Learning Foreign Languages

I have actually expressed some interest in learning Vietnamese. It used to be that I was pretty acceptable with Spanish. Efforts to try to self-teach French and Japanese have failed for me (especially French). Although I haven't done it in a while, I've actually tried to self-teach writing in hiragana.

--- Motivation to Learn New Langauges ---

Living here in Houston, I've known lots of people from around the world. I was pretty good attempting to speak Spanish. I actually took about two years of high school Spanish. I actually wanted to learn Spanish and French. When my hopes of learning French died down, I've basically stuck with Spanish. I do still have a fairly decent understanding of the phonetics of Spanish. I do also try to have a fairly decent understanding of phonetics with Japanese.


Learning Vietnamese.
Recently, I've had some interest in learning Vietnamese. Reason why is because Houston has one of the largest Vietnamese populations in the United States, and the largest Vietnamese population in Texas. My Vietnamese is terrible. If was to visit a Vietnamese website, watch a Vietnamese TV show, or listen to a Vietnamese song, I'd have a terrible time trying to understand what is being said. A few people whom I've known from Vietnam are not very good with English. So in a way to be a bit more transparent, I've expressed some interest in learning Vietnamese. Or look at it this way- I've known people who only speak Spanish or mostly speak Spanish. So to try to comunicate with them better, I've tried to learn Spanish. I even speak English while mixing in a little Spanish.

Learning Filipino and Tagalog.
My interest in Filipino and Tagalog comes mostly from seeing Filipino and Filipina (pinoys and pinays in common speak) folk online. Part of wanting to know about these languages come from coming across people like YouTube's NDTitanLady and singer Tey Punsalan.

Learning Japanese.
My Japanese is still very poor. I know only so many terms and expressions. A way of being hard on myself would be to say that I love Japan so much, but can't speak Japanese fluently even if my life depended on it. I have a Japanese handbook as well as a big book on learning Japanese.

Learning Other Languages.
Meeting people from around the world both in person and online has me wondering about certain languages. With friends of mine from many countries and various continents, I often wonder about certain languages of other people. One of the joys of having an international audience is that meeting more people from around the world exposes you to many different languages of many different people. I have a number of friends online from around the world including Finland, Sweden, Spain, Moldova, South Africa, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and various other places. I guess I've been interested so much in better connecting with other people who speak various languages. That even includes native languages of folks. I'm even a little interested in Portuguese.


My quest to better understand people the world over continues...

--- Why Learn Other Languages? ---

If you were to ask me this question, I'd give you two responses. And here they are:

Transparency.
If you want to communicate better with people, that's a key reason to try to learn new languages.

Some Jobs Require Foreign Language Skills.
Especially if you come down here to Houston, you'll have to know both English and Spanish. It helps to know various languages. And if you're going to do some travel, it's not a bad idea to at least learn (or have a proper understanding) the native language of the place you're visiting.

--- Challenges in Learning New Languages ---

The biggest challenge is basically just trying to learn all the nuances of a given language. You have to understand the phonetics of a certain language and be able to speak it proficiently. I can think of a number of times in which people from various nations whom I encounter are learning certain words for the first time. A Vietnamese friend of mine was new to the word "Geography." That's after her and I had a little chat on my interests in geography.

Another challenge basically involves exposing yourself to the language for practice. For example, I used to watch a lot of telenovelas on Univision and a number of different programs to stay connected with the language I wanted to remain fresh on. I even had to watch a few Spanish TV programs for my Spanish class. In case you're interested, here are shows I've seen just to try to keep my Spanish skills up:

EXAMPLE: Spanish Programs I've Watched to Keep my Spanish Skills Intact...
* "Soñadoras"
* "Rubi"
* "Amarte es mi Pecado"
* "Corazones al Limite"
* "El Gordo y la Flaca"
* "Rebelde"
* "Caliente"
* "No Manches"
* "Sabado Gigante"
* "La Hora Pico" (mostly for the super-hot Sabrina Sabrok :))
* (various soccer/football games, including Futbol Liga Mexicana games, the 2006 World Cup matches in Germany, Copa Oro, and Copa America)

So I've had to expose myself to the language to better understand it. I had to practice a language constantly to remain fresh. That can be tough when you're not in some environment where you can keep pace with a certain language. Constant practice and exposure can go a long way towards learning languages.

It also helps to purchase some products to help you to better understand languages. Just be sure to work at your own pace and keep working to enhance your skills.





If you're trying to learn some new languages, I wish you the very best in your efforts. If you are looking to build your skills by purchasing things, here are some widgets I'd like for you to use. Please be sure to see these items to find things you may be looking for in trying to learn new languages. Of course, read "An Important Amazon Note" for more information on any items you will see in my widgets below. If you enjoyed this blog entry, checking out these items would be a great way to show some support for my efforts to discuss learning newer languages. I blog to talk about things, but also to help out other people. PLEASE don't be afraid to show some support and love for my material. One way to help is to check out the items in my widgets and order anything if you see something you like. I'd be most happy if I one day make a blog entry and feature something on Amazon that can be of great help or of great enjoyment. So please show some support for my topics if you see something you like in my widgets in ANY of my blog posts.

Now here are the widgets. Thank you for reading! Happy shopping (if you plan on doing any)!


For foreign language books:



For foreign dictionaries (on-the-go translation of words):



For foreign language software (even including child-friendly translations):



For foreign language devices (such as translators):



Finally, if you happen to be somebody who happens to own a Kindle and want some foreign language material, here's my gift to you (some items offered as Kindle downloads):



But if you don't have one and want a Kindle, here is another widget of mine you can use:





Thank you again for reading.