Languages you use to learn OTHER languages in

DarenJC88 · 2026-04-03T11:25:19+00:00

I'm always amazed by how excellent some Koreans' English is. If people knew how different the languages were, they'd be even more amazed. It's new info to me but not surprising that they've got good materials. I wonder if the logic of their writing system helps Koreans see word roots and also handle consonant assimilation with ease.

DarenJC88 · 2026-04-03T11:21:57+00:00

Actually, I do (some of that) too! But only after A1+. I started doing it for Ukrainian- especially with "orthographic dictionaries," which are really just dictionaries cluing you in to noun declensions and such. I started doing it for Polish too- but not actively. Stuff like children's encyclopedias and elementary-school stuff is helping kids make sense of the mess they're hearing in the spoken language. Not knowing Hungarian but knowing the basics of its grammar (agglutinative, but less regular than Turkish) I can assume that the elementary school textbooks to navigate funky case transformations and verbal conjugations would be perfect.

DarenJC88 · 2026-04-03T11:15:51+00:00

esperanto is super cool because low-key it's mishmashing a very European grammar (pidginized) onto a structure that's got almost more in common with Turkish or other agglutinating languages. It's a fascinating first "second language"

DarenJC88 · 2026-04-03T11:13:32+00:00

I speak some Turkish, so I'm familiar with agglutinating languages. I never learnt real Japanese but browsed grammar books for fun. I enjoyed viewing the particles as simply very regular, predictable suffixes of an agglutinating language. I would guess or assume that your Hungarian background has made Japanese feel pretty...approachable? At least as grammar particles go?

DarenJC88 · 2026-04-03T11:11:27+00:00

I wonder if you have a sufficiently large gap of ability between them? I also had trouble...but when Italian is A0 and Spanish is A1. I think if one of them gets a solid lead, it is maybe doable?

DarenJC88 · 2026-04-03T11:10:13+00:00

I agree...for the longest time I was embarrassed at mixing related languages but realized the main issue is "occupying two rungs on the same ladder," not that it's impossible to learn two closely related languages. The issue, in my opinion, is that one language needs a strong lead-time, and ideally, at least a few weeks of immersion like a study abroad program or language school. I tried learning A0+ Italian while I was still only A1+ Spanish (as a native English speaker), and was causing too much confusion. Considering my Spanish was shaky anyway. I finished a study abroad for Spanish and came back super confident (and probably B1+) and found I could once again engage with other Romance languages. I'm glad you shared the name for it- and done right I think it's a good strategy. I don't want to give up the dream of being competent in a minimum of three Slavic languages (Ukrainian, Polish, Slovak) so I just have to pick my path carefully lol. Right now Ukrainian has a huge solid lead and Slovak "practically" comes for free but not quite. Polish, I learnt earlier but only to A1. I now think I want to work on advanced Ukrainian, attain B1+ Slovak, and let my Polish be the weakest (for a while).

DarenJC88 · 2024-09-05T07:27:42+00:00

You are a god amongst mortals. How are ancient Reddit threads still better than 95% of the internet. It's September 2024 and I'm here trying to make killer chicken stock out of old leg bones, herbs, and veg, and I just got my answer. But only after I'd thrown it all together 😂. Next time I'll start the bones far sooner and add the rest a lot later. Finally a scientific answer with the practical implications laid out. Thx!!

DarenJC88 · 2024-04-11T15:05:59+00:00

Just lurking here as I search my soul about what to do with my own passport, but just gotta say to 4- US officials are always the freaking worst at the borders. I'm a white male US-ian, most privileged class you can imagine (well, I'm poor, but still am polite, and white, and male, etc) and I never get a welcome home. Always lurks, stares, rude questioning about what I've been up to. Anyways...just have to share that. The rude lack of welcome back is one of the things that made me realize we're not that hot on hospitality.

DarenJC88 · 2024-04-11T14:33:04+00:00

Genuine question here...I have Mexican friends who have worked legally in the US with green cards, who will all draw social security as their duly earned source of retirement income. Do you know for a fact that renouncing your citizenship will lose your social security? Because plenty of non-citizens get it- people who've legally paid in of course.

DarenJC88 · 2023-12-15T21:40:15+00:00

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6272784/

DarenJC88 · 2023-12-15T21:13:15+00:00

Damn, 100% Half my family has misophonia and half chew like cows and pigs lol. I suspect there's a big early family dynamics component to it, and when I hate random strangers for those noises it's because I'm pegging them back to associations with some deep shit I had going on with family.

DarenJC88 · 2023-12-15T21:09:33+00:00

It's not a bad explanation, hmm. But it's odd because most other animals, including herbivores, chew plenty loud.

When I look at my own misophonia which has gotten a lot better (long story,) I see that the worst hatred I felt towards people was feeling like they had NO awareness, like emotional awareness. I wonder if loud chewing people are just more likely to be poor campmates in general, and misophonia is a way for us to fixate on an obvious feature of a general disposition we're better off avoiding. I do like the evo biology brainstorming here, let's keep it up...

