Language Learning is Fun!

[phloxyloxy]

I know that a bunch of people reading this are also total nerds, especially when it comes to languages, so I don't feel bad doing a little bit of advertising here (but if you want to skip that bit, there is a QUESTION AT THE END!).

I just started taking a FREE online course in ITALIAN at LiveMocha.com, after someone mentioned how it's way cheaper

Comments

[fancci]

I'm lucky in that the language I'm learning has a government with a beuracracy larger than I don't even know what, and is OBSESSED with rules and certification.

As such, if I ever needed to define my Japanese fluency, I'd take the JLPT and let the Japanese government do it for me! My school prepares me to pass level 2 without much of a problem, which covers all of the characters used in government documents, etc. I figure it's their language, so their government probably has a right to tell me if I'm proficient in it or not. That situation may be a little more complex with German, though--I know German isn't exclusively the official language of, say, Germany!

I'm not sure anyone ever feels fluent in their non-native language, particularly if they learned it as an adult, but that's just the nature of the beast, I guess. I'd describe my conversation partner as fluent in English, and she describes me as fluent in Japanese, but we both think the other is dead wrong. I do know we could both survive in the other person's country using our non-native languages, though, and that has to count for something!

[phloxyloxy]

I *could* take an official governmental test for German - I know Germany has tests (one of which I could've taken when I was at the Goethe Institute if we hadn't left two days before it took place!), and I know Austria has something too that you're supposed to take in order to study at the universities (for real, not as study abroad).

Soooo I guess I could look into one of those, but as it is, I think I'd only want to take those in order to PASS them, and I'm not so sure I'd pass them at this point in time.

Survival in a country using a non-native language definitely counts for *something* but with globalization and the fact that everyone here HAS to learn English in school, it's not as hard for me as it would've been.....I don't know, half a century ago?