/lit/ - Literature

I did. Now what?

>>9110199
>tfw doing philosophy with spanish at uni in september
this is a good felling

>>9110199
alright, just wasted 4 years learning a language, it was worth it right?
oh it wasn't?
shit.....

>>9110252
Depends on the language pham

Romance languages are basically useless for english speakers since they're too similar.

>>9110228
>new

>>9110274
>a

>>9110199
>lean

what if i am learning an old language?

>>9110254
>Romance languages are basically useless for english speakers since they're too similar.

>>9110295
Same vocabulary, same script, mostly the same rules, slightly different word order. It's retarded to waste years to learn a language for some marginal differences

>>9110306
>the language you should learn is based upon how different it is from your native tongue

what kind of faggotry is this?

>>9110316
It's like wasting time getting a british accent. Sure, it's impressive and all, but it won't get you to understand vastly different literature or culture. Spanish and English are relatively similar and not much gets lost in translation. Something like Mandarin or Arabic are far more useful to push the boundaries of understanding and the nuances of the literature you read.

>>9110358
>learning meme languages like mandarin and arabic

>>9110306
Only a brainlet would waste years learning another romance language.

>>9110362
>wasting time on European languages, decades before the West falls forever
>not learning the language of your new son-in-law (arabic) and boss (chinese)

>>9110292
Same here. I'm surprised how enjoyable it is. I've went from 50/50 reading fiction and learning Latin to something like 20/80.

>>9110199
my goals are: french, cantonese, italian and korean

I'm leaning Kraut and Italian, with prior knowledge only in American, American South Edition and Weeaboo.

>>9110372
Only a brainlet would need years to learn another romance language, famalam.

>>9110451
yeah it is pretty fun, my understanding of english has improved because I can see why things are named the way they are e.g. capital coming from the latin caput (meaning head).

>>9110505
That's what I was trying to say.
Thanks senpai.

>>9110521
you sound like a highschool Latin teacher trying to convince freshmen to take her class

>>9110521
I had to learn what all the tenses and moods meant, parts of sentences, etc. Learned more about English in 1 month than in all of my schooling.

>>9110521
>>9110548
Try learning linguistics instead of pointless dead languages, dumbfucks

>>9110553
Not as interesting to me.

>>9110553
...is that you??

>>9110553
>learning linguistics
what does that entail and what do you get out of it?

>>9110568
Understanding the language on a deeper level than
>oh shit that word sounds like the word I know mind blown senpai!

>>9110568
not that obnoxious faggot, but linguistics is interesting. it's not terribly relevant to language learning per se (kind of like becoming an auto mechanic to help your driving,) but it can be extremely useful if you want to learn many languages.

>>9110428
That's true, you can survive just fine in Europe with some basic Arabic

>>9110575
>learning dozens of geohistorical sound shifts and morpholexical evolution pathways will make anyone understand language on a deep level
Fuck off, retard.

>>9110199
If you live in America, it seems like a huge waste of time. You will barely ever use it.

>b-but i wanna read Dostoyevsky in the original russian
>implying your 4 years of rosetta stone will allow you to have a better understanding of the writing than a translation written by someone who has dedicated their life to understanding the subtleties in translating from russian to english

kek
The only reason to learn another language is if you're under the age of 4, where you can still easily learn that shit to fluency. That, or if you rolled a shit hand and aren't an english speaking american.

>>9110596
resentful monolingual American detected

>>9110596
>only reason to learn another language is if you're under the age of 4, where you can still easily learn
Kek. Whatever you have to say to yourself to justify your mental deficiencies, fampai.

>>9110306
>Same vocabulary, same script, mostly the same rules, slightly different word order.

>Still needs years to learn the language.

>>9110596
fuck off burger

>>9110228
Another.

>>9110199
In 2nd semester Russian at the moment.

>>9110199
>lean

>>9110254
No, Romance languages are useless because they are only spoken by raving Homosexuals and Women.

>>9112170
Romance languages are harder than English. You have to put pronouns everywhere. Only 1 article. Nothing gets inflected. It's a brainlet language.

>>9112177
I was making a joke about your fruity Cultures.

>>9112177
>Romance languages are harder than English. You have to put pronouns everywhere
Are you sure you're talking about all Romance languages and not French only?

Is Latin a language?

If so I'm learning a language.

>>9112276
I'm talking about Spanish, Portuguese, French. Try reading the best of the best literature in those languages and come back to me.

>>9112284
What is Portuguese lit? Is it any good?

>>9112284
Spanish drops pronouns most of the time, unlike English due to its excessively simplified grammar . So I don't have the slightest idea of what you trying to prove.

>>9112295
I meant in English you have to put pronouns everywhere. In Portuguese for example you can just say "andei(I walked).

