum this could evolve into different threads in the Inn or somewhere else where people can talk in other languages (either their non-english native language or their target language) about whatever they want, where native speakers and more skilled second language speakers could correct and give advice to newer learners.

As for what you could offer, I'm sure you have sort of knowledge or advice, etc that you could offer someone as a repayment for them helping you with German. If we had started this a few months ago I'd say we could buy a secret santa gift for anyone who was super active with helping others to learn, but I guess in theory we could still do that. I'm open to any ideas though, the whole idea for this just popped into my head earlier today so its still very much up for discussion.

Viel Glück mit Deutsch!

Hold out for the dick pics. .

[Puck]

To anyone whose mother tongue is English: you could repay by offering to help with pronounciation for those whose it isn't. A lot of us who are pretty fluent in writing in English may still have issues with actual, real life conversation. Or maybe I'm just projecting.

This post has been edited by Puck: 05 January 2019 - 09:22 AM

[Gorefest]

The problem with English pronunciation I have found since moving to the UK is that often it is all over the place. Sure, in Dutch or German you have accents and dialects, but at least if you see a word most people tend to agree on a basic pronunciation. For English it just seems to change as the wind blows. And UK versus US English pronunciations is just the tip of the iceberg. There seems to be no logic or rule to it. A few years ago when you turned on BBC news the anchor would say that something was proven (prue-vun, as in moving), these days a lot of them suddenly say proven (pro-vun, as in chosen). Harrassed went from being haRASsed to HArassed. Blegh. And don't get me started on scones. Plus there is the age-old insanity that things like tier and tear are pronounced the same but tear and tear are pronounced differently. I mean, come on.

[Macros]

Ah English pronunciation, what a glorious mess it is.

How ever, and I'm not trying to be a smart ass, my help on pronunciation might not be the best (ask any member who has actually met me)

[Tsundoku]

Macros, on 05 January 2019 - 01:07 PM, said:

Ah English pronunciation, what a glorious mess it is.

How ever, and I'm not trying to be a smart ass, my help on pronunciation might not be the best (ask any member who has actually met me)

Understatement of the year.

Although if you recorded him and slowed it down to one quarter-speed, you may have success. But that's uncharted territory.

Now Illy on the other hand ... pure auditory velvet. It's like if Barry White was reincarnated as a pasty white guy from England, but with a voice a couple of octaves higher. Dude should do earbooks. Sexy earbooks.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 05 January 2019 - 02:23 PM

[Morgoth]

Macros, on 05 January 2019 - 01:07 PM, said:

Ah English pronunciation, what a glorious mess it is.

How ever, and I'm not trying to be a smart ass, my help on pronunciation might not be the best (ask any member who has actually met me)

Whenever Mat and I meet, I need about half an hour before I start to understand what he’s saying.

[Macros]

Martin on the other hand has a delightfully polished American accent