Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with languages

Foreign language equivalent to TOEFL?

Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:45:50 -0800

What are the foreign language equivalents to the TOEFL? I'm specifically looking for official tests where a qualifying score would, like the TOEFL, indicate that one's language ability is sufficient to study at a university in that country. For example, China has the HSK test. What would the equivalent test be in other languages? I'm interested in all the equivalent tests in all languages, but particularly those in Arabic, Russian, Spanish, French and Korean.

Thanks for any help.

Yeah once I ordered coffee in Chile in French, but it sounded right at the time.

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:03:56 -0800

I'm very seriously considering the foreign service, but I've never been any good at languages. Will I likely be able to learn a language, with the intense training the Foreign Service provides, without a natural apptitude for languages? I've been doing my research on the Foreign Service and it has become abundantly clear that I will need to learn several languages over the course of my career were I to join. At least one of those would be a "hard" language (not closely related to english). I have little apptitude for languages. I took French for 3 years in high school and got basically straights Bs and then promptly forgot it all. I only got Bs because my high school was easy and I crammed right before every quiz which allowed me to get by. I've lived in Europe and SE Asia and did not pick up either language of my host country. However, I could get by in English (I wasn't put in a situations where I had to learn the language) and I had no training in either language. I took one semester of Spanish in college and found it very difficult. Took the class pass/fail and I passed. Promptly forgot all of it again.

Now on to things I am actually good at! I'll give some background on my education/current career because hopefully (?!) some of those skills are transferable to learning a language? At least that is what I am hoping.

I'm an attorney. I did pretty decent, but not amazing in law school. Passed the NY and CA bar on the first try. Generally speaking I do well (better than I should given my knowledge on any particular subject) on standardized tests. In college, I was an art history major and had to memorize lots of names/places/dates, which I also promptly forgot (I remember the art and all about the art, but names of things are very hard for me to remember along with names of people actually). Also, at one point I was an applied math major and chemistry major. I did well in classes for both, until I switched my major for other reasons. I think that I have good analytical skills.

Can people like me learn a language after intense training and study? Or am I likely to "flunk out" of the foreign service after crying myself to sleep on top of my flash cards for 88 weeks straight?

I am very interested, but do not have my heart set, so to speak, on the foreign service. I think I want to join, but if I joined I would want to be able to work my way up the ranks (as it's up or out). Stories/experience/advice about the foreign service in general also very much appreciated. I also have no idea if it matters but I am a female in my late 20s.

English Language Un-Filtered.

grapefruitmoon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:32:26 -0800

What does English sound like if you don't speak it? I'm really fascinated by languages and I love just hearing how unique each language sounds. It's an odd quirk, but I do love just listening to languages even if I have no idea what's going on.

Only, I can't do that with English, because even when I try to just *hear* it, my brain automatically starts filling in the words. What are the distinct sounds of English, as opposed to other Germanic languages? Is there some kind of, oh, Swedish Chef type thing where I can hear what English sounds like to a foreign ear?

What do I need to learn to write a Gmail Labs feature?

Matt Arnold — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:14:09 -0800

What do I need to learn to write a Gmail Labs feature? What programming languages and other technologies do I need to learn to write one of the experimental features for Gmail found in the Labs tab under Settings?

I currently know Python and some Java. In case it is necessary to your answer, here is what I want to develop:

The feature, named Herdcat, is intended to help me keep in touch to make sure I and my friends and associates have not forgotten the projects we're working on together. It uses Spaced Interval Repetition (SIR). I got the idea from flashcard software, in which SIR modifies the rate of how often to repeat a flashcard by recording the number of repeated failures or successes. In Herdcat, SIR determines how often to prompt me to nag someone, based on how seldom they reply in Gmail. Each collaborator's interval starts at a length of two weeks. Every week that a collaborator emails me, the interval until Herdcat reminds me to email that person increases in length by one day. Every week that person does not email me, the interval until Herdcat reminds me to email that person and remind them about our project decreases in length by one day. When the interval on one of my projects reaches zero, I get an alert that I should give up on that collaborator and their contact is removed from Herdcat.

