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Who speaks a second language?

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Hm???......Hm.......Interesting stuff.......

OB......With my "limited" knowledge of Religions and the various Religious Derivatives....I would easily and unhesitatingly characterise you as a staunch follower of the...."Born Again Movement"........
I have studied -out of interest- at an undergraduate level (inter alia) Comparative Religions and with my very good command of the Greek Language I can ASSURE you that LOGOS DOES NOT MEAN...."using logos since it tends to mean a word softly spoken so that it could barely be heard on the other side of a large lake.",
a word "Softly Spoken"......
It simply means WORD, or even Speech!!!!
For example......You may say ...He uttered a great speech=Exefrase yperoxo LOGO (in Greek)....In this case you will be hard pressed to interpret the word "LOGOS"...As a word "barely heard"......

Now...Going a bit further...To the word IXTHYS (Fish).....Which is being Literally worshipped by certain Christian Derivatives as something tantamount to the real thing (Jesus)....
As far as I am concerned, what you, and many more think, of the poor old fish is purely hypothetical and without strong, veritable either scientific or even Christian foundation....NOWHERE in ancient scribes is the word IXTHYS found to represent Jesus. Even later when "Christianity" became the Religion of the Powerful and the Mighty in the Byzantine (at the expense of other religions....) NOWHERE can we see the word IXTHYS (Fish) ascribed (or inscribed) to any writings or anything else even remotely representing Jesus....

As for your studies, one can only laud you))
If I can be of any help re: Modern or Biblical or Classical Greek, please feel free to email me or message me here))
Regards...Michael......=He who is like God (In Hebrew, of-course, for, Michael IS a Hebrew name).....Cheers))
 
I speak conversational French and German,(and smatterings of Italian and Spanish) after school learning and have recently been going to night school to learn Greek, as we love travelling in the Greek islands so much, and love to be able to communicate (albeit a little) in the locals' own language. I see it as a sign of respect for the country you are travelling in.
I am finding it quite difficult to learn, but I think that's more to do with me not being a teenager any more!!! It's a great challenge.
Travel is my passion too.
In 1976 (Joe) I backpacked from the UK overland to Australia - travelliing through Europe, then the old classic route of Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India - then back to island hopping.
The following year, the Russians invaded Afghanistan and the world got a bit crazier. I certainly wouldn't do that trip again today.
I'm sure you will find Turkey interesting though Joe.
We now try to go to Europe for 2 months every Aussie winter - and have learnt to travel VERY lightly - peoples eyes bulge at our small cases, as they pack more for a week or 2 than we do for a couple of months!!

Anyway, I believe languages are brilliant to learn - but you would choose one that was going to be of use to you, either for holiday destinations, or for advancement and job satisfaction. No use learning one that you will never use, or you won't remember it. Needs to be used regularly or you will get rusty too quickly.

Happy travelling all!
 
Canny......I will be more than happy if I can assist you with any Greek words, phrases, sentences, grammar, syntact...Whatever!!!!
Please, don't hesitate to ask....Just send me a message.
Cheers...Michael))
 
As I said from my original post, I was not a master of it!

As for logos, whilst not disputing your understanding it of it, the way I explained is the way it was explained to me. Elsewhere in scripture, word is used but not in the same manner as in John! I prefer, to go with what someone who was a true scholar of scripture has said.

Secondly, I find your assumption of my religious leanings to be somewhat judgemental! For what it is worth, I am not, have not ever been a born again Christian. I am a Roman Catholic and quite comfortable within that tradition. As you do not know me, nor know my history, please refrain from such comments. If your studies of comparative religion led you to that belief, then you were misled!

Finally, the fish symbol is not unique to Born Again Christians. The early Christians did use it as the Catholic Encyclopedia reports:

Symbolism of the Fish

Among the symbols employed by the primitive Christians, that of the fish ranks probably first in importance. While the use of the fish in pagan art as a purely decorative sign is ancient and constant, the earliest literary reference to the symbolic fish is made by Clement of Alexandria, born about 150, who recommends his readers (Paedagogus, III, xi) to have their seals engraved with a dove or a fish. Clement did not consider it necessary to give any reason for this recommendation, from which it may be safely be inferred that the meaning of both symbols was unnecessary. Indeed, from monumental sources we know that the symbolic fish was familiar to Christians long before the famous Alexandrian was born; in such Roman monuments as the Capella Greca and the Sacrament Chapels of the catacomb of St. Callistus, the fish was depicted as a symbol in the first decades of the second century.


I answered a post about knowledge of languages and as far as I am concerned, I replied truthfully. I never said I was a master of it, and am withouit doubt that there are others far better than I at it. I do object to the implied put down in your response.

This forum is about the Stock Market, not theological discourse. I would like it to stay that way.
 
Epsilon said:
Canny......I will be more than happy if I can assist you with any Greek words, phrases, sentences, grammar, syntact...Whatever!!!!
Please, don't hesitate to ask....Just send me a message.
Cheers...Michael))
Click to expand...
Euxapistw Epsilon. Even that's difficult, (and as close as I can get!) as I'm learning to read and write in Greek lettering and I can't convert it to an English keyboard!
 

