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Sasabasa wrote:I want to reach a fluency in it
Sasabasa wrote: This is a funny case, because I can't speak it much, but sometimes I understand more of it than European Spanish, because of the phonology.
IpseDixit wrote:Sasabasa wrote: This is a funny case, because I can't speak it much, but sometimes I understand more of it than European Spanish, because of the phonology.
Just out of curiosity, what aspect(s) of Italian phonology makes the language easier for you to understand than European Spanish?
Sasabasa wrote:Velbloud in Czech.
Wiktionary wrote:From Proto-Slavic *velьb(l)ǫdъ, vъlьb(l)ǫdъ, from Gothic ulbandus, from Latin elephantus, from Ancient Greek ἐλέφας (eléphas).
Sasabasa wrote:Cool.
vijayjohn wrote:Sasabasa wrote:Cool.
Thanks!
As promised, here's my explanation of how I learned Malayalam: I started out by learning just the script (pretty much) from exactly the same textbooks that kids back in India used for the same purpose. Learning the basics of Malayalam script was one thing; mastering it was another that took years and was very frustrating.► Show Spoiler
But that wasn't as hard as learning the actual language, because there is basically nothing for that. I tried so hard to look for resources for learning Malayalam, and in the end, I had to start out with what you would think was the shittiest resource you could possibly think of: Learn Malayalam in 30 Days. When you consider how unhelpful basically every other option that appeared to be available at the time was, this was actually a great way to start learning Malayalam! (Of course, it was still pretty flawed. One of the first words they teach you is 'palanquin', a word that my parents knew neither in Malayalam nor in English).
Then I basically started trying to read comics (Bobanum Moliyum, to be precise) and rely on a combination of a) a dictionary and b) asking my dad questions. Once I started feeling pretty comfortable with doing that and could be convinced to move on to the next level, I moved on to a book of Russian children's stories of increasing complexity translated into Malayalam. I had tried to read out of it before. My mom used to read me the first few stories as bedtime reading or at least tell me the basic story.► Show Spoiler
Then I moved on to short stories and eventually, my dad suggested that I was ready for my first novel, so I started with a novel about a kid that was a relatively easy (if very long) read. Somewhere in the middle, when I was a teenager, my dad bought me some Malayalam poetry and got me interested in that as well, so I memorized a bit. Now I've read six novels (or seven, if you count my grandfather's diary, which is mostly in Malayalam in the only version that's available to me) and am translating one diary and trying to memorize an epic poem.
Sasabasa wrote:Okay, but isn't Malayalam one of those languages where spoken and written forms differ a lot?
Kind of like Welsh or Finnish?
Anyway I think it must've taken a lot dedication considering the scarce resources. Kudos.
Sasabasa wrote:Well learning Slovak is more like putting on an accent rather than learning a language from scratch. But it's fun. For example the word for camel is ťava and I instantly thought it was a Hungarian loanword, but eventually traced it further back to Turkish deve.
Velbloud in Czech.
Sasabasa wrote:Okay, but isn't Malayalam one of those languages where spoken and written forms differ a lot?
Sasabasa wrote:IpseDixit wrote:Sasabasa wrote: This is a funny case, because I can't speak it much, but sometimes I understand more of it than European Spanish, because of the phonology.
Just out of curiosity, what aspect(s) of Italian phonology makes the language easier for you to understand than European Spanish?
I'd say the phonology of Czech and Italian are very similar.
Babbsagg wrote:It's interesting because I have to learn new sounds for other Germanic languages (don't know about Dutch, never tried that), but not for Italian.
Saim wrote:Sasabasa wrote:Okay, but isn't Malayalam one of those languages where spoken and written forms differ a lot?
It's actually AFAIK the major Dravidian language where the written and spoken forms vary the least; Tamil, Kannada and Telugu all have substantially more diglossia.
linguoboy wrote:Babbsagg wrote:It's interesting because I have to learn new sounds for other Germanic languages (don't know about Dutch, never tried that), but not for Italian.
Do you have [ɣ] in Hessisch?
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