PenguinJimmy Newbie United States Joined 3974 days ago 6 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 1 of 4 25 May 2014 at 10:40am | IP Logged |
A big Hello to everyone here! I want to start off by saying that this is a wonderful
site. I've visited it frequently for the past six or so years and it has been nothing but
pure enjoyment reading what all of you have to say. I'm a big fan of Serpent (with
her superhuman diligence and her passion for Finnish), iguanamon (with his down-
to-earth explanations and advice), Solfrid Cristin (with her inspiring, loveable
posts), Iversen (with his extensive knowledge of practically every European
language), emk (with his ability to stick with French for so long and with such
persistence), and Chung (with his extreme attention to detail that I wish I
possessed). It's not only these people who inspire me, but practically everyone
here. So again, Hello to you all! :)
As for me, I'm a huge wanderluster. I love so many languages that throughout the
years I've never been able to settle on just one for very long. I've come to accept
this about myself, and so I just wander from language to language, having fun
along the way. I don't know if I'll ever need to reach C1 or C2 in any language.
Though I'd love to reach B1 or B2 in several. That might be me dreaming big
though, because I'm one of those people who honestly believes they have no
ability to learn another language. :P
But yeah, I'm not huge on being public with my words as I'm rather introverted, but I
hope to make some posts here and there just to be a part of this awesome group.
:) I already have a thread I'd like to reply to, so I'll get to that!
3 persons have voted this message useful
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iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5250 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)
| Message 2 of 4 25 May 2014 at 1:57pm | IP Logged |
Thanks for the kind words, PenguinJimmy, and welcome to the forum!
PenguinJimmy wrote:
...I'd love to reach B1 or B2 in several. That might be me dreaming big though, because I'm one of those people who honestly believes they have no ability to learn another language. :P |
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I don't think its dreaming big because, despite what you may believe, you DO have the ability to learn a language to intermediate level. And if you've been dropping by the forum on and off for six years, you should know that. We can be so limited by our beliefs.
Henry Ford wrote:
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't- you're right. |
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As the above quote illustrates, our thoughts and beliefs have a huge influence over what we can achieve. There's nothing "wrong" with what you're doing as long as you enjoy it. If, you do want to get at least one language to a high intermediate level, you can, but you will have to focus and most importantly, you have to believe that you can.
It helps to find a reason beyond "studying", beyond a course(s). Only you can find that motivation, and you don't have to if you don't want to do so. If you do, we can help. As an added incentive, having at least one second language at a high level will turbocharge your learning of other languages, even non-related ones, thereby increasing your "fun" exponentially.
Again, welcome to the forum! Even though you haven't learned a second language to a high level yet, your contributions can be valuable because of your experience with so many languages.
Edited by iguanamon on 25 May 2014 at 2:00pm
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Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6585 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish
| Message 3 of 4 25 May 2014 at 4:41pm | IP Logged |
Wow, I'm honoured. I'll remember your words when I'm feeling down :))))
I agree with iguanamon - you can definitely reach a decent level in all your languages, and especially for Spanish/German/French C1-C2 is a very doable goal in the long run. You might have no need for such a high active level, but having C1 comprehension is a fantastic stage to reach.
What makes you think that you don't have the ability/talent? Also, apart from the love for many languages, are there any factors leading you to wanderlust? I find that the best ways to make sure you don't neglect one language in favour of another are challenges and SRS.
But there's no need to hurry, we can always talk about that, and the profiles aren't really meant for advice-giving. Welcome to the forum! I'll be happy to help you with Russian and language learning in general.
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PenguinJimmy Newbie United States Joined 3974 days ago 6 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German
| Message 4 of 4 26 May 2014 at 3:02am | IP Logged |
That's a very inspiring quote and post iguanamon. Thank you so much for taking the
time to write it, and for your warm welcome. :) And Serpent, thank you also for your
advice, and for so kindly offering me help in Russian. I'm very happy to have had you
both respond. Thank you both again! :)
1 person has voted this message useful
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