stupid first world problems you're dealing with

[kakapo]

Had my first game of Civ4 in ages.  Thought I'd play as the Byzantines, set myself up as the bulwark against the asiatic hordes.  Problem was Isabella founded Judaism and managed to get to the Apostolic Palace before I did.  Managed to drag the Zulus into a holy war against me.  In short the Jews were literally using the Blacks as muscle, which is an anti-semitic trope.  Was so angry, considered wiping all the Jewish factions off the map.  Then I realised, this is how it starts isn't it.  One minute you're thinking in hypotheticals, the next minute you're joining Reform UK.  So like Luke at the end of RotJ I threw down my lightsaber at the Emperor's feet, and made peace.  Going to concentrate on my bacon monopoly.  

[mister miller]

is there a foreign language thread? 

need some advice on language learning from any bilingual folks 

[chenGOD]

12 minutes ago, mister miller said:

is there a foreign language thread? 

need some advice on language learning from any bilingual folks 

There isn’t AFAIK but if you start one people will respond. 

[ambermonk]

14 hours ago, mister miller said:

is there a foreign language thread? 

need some advice on language learning from any bilingual folks 

Duolingo is my go-to app lately for general language learning, but I use a separate JLPT training app for Japanese.

Not sure whether there's already a thread though. If your key words search doesn't yield any matches, then you've got the green light to start one.

Edited February 14, 2021 by ambermonke

[Zephyr_Nova]

I'm a quadraglot, as clearly demonstrated with the following: "oui, si, neine, yes" - little something I picked it up over the years watching foreign films/being a savant in my spare time.

FWP: my eyes keep aching from too much screen staring while editing video footage.  Sort of glad I didn't get into this until now, as I would surely need some heavy duty glasses by this point otherwise.

[zkom]

7 hours ago, mister miller said:

is there a foreign language thread? 

need some advice on language learning from any bilingual folks 

English is obviously not my first language. The only way I've found that I can actually learn some language is just to daily immerse myself. All courses etc have been pretty much no use so far. I learned more Spanish in three weeks in Cuba than I learned Russian in a year in university courses, because in Cuba I was forced to use it and couldn't even resort to something like Google Translate.

On paper, like let's say CV, I can "officially" speak Finnish, English, Swedish, French, and Russian because I studied them at school and university but my Spanish is better than both French and Russian. But I mean it's still really crappy tbqfh lol. I should go spend more time in Cuba.

Also I learned English first primarily from books, magazines and using computers. So while my vocabulary was pretty good my pronunciation was absolutely horrendous until I started to have foreign co-workers and I had to spend half the day conversing with them.

[user]

The virtual standup/comedy show I was supposed to see last night got cancelled at the last minute because of connection problems. Tried to virtually trash the place but couldn’t get my hands on anything. Not even a single bit. 

[dingformung]

11 hours ago, mister miller said:

is there a foreign language thread? 

need some advice on language learning from any bilingual folks 

Start a relationship with someone who speaks the language you want to learn.

[zkom]

16 minutes ago, dingformung said:

Start a relationship with someone who speaks the language you want to learn.

Better yet, also doesn't speak any languages you already know.

[drillkicker]

6 hours ago, zkom said:

English is obviously not my first language. The only way I've found that I can actually learn some language is just to daily immerse myself. All courses etc have been pretty much no use so far. I learned more Spanish in three weeks in Cuba than I learned Russian in a year in university courses, because in Cuba I was forced to use it and couldn't even resort to something like Google Translate.

On paper, like let's say CV, I can "officially" speak Finnish, English, Swedish, French, and Russian because I studied them at school and university but my Spanish is better than both French and Russian. But I mean it's still really crappy tbqfh lol. I should go spend more time in Cuba.

Also I learned English first primarily from books, magazines and using computers. So while my vocabulary was pretty good my pronunciation was absolutely horrendous until I started to have foreign co-workers and I had to spend half the day conversing with them.

In other words, you learned rallienglanti before you learned english

[chenGOD]

7 hours ago, zkom said:

English is obviously not my first language. The only way I've found that I can actually learn some language is just to daily immerse myself. All courses etc have been pretty much no use so far. I learned more Spanish in three weeks in Cuba than I learned Russian in a year in university courses, because in Cuba I was forced to use it and couldn't even resort to something like Google Translate.