OB......Please...Accept my sincere apologies.....IN NO WAY DID I ENDEAVOUR TO PUT YOU DOWN......
I was merely offering an explanation of the word LOGOS......It was YOU who usherred in the subject of Religion in our topic...NOT Me......

Now.....As I stated earlier NOWHERE is there a tangible (even alligoric...) explanation bet. the poor Fish and Jesus....
As you CORRECTLY cited, the use of Fish in religion has nothing (original) to do with Jesus...It predates "Ihsous" (Jesus) by several milleniums and can be found in most ancient Eastern Religions....
Thus IT IS NOT a Christian Symbol BUT a paganistic Symbol of much earlier Religions than Christianity......
Anyway......Religion(s) is not something that I pleasantly indulge upon.....
There are other, much more excitingly apolaustic things in life (than Religion) one can spend his time writing or indulging in.......
Finally, I did not, even remotely, suggest you should replace the teachings of your esteemed learned scholars with those humble ones like mine......
Have a great Sunday night.....And an even greater week!!!!
Cheers))
 
I appreciate your apology and sentiments. I agree the fish was originally a pagan symbol, appropriated by members of the early Christian community to avoid persecution. I merely bought Religion into the discussion as my limited knowledge of Biblical Greek comes from study of Theology, thus a logical place to draw an example from. I hope I have not offended you with my response, if so, I do apologise. As I said before, lets stick to the stock market. Thanks for sharing.
 
canny said:
Euxapistw Epsilon. Even that's difficult, (and as close as I can get!) as I'm learning to read and write in Greek lettering and I can't convert it to an English keyboard!
Click to expand...

Parakalw file mou...Parakalw.
The actual Greek script is rather difficult as you correctly noted Canny.....
However, you don't have to master the perfect Greek orthographical intricacies in order to be able to speak reasonably good Greek...
In fact, even in Greece proper today, you will not find more than 40-50% of the population that are perfectly acquainted with the subtle nuances of the Greek language....Greek by any definition is indeed a very hard language to learn and master it perfectly.....
Anyway.......Anything I can do to help, I will be very pleased to do so)))
Kalh sou nyxta file mou)= Good night my friend (literall translation).....OR Have a good night my friend.....=Free translation.
 
I can speak Japanese and Indonesian.

I'm also fluent in 'stralian
 
I am from Norway, so my mother language is Norwegian and my second language English. I can understand some German.

Danish, Swedish and Norwegian languages are related, so it is no problem for me to talk Norwegian with people from Denmark and Sweden.

Here http://multifinanceit.com/norway/norway.htm is a link that explains my background in more detail.
 

Hi Kbleivik,

You are from Norway. It must be getting cold now.

How common is German in northern Europe or Europe for that matter?

If someone was going to learn a european language what do you think would be of benefit?

Thanks in advance.

Snake Pliskin
 
G'day all,

Greek here...and am also fluent in baby talk, toddler talk, and about to embark on teen-talk...and that scares the crap outta me!

Andrew.
 
I can speak the national language of Vanuatu...Bislama. It is a type of pidgin english like from PNG and it can be understood in all of the melanisian pacific countries. I have had to learn as I am living in Vanuatu now.

T
 
For those who speak or are learning Japanese or Mandarin are there any sites or resources that you find useful (eg website or standard texts)? I'd like to learn either of those languages as I'm interested in the region and culture, not to mention the people. I also like language generally so it'll be a good little hobby.

Also, what do you recommend from what has worked for you- tapes or classes?

It looks like we have a fairly diverse bunch of people here, makes the debates all the more productive.
 

My opinion is Chinese would be easier to learn because of similarities in grammar to English. - I tried some years ago and found it to be enjoyable but gave up. Learning to read is difficult but at least your brain won't confuse itself with the grammar. Japanese on the other hand is a lot more difficult because of the extreme difference in grammar. It also has probably the hardest writing system in the world. The cultural aspect of learning Japanese is extremely important, as so much is not said in conversation and it becomes ambiguous for the English mind to interpret. Breaking the ambiguity in the language is a constant challenge for me and at times I wish I had never learned the language.

Buy a cd and book kit from any big book store such as "Teach Yourself Beginners Chinese".

For Japanese I would go the "Japanese for Busy People" series. I have studied privately and in classes and found the classes in Japan to be the best. Classes in Australia are expensive and it takes longer.

Enjoy.
 

Thanks very much Snake, I did go for a very short Japanese course a few years ago and found it quite fun but like you I can see how the characters can be very difficult- but I imagine it'll be the same for Mandarin. I'm prepared to tussle with the Japanese culture as I can see the rationale for a lot of their customs but wouldn't it be as tough with Mandarin, especially with China being a bigger, more complex country?

Interesing what you say about it being easier to learn in Japan, perhaps it's the setting and ability to practise daily. Maybe it'll be worth my while taking an extended working holiday there to learn the basics.
 
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