A language learners’ forum

Ok, I'll be attending!

I'm arriving Thursday evening and leaving Sunday evening.
Looking forward to meeting forum people!

Now, do I need to learn some Slovake?

You don't need to - many people won't be able to speak Slovak - but it won't go amiss obviously. Although I don't think I'm learning Slovak either. I speak Czech though. Well, to a degree.

tarvos wrote:You don't need to - many people won't be able to speak Slovak - but it won't go amiss obviously. Although I don't think I'm learning Slovak either. I speak Czech though. Well, to a degree.

Oh, it was mostly tongue-in-cheek, Slovak isn't a target language for me and all I am thinking of doing is cramming a few basics.

Ďalší pivo prosím.
Kde je kníhkupectvo.
Moja bielizeň je čisté, sľubujem.

Je to skvělé!

I've decided not to bother learning Slovak because I'm not really capable of using languages unless I know them to a reasonably high level. The hardest parts of communication for me are exactly the things that people usually learn first -- things like greetings and parting phrases. I still have trouble with them even in Norwegian and English.

I have spent (wasted) so much time on music the last couple of months that I won't have time to add Slovak. With a bit of luck (and some hitherto missing strength of will) I may be able to find time to rebrush my Latin and some other Slavic languages and prepare my lecture about the mess known as the Germanic languages.

The price apparently increases by € 20 at the end of the month, so if you're planning to go and haven't registered yet, you might want to do that soon.

The only Slovak that I did was to go and look for some A1 material in a bookstore when I was in London last weekend with family. Yeah. 62 pounds when the online book was in the 30€ range? I thought about it but recognised that this would just be ego studying. Slovak isn't really a target for me.

When I asked in the bookstore if the price was right, I was told, "We don't make any money off of that, we should be raising it." And that's a hard pass.

Maybe I'll look for it once there. I am looking at the material that was put up for the gathering challenge.

zenmonkey wrote:The only Slovak that I did was to go and look for some A1 material in a bookstore when I was in London last weekend with family. Yeah. 62 pounds when the online book was in the 30€ range? I thought about it but recognised that this would just be ego studying. Slovak isn't really a target for me.

When I asked in the bookstore if the price was right, I was told, "We don't make any money off of that, we should be raising it." And that's a hard pass.

Maybe I'll look for it once there. I am looking at the material that was put up for the gathering challenge.

An interesting theory for a retail business. In the company I work for, we'd have made it half price, given you a 10% discount just for asking about it to get it off the shelves and replace it with something which does sell. Or more likely knowing my operations director, he'd have thrown it in the bin, wrote off the cost and put up a best seller in it's place.

rdearman wrote:

zenmonkey wrote:The only Slovak that I did was to go and look for some A1 material in a bookstore when I was in London last weekend with family. Yeah. 62 pounds when the online book was in the 30€ range? I thought about it but recognised that this would just be ego studying. Slovak isn't really a target for me.

When I asked in the bookstore if the price was right, I was told, "We don't make any money off of that, we should be raising it." And that's a hard pass.

Maybe I'll look for it once there. I am looking at the material that was put up for the gathering challenge.

An interesting theory for a retail business. In the company I work for, we'd have made it half price, given you a 10% discount just for asking about it to get it off the shelves and replace it with something which does sell. Or more likely knowing my operations director, he'd have thrown it in the bin, wrote off the cost and put up a best seller in it's place.

Foyles doesn't really have a shelf space issue - and all the Slovak material was in the most remote place ever - lower shelf back of store at the very end of the language section - crushed by the Russian stuff. Not really the place for best sellers. These sections tend to work more on "a little of everything" strategy. Still, her comment didn't make me want to buy it. Bye, Slovak.