You know you're a language nerd when…

General discussion about learning languages
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kanewai
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby kanewai » Wed Dec 11, 2019 8:33 pm

You try to stay on-budget by building a "computer" out of a free tablet and a thirty-dollar wireless keyboard ... and then blow your budget on $200 worth of language books.
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Iversen » Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:56 pm

You read about Natal (Yule, Christmas, Kerstmis, Pождество...) in Indonesian instead of any of the European languages at your disposal

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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Gogglehead » Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:15 pm

I'm not sure if something similar has been mentioned, but I find that on my google translate smartphone app, it only saves the last five languages I translated, and if I need a translation in a hurry, as I often do, I find it frustrating to have to search for my target language from scratch. I was recently in Tel Aviv, and was both surprised and annoyed that Hebrew had slipped out of my "top five"!
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Adrianslont » Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:45 pm

.. when your smartphone and digital world is confused about what language to use with you.

Last night I booked and caught an Uber. I booked it in English.

I received the confirmation email for the booking in English. At the end of the trip I received the invoice in Indonesian.

Edit: this took place in Australia.
Last edited by Adrianslont on Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Adrianslont » Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:02 am

Bluepaint wrote:When you go on holiday for a month but spend a fortnight of it taking language classes

Edit: this isn't even my nerdery, it's that of another member and I was struck by just how perfect it was for this thread

I do that, too.

Well, private tutoring actually. You get your own intelligent, friendly, accommodating local for a couple of hours a day to chew the fat with and talk about anything you want (I occasionally let them give the lesson they had planned but my tutors have always enjoyed the mix of formal and informal sessions). And compensate them for inflicting my learner level language skills on them.

When holidaying it can be less than reliable to make contact with locals beyond the basic food, shopping, accomodation and transport transactions. Although, that is still possible of course.

And you have the rest of the day and weekend to pursue more regular tourist activities.

All that said, in Indonesia, it is generally cheaper to hire a car and driver for the day than a tutor - and just speak Indonesian with them - but I don’t want to be always going somewhere!
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby jeff_lindqvist » Wed Dec 18, 2019 5:14 pm

...you realize that Russian spam means language practice! :D
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby gsbod » Sat Dec 28, 2019 8:52 pm

You impress your whole family while watching Christmas University Challenge by getting 3 out of 4 on the picture round requiring you to translate the names of sports in the Winter Olympics from modern Greek to English.

You've never studied Greek.
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby momentum » Tue Dec 31, 2019 6:48 pm

you discovered this forum less than 3 days ago and you already read a hundred threads
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Cavesa » Fri Jan 03, 2020 12:11 am

When you're excited to meet a bilingual dog! It had taken her some time, but she learnt to understand the language of her new owner. He had to learn Spanish for her first (he found her abroad, as a mistreated abandoned dog), but then they gradually switched to Czech as they were getting used to each other. Now she understands just as any native dog. The classical commands, and also the normal vocab dogs understand (yes, dogs are able to understand a few dozen words, it's not just about the tone of voice and other nonverbal stuff. unsurprisingly, they tend to be words like "meat", "food", "park",...). I am really tempted to give this dog as an example to some humans :-D
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Re: You know you're a language nerd when…

Postby Bilingual_monoglot » Fri Jan 03, 2020 11:57 am

When you have to choose your vocation for your conscription and you wish 'army linguist' was an option.




When your first preference for military vocation (you can also be conscripted into the police and emergency service [fire department/ambulance operators] in Singapore) is intelligence because that's a place where you might be able to use your language skills.
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