I was just looking through my grades from the last couple of years and just noticed that every year my grades for Spanish (my native language) is embarrassingly low. I'm graded from one to twenty (yes, weird I know, right?) and only managed to get a thirteen (to provide a margin of reference, if I were graded from one to a hundred I would have gotten a 65) and my score for English was seventeen (more like 85/100) and even though it surprised me at the time (about 15 minutes ago), now I just find it to be expectable. I've never been a fan of Spanish, that's for sure. When I was in the third grade, they were teaching us were to use the 'accent' ('é',the apostrophe on top of the 'e' is colloquially know as the accent) but I never got around to it, and now they take away about 0.25pts for every orthographical error you make at a test, and even though I'm very good at spelling (spelling is really easy in Spanish, everything is written exactly how it sounds) I still make these mistakes. For the past couple of years I've ignored this due to me being lazy and all (and because they didn't take those oh so valuable quarters of a point), but I just find Spanish to be way harder than English, in the academical sense. The tests for my Spanish class are specially hard, seeing as my teacher hates everyone who dares misspell or mispronounce any word. Maybe my English teacher actually likes us, but I don't know about that either. Does anyone have a similar case of getting higher scores in a second language than for your own?
I got really high marks in Spanish when I was in high school, but I also got high marks in English. (Which was odd considering that I almost never went to class for either subject.) Your school may also have very high academic standards--which you should be glad for, though I realize it may be kind of a drag. My advice is don't sweat it--there are so many people who speak only one language and that not very well! yours in Chaos, Scarlett
I only speak enough Spanish to find the bathroom and ask for a beer. I admire anyone who is bilingual.
Well, it's important to be able to ask the first if you can ask the second! Como se dice, "May I rent a beer please?" Acglaphotis, I assume the English classes were a bit deeper in language focus than the Spanish I or II classes.
I got better grades in German than in English. I never liked English and my attitude while in school was mostly why do I need to learn English since I already know it. I remember getting C's and D's in English and A's in German. I've paid more attention to grammar and such in English during the times when I'm trying to write good stories to publish.
Learning another language can be a tricky bit of magic. Usually a solid comprehension of one's organic language (the language you use without having to think about it) is required if you try to learn another language after about the age of seven. I have a few languages under my belt, Spanish included (I'm Puerto Rican,) but I'm an oddball. Languages come easily to me, and I know just from the different manner in which I approached learning Russian and Polish compared to the other students with whom I attended school, that my brain works in a different way when it comes to languages. I have a way of taking them apart and looking for their inner workings and patterns that is outside of the norm. Everyone of us has a gift, languages is mine. Anytime you would like help with Spanish, you need only ask.
Lo siento, pero no hablo espanol. Un momento, por favor. (This is what I say to all the Spanish-speaking guests at my job.) Nihongo ga dekimasu. . . <----well, a little anyway. Japanese should have been my first language, and until I was eight or nine years old, I'd get Japanese words confused with English ones (I was floored when I learned "kaki" wasn't an English word). My grandma took me to a little Japanese school, and I got high grades, but I was also kicking butt in English. To go back to the original topic, I always get high grades in languages. "High grades" to me means 85% or better, just for comparison. I always hit about 90% in Japanese and 100% in English. Words are my one and only strong point. I hope you have better luck in your class, though, Acglaphotis. I'm sure many of us will be happy to help you in any way we can should we need to.
All the languages I studied are mostly composed of Latin characters (with the occasional diacritical marks). I took one year of German, then moved to a different school district that didn't offer it. The new one only offered Latin and French, so I took two years of Latin. After the first year, though, Spanish was offered, so I took two years of that. I always had A's and B's in the foreign languages, A's through C's in English. All that was over three decades ago, though, so my foreign languages are pretty rusty, At least I have had to continue to use English. I did have to read a fair amount of German when I was a research chemist in the mid 1970s, so I'm stronger at reading German than speaking it. Spanish I have had little need of, and Latin as well; my Latin has probably dusted over the most. I am making an effort to gain more exposure to Spanish, though.
Lazy? I don't think so. You sound more like you're a rebel - those arrogant little anarchists who refuse to do the things you know you're supposed to do in life. I think you need a few years in the Marine Corps. They'll beat a little discipline into you and your Spanish grades will be just fine. Of course, you could always avoid four years in Hell by simply accepting your responsibility to play by the rules. There you go. It's your choice - Marine Corps or silly little squiggles over a few letters. LOL
Oooh...I know enough Spanish to know what Wreybies said. "Talk with me, my friend! I'll help you." Yay me!
Excellent! I was going to praise your perfect translation with some more Spanish, but we have a sticky thread for Spanish chat.
No at all, I'm taking private lessons until I get the hang of it. It's not that uncommon either, 3 of my classmates are also taking the same extra classes. And even then, the few real anarchists I know (a course or two above me) are very well read and write perfectly (with nice calligraphy and everything), I suppose that if they weren't they wouldn't get their ideas taken seriously. But they did take every measure they had to avoid even getting considered for conscription (if you get picked, it's obligatory! What's that about!?) but I don't think I'll win the 'lottery' anyway. @Wreybies: I don't think it's still a sticky any more @Cogito: Has latin served you well? I mean, did you read original writings in Latin? Because I've been meaning to try to learn it, at least basically, but people tell me that learning a dead language is a waste of time and that my time would be better spent learning Italian. What do you think? @Sato Ayako: My parents told me that we lived in Brazil for a while and that I spoke perfect portuguese at the time but I have no memory of this. Can you still speak Japanese? Some of my friends are really into anime and they tried to learn Japanese so they could understand untranslated manga/anime but they quit once they found out that the duration of the college course they were going to take lasted about 4 years! @Scarlett_156: Yeah, I think they have high standards, but I'm trying to get my grades higher so I can get into a good university. Thanks for all the replies.
Ay, I wish I could do better in a language other than English. My Spanish teacher doesn't really... well, how do you put it... like me.
How old were you when you supposedly knew Portuguese? Five years old or less, I wouldn't be too surprised. From what I've learned in general psychology, (and from talking to a few psychologists,) this is about the right time to learn a language. But without constant use, it quickly degrades, especially where there are other languages vying for your attention. Anyway, I don't speak much Japanese anymore. I have a decent vocabulary, but I can't make many sentences, and the ones I can are very simple. (For example, I could never construct my previous sentence in Japanese.) Sometimes I'll find, however, that Japanese words will spontaneously enter my speech if I'm around Japanese speakers or a Japanese program. Japanese isn't the easiest language to learn. There are a bunch of little nuances--and the thinking behind the language (see theories in psycho/neurolinguistics for more information) is strikingly different--that make it difficult to master. Add to that the fact that, when spoken quickly, the crisp syllables seem to slur, and you've got a problem. Sorry if this doesn't make much sense. I should haul my little butt to bed. Beddo o ikimasho. Okay, in a certain context that could sound very, very wrong. (By the way, I think learning Latin would benefit you if you still have a few issues speaking Spanish, or even if you don't. A lot of English words stem from Latin and there are similarities between Spanish and Latin.)
Yeah! About 3 or 4 I think. Latin ,I think, is the foundation for all romance languages (Italian, French, Spanish) but I'm not sure if Italian would be a better choice, since people tell me that Italian is supposed to be the closest we have to Latin right now, and that it could actually be useful in case I go to Italy or something like that.