>>9112292
Brazilian lit: Machado de Assis, Guimarães Rosa, Jorge Amado

Portugal: Fernando Pessoa, Camões(Portuguese is called 'the language of camões), Saramago

>>9112306
Thank you

>>9112177
>he doesn't know what syntax is

>>9112327
People say that when you lose complexity in one aspect of the language, it gets more complicated somewhere else. I don't claim to master English but it felt much more easy to learn English than now that I'm trying to learn German where you have cases and inflections.

>not learning japanese first

are y'all even trying?

>>9112483
Japanese is easy. Try Cantonese.

>>9112335

>German
>inflection

>>9112335
German declensions seem really simple compared to Latin desu.

What are German verbs like?

>>9110199
I won't because I only like my language ;)

(which is not English)

>>9110250
What uni my g

>>9112280
Latin is a ghost.

>>9112689

Latin is quite based and the best language for magical invocation.

>>9112177
>Only 1 article
To be quite fucking honest Italian has 14 articles. Wonder what you're talking about man

>>9112689
you'll be a ghost soon loser

>>9110199
>lean a new language

Don't try to run before you can walk, OP.

tfw its really really hard to get actually "fluent"

Just now am able to actually starting readin book in Japanese after basically 2 years of insane self study in Japan not including at least a year spent casually studying prior while in uni split but two years of med school back in the US. I go back to the US in 3 month and am not looking forward to forgetting all my moonrunes in a month after returning.

>>9110199
i know as a second language:
>English
>Serbocroatioan
>German

Learing italian atm, thinking about arabic and or russian too. which one should I go for?

>>9113378
Italian. Just stop after it though. More than 4 languages is unproductive, useless.

>>9113370
A good tip for keeping up your fluency is to watch the [insert language here] news two or three times a week, subtitles off. Newspeakers enunciate clearly, but are still speaking for their native listeners and as such do not dumb down the language.

>>9113386
you think so? i enjoy learning new languages, and am learning mostly those i will be able to reasonably use. german, italian croatian are all neighboring countries so I come in contact with them quite often. also my country has ties with russia and because it's europe - arabic (refuges). Why do you think it is useless?

>>9113422
I just think it's always better to deepen the knowledge than stretching it, to improve in a language than learning many but superficially. I shudder to imagine the confusion that could result from knowing more than 4-5 languages

Anyone got any good suggestions to learn Japanese that are also free? Something to learn the actual grammatical structure and not just memorizing common phrases. (not weeb, I promise)

>>9113084
Kek

>tfw studied STEM with a minor in Spanish at uni
>In medical school now
>Able to converse (albeit not yet at a fluent level) with hispanic patients
>Had a bullshit excuse to travel to Spain and Ecuador because 'muh study abroad credits'

I'm trying to pick up French now, but god damn the pronunciations and spelling are a nightmare.

>>9110480

disregarding the autists bashing romance languages, my goals are French and Korean for now.
I'm thinking about arabic/farsi for the far future. What's stopping me, right?
Good luck, anon, and look for a software called anki.

>>9113548
Same. I have gotten good with the structure (similar to Spanish), and I can read it and pronounce words okay. However, as soon as I hear someone speak it I'm lost and can't follow.

>>9113544
just look up japanese grammars on bookz you fucking retard

>>9113548
Hey, I´m ecuadorian! Did you enjoy it here?
I´m learnign french too. I took a course of Basic French in my uni, and yeah, pronunciations are hard. I finished the course already but i still have trouble reading simple french fiction, like Le Petit Prince.

>>9113571
Thank you. Will do, I appreciate it.

>>9110292
>>9110451
Where to start with Latin? Is there a pastebin like /a/ has for Japanese? Is there some software that helps for vocab?

>>9110306
Well as an Australian it would be great to learn Mandarin, but its literally next to impossible to learn as a non-native speaking white person, let alone without going to regular classes.

>>9113680
If you have money take lessons. It's by far the most productive and rapid way of learning it.

>>9113687
I'll take a class this summer

>>9113680
Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata worked wonderfully for me. Read every sentence of it thoroughly, cram the grammar and vocabulary in the end of every chapter. It's a relatively short textbook, if you're diligent, you can get through it in a few months. Once you're done with it, you will know all of latin grammar and have a solid base of ~1500 words. Then grab a latin-english parallel edition of whatever book you want and practice.

Alternatively, you can get autismal with Anki, I personally despite the program and consider it to be a waste of time, but it worked for many anons

>>9113577
I loved my stay in Ecuador! I was only there for 2 weeks, studying in Cuenca. I stayed with a host family and managed to do a bit of traveling (Cajas and Ingapirca were my favorite). I would like to go back some day and see more of the coast and maybe travel to the Galapagos.

