language limitation

[godhelpme2]

I'm agonized since there're so many literature works written in languages i don't know. Even there're translations, there'are always limitations. Why the world is the large, why there are so many different languages, why a human has so short a life.......:flare:

[SleepyWitch]

yeah, I know what you mean. my only modern foreign language is English (bc. I learned English, Latin and Classical Greek) at school. I'd like to know more languages, but at the moment I can't be bothered to learn any. it seems such a slow and tedious process when you're over 25 and you're brain is preparing for early retirement :( :D

how old are you? I'd advice you to take up another foreign language before you turn 25, because learning a new language is easier when you are younger.

[kratsayra]

Yes, I know exactly how you feel. I just want to learn more and more languages . . . next on my list is Portuguese. And then Spanish. Those should be doable with French and minimal Italian . . .

[Granny5]

yeah, I know what you mean. my only modern foreign language is English (bc. I learned English, Latin and Classical Greek) at school. I'd like to know more languages, but at the moment I can't be bothered to learn any. it seems such a slow and tedious process when you're over 25 and you're brain is preparing for early retirement :( :D

how old are you? I'd advice you to take up another foreign language before you turn 25, because learning a new language is easier when you are younger.

Sleepy, think how hard it'll be when you're twice 25! I'm lucky to remember English any more.:lol:
I took two years in Jr. High School of Spanish and my grandkids know more from watch Dora The Explorer. It's all disappeared over the years. I would love to learn it again. Has anyone tried any of the tapes or methods you see on the tv commericals?

[Etienne]

It's funny how this week I picked up two different translation of Ovid's Amores, and you could find the same words in general (or words with similar meaning) but arranged two different ways that meant completely different thing. The general meaning was similar but the particular meanings of sentences or parts of sentences changed completely.

I also have quite a few examples from Aristotle where different translators translate in different ways with very different meanings.

Anyways, I had some spanish basics which I recently started consolidating (I'm reading Borges with both the original and French translation) and next semester I'll be taking Spanish at university. The best way to learn a language is not simply taking lessons and expecting to become good, you have to practice it. You can join forums in the language and practice reading/writing, read books in the language (with a translation is a good idea), and very important, go for a few months in a country that is speaking this language. Next summer I'll be going to Mexico, and I'm planning to go study in Spain next year.

I believe this to be the right method.

[livelaughlove]

I know what you mean! I would love to read books in their original language. I do know Spanish pretty fluently so I am lucky in that department - this year in my spanish class we read excerpts from Don Quijote and it was amazing. I also know how to speak chinese but unfortunately can't read it so that won't really help me read books in chinese.

Etienne, I believe you are right. You have to actively practice the language in order to really know it. I've been to Spain twice and both times it has helped my Spanish tremendously. Just having to go out and figure things out for yourself kind of immerses you in the language and the culture. Do you know what part of Spain you are going to?

I'm wondering too if any of the language programs actually work. In my lifetime I would really like to learn Italian and French and maybe even some Latin. I've seen the Rosetta Stone commercials and it looks pretty cool but I don't want to spend such a substantial amount of money on something that I'm not positive will work. So, has anyone had success with learning a language using a computer program? If so, which one?

[tomtefader]

I know the feeling.

But what we at least can plead for, and which is a realistic wish, is competent translators. Throught translations, and in particular those to the english language, one can participate in the forum of world literature.

Even if we maybe aren't able to find the original voice, tone and rhytm of the work in a translation, we can at least enjoy it in some way, whitout mastering the language it's written in. (Which indeed is a hard goal to attain; a studying process, often lasting for several years, if not decades.)

[ivette]

I hate these language limitations! :mad:

I read some books in English (and something little in French) but just the easy ones, short stories and poetry. Now my English is at least that good I can read all English poetry in original. But I still can't read my favorite female writer (V.Woolf of course) in English because her books are still too hard for me. :(

And so I'm stuck at my mother language-Slovene, which is of course very beautiful, but I just can't trust the translations!

[aabbcc]

Language is a mighty thing when it comes to literary art.
People often say there is no such thing as the original, that the original just "feels" more 'right' and better than translations - no matter how good they may be. In most of the cases, they are right. (Un)fortunately, I have witnessed the reverse phenomenon as well - I have managed to enjoy some translations better than the original works. So, I suppose there is something not only to language itself, but also to what set of connotations the language has got for us.

For example, Russian literature. Russian is one of my native languages, but I always more enjoyed certain pieces of Russian literature in Croatian translations (Croatian being my other native language), and, surprisingly, it was mostly poetry... I found, for example, Esenin's Black Man in Croatian to be absolutely superb, and for some reason liked it far more than Russian original. Similar thing with Pushkin's Evgeny Onegin, whom I first read in Russian, then re-read in Croatian, then re-read in Russian, and concluded I prefered the Croatian version. :D

[Dori]

I'm wondering too if any of the language programs actually work. In my lifetime I would really like to learn Italian and French and maybe even some Latin. I've seen the Rosetta Stone commercials and it looks pretty cool but I don't want to spend such a substantial amount of money on something that I'm not positive will work. So, has anyone had success with learning a language using a computer program? If so, which one?

I just bought the Living Language Audio CDs for Basic Russian. It comes with three hours of recordings (40 lessons), a coursebook that will take you through the lessons, and a learner's dictionary. I like it, but I've only just started using it. I'll be sure to tell you how it goes!

I've purchased some books on language instruction, and among them I suggest German: How to Speak and Write it by Joseph Rosenberg and French: How to Speak and Write it by Joseph Lemaitre. They have a plethora of illustrations and are excellent for self-study. I have a book for langauage instruction in Russian which I plan to use with my Living Language lessons that's called Teach Yourself Russian by Maximilian Fourman.