Advice on becoming a translator.

lazaruslong — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:33:46 -0800

I would like advice, suggestions, and knowledge concerning my intention to enter into the field of translation. Firstly, let me say that I am not doing this alone. My significant other is also a gifted linguist, and we both are planning on embarking on this mission.

First, the rationale:

We both want a good job that pays well and allows us to travel and work at the same time. We do not have a desire to be wealthy. We both have liberal arts degrees, so getting in the door of a corporate entity without specific skills, more education, and with the results we want seems unlikely.

The plan: Learn 5 languages.

The tools: Rosetta Stone Version 3, all languages.

Available languages in that toolset:

Spanish (latin america / spain)
French
Japanese
German
Italian
Arabic
Mandarin
Hebrew
French
Portugese
Russian

We currently both speak English (native) and Spanish (fluent). The plan is, over the next 1-2 years, to learn 3 more languages to a fluency level. Our hope is that we can both get jobs in some field that allows to travel globally while working.

The appeal: We are both academically minded, and enjoy studying and hard work. We don't want to pay more money for continuing higher education. The concept that we could simply be rigorous in our study of languages over time and then convert that into a travel-oriented career path as a result of nothing more than hard work is very attractive.

The languages: The current plan is to have English, Spanish, French, German, and Mandarin under our belts. We have also considered Arabic and Italian.

The questions: Should we choose different languages? Which ones are in highest demand, and allow us to travel? What kinds of businesses or non-profits could we expect to find us desirable? Is it even possible for two people to get jobs with the same company and on the same assignments? What kind of pay could we expect? Is 5 languages enough? Does adding more increase our attractiveness and pay? I love Rosetta Stone's teaching strategy so far. Should we supplement it with other resources? Any other additional information would be much appreciated.

Roses are red & violets are also red

selton — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:11:02 -0800

Does everyone categorise shades of colours in the same way? I'm interested in the way shades of colours are bundled together in different cultures/languages. An example: The logo above this question: Ask (green) Meta (blue) Filter (yellow).

Within the Google logo there are also blue, green and yellow (the "G"s, the "L" and the 2nd "o").

The blues, greens and yellows used aren't the same shades, but if I was asked "what colour is the Google L and what colour is Ask?", I'd have to say both are indeed green.

1. Would someone from any other culture say that the Google L is "x" and the Ask is "y" ?

2. Would someone from any other culture say that the 1st google "o" and the 2nd "o" are just a different shade of the same colour?

If only Bescherelle was a program

djgh — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:06:48 -0800

Verb conjugation tester for OSX? Are there any verb conjugation testers for OSX, whereby the question is either "fill in all the blanks to this verb table" or "2nd person plural of verb x" (etc.)?

I've tried repurposing flashcard programs for this, but having to have one card per conjugation (i.e. a card for 1st person singular, card for 2nd person singular etc. of the same verb) is really wearing and not the way I want to be able to do this.

I've got French Verb Games, but it's not doing what I want it to do - the question shows an entire verb table with one blank (allowing me to figure out the answer rather then know it), and the tests include hundreds of verbs I don't know rather than testing me on what I do know.

I would therefore prefer to input the verb tables myself.

I'm more than happy to accept a non-GUI Ruby, Python etc. script for this.

help me translate this phrase!

slograffiti — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:08:36 -0800

I am designing a poster in which i would like to include one phrase in roughly 15-20 languages, but would like to know how to say this phrase PROPERLY... the phrase is "Love Your Body." I would like to include it in the following languages, as well as any other languages you can think of/know how to translate the phrase into:

french, german, italian, russian, mandrin, spanish, portuguese, hindi/urdu, arabic, indonesian/malay, bengali, japanese, hebrew

if anyone is a speaker of these languages and can help me out, please let me know. i do not trust online translator services, as they tend to not give 'proper' translations. thanks in advance.

Cheap, efficient way to learn German online.

ekpyrotic — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:21:01 -0800

Cheap, efficient way to learn German online. Hey guys, I'm a physics/philosophy double major in the UK. My specialism is philosophical logic, to gain postgrad admission to my top institutions I'll have to be a competent German reader (speaking, listening would be nice, but not essential).

