A Little Used Tactic in U.S. for Greatly Improving Reception
 

The Tactic? Learning a foreign language! That's it. I know, we Americans
hate 'learning' stuff we don't NEED to know, unless it's 'entertaining'.
Eg. we resisted the more logical Metric System tooth and nail, 60% of us
have never read a single book after High School, and we spend an average
of 21 hrs. a week watching TV. So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?

On Sun, 21 Mar 2004 01:45:03 -0600 (CST), (Vic
Martinez) wrote:

The Tactic? Learning a foreign language! That's it. I know, we Americans
hate 'learning' stuff we don't NEED to know, unless it's 'entertaining'.
Eg. we resisted the more logical Metric System tooth and nail, 60% of us
have never read a single book after High School, and we spend an average
of 21 hrs. a week watching TV. So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?


German....No time though.

Tracy

"Vic Martinez" wrote in message
...
The Tactic? Learning a foreign language! That's it. I know, we Americans
hate 'learning' stuff we don't NEED to know, unless it's 'entertaining'.
Eg. we resisted the more logical Metric System tooth and nail, 60% of us
have never read a single book after High School, and we spend an average
of 21 hrs. a week watching TV. So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?


El Español, por supuesto.. :) Es fácil aprender, y tiene utilidad los EE.
UU.. :)

Brenda Ann wrote:

"Vic Martinez" wrote in message
...
The Tactic? Learning a foreign language! That's it. I know, we Americans
hate 'learning' stuff we don't NEED to know, unless it's 'entertaining'.
Eg. we resisted the more logical Metric System tooth and nail, 60% of us
have never read a single book after High School, and we spend an average
of 21 hrs. a week watching TV. So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?


El Español, por supuesto.. :) Es fácil aprender, y tiene utilidad los EE.
UU.. :)



Es correcto, BA. And next to English (and I'm not positive English
is #1), Spanish is easily the language heard most often on SW around the
world.

Tony


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I had a chance to learn German when I lived there, but only learned enough
to buy stamps - I used to be a collector. Then, I had the chance to learn
Vietnamese when I was in Vietnam, but gave up when I found that each word
can have 7 meanings and 7 different inflections. I learned a little Japanese
when I was in the hospital there after I was injured in Vietnam. It too uses
inflections and I wasn't there long enough to learn adn then didn't care.
But if I were to recommend a language, I would say Chinese.


"Strength and Honor"


"donutbandit" wrote in message
...
(Vic Martinez) wrote in news:16897-405D47FF-107@storefull-
3277.bay.webtv.net:

The Tactic? Learning a foreign language! That's it. I know, we Americans
hate 'learning' stuff we don't NEED to know, unless it's 'entertaining'.
Eg. we resisted the more logical Metric System tooth and nail, 60% of us
have never read a single book after High School, and we spend an average
of 21 hrs. a week watching TV. So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?


How ironic. A WebTV user touting higher learning. Keep trying and you may
someday learn to use a computer.

Wrong, 'donutbandit'. I do own a Laptop which I use mainly for work, and
use MSNTV at home for leisure. And, two other computer literate people I
work with also have MSNTV at home, they love it. But you see, you just
let everyone know how ignorant you are ASSUMING ALL home unit users are
computer illiterate. Them donuts you're eating are blocking arterial
flow to your brain.

"Maximus" wrote:

Then, I had the
chance to learn Vietnamese when I was in Vietnam, but gave up when I
found that each word can have 7 meanings and 7 different inflections.

Vietnamese is actually easy, if you have a good ear. It is closer to
Chinese than Japanese or Korean are, and the grammar is also similar to
Chinese... much less complicated than English.

You think English is less complicated? Look at "bow" and see what you get:

Ribbon bow
Ships's bow
Bow and arrow
Bow from the waist
Plus a dog's bow wow.
And of course a tree bough.

--
Anti-Spam address: my last name at his dot com
Charles Gillen -- Reston, Virginia, USA

Charles Gillen wrote:

"Maximus" wrote:

Then, I had the
chance to learn Vietnamese when I was in Vietnam, but gave up when I
found that each word can have 7 meanings and 7 different inflections.

Vietnamese is actually easy, if you have a good ear. It is closer to
Chinese than Japanese or Korean are, and the grammar is also similar to
Chinese... much less complicated than English.

You think English is less complicated? Look at "bow" and see what you get:

Ribbon bow
Ships's bow
Bow and arrow
Bow from the waist
Plus a dog's bow wow.
And of course a tree bough.



And a language where "slow up" and "slow down" mean the same thing!!

Tony




--
Anti-Spam address: my last name at his dot com
Charles Gillen -- Reston, Virginia, USA


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"Tony Meloche" wrote in message
...


Charles Gillen wrote:

"Maximus" wrote:

Then, I had the
chance to learn Vietnamese when I was in Vietnam, but gave up when I
found that each word can have 7 meanings and 7 different inflections.

Vietnamese is actually easy, if you have a good ear. It is closer to
Chinese than Japanese or Korean are, and the grammar is also similar to
Chinese... much less complicated than English.

You think English is less complicated? Look at "bow" and see what you
get:

Ribbon bow
Ships's bow
Bow and arrow
Bow from the waist
Plus a dog's bow wow.
And of course a tree bough.