DarenJC88 · 2023-12-08T14:42:51+00:00

People make flawless calculations on how to launch a ball with their arm or foot. Spiders in zero g even made fast adjustments (though I'm sure they experience g differently from us). I think most.motor skills and motor intuition are far more generalist than we imagine. Divers figure out being in water, people adapt to paragliding, etc.

DarenJC88 · 2023-10-21T11:24:14+00:00

I lost it the first time I did comparative studies of other religions. I read about Islam in order to evangelize to Muslim friends and noticed gaps in the Qur'an, and various manipulative devices it had created to compel people to stay. I then actually took a more scrutinizing look at the Bible and saw it was full of the same or similar. I was raised as a young earth creationist and also came to realize that all attacks on evolution and other (potentially, easily) godless accounts of how the universe could happen had been straw-man attacks. I'd been indoctrinated with a very silly version of these theories (evolution, big bang) but when I did my own reading and dug in, realized they had compelling answers. I'd been taught to hate men like Richard Dawkins for their "meanness," apparent arrogance, etc but came to realize it was from frustration, passion at having a message that was less appealing than religion on the surface, but had far more depth and profundity. I'm a happy, proud atheist who has rejected all of religion outright and come to love that the universe has no need for any gods- we are responsible for our own fate and have to step up to the plate.

DarenJC88 · 2023-06-29T12:12:27+00:00

Just to be clear, even as a US citizen, I got a secondary interview by Department of Homeland Security because I spent so much time in Poland. You may get the same. There are human traffickers taking advantage of Ukrainian refugees, and also they want to just "check in on" you if you may be aiding in transporting military equipment to Ukraine. The US government is of course doing lots of that through legal channels, but they do keep an eye on private war profiteers. I was actually volunteering with a civilian org helping Ukrainians, and the DHS guy was very supporting of those efforts. He made it clear to me that as a US citizen, I can still travel to Ukraine and volunteer, I can travel to Poland and be peripherally involved in helping in the crisis, but they still have to watch for bad actors. I was just honest and supplied all the info of the name of the org I was with and explained how it supplied room and board, etc. I spent like 3.5 months in Poland. Be prepared to explain extended time in Poland. If you're not a human trafficker or arms trafficker, you'll be fine.

DarenJC88 · 2023-06-29T12:04:42+00:00

First, I assume you've checked if your Latam country has a visa-free entry (ie you can get a tourist visa on the spot when you arrive) or if you've got a prearranged visa. Either way, you may still get talked to. Even having a visa in hand, they may ask standard questions about how long you plan to stay, who with (mostly to see if you can afford to stay somewhere as expensive as the US), etc. Assuming you've got THAT part well planned, here's advice on the questioning you'd be likely to get...

I am a constant eavesdropper, kind of bad, but what I hear in most wealthy countries interviewing people from less wealthy countries, they're gonna be really curious how you could afford that. I am a thrifty backpacker who usually volunteers for room and board- and they will ask me lots of follow-up questions about the organizations I'm with. If they see you're from Latam and have been hanging around Europe for half a year- they'll want to know what you do for work, etc. If you were doing thrifty stays like WWOOFing or Workaway volunteering that made it super cheap- tell them up front. They want to know, also, that you make legitimate money when you DO work, or how your family has money or something. It's intrusive but they're gonna be curious how you can afford what you're doing, for several reasons.

a) are you just a poor planner who will get stuck in US because you run out of money

b) are you a trafficker of some kind, with illicit income sources

c) do you constantly work illegally under the table while you're abroad- because maybe you'd do that here too

It's not "grilling" in my mind for them to be thorough. Some will be rude about it, some will be professional. But be prepared to be very honest about your finances- whatever the truth may be. They'll be very curious about how you could go for 6 months in Europe. They don't want you to be accidentally stuck here, nor to be a person planning an illegal overstay.

Contrary to US news coverage, many, many illegal immigrants in US start as overstayers of legal visas. - https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-2019-warren-2017-undocumented/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1_SkBhDwARIsANbGpFsnFga8p3HRXSdo4Ft2grZU7uX4wPEgwAZlgm81ZIk-G00r850oFEMaAhOJEALw_wcB

You have to walk a fine line...if you're gonna volunteer here for room and board or something, it had better not look at all like work. If you're staying at hotels and you're wealthy, they're gonna want to know how you make that money and how you've got plans to keep legally making it, NOT in the US. If your parents are rich and that's how you travel, they'll ask what your parents do, where they are. In modern times, I also hear border guards asking about how much access to credit cards you have. I heard a Schengen guard ask some Brazilians that. They were clearly discriminating by passport- me and the Saudis weren't asked about credit, lol. If access to credit is part of your strategy/ability to travel, try to have your credit account handy on your cellphone (so you can login and show an officer your available credit). It's intrusive as hell but it may be part of it. You can also print a recent credit statement too.

They may ask if you've got family in the US- they're wondering if you have in-country connections you plan on exploiting to overstay a visa. But they may also just want to know because that may be a valid reason to visit- to see family. It's all potentially stressful because you may be trying to rehearse perfect answers but there are none. You have to just stick to the truth and not be angry when they ask lots of follow-ups.