I have a year and a half.

I was looking for some good online resources to learn the language. I'd be especially interested in good, thorough treatments of the grammar.

PortugueseFilter

chrisalbon — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:36:25 -0800

What is the best introductory level Portuguese textbook? I am learning Portuguese and have some questions for the hivemind.

First, what is the best introductory level Portuguese textbook?

Second, where can I (in the US) buy fantasy novels (dragonlance, etc....) in Portuguese?

Third, what tips, tricks, hacks, techniques, really helped you learn Portuguese?

How to add languages to a MediaWiki?

mateuslee — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:05:39 -0800

Is there an online idiot's guide to adding another language to a MediaWiki? I am a total newbie who, with the help of a tech savy friend, got a small wiki up and running. I am using it to describe some under-documented indigenous language which I am researching as part of my dissertation, and it is quickly growing. For now it is in English, but eventually I would like to grow it to be in Spanish, Portuguese, and even the native language itself.

I checked out a bunch of links online and I see they are instructions, but they seem especially complicated, and involve a lot of stuff I don't understand.

Does anyone know of instructions with a simple step-by-step process detailing how to do this? I feel over my head...

Thanks a lot!

In search of cultural grammarians!

ElectricBlue — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:39:29 -0800

What are some interesting blogs that touch on both the language and culture of a country? Hello! I'm looking for blogs that combine both cultural studies and linguistic insights. The two examples I have in mind are Sinosplice and No-sword.

What I like about these blogs is that they aren't purely linguablogs or travel blogs. When they bring up a cultural idea, they tend to apply linguistic analysis to it. This has the benefit of both helping language studies and giving the language's mother-culture a chance to shine.

I'd love to check out other blogs of this sort, especially some based in Europe. If you could hook me up with a German language-cum-travel blog in particular, I'd be stoked. It's best if the blogs are in English. If you have any picks in either Japanese or German, I could probably wing it enough to enjoy reading.

(I prefer reading blogs written in a casual tone, though more "academic" blogs are welcome as well!)

What are the most common 20% of words in any language?

jinatrix — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:11:11 -0800

What are the most common 20% of words in any language? In the interests of accelerated language learning, it would be useful to know the 20% or so of the words in any language that are used 80% or the time (Pareto's principle).

Trying to find a list of the most commonly used words - either a general list for all languages, or if there are lists for specific languages, even better

Which host offers the most interpreters?

grumblebee — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:20:19 -0800

Is there a reliable, not-too-expensive hosting company out there that lets you post server scripts in most open-source languages? This is for personal use. I know PHP and I'm learning Python. Eventually, I want to learn Java and one of the popular functional languages. And maybe some C++.

I know I could just download the various interpreters and compilers and play around locally, but it's so much more fun writing web apps for public consumption.

Currently, I'm with Dreamhost, and they let me code in PHP and Python. Is there another host out there with more options?

I know I could get my own dedicated server or use Amazon's cloud service, but those would be expensive solutions -- wouldn't they? If that's the only way to go, help me find the most reasonable option. I'm talking personal website stuff here. I currently pay $30 a month to Dreamhost. I'd pay a bit more than that if necessary, but I'd rather not pay hundreds a month.

Please help me find some linguistics posters!

iamkimiam — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:37:07 -0800

Looking to purchase some awesome linguistics-related posters. I've searched for hours on the internet and I can't seem to find any family tree posters, IPA posters, or even anything remotely related to linguistics that is interesting and somewhat academic. It would be cake to find something like the "History of Programming Languages" poster, but for Indo-European languages or some other branch of the world tree. I'm tempted to just make a language tree poster myself, but that'd be a LOT of work.

Also, any ideas to spruce up a giant bulletin board and/or small linguistics 'lab' room are welcome.

Help me with machine translation!

sperose — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:10:48 -0800

I need help finding some sort of machine translation software (WinXP) that is free (or else very, very, very cheap) that works for the following languages: Arabic, Hindi, and Latin -- but in PDFs. More than one software/website is fine and there are all sorts of details inside. I've been working on trying to find something that will help us at work be able to identify articles that we have to locate in different languages. All computers run Windows XP.