And a language where "slow up" and "slow down" mean the same thing!!

Not to mention flammable and inflammable..

"Brenda Ann" wrote:

Not to mention flammable and inflammable..

Not to mention boned, deboned, and boneless.

--
Anti-Spam address: my last name at his dot com
Charles Gillen -- Reston, Virginia, USA

In article , t1000
@webtv.net says...
The Tactic? Learning a foreign language! That's it. I know, we Americans
hate 'learning' stuff we don't NEED to know, unless it's 'entertaining'.
Eg. we resisted the more logical Metric System tooth and nail, 60% of us
have never read a single book after High School, and we spend an average
of 21 hrs. a week watching TV. So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?

For those interested in learning another language, I highly recommend
the Pimsleur tapes/CDs. They're designed for learning to speak (as
opposed to read) another language, with primarily travellers in mind.
The lessons each run about 30 minutes, so they fit well into the commute
time for many people. Thiry minutes a day for a couple months and you
can be conversant, if not fluent, in another language.

Obligatory disclaimer: I have no connection with any company marketing
or producing Pimsleur materials. I'm just a happy customer.

-- Jay

The Pimsleur tapes are very good, and I think they're also available on
CD. 'Funny thing is that studying languages actually becomes EASIER if
you 'group' them from, for example, their Latin roots. So say if you
know Spanish, Italian is fairly easy because alot of the words are the
same or very similar, and so on...

Tony Meloche wrote in message Es correcto, BA. And next to English (and I'm not positive English
is #1), Spanish is easily the language heard most often on SW around the
world.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And around United States welfare offices.
Melvin

I took French and Spanish in college, and I failed both miserably. I could
usually decipher a small amount of meaning from some simple written phrases,
but it was just impossible for my brain to extract anything from spoken
conversational French or Spanish. If I heard something like "heartache", my
mind would process that word as "har dake" and then it would start trying to
remember the meaning of "har" and the meaning of "dake". It was a horribly
embarrassing experience for me. Still, many nights, I would still sit by my
radio, listening intently to French or Spanish stations, hoping to be able
to understand what I heard. Twenty years later, it remains a totally
impossible effort for my feeble mind..

I really commend anyone who can speak and understand more than one language.
Nice job!

Tom Sevart wrote:

"Vic Martinez" wrote in message
...
So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?


I've been meaning to learn Espanol so that I can understand the many
Spanish-language outbanders all over the HF bands. Just really haven't had
a lot of time, though, but might see if there's a language course at the
local college. Learning Spanish would also help with my job since we do
have a lot of Mexican immigrants who don't speak English.

--
Tom Sevart N2UHC
Frontenac, KS
http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc



That's basically what my wife and I did. We both taught for years in
a school district that had a large influx of migrant students every
spring and fall. There were always a few of them that we called "ni una
palabras" - they didn't speak one word of English. And we were
responsible for *teaching* them! It was a big help (we just studied it
at home with tapes), and later on, as we traveled in Spanish-speaking
parts of the world, it was also very helpful. No time spent learning
another language is ever wasted, IMO.

Tony


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"Vic Martinez" wrote in message
...
So, When you MAKE time to learn a new
language, which one have you always wanted to learn to enhance the
enjoyment of your hobby?


I've been meaning to learn Espanol so that I can understand the many
Spanish-language outbanders all over the HF bands. Just really haven't had
a lot of time, though, but might see if there's a language course at the
local college. Learning Spanish would also help with my job since we do
have a lot of Mexican immigrants who don't speak English.

--
Tom Sevart N2UHC
Frontenac, KS
http://www.geocities.com/n2uhc

In article ,
says...
I took French and Spanish in college, and I failed both miserably. I could
usually decipher a small amount of meaning from some simple written phrases,
but it was just impossible for my brain to extract anything from spoken
conversational French or Spanish. If I heard something like "heartache", my
mind would process that word as "har dake" and then it would start trying to
remember the meaning of "har" and the meaning of "dake". It was a horribly
embarrassing experience for me. Still, many nights, I would still sit by my
radio, listening intently to French or Spanish stations, hoping to be able
to understand what I heard. Twenty years later, it remains a totally
impossible effort for my feeble mind..

I've found it helps to watch TV news broadcast in the language you're
trying to learn. (Assuming you can find such a broadcast.) The
announcers usually speak slowly and enunciate clearly, comparatively.
On most of the stories there is also video to provide context to the
words being spoken. At the very least it gets you conditioned to
hearing the language spoken in an environment where you aren't going to
be embarrassed and you have some chance of figuring out what they're
talking about. You're also not going to be worrying about how to
respond... unless you enjoy talking back to the TV.

-- Jay

If you come to America you better learn English.. because if I went to
Mexico I would be expected to learn Spanish. Same deal.


Ahhh... but your a racist if you expect them to speak english.. racist
racist *ugh*


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This is the way I look at it. It is WAY easier to learn a language
when you are little. Communication would be so much easier if a
majority of the population spoke 3-4 of the most common languages.
After all there is no formal national language in the US.

Eric

tzetcy, tzetcy, dobrenecha!!

I agree everyone should speak Polish, Czech, Slovak and English.
I used to do it why can't you?????
Dan Yemiola