Studying Selected Foreign Languages (French,Dutch,Spanish & Chinese)

There are at least 5000 different languages in use among the world. Four of those are the languages that I love to study. I myself is a language lover and studying this kind of interest makes me happy. Now you'll surely ask why I am learning other languages? Well, Doors open as you partake in these language lessons. There may be opportunities for employment. You may get to know some new friends. You develop your brain and can find more personal satisfaction in life...and you can help bridge communication gaps that exist in the world. Learn a new language and find more fulfillment in life! 

 

Studying a foreign language is a practical skill with immediate benefits. As the world becomes more integrated, a global community in terms of culture and business, the need to speak more than one language is growing. Learning a foreign language provides students with the proficiency and comprehension necessary for bilingualism or multilingualism in addition to promoting cultural sensitivity and awareness.

I can't afford having a private tutor so what I did is a self-study. (Thanks to the improved technology!) I learn online with the help of the different websites that offer lesson for FREE!  By self-studying, I can balance my time and mood.

Online language courses allow students the opportunity to learn more about the world around them while increasing their earning potential. Doing business internationally is a cultural phenomenon embedded in contemporary society. Subsequently, businesses value qualified employees with cultural diversity training who have completed distance education classes in language.Taking online language courses can increase marketability in a current job or open the doors to a new career. Distance education courses in language have continued to grow in popularity and the most widely used languages can all be found online. Resources and options for distance learning language classes are below.read more...

I am happy because my family support this kind of interest. My parents encourages me to continue this and I'm happy because I was able to influence my brother-- which means, we can learn together. 

I think this interest was developed when I was in grade 3 when my classmate taught us about how to speak in German. We enjoyed learning new words everyday and sometimes we brag to our teacher that we can speak another language. Later when we found out that the language was not really German but French! *haha

What to expect when learning French? English speakers will find French vocabulary particularly easy to learn, since there are a lot of words that English borrowed from French or vice versa, along with words that have a common Latin root. Although French pronunciation is quite regular in comparison to English, it will take some time to acquire an instinct for it, since the rules are not very obvious and often neglected in teaching. The structure of the grammar is similar to English grammar, however there are more endings to learn and the gender of nouns in particular may be difficult to memorize.

When I was in grade 6, I had a classmate who was from Belgium. She is a half-Filipino and half-Belgian.  We asked her about their country. I let her translate English/Filipino sentences into their language, Flemish. 

Flemish is an alternative name for Dutch in Belgium. Flemish/Dutch is one of Belgium's three official languages, the other two being French and German. Most of the people who speak Flemish live in the northern half of Belgium.

Dutch belongs to Germanic ;anguages which is also a sub family of Indo-European languages.

Here are some of the Flemish/Dutch words to study:                                                   

Good morning: Goedemorgen  (khoo-duh-mawr-ghuh)

Good evening: Goedenavond  (khoo-dyh-nah-fohnt)

Good night: Goedenacht  (khoo-duh-nahkht)

Good bye: Dag or Tot ziens

Yes: Ja

No: Nee

Please: Alstublieft (al-shuh-bleeft)

Thank you: Dank U or Dank u wel (dahnk-yuh-vehl)

Excuse me: Pardon

Sorry: Sorry

Another language that I love to learn is SPANISH. Accordingly, Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language in the world in terms of native speakers. Learning Spanish is easier than you think, thanks to the shared heritage between Spanish and Philippines. In our country, there are some 20,000 Spanish words anyone to notice at all. 

One of the factors why I love to learn Spanish is that I love History and of course I have a knowledge of our Philippine history and I want to learn a language that was used by some Filipinos. I want to learn a language that our forefather tried to understand during the Spanish Regime. I also want to read the original Noli Me Tangere and other works of Rizal that uses Spanish. Its also my dream to attend mass in Spanish. Imagining it, I feel like I am living in the 16th Century! 

What to expect when studying Spanish? English speakers will find that Spanish spelling is very phonetic and easy to learn. The grammar is more complicated than e. g. English grammar or the grammar of South-East Asian languages, but easier than German or Slavic grammar, since there are no cases. Noun genders have to be reckoned with however.

Advice of learning Spanish: Always memorise the gender of a noun along with the noun itself. This is best done by associating a male person with every masculine word and a female person with every feminine word. Also be sure to look at word endings, since many of them have a close relation to the word's gender. And as with learning any language, try and refrain from translating everything from one language to another once you've reached an intermediate level. Try to think more of the meaning of the word and you'll be able to use the language better.

An Qiao Yi -my Chinese name

Those languages mentioned above are European languages but I decided to temporarily stop learning those languages and give more focus on Chinese Mandarin. I started studying this language last 2007 but wǒ-de zhōng-wén bù hǎo!  (means, my Chinese is not good.) 

In everyday English, "Mandarin" refers to the standard Chinese which is often called simply "Chinese". 

In learning Chinese you should be mindful with the words and most importantly, the pronunciation. Example: the word MAI. If you mean to sell so it must be,mài. If you mean to buy, then its mǎi. 

Today, Mandarin is the main language of government, the media, and education in China and Taiwan. It is one of the four official language of Singapore. 


Over 90% of the people are Han Chinese, originally from the north of China. Mandarin is the main dialect, but many others are also spoken. 

What's the difference between Chinese Mandarin and Chinese Cantonese? 

*Mandarin is the language used primarily in Mainland China and Taiwan whereas Cantonese is used in Canton and is the common language spoken by the overseas Chinese. Cantonese is also used by the people living in Hong Kong.
*Mandarin has 4 tones whereas Cantonese has 6 to 9 tones.
*.Mandarin is easier to learn compared to Cantonese.

To learn more about Chinese Mandarin, I can recommend a website which I usually visit whenever I feel like studying Chinese and these websites are: learnchineseez  and zapchinese

There are still lots of websites that offer a unique style in teaching but I forgot their URL. (sorry",)

Studying foreign languages needs patience & determination. It is not easy especially if you are not familiar and still very clueless of the root word, the suffixes and prefixes. One way of learning foreign languages is by watching foreign dramas without a dub. You should listen how the characters talk. It is also a way of familiarizing the language itself. 

I am again thanking for the improving technology for making learning experience easier, faster, more convenient and *ehem* affordable. 

I just want to give a short advertisement. Try visiting .this website. (but you still need to register) It is a social-networking site which helps you communicate other people in the world. Here, you can meet thousands of people who are all willing to learn other languages. You can add friends and let them check your improvement in a certain language you are studying. You will be very lucky if you can meet a friend who offer a free tutorial through chat. See you there! :] 

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Credits:  academicinfo,  learnlangs,  transparent.com,  differencebetween I'll still add some more credits the grolier childer encyclopedia p. 76 & 49 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin-chinese, omniglot.com/writing/mandarin.htm