The languages I've been using to test things are: Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

I've tested the following programs/websites: Google Translate, Lingoes, World Lingo, Translate.net, Babylon, ImTrans, Systran Box, Quick Latin, and Itranslator 2003. (I've checked out Foreign Word too.)

What seems to be making things difficult is the fact that my documents are PDFs. I've been using OCR Terminal to work with the PDFs and get them into a form where I can copy and paste the text and that has been working. (This also has the handy side effect of putting them in Word docs too, but I'd prefer to leave the files as PDFs.)

The question: Are there some other services out there that I'm completely overlooking? The three languages I've had pretty much zero luck with have been Arabic, Hindi, and Latin. As I've said before, free is better, but super cheap is okay too. Bonus points for programs/sites that are easy to use and will accept PDFs. Thanks in advance!

Tips for learning a tonal language?

AmbroseChapel — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:01:46 -0800

Tips for learning a tonal language? I'm taking Beginners' Vietnamese. It's a tonal language, like Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai etc., and I'm finding it very hard.

I think I've got quite a good ear for sounds, and I'm a little musical, so it's not the fact that tones are involved that's the problem, I'm fine with the concept.

It's just a lot to cope with, learning new words and learning the tonal thing at the same time. Or maybe I'm just getting old.

Does anyone, particularly teachers or students who've worked with tonal languages, have any tips?

[Vietnamese, in case you don't know, is written with the roman alphabet, and the tones are indicated by diacritical marks, so you can at least look at a word and see which tone it uses, you don't have to memorise that.]

Do you have a favorite German radio station?

bibliophibianj — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:17:00 -0800

I'm going to Germany on 21 May. I've been told (by Germans) that my German is good, but I'd still like to do a bit of immersion before I go to get used to hearing it, etc. I'd particularly like to listen to some German radio. Any favorite stations? I would prefer stations that play music. I think a university radio station would be ideal for me, but I'm open to anything other than talk-only radio--I've tried it before, and I got so bored! Also, do you have any other suggestions for refreshing my German quickly? I don't think language CDs are an option right now.

Speak this way, I do. This way do others speak, hmm?

nikkorizz — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:50:03 -0800

In the English version of Star Wars, Yoda speaks using some interesting word-order. In other language translations, is this technique carried? I understand not all languages use the subject-verb-object order like in English, but I'm curious to know if other Star Wars language translations try to mix up Yoda's syntax too. Examples would be great.

Emergency medicine FAQ in multiple languages.

greatgefilte — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:47:17 -0800

Does anyone know of a handy reference of emergency medicine questions and statements in different languages? I'm thinking along the lines of cue cards or the like that would have a list of commonly-used questions and other items that might need to be said (e.g. "Point to where it hurts, are you taking any medication? Please give us your health card," etc.) translated and transliterated into a bunch of other languages. Software for a Palm or iPhone would be just as good!

What is the best way to actually learn spanish?

aussicht — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:12:07 -0800

What is the most effective way to spruce up my spanish in terms of private tutoring, immersion courses, extended night courses, etc? I took 3 years of spanish in high school. I grew up in California (so was conversational in my youth), then moved to Oregon where I lost all of it (no surprise there)!.

I started working in health care and so my spanish is coming back to me. Now I live in Miami and it continues to improve but I want to get conversational and eventually approach fluency. I've had a couple ideas, but am not sure which are most effective/a good or bad use of money:

1. An immersion program. All I have is a month give or take unfortunately.

2. Private tutor 4 or so hours a day for a month, + my everyday spanish (grocery store, restaurants, transit, friends, etc).

3. Immersion program part time in Miami (expensive).

People tell me to do 2, but I wonder if the total immersion abroad would speed things up, or if doing immersion locally would give me more time and structure vs individual attention. Any educators out there?

Studying Japanese in London?

blogenstock — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:39:53 -0800

One for Japanophile Londoners. What are the best options to study Japanese in London? Any recommendations for courses or tutors?. My e-mail's in my profile, if preferred.

