French/German/Portuguese/Indonesian (Advice Center) Language Learning Forum

French/German/Portuguese/Indonesian
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Language Learning Forum : Advice Center

24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5253 days ago
2241 posts - 6731 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

Message 17 of 24

29 December 2013 at 8:52pm | IP Logged

emk wrote:

...For those who dream of learning a language, you might as well start now. It's certainly not going to get any easier to find time as you get older. I know a wonderful retired 70-year-old who'd love to speak French, but who still thinks that next year will be a better time to start Assimil.

There's Sunday, Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday but "SOMEDAY" is not on any calendar that I know of, in any language.
1 person has voted this message useful

culebrilla
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3988 days ago
246 posts - 436 votes

Speaks: Spanish

Message 18 of 24

29 December 2013 at 10:17pm | IP Logged

1e4e6 wrote:

In the UK, and I think Ireland as well, the MBChB is five years. I did not enter
medicine, but I entered university at 17. My mother also entered university at 17 years
of age. So if a MBChB student enters at 17, I suppose that s/he could graduate at 22 as
a new doctor. There is no residency, as the course covers everything if I remember
correctly. I think that law is three years, but I may be wrong because I never applied
for anything related to law. I suppose that a 17 year old LLB student could graduate at
20 as lawyer technically.

I had some acquaintances in university who were in the process of learning languages in
addition to the three or four that they already had. I remember one woman who was in my
society, from Norway, who knew English, French, and German, and went to university in
the Netherlands and then postgraduate in the UK and now I think works in France. Then
there was a Belgian woman whom I met at a society dinner who knew English, French,
Dutch, German, and Spanish and was learning Portuguese and Swedish during the summer
term breaks of her course. I am not sure why, but she already had quite a lot of
languages already. I wish I had their language skills.

All the foreign docs that I know DO complete a residency. In the US you can practice medicine with either one or two years of residency depending on the state. However, pretty much everybody finishes the 3-7 years of residency since your job prospects will be crappy if you aren't residency trained. So you don't "have" to, but you really do. In some residencies like radiology, everybody does at least one year of fellowship. There is just a lot to learn and you aren't competitive if you don't do at least one year of fellowship.

Edit: At least in the US, everybody finishes High School at age 18, unless you are some "special" kid that finishes a year or two early. Not many of those walking around.

Edited by culebrilla on 29 December 2013 at 10:18pm
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culebrilla
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3988 days ago
246 posts - 436 votes

Speaks: Spanish

Message 19 of 24

29 December 2013 at 10:21pm | IP Logged

emk wrote:

culebrilla wrote:

I'm not saying that learning new languages is not helpful, but it is very inefficient in terms of earning a living, which really should be our first focus in life. If you can't provide for yourself or your family, you're in trouble. Once you have a stable job then the hobbies can be entertained.

I agree with culebrilla that languages are typically of little professional use to an English speaker in an English-speaking country. (Although putting 1,000 hours into Spanish might pay off quite well in certain professions.)

However, I disagree about one thing: Putting off language study until your "hobbies can be entertained" more responsibly. As Khatzumoto points out, that time will never come. Here's a sample:

Quote:

15: Focus on school. You can do that when you’re 25.
20: Focus on graduating college. Don’t dally, just get it out the way. You were so cute when you were 10. But now…
25: Focus on starting your career. You can do that when you’re settled.
30: Shoulda started in college. If you really wanted to, you would have. You were so cute when you were 20. But now…
35: You should start a family. Stop being silly.
40: Shouldn’t have started a family. You have responsibilities now. You were so cute when you were 30. But now…

For those who dream of learning a language, you might as well start now. It's certainly not going to get any easier to find time as you get older. I know a wonderful retired 70-year-old who'd love to speak French, but who still thinks that next year will be a better time to start Assimil.

Yes, Spanish is an exception. That is why I studied Spanish, for health care. However, it really isn't that helpful in the sense that if I had devoted those many thousands of hours that I spent practicing Spanish to studying more medicine, I would probably be able to get a very high-paid specialty like orthopedic surgery. And the difference in compensation between a primary care doctor and something like the ROAD specialities (Radiology, ortho, anesthesiology, dermatology) is vast.

I'm not saying NOT study languages, but your education and job comes first. You can study languages for fun and have a good CV simultaneously, but if somebody is hypothetically just in love with languages, gets C's in class, and doesn't apply themselves in things outside languages, they they are in trouble professionally.

Edit: in other words, balance in life. I'm glad I don't like the "competitive" specialties. If surgery was paid 500,000 a year I still wouldn't bite. Having no life for 5 years of residency is no fun; they literally do 80+ hours a week. Not cool and a bad work-life balance.

Edited by culebrilla on 29 December 2013 at 10:23pm
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tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4698 days ago
5310 posts - 9399 votes

Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

Message 20 of 24

29 December 2013 at 10:50pm | IP Logged

That's why I went into engineering.
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Gemuse
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4073 days ago
818 posts - 1189 votes

Speaks: English
Studies: German

Message 21 of 24

29 December 2013 at 11:01pm | IP Logged

tarvos wrote:

That's why I went into engineering.

A lot of engineers work 80hrs per week

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1e4e6
Octoglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4281 days ago
1013 posts - 1588 votes

Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian
Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan

Message 22 of 24

29 December 2013 at 11:02pm | IP Logged

I definitely was not specially talented, neither my mother (no disrespect to her), but
we
both left secondary
schooling at age 17, and entered university at 17. I had some classmates also who were
17
as well, it was nothing very unusual. Some were from Spain and Portugal, so I suppose
that their secondary schooling has 17 year old leavers as well.

Also if one wants to attend university in another country, learning the language to a
decent level would be
necessary. But this needs to be completed early. The Norwegian woman who I met left
Norway directly to undergraduate degree in Universiteit van Groningen, but I am not
sure how she managed to get her Dutch to a high level whilst being busy with schooling.

Edited by 1e4e6 on 29 December 2013 at 11:06pm
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tarvos
Super Polyglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
China
likeapolyglot.wordpr
Joined 4698 days ago
5310 posts - 9399 votes

Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

Message 23 of 24

29 December 2013 at 11:08pm | IP Logged

Gemuse wrote:

tarvos wrote:

That's why I went into engineering.

A lot of engineers work 80hrs per week

I'm not a pure engineer anymore, thankfully. I work in the subdomain where engineering
meets policy and communication.

Edited by tarvos on 29 December 2013 at 11:08pm
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culebrilla
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3988 days ago
246 posts - 436 votes

Speaks: Spanish

Message 24 of 24

30 December 2013 at 12:02am | IP Logged

Gemuse wrote:

tarvos wrote:

That's why I went into engineering.

A lot of engineers work 80hrs per week

Maybe a lot in terms of absolute numbers, but percentage? No.

A lot of people lie or exaggerate their hours spent working.

In residency, however, it is no lie. You will be working 70-100 hours a week. Every week.
And you will have call every 3 or 4 days. (24-30 hour shift)

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