can't find the right, or the best, words to say what you want, or to express how you feel?
Thank you for your answers! :)
Have a wonderful day! :)
2007-10-30 04:05:23 · 20 answers · asked by Moon :) 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Jay - I'm not sure what you're talking about. If it's the poem you posted at one of my questions, I liked it, thank you! :)
And, yes, I have been there. They're wonderful!! :)
2007-10-30 04:34:52 · update #1
What I find appalling, (not frustrating), is when users criticize a post from someone whose first language is clearly not English. I very, very much admire those who are doing the best that they can, & anyone with one little grey cell could understand the content.
I've also found that many whose only language is English abuse it terribly. The pot & the kettle syndrome...
To me, English is incredibly limited in nuances. For example, we have only ONE word for love! So, communicating is often difficult & imprecise. Please don't feel frustrated; note how many English speaking people use the antithesis of the word that they intend to confirm their premise, but actually contradicts it.
Accolades to you who often express yourselves far more beautifully than cold, harsh English!
2007-10-30 09:51:50 · answer #1 · answered by Valac Gypsy 6 · 5⤊ 0⤋
I often cannot find the right word in my first language. I once asked a question in Spanish and German, thinking I was using English. English is my first, but not only, language and many of the words I frequently use are considered "old". When I had to learn French in Quebec I found that I lost much of the German and Spanish I learned as a child. Later I suffered some brain damage in a severe insulin reaction. My brain went happily racing on, feeding on itself. Without the neural connections supplied by the other languages I might have lost my coherence in English. Language is a wonderful gift and some are exceptionally fortunate to be more gifted than others. It's a great pity so many Americans can't even handle ONE language, and think everybody else should learn theirs.
2007-10-30 19:21:10 · answer #2 · answered by Fr. Al 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Oh yes, when I speak French or Spanish (which are both second languages to me) then I feel quite frustrated when I can't find the word I want. Very frustrating indeed. Have a great day Moon! :-)
2007-10-30 11:35:52 · answer #3 · answered by Megs 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
English is the third language I learned. I speak four languages, and sometimes catch myself struggling to find the right word. LOL!, Symptoms of old age...
yes, I feel very frustrated when that happens.
2007-10-30 21:56:52 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely! I love languages, yet do not speak all of them well and have from time to time wished I had a better command of them. It is frustrating when I want to say something in Italian, think of the word in Spanish thinking it will be understood and it is not. Then there is Russian. Can't mix it with any of the romance languages! I do my best and say with a contrite voice, I am sorry I don't speak _____ well enough.
I say to myself, you need to take a brush up course! Then there is always sign language, we all do that.
2007-10-30 14:05:42 · answer #5 · answered by Nancy S 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
My native tongue is Norwegian, and I do sometimes find it difficult to find the right word. I sometimes think in Norwegian when I speak AE (American English), sometimes not.
It's especially annoying when I have to translate a text into Norwegian and the English text is either very "old" or professional. Some words cannot even be translated and the words I then use may sound odd.
The same is it with my third (German) and fourth (French) language. What's that word!???! Gah!
2007-10-30 12:13:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I get frustrated at that and mixing up words from one language to another. I have to take a moment to think which language the word belongs to. Sometimes the language doesn't have the exact word one is trying to express.
2007-10-30 15:55:56 · answer #7 · answered by kriend 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well I'm not proficient in Spanish, I can read it pretty well, but could never have a conversation with a native speaker. So yeah it is a bit frustrating, seeing as how I took four years of Spanish in high school and always made A's. I guess it was because we didn't have a language lab, and I wasn't able to hear it as much as I needed.
2007-10-30 12:30:13 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I have a problem expressing myself sometimes because I know other languages. Sometimes I am misunderstand and I can't fix it. I speak spanish very well. I get confused with English even when I write.
2007-10-30 21:42:05 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Second means that your language is not the main one - just "under-language" - it means what all second things are - second hand, second time, second chance etc -
The problem is not complicate - during your first twenty years, you spoke, practiced, learnt,had to deal in, your first language
an this meant 20*365*14hours a day, in family, street, school etc - the amount is 7300*14 = 73000+29200=102.200 hours of practice - not said that the essential was learnt in your early ( and best) years -
100.000 hours !!!!! for your first language - how much for the second one ?????????????????????? college : 8 years*33weeks*4 hours a week = 264*4=1056 hours
Still perplexed ?????
2007-11-03 13:46:08 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