ouch ouch. ouch. ouch.

[cimorene]

okay.  clearly, i need to start practicing swedish some more because that was so embarrassing.  i'm positive i used at least one word that isn't a word at all and another word that means something different, and i got the gender wrong.*  the department secretary must be used to embarrassingly bad swedish, because she knew what i was talking about, although she did seem relieved when i mentioned the name of the newspaper, and immediately produced a little form. 

i can never show my face in the departmental office again.

*i said "jag necesitar [which is spanish] någon papper [wrong gender] som prover [false cognate] att jag är studerande här."

Comments

[norah.livejournal.com]

Oh my God, the Spanish thing used to happen to me all the time when I was first learning Chinese...and then once I was pretty good at Chinese and went back ot Spanish, it happened in reverse! And my Russian teacher once told me I was the only person he'd ever heard speak Russian with a Spanish accent. So. I feel your pain. This is what lets my languages atrophy; I'm too embarrassed to use them, because I always make huge mistakes. Drinking helps ;)

[cimness.livejournal.com]

thank you! i thought i was the only one who randomly mixed them up! somehow all the words get stored in the same bin in my mind, and sometimes just--the wrong one comes out.

however, you know chinese, odds are you are better at languages than i am--i have, apparently, great ear for pronunciation of most things, not so great with the picking stuff up. i mean, better than average, sure, but not sufficient to easily master really foreign languages--which makes me really jealous of people who can. like daniel jackson. and he's not even real.

maybe i should try getting drunk. i have some tequila.

[norah.livejournal.com]

Naw. I can't read or write, just speak and listen, and not even that so much anymore - I mean, I tried to learn lots of languages when I was younger, and it's easier for me than for most, but I'm no Dr. Jackson. That was actually my first thought when I saw the Matrix and Neo says, "I know kung fu" - I was like, FUCK kung fu, what I waste of time, TEACH ME TAGALOG.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

I was like, FUCK kung fu, what I waste of time, TEACH ME TAGALOG.


ahahhaa. so funny because SO TRUE, and i considered metaquotes for a second, but then i realised most people probably wouldn't find it that funny.

i want to try to learn lots of languages, but... i don't think i can really fit them in my schedule very well. in finland they don't have BAs--you just enroll for a five-year master's, and you apply directly to the faculty and subject where you're getting your degree. i guess my days of fiddling around with language learning for fun are over--in my first attempt at college i only managed japanese and a semester of greek, and i've forgotten almost everything about both.