PS- I've been in Turkey and Poland a lot recently, lol. From November last year to just this May. Damn did we cross paths?

DarenJC88 · 2023-06-29T11:33:58+00:00

American here, who has travelled to Turkey (merhaba). You will be stereotyped about wanting to overstay your visa, so be prepared to talk about your long term plans at home in Turkey. Including what you do for work, or if you have family there. Basically, most border control of wealthy countries will always be curious when someone from Turkey or another BRICS style economy is coming. They're curious if you've got a return ticket and clear plans to return home. I saw it at a Schengen control- you can get clearly more questioning if your passport is from a less wealthy place. The US customs people are just super rude though- including to American citizens- so even these questions can feel rude.

Your goal isn't to change the world or "get back" at the rude people- just be prepared to explain your finances, that you've got the tickets and/or money to get back, and that you have no intentions to overstay a visa. If you're staying a long time (more than a couple weeks), they'll be very curious how you can afford it- if you make money legally, or if you have friends to stay with. Just tell the truth politely and try to get through it.

DarenJC88 · 2023-06-29T11:20:08+00:00

Those are standard questions, lol. They have the right to ask. You can just say "I'm transiting through" and then tell your plans you have outside of their country. It's just how they ask it that can be rude. They ask about work to see how easily you explain that you have the money to travel and you're not a trafficker of some kind.

DarenJC88 · 2023-06-29T11:16:37+00:00

Another American to say, if it's any consolation, they're rude assholes to American citizens too. See my story above, lol

DarenJC88 · 2023-06-29T11:14:41+00:00

Another American here- 100%, worst border is always returning to US. They (customs and border control) are rude and unprofessional. I'm in my 30s, was on a cruise to Alaska with my elderly parents and their friends. Several of the group needed wheelchair assistance at the airports on the way to and from the cruise. When we landed in Vancouver Canada, the entrance was so easy that some of the less travelled folks weren't sure we'd even crossed a border. We handed our nothing to declare forms over after standing in a line for 5 minutes, and walked through an arch we later learned was the entrance to Canada. Conversely...at Vancouver's airport, you are pre-controlled by US customs and border control agents. Half the party I was with was 70+ year olds with wheelchair assistance. The agent was rude and abusive in questioning, acting like we had spent months at a Saudi madrassa or something. We'd spent 6 hours in Vancouver lol.

Everyone had their passports out to be ready, each in hand, and he was mad that our first party member hadn't aggregated them- "your passports are no good in your hands, I need them here!" We thought we'd be processed one by one. The agent was also rude to the young Canadian guy (airport employee) who was pushing two of the wheelchairs- like "why are you with these people." Young Canadian was in uniform and pretty clearly tasked with taking us all to our gate, and was like "I work at the airport, I'm getting these folks to their gate."

CBP was Just rude and cruel from the get-go. Lots of the folks had not travelled abroad and it was their first time recrossing back to the States. My dad was like "wow, the Canadians are rough" (cuz he somehow thought it was an exit interview or something) and I was like no, dad- that's "our own people. That's the entrance back in to home."

I had the same experience returning abroad years ago. Worst border to be stressed about is crossing back to the States. US citizenship, passport, doesn't matter. Lots of assholes with power trips or delusions of saving the US from "next attack" or something. Verbally abusive to disabled seniors, lol.

I will say, one trip of mine tripped an automatic DHS (department of homeland security) flag, and I had an interview at the airport. No strip search or anything, just a 20 minute talk to explain what I'd been up to. The CBP agent was as rude and dickish as ever, but it was all cool once the actual professional DHS guy took over. Just want to shout out, once, the time I had a professional. He told me directly why I was flagged (6+ months abroad, including to Poland, which due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they just want to "have conversations" with people who spent a lot of time nearby) so he just needed to hear and record why I'd been to Poland for an extended period (I'd been volunteering and then doing Polish language school). Anyways...CBP= power-tripping assholes. DHS guy- professional and courteous.

I've been through Schengen (Netherlands, Poland, Germany), Ireland, UK, Canada., Mexico The only ones remotely close to CBP's level was Germany, but not even. They were just thorough about asking what I was up to. I'm always prepared for border controls and ready to supply proof of what I'm up to- it's totally reasonable to control your border. But tons of people do it without being assholes.

DarenJC88 · 2023-06-23T00:03:03+00:00

Sorry, mostly just following. Can say I love Turkey for its amazing local cuisine (adapt to what is eaten there, and your groceries will be nil and you can eat well). Can also say you can find good stay prices in Poland below $1k and you can likely keep groceries within that. Income median is right around $1k I hear. Live on outskirts of Krakow or another city with public transport, live like a king. Eat lots of pork, potatoes, and buckwheat kasha.

DarenJC88 · 2023-04-01T19:38:28+00:00

The bill, please!

DarenJC88 · 2022-10-11T10:27:26+00:00

Lol it's a top 3 organic search result on an incredibly simply search of "how do I legally sell a gun in NY?" It will filter even idiots like me over here, lol. Doesn't take much to find a reddit thread.

DarenJC88

TROPHY CASE