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Druckfehler’s late introduction | ||
Tags: Germany | Introduction | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Members profiles |  | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4859 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes  Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 1 of 6 27 February 2012 at 7:49pm | IP Logged |
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Hey everyone,
it occurred to me that I should probably formally introduce myself at some point, now that I've already been on the forum for half a year and plan to stick around permanently. I'm a 24 year old girl from Germany and I'm currently studying British literature, social anthropology and publishing at university. I went to a school with a focus on classical languages, so I learned both Latin and Ancient Greek for 5 years. At the same time I fell in love with English, because I realized that there was almost no information in German about a topic I was interested in, but there was plenty in English. I also grew to like reading novels and watching movies in English and decided to study abroad in New Zealand for a year to perfect my language skills. I went to a boarding school where I experienced my biggest culture shock to date. I remember how confused I was because my mind knew no concepts to classify most of the people I met. Almost all boarders were either from the Pacific Islands or Asia. Their cultures were difficult to grasp for me and I felt rather misplaced for about half a year. Then I gradually became less confused, appreciated the novelty and made friends from many different countries. I think that was the time when the foundation to my interest in a wide range of languages and cultures was laid. I came back with C2 level English, a strangely amalgamated accent and a few words in Maori, Fijian and Japanese. I then went on to unsuccessfully study Portuguese and a bit of French before figuring out that the language I really want to learn is Korean and that I love language learning in general, the more exotic and challenging the better. I doubt I'll become very polyglotty with that inclination, but we'll see :D Other languages I dabbled in are Hebrew and Persian, which I may or may not take up again later. I'd also like to learn Mandarin to a high level and Samoan to some degree. My favourite things about languages: learning different writing systems, acquiring new thinking patterns, pronunciation, subtle nuances of expression, learning through reading, language teaching. Edited by druckfehler on 28 February 2012 at 1:27am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| manish Triglot Groupie Romania Joined 5537 days ago 88 posts - 136 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 6 14 March 2012 at 5:10pm | IP Logged |
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Sounds really interesting!
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| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4859 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 3 of 6 16 March 2012 at 9:29pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks :D Unfortunately my language learning history is more interesting than my actual proficiency. Apart from some very hazy memories of grammar and the Greek alphabet (maybe only lower-case letters) I forgot all of the Classical language stuff. My level of Portuguese makes it possible to read postcards, my level of Hebrew is just about suited for survival as a tourist, my level of Persian makes it possible to exchange 2 or 3 sentences and sometimes help one of my students figure out the meaning of a basic German word. But then again, language study is rewarding in and of itself, who needs results? ;)
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| manish Triglot Groupie Romania Joined 5537 days ago 88 posts - 136 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English, German Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 6 16 March 2012 at 11:27pm | IP Logged |
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Even so, I guess you're better off than I am... I just learn the writing system, and then I give up.
I learned Cyrillic in order to learn Russian, Hangul in order to learn Korean, and most recently i started learning the Hebrew alphabet. Sadly, I've already forgotten most of Hangul... I can still read Cyrillic, but I'm very slow at it. The funny thing is that I never learned the Greek alphabet, but I can somehow read it (to some extent): I guess Latin, Cyrillic, and some common sense are helping me with that :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4662 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 6 17 March 2012 at 12:20am | IP Logged |
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Why Samoan?
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| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4859 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 6 of 6 19 March 2012 at 1:36am | IP Logged |
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The year I spent in New Zealand was quite a defining experience and I got to know many Polynesians during that time. Their culture mystified me or the most part, but I think maybe some of it stuck nevertheless :)
So part of it is probably nostalgia (and palm trees!), but I also like the way Polynesian languages sound - repeated syllables, very vowel-heavy (Samoan especially). The grammar also strikes me as interesting, as I haven't yet studied a V-S-O language. As for why I chose Samoan: I think it's the natural choice for someone wanting to learn a Polynesian language. It has the most speakers and is spoken in Samoa, parts of New Zealand and the US, as well as Australia (more so than other Polynesian languages). Hawaiian and Maori may be more or equally useful from a US/NZ only perspective. But monolingual speakers of Samoan seem to exist while you'd probably be hard pressed to find the same to be true for Maori or Hawaiian. Besides, Samoan culture is just really foreign from a German perspective and that's heavily expressed in the language. I find languages that open my mind to completely different ways of interpreting and organising knowledge about the world fascinating. Not sure how far I'll get with this language (given the relative scarcity of resources, language tandem opportunities, etc.) , but I've started a log anyway. Edited by druckfehler on 19 March 2012 at 4:54am 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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