NOISE, MUSIC LOUDNESS CONTROL!

[Alex+R 0]

Interesting...for me, speaking was the last and most difficult hurdle w/ any of the languages I learned (...and of course that is the critical one in order to be understood by those around you). I agree with you, that speaking and writing is connected...and part of 'active fluency', but for me, the speech is that which I forget first before any of the other components. For example, I learned to read/write and speak Spanish, in fact it was my minor in college, way back when. My fluency served me well when I was unable to find a job to save my life, (dot.com slump) and I used my Spanish fluency to teach school as a substitute in bilingual classes. Once I started in my current job/career, which does not involve the use of my spanish, I find myself floundering in my spoken spanish....but I can understant it w/ absolutely no problem (I regularly watch spanish movies w/out the subtitles) and can also write it well enough to be understood. But I guess w/ any foreign language, the key to "maintenance" is practice right? Regardless of whether it is reading, writing or speaking....there is a danger of losing all three if one does not actively practice these skills.

That's unusual; usually you lose writing before speaking. But yes, the key to maintenance is practice, i.e. use it or lose it. That also can apply to your native language; my grandmother's native language was Polish, but by the time she was in her 80s she could not speak it anymore. A guy I knew in HS came to the US from Romania when he was about 9; by HS graduation he couldn't speak Romanian anymore. Now THAT'S weird, particularly since his younger sister still could.

That probably may have a lot to do w/ wanting to lose the language in a somewhat misguided belief that it would help in assimilation? (I know some immigrant parents choose to speak English only w/ their children thinking this will help them aquire the english more quickly, thereby assimilating more quickly in the 'mainstream'.)

I came here from Romania when I was 9, but my mother tongue is Hungarian. It is now 22 years later and I am still completely fluent to a native speaker level (read/write/speak) in both languages. The language you learn at a very young age, especially your mother tongue, I think is never lost completely. It may remain 'dormant' but w/ some practice it will come back easier than if you had to start learning the language from scratch, IMO.

My aunt came here from Palestine when she was 18 (lived in Cuba from something like 14-18), and at this point she still has an accent in English, but she can't even read arabic anymore, and it sounds like gibberish to her.

Weird, huh?

[babybunny 2]

You can build yourself a small mini EMP gun to destroy their car stereo system. Use it at your own risk.

http://www.freeinfosociety.com/electronics...iew.php?id=2280

I don't know if these things are illegal, but, it was from the internet. EMP can blow out their electronics in the car.

if ever I found a person doing that to my car. I would bust their azz.

[babybunny 2]

The housing projects here consists a majority of Spainish speakers! It's so weird. These people need to get a job, learn English, and adapt to culture. I live nearby them, and I am Asian. English is my second language. I speak better than these people, not only that, my English is superior compared to most English speakers as well. Not bad for English as a second language.

I love to call these people lazy bums, scums, pigs, etc...I know it's mean. But, because they give up learning English, I like to put them down. If they think I'm wrong, they just need to prove that they are better with English.

Anyway...this is way off topic. The point being, these people don't know any better with the noise. They are alot older than I am, and are stupid.

I hate to break it to you...but you make a lot of mistakes in English. You're not really in any position to put down native speakers when you make as many mistakes as you do. Sure, your English is good. However, it is FAR from perfect, and it's pretty arrogant of you to think that you speak it better than a native. Judging from the quality of your writing I would say that you don't.

BTW, if your neighbors bother you so much might I suggest that you MOVE?

[babybunny 2]

The housing projects here consists a majority of Spainish speakers! It's so weird. These people need to get a job, learn English, and adapt to culture. I live nearby them, and I am Asian. English is my second language. I speak better than these people, not only that, my English is superior compared to most English speakers as well. Not bad for English as a second language.

I love to call these people lazy bums, scums, pigs, etc...I know it's mean. But, because they give up learning English, I like to put them down. If they think I'm wrong, they just need to prove that they are better with English.

Anyway...this is way off topic. The point being, these people don't know any better with the noise. They are alot older than I am, and are stupid.

