Post a random fact about yourself.

[Operator Luna]

Uh, well, here's a first random one from me.

I love cats.
I aspire to find a cat like Pusheen.

[Gunther]

Water pump blew on my Toyota Highlander this afternoon.

[Sugar and Spite]

I just want to make mushroom tea in my little forest hut and then sit on the moss floor while making sacrifices to the old gods under the full moon.

Is that really to much to ask?

[Kalleth]

Learning Arabic.

[Raxacoricofallapatorius]

Been unpacking a lot of childhood trauma this year and I feel like I’m growing more as a person.

[Vampiretwilight]

Had to deal with some gnats in my house one night cause someone left a window open.

those pests are really bad this year.

[Gunther]

My oldest and youngest daughters play tennis for their school(s).

[ThatLostDude]

I have a house

[Carlyle]

Learning Arabic.

@Kalleth

Reminds me I need to get back into learning languages. I had started to learn Finnish in my free time but things got in the way of doing so and I never got around to continuing again. That said, I might look at some others that I've been interested in learning, so I might start brand new with another language or have it compliment Finnish. Not sure yet.

[Gunther]

@Kuro If you are confident enough to attempt Finnish, why don't you give Hungarian a shot?

I speak English, German and Spanish. I have attempted Italian, French and a Serbo-Croatian mash up. I just stopped studying them before I got too far.

[Xandrya]

Aside from total immersion, what’s the best way to learn a new language as an adult? Watching TV?

I’m bilingual and stuck between Portuguese, because it’s very similar to Spanish; French, because it’s what I studied in school to meet language requirements though I forgot most of it; or Russian, because it’s my boyfriend’s native language and there’s no way in hell I’ll give him the chance to say anything about me without my understanding.

[Kalleth]

Best way to learn aside from total immersion would probably be a systems based approach, where you start by acquainting yourself with the phonology of the language, as well as its written form, and once you can reliably identify its writing and reasonably approximate the sounds, then start compiling a phrasebook, with the goal of growing your vocabulary bit by bit as you go, with basically zero pressure. The grammar rules of the language should be the last thing a learner focuses on, because it's the part you need other people to help practice. That being said, full immersion is still the best method there is. But barring that, I'd recommend letters, phonology, vocabulary. Not an expert or a language teacher, just the way that makes sense in my head. @Xandrya

One neat thing about the languages you mentioned in that Portuguese and Russian share phonological characteristics, so they sound almost like the same language at times to a non-speaker.

[Carlyle]

@Kuro If you are confident enough to attempt Finnish, why don't you give Hungarian a shot?

I speak English, German and Spanish. I have attempted Italian, French and a Serbo-Croatian mash up. I just stopped studying them before I got too far.

@Gunther

Hungarian I haven't considered. Might have to look into it.

Personally, I speak English and a decent amount of German myself after four years of HS German. Or, rather, I speak English, but I know a decent amount of German. It's easier for me to read and write German than it is to actually speak it. Anyone who knows/studies a foreign language probably knows what I'm talking about. You know, when your brain freezes up on you and you go "uhhh" trying to piece together a sentence even though you know what you want to say.

As for anything else, I haven't really studied (aside Finnish). I know miniscule fragments of French, Japanese, etc., but nothing so much that would say I know how to understand language. Stuff like "Condottieri" = Italian word for mercenary captains, "Je t'aime" = French for I love you. Simple phrases and/or words I've picked up over the years from media, research and other stuff.

[Gunther]

Today I deposited some checks in the bank. The teller pointed out an error I may have inadvertently made in my math. A few minutes later, she corrected herself telling me, she made the mistake. I said, "Oh good. That would be embarrassing for a math teacher to make a mistake like that." I'm the math teacher.

[Skwint]

My shoes smell like gasoline.

[Sugar and Spite]

I’m really big on ‘just tell me.’

I’m a genuinely honest person and I expect that in return. One of the easiest ways to make me mad is to let me find out something on my own.

[Kalleth]

I try harder when there are other people around. I'm the worst at keeping good habits by myself. The pandemic pretty much murdered (and may still continue to murder) my ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle lol.

[Gunther]

The other day, I was riding in the car with my 16- and 14-year-old daughters. We were on Route 1 in Eastern Massachusetts. The 14-year-old said, "This street is really long." My 16-year-old and I bust out laughing. I retorted, "Yes, honey. It extends all the way from Maine to Florida. It is quite long."

[Vampiretwilight]

I laugh really hard sometimes when I watch one of my blue collar comedy tour dvds.

[Kalleth]

I love running D&D games.