I haven't gotten to really reading any French yet, I'm still at a very basic level - simple sentences and such still. I've just been using Duolingo at the moment, not sure if I should try delving into resources yet though.

so glad I picked latin in highschool

>tfw won a latin poetry reading competition against some other schools

>>9113687
no its not you low iq monkey, taking a class only slows you down, especially if you meet like 2 times a week. ure a dumb piece of shit who doesnt know more than 3 languages

>>9113680
I used Gwynne's Latin first.
Then I worked through wheelock, which was easy after Gwynne, but reinforced my knowledge.
Then I used essential Latin vocabulary by Williams to grow my vocabulary while reading the intermediate wheelock reader.
Now I can read most things while checking a dictionary once every page or so.

>>9113604
NP, routledge makes some good ones. Look up assimil as well (japanese with ease), and teach yourself as well as colloquial japanese (routledge)

The routledge grammars are called grammar and workbook or essential grammar, both are good

>>9113735
>>9113878
The most important part is that you memorize and know by heart all the declensions and conjugations. If you start guessing and getting ahead of yourself you will create bad habits that will be very hard to break down the line.

>>9113519
ikr? inconceivable

>>9113683
untrue. Mandarin is actually a fairly easy language for a native English speaker to learn. (I'm exaggerating a little bit, but that's just bc the exaggerations usually go the other way, eg "OMG HOW CAN I CRACK THIS INSCRUTABLE ORIENTAL PUZZLE???")

>>9113888
I disagree, memorizing latin cases is a fool's errand. I mean, sure, you have to know the basic rules and know, for example, that if it ends on mus/mur, it has to do with the 1st person in plural, but the problem is that even if you memorise all the forms, you still gonna get fucked by the endless exceptions, irregular verbs, overlapping endings (one verb's present indicative is another verb's passive perfect subjunctive etc), and fucking deponents that basically flip the rules 180. It's much easier to have the general idea and guess the precise meaning from context

>>9112163
where at, home skizzle?

>>9113926
I used to think like you anon. but I've found that spending even just a few minutes every now and again reciting or writing out a few paradigms has really helped my Greek. I agree that it's a fools errand if you don't plan on becoming a classical scholar asap, but I think there still is a role for it.

>>9113926
This is the way most people think is best nowadays, but in the past memorization was the way it was done.
That is the difference I found between wheelock and Gwynne, respectively.

>>9113544
there's a great older book called "Essential Japanese" by Samuel E Martin. it's very thorough, and it'll get you going. you can get it for $cheap.99 on EGay.

>>9112678
Depends which I accept, but probably uni of Hertfordshire because they gave me an unconditional, but I might go to Sussex if I get the grades for a foundation year and then, after the foundation year's done, go to Leeds.

So far i've taught myself english and italian. I'd like to learn russian, german, attic, latin; maybe arabic. But i don't know where to start

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
Which is bread in french
Lean on me, when you're nes forte
And I'll be your friend

>>9113932
Missouri

>>9113544
Not my home board, but I've seen resources on /a/ for learning, so I suggest checking out there.

Any particular reason why you're motivated to learn nip in particular? I'd love to be able to read VNs and so on, but I already suck enough at my second language without dividing my attention further

>>9113548
I learned Spanish at school and travelled a little in Spain, spent some time living in France and learned mostly through immersion (a little study before going).

The grammar isn't really all that difficult for spoken French. Pronunciation is difficult at first but it's no longer an issue after the first few months. Good luck anon : )

>>9114405

>Not oxbridge

Why even bother

Have been studying Russian for about 8/9 months now. I had a fantastic moment today where for the first time I was watching a video of someone speaking Russian and understood all of it, which I guess would make me conversational.

On the reading front I can handle childrens books while only needing to consult a dictionary a couple of times a page. This does draw out the process quite a bit however, as I add all new words to an anki deck, however I'm considering cutting this out, and just powering through the books and I guess hoping to take in new vocab by sheer volume of words read, which is considerably more engaging. Any other language learners encounter a similar issue?

I'm working on it. I agree that it's absolutely worth it. My girlfriend is trilingual and it's opened so many doors for her (in addition to the obvious cultural doors, she makes extra money on the side doing freelance translations and recently got a per diem gig as a court interpreter).

German is my focus. A little Spanish on the side since I have some experience with it and it is a bit easier than German. After them, French.

>>9112335
you're a retard if you dont understand that english has cases. the fact that you're native obscures that from you

>>9113680
/int/ has a sticky that has a wiki that has language recommendations for like 30 languages
it's a good place to start because people have tried to learn, or have learned, a lot of things and have tried a lot of resources. It's nice for beginning.

>>9115243
Which college bro?

>>9115316

Oh, I'm starting a PhD there in October. I'll be in Green Templeton because I didn't specify a college in my application, as at the time I didn't know it made a difference.

>>9110641
How does it feel that a 1 year old has greater abilities in your field of interest than you do?

I'm trying to learn japanese but it has too many fucking runes.

>>9116543
Japanese script is one of the most needlessly fucked systems in the world, especially considering how small the phonetic inventory of the language is.