On paper, like let's say CV, I can "officially" speak Finnish, English, Swedish, French, and Russian because I studied them at school and university but my Spanish is better than both French and Russian. But I mean it's still really crappy tbqfh lol. I should go spend more time in Cuba.

Also I learned English first primarily from books, magazines and using computers. So while my vocabulary was pretty good my pronunciation was absolutely horrendous until I started to have foreign co-workers and I had to spend half the day conversing with them.

Same for me. Daily use of the language is a requirement to become fluent. 
Which is why my Korean is still pretty good (because I lived there for 10 years) whereas my French (second official language in Canada - and I “studied” for 10 years) is worse than my Japanese (I hear it/speak it everyday).  

[ambermonk]

I'm still trying to learn Indonesian, Korean, Russian, and Spanish on the side via Duolingo, but the app throws some bizarre phrases at you sometimes. I took German in high school but it's pretty much shot now. Took a semester of Mandarin Chinese back in 2005. And Japanese I officially started learning in 2003 and went to study abroad in Hokkaido four years later. But since getting my BA I can only hold a broken conversation.

Anyway, immersion really is most effective from my experience, albeit the toughest. So that means Google Translate and English subs are best prohibited once the training wheels are off.

[Enthusiast]

Find a tutor on italki.com or similar. I do an hour with a tutor from Venezuela every week to revive my Spanish, it's very effective and enjoyable. 

[zkom]

2 hours ago, drillkicker said:

In other words, you learned rallienglanti before you learned english

Basically yes

 

[dingformung]

1 hour ago, ambermonke said:

I'm still trying to learn Indonesian, Korean, Russian, and Spanish on the side via Duolingo, but the app throws some bizarre phrases at you sometimes.

[Zephyr_Nova]

My neighbour has a clear view of my piss circle in the snow, and it's making me self-conscious.

[Silent Member]

You have a piss circle? Weird, how many members? How do the nail clippings factor in? I think these thoughts and post them with haste. First world problem.

 

[YEK]

 

Spoiler

They don't make a yellow card 

 

[ignatius]

injured my ankle while shoveling snow. not sure if sprain or tweaked some tendon or something but it's weird. hoping it's not my achilles. FML

[Hugh Mughnus]

1 hour ago, yekker said:

 

  Hide contents

They don't make a yellow card 

 

I have this yellow card. Not a piss circle tho. 

[YEK]

28 minutes ago, Hugh Mughnus said:

I have this yellow card. Not a piss circle tho. 

Did you used to collect too? I did a long long time ago, like 1996. Still have all my cards.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by yekker

[Zephyr_Nova]

2 hours ago, Silent Member said:

You have a piss circle? Weird, how many members? How do the nail clippings factor in? I think these thoughts and post them with haste. First world problem.

 

Just one member - mine.  The nail clippings get tossed into the centre of the circle, bringing good fortune to me and my loved ones as long as yellow circle remains visible.

24 minutes ago, yekker said:

Did you used to collect too? I did a long long time ago, like 1996. Still have all my cards.

I didn't collect much.  Mostly just used my brothers cards.  I won a tournament once, and everybody got mad at me.  Fuckin' nerds.

[Hugh Mughnus]

50 minutes ago, yekker said:

Did you used to collect too? I did a long long time ago, like 1996. Still have all my cards.

 

 

Yeah I’ve still got thousands of cards - apparently some are worth big money? That vaevictus alone is apparently $400+???!

[drillkicker]

6 hours ago, dingformung said:

I really tried with the Hungarian skill tree, but that shit escalated so fast.  It made me feel like an idiot.

[YEK]

11 minutes ago, Hugh Mughnus said:

Yeah I’ve still got thousands of cards - apparently some are worth big money? That vaevictus alone is apparently $400+???!

I have a few that I know are rare, including a Wrath of God. But I don't know which editions they are. .. Obviously older edition cards are worth more.

Edit: hmm looks like it's not that expensive, oh well 

Edited February 15, 2021 by yekker