Language learners

Garwa Mayharr wrote: MCHS, What is Farsi exactly?

Farsi is modern form of the word Parsi which comes from the word Persia, is the language spoken in Iran and some of the countries that were part of Iran.
It's based on the ancient language of Persian (or Farsi e pahlavi) with taste of Arabic, Hindi and french.

I have a strong desire to learn languages, but they never stay with me...I spent 4 years on spanish in highschool, and 2 years in college, passed the classes with a B and can't even hold a conversation.

I started again with American sign language. Useful if I can't talk at all, which could mean a lot of different scenarios. I'm working on translating all of the doctrine into video as a project to help me improve. It also comes naturally being a martial artist and an Italian.

I use http://www.lifeprint.com/ because its a great free site for learning. Very comprehensive.

I can count up to about 12 in both German and Italian, from school long ago, and remember my fav. German word being luftkissenboot :side:

I enjoy trying to learn languages now, as an adult, but its just scratching the surface with a few phrases. I made some good progress in spoken Indonesian, would like to learn French, and currently am enjoying working on written Mandarin, oh yes and sign language!!

An interesting page is http://fieldsupport.lingnet.org/ check out the LSK's for all sorts of languages!!

rugadd wrote: I have a strong desire to learn languages, but they never stay with me...I spent 4 years on spanish in highschool, and 2 years in college, passed the classes with a B and can't even hold a conversation.

I started again with American sign language. Useful if I can't talk at all, which could mean a lot of different scenarios. I'm working on translating all of the doctrine into video as a project to help me improve. It also comes naturally being a martial artist and an Italian.

I used to be like this. I took (read, was forced) to take French and German at high school and was terrible; grainy audio recordings and outdated text books meant that when I left school I immediately forgot everything. I did a German exchange though and discovered how much I loved Germany, so as an adult I've become determined to learn and I'm getting there slowly, even managed to visit Germany three times in the past few years.

I've never thought about how learning sign language could benefit from other movements like martial arts but now you mention it it seems completely obvious.

The large sweeping motions in movies and wushu competitions are not the same as gong fu in practical application. I"ve found from personal experience that it becomes compacted in live combat. A high level of control, even a "natural state" of hand and arm gestures close to the body, is an insane advantage. Like the sign for "snake" or "wall", its easy to see how having a dictionaries worth of word movements to apply is like having every tool in the toolbox. Blocking especially.

rugadd wrote: The large sweeping motions in movies and wushu competitions are not the same as gong fu in practical application. I"ve found from personal experience that it becomes compacted in live combat. A high level of control, even a "natural state" of hand and arm gestures close to the body, is an insane advantage. Like the sign for "snake" or "wall", its easy to see how having a dictionaries worth of word movements to apply is like having every tool in the toolbox. Blocking especially.

My father in law and fiance practice tai chi and wing chun so I know know you mean about movies, although I don't practice myself. I've never thought about the other practical applications of martial arts beyond the obvious; I learnt something new this week!