Help me sound like I know a lot of foreign languages.

blahtsk — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:49:55 -0800

Help me sound like I know a lot of foreign languages. -I want to spend 30 mins a day for a month to sound as fluent in a foreign language as possible.
-I'll be using VTrain / leitner cardfile system / staggered repetition after the 30 days to maintain what I've learned.
-So in 6 months I should be pseudo-fluent in 6 languages...

The use cases are:
-Amaze co-workers with phrases like, "Good morning," "Let's go eat lunch," "Good night," "See you tomorrow."
-Dazzle strangers from faraway lands with phrases like "I only speak a little [LANGUAGE]," "I don't understand," "My name is [NAME]," "Nice meeting you," "I taught myself a little [LANGUAGE]," "What part of [COUNTRY] are you from," "Nice weather," etc.
-Make my wife swoon by saying "I love you" in a dizzying number of languages.

First I'll need a list of common interchanges, starting with the basics. Almost a flowchart of question:responses. For example:

SCENARIO 1: GOOD MORNING

A:
"Good morning."
"Good morning."

B:
"Good morning."
"Oh! Your [LANGUAGE] is very good!"
[Go to: SCENARIO 5:C, TALKING ABOUT [LANGUAGE]]

C:
"Good morning."
"How are you?"
[Go to: SCENARIO 3: WELL-BEING]

Then I'll need the actual translations and cultural insights that go along with each interchange in each language.

I think a simple way to do this would be to buy the basic Pimsleur for each language, and listen to one language a month. However, Pimsleur's curriculum goes into more detail than is necessary for the casual faux speaker.

What I would really appreciate, is if you guys know of any resources that will help me with my project, e.g.:
-Do you know of a list of common foreign language phrases that, say, covers 75% of "casual interchange" use cases?
-A site or product that provides audio specifically for commonly used phrases / interchanges?
-Any other tips or resources that come to mind.

Languages I already speak:
-English
-Japanese (intermediate)

Languages I want to learn the basics of:
-French
-Italian
-Mandarin
-Cantonese
-Hindi
-Urdu
-Spanish
-German
-Latin

Thanks in advance.

Learning more Cantonese, after Pimsleur

Xere — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:49:16 -0800

What materials should I keep an eye out for in my quest to study Cantonese? I'm currently working my way through the Pimsleur Cantonese audio course, and I don't know what I should check out after that ends. I've recently moved to CA's San Gabriel Valley (Monterey Park, to be exact) and will be here for the next two years. I'd really like to take this opportunity to pick up the language, which is widely spoken here. So far, I've been practicing my off-key tones in the restaurants and grocery stores I go to, and adjusting the tones through trial and error.

Mandarin is spoken here too, but I don't come across it as much - and I haven't had a problem finding Mandarin learning materials. Cantonese learning materials, however, seem to be harder to come by. Or maybe I just haven't been looking in the right places, or with the right keywords.

And before the suggestion to take classes comes up: There aren't any Cantonese classes being offered by the schools in the area. Even if there are private lessons, I can't spare the money ... yet. In the meantime, I'm just practicing my limited Cantonese during my daily errands.

Witty puns from across the globe!

milqman — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:11:23 -0800

Do puns exist in other languages? I have recently had some contact with a guy from Germany and a girl from France. In our discussions regarding the difference between the two cultures, I realized that understanding puns in a second language would be a very difficult thing.

To test the guess I mentioned a few, and they did not take. So I tried explaining as best as I could (I know neither German nor French) the concept of a pun, and asked if they had any in their own language. Of course the easiest way to make someone forget all the jokes they have ever heard is to ask them to tell a joke, so I do not believe that they just don't exist, but I really want examples.

English examples:
-There was a strip club in the airport, it was called "the landing strip". It works on 3 levels, think about it.

-I typically read my newspapers on the toilet, my favorite is the "daily log". Again, 3 levels.

So I am looking for examples that are entirely in another language that use the same "punny" techniques. Is there a name for this play on words in other languages? If there is a name for this in other languages (specifically french) that would be great. Additionally, if you could provide any and all examples of this in other languages, that would be excellent.