It must be hard for a Foreigner to learn English ( American) ?

[SportSavant]

 

[wolfie_cr]

I think a Mexican visiting Spain, could be identified as a non-local,very quickly, even with speaking Spanish... my guess is it's very different Spanish ?

Of course but that is a pretty harsh example. In Spain they can tell that every single one of us (Mexican,Guatemalan,Costa Rica, Puerto Rican etc etc) are NOT from 'there'

a Costa Rican can tell a Nicaraguan even if they have lived here for decades (and both countries are small....however differences in the accents are significant)

I had a better chance of understanding the Scottish people than my wife (who is American), I can only guess that I am more used to different types of English since to me they are ALL foreign

Do keep in mind though that the expressions you mentioned....either exist in other languages or there is a very similar equivalent

so if you say "doesnt have all his marbles" I would say "le falta un tornillo" and that would be our equivalent , literal translation would be "missing a screw"

 

[wolfie_cr]

You can learn proper technical English/American and be fluent... but you can't learn the slang/local terms and be comfortable with it, you'll always be a foreigner.
.

I sort of disagree with that, when you are totally inmersed in the 'other' culture you adapt pretty quickly (up to a point, of course, as everyone adapts differently, the accent part for sure I will never 'adopt' but the slang you can learn)

My wife and I have been together for over 9 years.....we speak English all the time, read books in English, watch all shows in English etc etc (And of course I take the blame on this for her not being fluent in Spanish), my bosses are all Canadian and therefore work is in English as well.

Up to this day its gotten to the point where a) I dream in English all the time b) I am starting to forget words in Spanish.

In summary, watch enough tv and listen to enough music and you pretty much absorb everything

 

[wolfie_cr]

I doubt I could ever learn good Japanese, but I could learn Spanish w/o too much trouble.

Whilst you think that mate (brief stint in Brit English :lolBIG .......I can asure you that you will never master the proper tenses of the verbs or the rules to put accents (while writting .....don't know the word in English for that)

I (a Spanish speaking person) would have the same problem with verbs in French, in German (where they are even more horrible with tenses that we don't have in Spanish etc)

and when not even the alphabet is the same......it goes into a whole new dimension of difficulty

so it's not just a matter of slang (which can be easily learned by simply saying 'what does that mean?' ) but an issue with a gazillion rules (grammar and otherwise) that sometimes don't even make sense to native-speakers and just 'come natural' to us

(this is a very interesting subject btw)

 

[Jack Herer]

I don't think you can ever speak two languages well enough, that you pass as native in both.

The times I've been in the US for long periods of time (3 mo. or more) and all I speak is English, I can almost get rid of my accent. Specially if I stay away from certain words like "February", people ask me which part of the US I am from.

In Spanish you have a lot of verb tenses that are not easy to dominate. In my opinion, learning English is much easier.

But yes, I hear new slang all the time that I have no idea what it means.

 

[wolfie_cr]

The times I've been in the US for long periods of time (3 mo. or more) and all I speak is English, I can almost get rid of my accent.

totally agree with that, when I was a kid I spent a couple of months in Mexico on two different occasions, both times my friends here in CR let me know in no uncertain terms that I should stop 'pretending' to be a Mexican by speaking like them:lolBIG:

after a trip to the US my accent improves considerably and then it goes into the usual disrepair (aka being lazy and trying to mumble the words .....which we normally do in Spanish)

if someone can have a screaming match in a different language using all the proper insults and keeping a decent speed.....they have (IMO) mastered the language and well, in our line of job screaming at bosses or being screamed at OR being screamed at by customers/screaming back.we get plenty of practice with that

 

[Enfuego]

When I was in LV bout a month ago, I was talking with a guy from Luxembourg for a good while, at a BJ table. I enjoyed the conversation with him. He thought his English was poor, it was good ( fluent), but sorta rigid ( technical). He could never in his life move here, and lose that quality, but he spoke about 5-6 languages.

Only a Canadian (IMO) could pass as American ( if they desired to do so, for some reason), IMO., or the reverse

You just can't do it otherwise.