I hate to break it to you...but you make a lot of mistakes in English. You're not really in any position to put down native speakers when you make as many mistakes as you do. Sure, your English is good. However, it is FAR from perfect, and it's pretty arrogant of you to think that you speak it better than a native. Judging from the quality of your writing I would say that you don't.

BTW, if your neighbors bother you so much might I suggest that you MOVE?

Hmm...This is an informal forum. You don't need to spend the time to correct it. However, I would move if given the chance. When my wife arrives, that is when I move. Don't you also agree morons are bothersome people?

If you don't, I certainly do.

Just because a person enjoys loud music dont make them a moron. you cant call a person a moron because, they dont speak english. maybe the neighbours crank up the music, to drown out your bychen! just rember you also can not call any one a moron, unless you are one first.

now stop pizzing me off! - I gotta work and cant be working all tense and stuff.

[Minya's wife 25]

My aunt came here from Palestine when she was 18 (lived in Cuba from something like 14-18), and at this point she still has an accent in English, but she can't even read arabic anymore, and it sounds like gibberish to her.

Weird, huh?

But I wonder if she were to begin "learning" arabic, and have another person (same age as your aunt, but w/out prior knowledge of the language, also start learning....I think your aunt would be amazed at how much she actually remembers without thinking....and I bet very quickly she would be far ahead in the learning process than the person who begins to learn that foreign language without any previous knowledge in it. (If nothing else, your aunt would have a far better accent in arabic than the "other" person learning it.) Just a hypothesis....but I've read a lot on language aquisition and there is strong evidence that what you learn(and what you don't) early in life is never really forgotten.

I few days ago I saw a very interesting documentary (National Geographic Cannel) on "feral children," who by some cruel circumstance are torn away from human contact and live among animals. (In some cases this was for a short period of time....a few months or even a year or two, and it was not completely away from humanity, rather on the "fringes" of it.) The outcome in most cases is that if the child did not speak fluently (because of the young age) before the rupture w/ human contact, the subsequent re-entering into the "human" world was fraught w/ difficulties mainly in the area of language aquisition. It is as if the brain's windown of opportunity w/ regards to learning language(meaning any spoken word) had passed and now this skill cannot be mastered. It was very interesting...and lends credibility to the hypothesis that the language(s) we learn at a very young age remain w/ us, regardless. By that same token it also supports the thought that, the later in life you begin to learn a foreign language, the more difficulty you will have and will probably never reach native speaker proficiency.

[Alex+R 0]

My aunt came here from Palestine when she was 18 (lived in Cuba from something like 14-18), and at this point she still has an accent in English, but she can't even read arabic anymore, and it sounds like gibberish to her.

Weird, huh?

But I wonder if she were to begin "learning" arabic, and have another person (same age as your aunt, but w/out prior knowledge of the language, also start learning....I think your aunt would be amazed at how much she actually remembers without thinking....and I bet very quickly she would be far ahead in the learning process than the person who begins to learn that foreign language without any previous knowledge in it. (If nothing else, your aunt would have a far better accent in arabic than the "other" person learning it.) Just a hypothesis....but I've read a lot on language aquisition and there is strong evidence that what you learn(and what you don't) early in life is never really forgotten.

Yup, you're probably right. I just think it's very strange that one could entirely forget their native language, even if acquiring it again would be easier for her than for most.

I few days ago I saw a very interesting documentary (National Geographic Cannel) on "feral children," who by some cruel circumstance are torn away from human contact and live among animals. (In some cases this was for a short period of time....a few months or even a year or two, and it was not completely away from humanity, rather on the "fringes" of it.) The outcome in most cases is that if the child did not speak fluently (because of the young age) before the rupture w/ human contact, the subsequent re-entering into the "human" world was fraught w/ difficulties mainly in the area of language aquisition. It is as if the brain's windown of opportunity w/ regards to learning language(meaning any spoken word) had passed and now this skill cannot be mastered. It was very interesting...and lends credibility to the hypothesis that the language(s) we learn at a very young age remain w/ us, regardless. By that same token it also supports the thought that, the later in life you begin to learn a foreign language, the more difficulty you will have and will probably never reach native speaker proficiency.

