SilasBarta comments on Less Wrong Book Club and Study Group - Less Wrong

34 Post author: Morendil 09 June 2010 05:00PM

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Comment author: SilasBarta 09 June 2010 08:11:51PM 1 point [-]

This is not quite on-topic, but I learned English that way, lo those many years ago.

Wow, I was planning to ask if English wasn't your native language, since you said you lived in Paris but speak English like a native speaker ... guess that one's resolved! So French is your native language then?

Comment author: Morendil 10 June 2010 09:08:30AM 0 points [-]

Yep.

I tried, many years later, to do the same for German. Süskind's Die Taube was my first attempt, followed by Remarque's Der Funke Leben, I still have a few on my bookshelves. It didn't really work out - I can usually understand the gist of a text or conversation in German on a familiar topic, but I didn't have the motivation or the opportunities to stay invested in German as I was invested in English, and never achieved anywhere near the same fluency. There was also a more recent and short-lived attempt to start learning Icelandic. On the whole I'd rate my language-learning ability as unremarkable, but I have lots of experience with English.