I've taken 8 years of Spanish over the course of my education. But I never had much need for it in the great Northeast which is where I spent the majority of my formative years. Then, when I did need it, as a teacher in L.A., it was so rusty my students could have gotten tetanus from it. I did remember all of the bad words, go figure, and that did come in handy. But I would really like to be fluent in Spanish. Or really any other language besides English, or maybe in English at this point. It depends on who you talk to.
I have noticed that the world has begun using more and more of a melange of languages, and it is beneficial to have a background of more than one language. I've also noticed that many languages sound at least a little bit like another language which can be helpful sometimes. Other times not so much. There are times when nothing helps at all, and you are left sitting there with no idea what's going on because someone else is speaking a foreign language to you. Or perhaps they have only used a foreign phrase. Sometimes you might just run across a foreign word or phrase in a book or online.
If you are in a school setting, it might not be a problem. You could confer with one of the foreign language teachers. But that's assuming you or the teacher knows from what language the word or phrase originates. Or perhaps you could check in the library and find a translation book. Those are some of the possibilities.
Fear not faithful reader, I have a spiffy new solution for you in the form of a Web 2.0 tool called Babylon Translation Box! It is a widget offering you a translation in over 20 languages through the use of an online dictionary and thesaurus! Best of all, it's free, available from the labpixies at labpixies.com! This is a very small tool that can be places on your website or in your tool bar, and can save you hours of aggravation if you are the type of person who likes to surf internationally flavored sites. Check it out today, and see what you have literally been missing.
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