I think a Mexican visiting Spain, could be identified as a non-local,very quickly, even with speaking Spanish... my guess is it's very different Spanish ?

Doug, I asked a German one time why a Belgiun has better English than a German. He told me the Belgiuns and Danes etc. grow up watching TV and movies in English with Belgiun or Danish subtitles but the Germans watch in German with English subtitles.

This makes sense to me why some English is better.

 

[NES]

Im can dream, fight, and screw in spanish fairly well and know most of the Costarican slang. A lot of the taxi drivers here think I am a light skinned latino with a speach impediment.

 

[steaktartar]

Im can dream, fight, and screw in spanish fairly well and know most of the Costarican slang. A lot of the taxi drivers here think I am a light skinned latino with a speach impediment.

speach.....speech?....http://www.speech-man.com/index.html

 

[NES]

Top 10 “tico” words!

<ABBR title=2008-08-28T10:36:50-0400>August 28, 2008 – 10:36 am</ABBR> <!-- by Marianna --><SCRIPT src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><IFRAME src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.php?u=http%3A//www.livecostarica.net/costa-rica-blog/%3Fp%3D79" frameBorder=0 width=52 scrolling=no height=80></IFRAME>
Even though these words are not official, ticos have developed a slang that they use day by day to communicate with other Costa Ricans. Individuals from other spanish speaking countries won´t be able to undestand these “tico” words unless they have been previously explained by a local. Some slangs have a Costa Rican origin and others have been “imported” from English speaking countries or Europeans and given a “translation”. Learn the Top 10 tico words and understand our conversations better!
1.- PURA VIDA: This word has made ticos famous world wide. Literally, it means “Pure life”. But it can be translated as “cool”, “good” or something positive.

Eg: - ¿Cómo estás? (How are you doing?) - Pura vida! (I´m cool)
​

2.- DIAY!: Even though it doesn´t have a defined meaning and we don´t know it´s origine, it can be compared to the word “well”. It is used by all type of social class people several times in a conversation.

Eg: - ¿Qué haces? (What are you doing?) - Diay, nada.. (Well, nothing..)
​

3.- TUANIS: Is an “imported” word for “Too nice”. It means everything is cool, good, nice.

Eg: - ¿Qué tal la película? (How was the movie?) - Estaba tuanis (It was good)
​

4.- MAE: Another “imported” word for “man” or “mate”. Used to call another person or attempt to get their attention. it is considered more vulgar than “diay”. It can be used several times in a sentence for informal conversations.

Eg: - Mae, venga aca! (Man, come here!) - Mae, ya voy (Man, I´m on my way)
​

5.- RICA: Used to describe a woman who has plenty physical virtues. When a woman is exhuberant and good looking, locals will refer to her as a “rica”.

Eg: - Esa vieja si está rica! (That girl is so hot!)
​

6.- BIRRA/FRIA: “Imported” word from italian birra. It refers to beer.

Eg. - Me estoy echando una birra (I´m having a beer)
​

7.- GUARO: It´s the national alcoholic beverage. It´s hard liquour made of sweet cane.

Eg: -Vamos a tomar guaro! (Let´s have some booze!)
​

8.- PLAYO: It can either be used among friends to tease each other; or it can be used in a derogatory way to refer to homosexuals or to call someone a sissy.

Eg: - Ese mae si es playo! (That man is so gay!)
​

9.- BRETE: Work place, work. It can also be used as a verb.

Eg: - Estoy en el brete (I´m at work) or - Estoy breteando (I´m working)
​

10.- POLO: Ignorant person with no class or education. Ordinary taste, usually speaks too loud, speaks in a vulgar manner and dresses badly.

Eg: Que polo es ese mae! (What a hick!)
​

Learn more about Costa Rican spanish!

 

[TheBrainiac]

YES.

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[Santo]

Learning English is considerably easier if you have a latin language background (Spanish, French etc..) or if you're exposed to it as a kid (most of Europe -- Greece, Cyprus, Denmark etc) on TV.

The opposite way is much harder, my Danish is terrible (I know enough phrases to get by, but have no understanding of the language) yet I know Cypriots and Danes who you wouldn't guess didn't have English as a native language.