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Poll: What contributed most to you acquiring/learning your source language(s)?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Aug 27, 2013

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What contributed most to you acquiring/learning your source language(s)?".

This poll was originally submitted by Firas Allouzi. View the poll results »



 
Suzan Hamer
Suzan Hamer  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 20:33
English
+ ...
Birth? Aug 27, 2013

I suppose I would have learned another source language had I been born elsewhere...
Or did you mean "target"?


 
Signe Golly
Signe Golly  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 20:33
English to Danish
+ ...
target/source Aug 27, 2013

Suzan Hamer wrote:

I suppose I would have learned another source language had I been born elsewhere...
Or did you mean "target"?


I think the assumption is that you translate into your native language.


 
Julian Holmes
Julian Holmes  Identity Verified
Japan
Local time: 04:33
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
Education... Aug 27, 2013

I suppose is the closest answer.

When I was 16 I asked my Latin and Greek teachers what my career prospects would be if I continued those studies at University level. "You have two choices," they chimed in unison. "You can become a computer programmer or become a Classics teacher like us," they said sipping their morning cuppa as they stood six steps up the stone stairs looking down on me.
The latter of the two options was the less appealing of the two so I decided on doing s
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I suppose is the closest answer.

When I was 16 I asked my Latin and Greek teachers what my career prospects would be if I continued those studies at University level. "You have two choices," they chimed in unison. "You can become a computer programmer or become a Classics teacher like us," they said sipping their morning cuppa as they stood six steps up the stone stairs looking down on me.
The latter of the two options was the less appealing of the two so I decided on doing something completely different and started teaching myself Japanese while doing my A-levels at grammar school.
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Heather McCrae
Heather McCrae  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 20:33
German to English
All of them Aug 27, 2013

my family supported me when I was studying and when i started out freelancing
my friends helped keep me sane while studying
education never stops
my personal interests


 
Steve Kerry
Steve Kerry  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:33
German to English
Other Aug 27, 2013

I married a German!

Steve K.


 
Filipa Plant dos Santos
Filipa Plant dos Santos  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 19:33
Portuguese to English
Work! Aug 27, 2013

My source language was basic until I moved to Portugal and started working in a textile factory. Then it improved in leaps and bounds.

I found my first job by replying to adverts in the local paper. There were tons of vacancies for 'trolhas' which I was keen to apply for, but my aunty, who I was living with at the time, told me that I wouldn't make a very good general labourer.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 19:33
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Education + interest + personal effort + work + living in the country Aug 27, 2013

I thought I spoke French quite well before coming to Belgium, but there is nothing near as effective – and sometimes fun - as being completely immersed in the language. Let’s say that I had a literary knowledge of the language but lacked almost completely the day-to-day language. It took a while to be able to go to a grocery store or a butcher’s shop and be confident about expressing myself…

[Edited at 2013-08-27 10:07 GMT]


 
Heather McCrae
Heather McCrae  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 20:33
German to English
oh yes, me too :) Aug 27, 2013

Steve Kerry wrote:

I married a German!

Steve K.


 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 20:33
Member (2006)
German to English
Other Aug 27, 2013

By living in the country. Did not speak a word before I came here. And fortunately I did not have any English speaking people in my surroundings which "forced" me to learn the language that I now speak (etc. etc.) fluently.

 
564354352 (X)
564354352 (X)  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 20:33
Danish to English
+ ...
Other: My native language is my source language Aug 27, 2013

So, I learnt Danish from birth and never stopped...

As for my main target language, English, I started learning it at primary school at the age of 10, continued learning through lower and upper secondary school, then lived and worked in England for eight years before going on to formal language studies (BA) at business school. I would say that the years I spent in England gave me the solid foundation on which I base my work today. Language and business studies helped hone my skills
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So, I learnt Danish from birth and never stopped...

As for my main target language, English, I started learning it at primary school at the age of 10, continued learning through lower and upper secondary school, then lived and worked in England for eight years before going on to formal language studies (BA) at business school. I would say that the years I spent in England gave me the solid foundation on which I base my work today. Language and business studies helped hone my skills for professional work, and working as a full-time translator has given me the experience and confidence to work absolutely unashamedly, and almost exclusively, into my main foreign language.
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neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 20:33
Spanish to English
+ ...
Being there Aug 27, 2013

After finishing my degree course in French and Russian as a mature student, I moved to Spain and gradually learnt/acquired Spanish in situ.
I'd previously studied a very basic "Elementary Spanish" as a "filler" class in my final year at uni.


 
tilak raj
tilak raj  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 01:03
Member (2012)
English to Punjabi
+ ...
Combination of all Aug 27, 2013

Education, self efforts and family pays great contribution in my career. Living in specific region also is important in my career which assisted me to take a good advantage.

 
Tim Drayton
Tim Drayton  Identity Verified
Cyprus
Local time: 21:33
Turkish to English
+ ...
Other Aug 27, 2013

Lengthy residence in the country where the language is spoken (with reference to my main source language).

While already fluent in five foreign languages, I was more or less forced by the lack of opportunities in mid-1980's Britain to go and teach English in Turkey, where I set about teaching myself that country's official language from scratch. Now, decades later, I find that this is my main source language as a translator.

On the other hand, formal secondary education
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Lengthy residence in the country where the language is spoken (with reference to my main source language).

While already fluent in five foreign languages, I was more or less forced by the lack of opportunities in mid-1980's Britain to go and teach English in Turkey, where I set about teaching myself that country's official language from scratch. Now, decades later, I find that this is my main source language as a translator.

On the other hand, formal secondary education gave me my first taste of learning foreign languages, and without this initial grounding I may not have succeeded in learning the other languages that I have.
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Chun Un
Chun Un  Identity Verified
Macau
Member (2007)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Education Aug 27, 2013

No doubt about it.

 
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Poll: What contributed most to you acquiring/learning your source language(s)?






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