I've read about that too. It seems so strange to imagine someone walking around with a human mind incapable of language acquisition after a certain point. There have been several examples (i.e. "the wild child") of people who never quite made it to fluent speaking of any language at all.

[meauxna 15]

oooooo are you gonna get slammed for that, connie. ( cringes ).

I'm stunned.

[Minya's wife 25]

oooooo are you gonna get slammed for that, connie. ( cringes ).

I'm stunned.

by what the OP said, or by what Nagi said? I think people have just chosen to ignore the OP's hypocrisy and arrogance. The resulting discussion on language aquisition turned out to be quite informative....I'm sure its not what the OP intented when he resurrected his own thread, (but it's not about the blue boxes w/ red hearts)but hey, I'm enjoying the discussion.

-P

[Nagishkaw 510]

Yes, me too. I think the OP was opening a can of worms , but it's turning out to be all good. Well, so far, anyway.

[Minya's wife 25]

I few days ago I saw a very interesting documentary (National Geographic Cannel) on "feral children," who by some cruel circumstance are torn away from human contact and live among animals. (In some cases this was for a short period of time....a few months or even a year or two, and it was not completely away from humanity, rather on the "fringes" of it.) The outcome in most cases is that if the child did not speak fluently (because of the young age) before the rupture w/ human contact, the subsequent re-entering into the "human" world was fraught w/ difficulties mainly in the area of language aquisition. It is as if the brain's windown of opportunity w/ regards to learning language(meaning any spoken word) had passed and now this skill cannot be mastered. It was very interesting...and lends credibility to the hypothesis that the language(s) we learn at a very young age remain w/ us, regardless. By that same token it also supports the thought that, the later in life you begin to learn a foreign language, the more difficulty you will have and will probably never reach native speaker proficiency.

I've read about that too. It seems so strange to imagine someone walking around with a human mind incapable of language acquisition after a certain point. There have been several examples (i.e. "the wild child") of people who never quite made it to fluent speaking of any language at all.

When we're young our brains are like sponges and capable of soaking up vasts amounts of information, but I guess as we get older our brains do not absorb as much information or process it as quickly. And some things, we can only learn during a crucial period in our development....and as these cases demonstrate, language is one of these capabilities that we must aquire at an early age. If not we lose the capability to learn it all.

-P

[pedroh 21]

oooooo are you gonna get slammed for that, connie. ( cringes ).

I'm stunned.

by what the OP said, or by what Nagi said? I think people have just chosen to ignore the OP's hypocrisy and arrogance. The resulting discussion on language aquisition turned out to be quite informative....I'm sure its not what the OP intented when he resurrected his own thread, (but it's not about the blue boxes w/ red hearts)but hey, I'm enjoying the discussion.

-P

yea he adapted to cultule.. but the other posts are interesting

[Robor007 0]

Ever drive by a car that has their music cranked up to the max? Ever had to listen to a car that vibrates even your apartment building, like a earthquake?

Most times these cars have Peurto Ricans, Spanish music playing. A human theshold of hearing is an average of 90 dB. The exposure I received from these loudness over time have caused my ear to decrease in their sensitivity. I don't understand why there is a need to have loud music playing like that. I am ready to file a lawsuit for the compensation. These people will need to pay for their disturbances. I'm sick of it.

Wait a minute... You claim your hearing was damaged by exposure to music from another persons car? If so you're

I have a very high end sound system in my car but I don't play Spanish music or ©rap so it's designed for 'rock' instead of dropping bass. I'm more of a Dave Matthews or Tool fan. Anyway, back to my point. There is no way your hearing was damaged by a stereo in another car - especially if your windows were up.

I should mention, I turn my system down at stop lights and in neighborhoods and I don't play it loud at night unless my windows are up.

[eric&gen 0]

All well if you don't like it than live with it this is America for ya jack lol. Move to a deserted island or something lol

[pedroh 21]

[sereia 0]

its reggaeton, papi!!!!!!!!! perreooooooooooooo...