Archive

Author Archive

On Learning Japanese

November 22nd, 2009

What are some of the reasons that one might want to take a look at the Japanese language? For one, anime is a great cultural item that has become particularly big in many parts of the world including the United States.

Japan is also liked by many people because it has a strong traditional culture and a very strong business culture which has promoted Japan to being the second largest economy in the world.

Japanese is a language like any other foreign language in its approach but we also must remember a few things if we want to be successful in learning it.

For English speakers, Japanese is a more difficult language to learn because it does not use the roman script and also because there are few cognates.

Spanish or French, on the other hand, use the same script as English and also share many words because English borrowed a great number of words from these languages and other Latin influences thus resulting in many cognates between the languages. This means that you can pick up a great number of words simply because they are very similar to the English equivalents.

This does not mean that learning Japanese is impossible, but rather that it is a bit more difficult to learn.

What this truly means is that you must have a strong desire to learn that Japanese language if you are going to be successful in becoming proficient in it.

If you really want to get to that high level in Japanese, you have to make sure that these reasons are foremost in your heart.

This can either be your interest in something like anime or it can be something like a business investment for your future.

This will ultimately keep you going on the long journey that studying Japanese entails. So, make sure that you are able to stay strong when studying and keep going no matter what. Just remember your reason for studying Japanese every time that you feel you are beginning to falter in your studies.

Author Robertson Kunz has a language learning guide: learn a foreign language fast. Japanese learners: learn fluent Japanese.

Speak and Understand The Italian Language

May 25th, 2009

There are many foreign languages to learn but if you are considering Italian, great! Italian is the descendent of Latin but is considered to have much simpler grammar than its ancestor. Additionally, Italian is used by over 60 million people so you will have plenty of people to practice with.

Many people learn Italian today for many different reasons. Getting an edge in the job market by learning Italian or learning simply because one has Italian ancestry are two of many reasons. Many people learn Italian for an upcoming vacation or intend to retire to Italy. In any of these cases, learning the Italian language can be a great experience.

If you already speak another romance language like Spanish or French, you will find that Italian is very similar. Many linguists estimate that the lexical similarity between Italian and French is 89% while the lexical similarity between Italian and Spanish is 82%. Even if you have only studied Spanish or French in high school, you will find that the grammar is quite similar and easy to pick up.

Italian is considered to be a very beautiful language. English speakers know that Italian has much emphasis on vowels including the fact that many, many Italian words end in vowels.

Some differences in Italian from English include the fact that there are two genders for nouns: masculine and feminine. It will be necessary to learn which gender a noun is everytime you learn a new noun. You will also find that Italian verbs conjugate quite differently based on the subject.

Word order, however, is quite similar between Italian and English. Both languages are subject-verb-object languages and because the syntax is similar, it will be very easy for you to start putting together your own sentences in Italian even as a learner.

Because so many people are interested in learning Italian, there is a great variety of Italian language learning programs for you to choose from. From audio programs to traditional textbooks, you will never be at a loss for materials to learn from.

Whatever your Italian language goals may be, remember that to succeed in learning any foreign language, you should make a commitment to learning the language everyday and continue to apply effort to your studies for as long as it may take to reach your goals, even years if you are aiming for fluency. But don't forget to have fun at the same time! Make sure to enjoy Italian by listening to Italian music and watching Italian films. These cultural elements can be the most fun and most rewarding parts of learning Italian.

About the Author: