Has anyone ever had to learn a new language?

How did you cope with feeling like an idiot?

[2oddSox]

New country, new town, new people, new job, new language.

I go to language school (and it's been a very long time since I've been to school) two days a week, and the teacher has us acting like 6 year olds.

I panic every time I have to go out and speak to someone in their language (even tho' I'm gettin' better at it daily), and I miss home like you wouldn't believe. I can't even find some decent bread :(

Any expats out there who've gone thru the same pains?

2odd...

[Nick_W]

Actually I can say that rather well. And it's damn tasty ;)

Those funny back of the throat r's are a killer but for a non-dane I don't do too bad...

Nick

[Macguru]

>>Those funny back of the throat r's are a killer but for a non-dane I don't do too bad...

But I can’t forget the name of another dessert, Rødgrød Med Fløde [vvdailypress.com], which sounds like a dog about to be sick.

Click the link for the reciepe, looks tastier than it sounds.

[2oddSox]

Hey thanks for all the encouragement and advice folks :)

I guess I was just on a bit of a downer yesterday what with the weather an' all, missing the Rugby World Cup, and a complete misunderstanding in the lingo that happened earlier in the day. There's gonna be more days like that I'm sure.

Ivana, yep the Missus is Swedish so she's on home turf (mind you, she went thru the same things when we lived in NZ and I was the totally insensitive clot) - and pmac

but living with my wife and daughter sometimes makes me feel the need to learn what the hell they are on about

LOL - Even tho' I'm picking the language up reasonably well for the time I've been here, I actually find my other half to be the most difficult person to understand when she goes native (unless she's yelling at me of course - then I understand her perfectly).

Thanks again folks :)

2odd...

[PCInk]

Feeling like an idoit? Try Sign Language - then you look like an idoit! (I know!)

I thought it'd be quite simple (learnt a few basics in other European languages and had little trouble), but Sign Language is a nightmare - all the facial expressions, different grammer yet mouthing English words (for lip-readers)!

No language is easy once you have to use it with someone who doesn't speak your first language!

QUOTED TO ME WHEN LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD:
"Don't worry, everybody has to start somewhere"
(that was about 1987ish and I have never forgotten it)

[Ove]

Hello 2oddSox
i live in the north of sweden, where exact do you live?

/Ove

[ergophobe]

Lived in French-speaking country for 3 years. I now work full-time editing and writing in French, so I guess you could say I learned the language.

I found my classes a waste of time and went rock climbing instead (one of my passions).

Classroom: 1 teacher, 15 students.
Crag (and cafe afterwards): 1 student and 1-4 "teachers".

Just integrate as fast as you can. Avoid people who want to speak your language. Join a club for something you like. Play deaf when someone speaks to you in English. That's the hard part. Of course your Swedish (or whatever) is worse than most Swede's English (I'm guessing), so you have to be fairly agressive and just keep barreling on in Swedish until people quit trying to speak English with you.

Tom

[2oddSox]

Hi Ove,

I'm in a happenin' place called Kalix.

Are you anywhere near there?

2odd...

[Ove]

hehe thank god iam not that far up :-)

I live in Älvdalen 40 km from Mora. I think i live far up in the country but not that far. i have a very good news for you, you have 7 month of snow and cold in front of you, and when the summer will arrive you cant go outside of the moscito :-) but its beatiful up there.

/Ove

[2oddSox]

Ove, I did a two year stint in Suomi, so I'm bracing myself for the winter as I know what to expect.

7 months of snow? Expect my post count to go ballistic :)

2odd...

[Panky]

I was wondering the same thing about learning a different language. I'll be moving to Montreal, Canada in a few weeks. Even though I can get by on English, learning French would make things a whole lot easier. :)

[gopi]

>>> So, a belated welcome to the country and I'm glad you like it here.

Dragonlady , Thank you very much for the Kind Words...

Coming to the orginal topic , i am very good in two languages (English & Tamil) and Ok in two other languages (Hindi & Telugu) ...Want to learn Spanish someday (love those gorgeous hispanic Girls!)

[DrDoc]

Had to learn quite a few new languages... But, to go back to the whole Swedish issue - I was born in Sweden (live in the US now) and I'm working on teaching my wife how to speak Swedish. So, I wrote a self-study course aptly called "Teach Yourself Swedish". Quite neat actually. Need one of those? :)

[2oddSox]

Sounds tempting DrDoc. As long as it's not like a book I bought once called 'Teach Yourself SQL in 14 days'. Two years later and I'm still none the wiser. It looks good on the bookshelf tho'.

My problem is that I surround myself with tutorials, notes, Cd's, videos, subliminal tapes, every book imaginable, but the bottom line remains...At some point you've actually got to sit down and do some studying. I'm sure I suffer from ADD, but back when I was a young 'un it wasn't fashionable.

On a side note, if your product is in any way marketable you may want to have a lurk on a couple of forums dedicated to newbies to Sweden. You may find some customers. Sticky me if you need directions.

2odd...

[DrDoc]

It's not all that big... 35 pages (Word document), but that includes the index and the national anthem.

Still, it covers basic grammar, nouns, verbs, inflection, tone and stress, as well as tense... and has a list of all the common irregular verbs.

[weblamer2]

I had the sign-language nightmare, myself.

I am hard of hearing, but went to a deaf-populated college to further my education.

I grew up in a mainstream life, and never had any contact with fully deaf people.

Learning signlanguage was a nightmare. A few people were polite about it, most were not. They grew up deaf, lived with deaf people all their lives, and was not going to take the time to help a struggleing hard of hearing person learn.

[2oddSox]

Sounds good DrDoc - especially the bit with the irregular verbs. I've noticed just about any verb I try to pronounce sounds irregular ;)

2odd...