Monday 6 July 2015

Lost In Translation

Learning another language is hard. I've done it before. Even just relearning French is difficult. Spanish was easy, for its simplicity if nothing else, but French has some mysterious road block in its very structure that makes it... perplexing. It might be the English-French combination more than the language itself. Still, practice can only improve the situation, which is where the virtue of having penpals is truly wonderful.

This is going to be one of the rare plugs to make it into the text of the Quirky Muffin, but for learning languages and obtaining penpals with whom to exchange languages, there is absolutely no part of the Internet more useful than My Language Exchange. Not only did I start talking to one of my oldest friends on My Language Exchange, but over recent years I have practiced my French and Spanish with four or five different people, and it has helped. A lot. It's nice to find an inexpensive and helpful service from time to time. They're very rare!

It's a lonely life out here in the rural hinterlands. Having penpals can help a lot, and backing that up with a language exchange can even help you in the longer term. How many polyglots are there in this country, truly? Not that many, especially not from the native stock. It can only help to become fluent in other languages, and finding someone to speak to is the first step, and the second step, and so on. Also, it's fun, even in the nightmarish days of trying to write at length for the first time.

Some people think you can learn languages (and programming, and everything else) from a book. That's not true. You really need to dig in and get your hands dirty: Write e-mails, talk, mess up and make mistakes. Here's hoping French will work out this time!

O.

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