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Female Foreign Language Learners | ||
Tags: Female Polyglot | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5768 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes  Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 153 of 202 24 April 2009 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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1.) They're shiny. I like shiny things. \:D/
No, really, there are so many different levels of motivation that it's hard to come up with an exhaustive answer. German might not be your typical bilingual country, but language classes are a mandatory subject in school. In my family higher education also is the norm, as is language learning (my aunt majored in linguistics, my grandma and mom both speak two foreign languages fluently and have some knowledge of others), so when I was a child it never occured me that I could not learn languages. I however had to find out that I don't have a talent for learning languages, and that annoyed me. 2.) Not yet, but that time will probably come. 3.) Not language learning. Aspiring polyglottergy may be, though. (I don't care about becoming a polyglot. I just want to learn as much as I can.) 4.) Both. Initially the main factor was my environment, but since I left school it's been mostly my own desire. Edited by Bao on 24 April 2009 at 9:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Maximus Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6751 days ago 417 posts - 427 votes Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Thai | Message 154 of 202 24 April 2009 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | ||
Come people! We all knew that Dark sunshine decided to add that comment to the debate even though nobody had attacked enimme for being a transsexual! These extreme-liberal pinkos are always looking for any excuse or opportunity to slip in a anti-social conversative comment, even when totally unprovoked! Jbbar is right! They do seem to be monopolizing this damn forum! As for never wanting to leave your snuggly bubble of Scandinavia, for me, I'd rather be in the Bible Belt! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Whiskeyjack Newbie Canada Joined 5734 days ago 36 posts - 37 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Spanish, Russian | Message 155 of 202 24 April 2009 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Im a Catholic and have been trying to get a date, come on cut us some slack!!!!!
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| snovymgodom Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5727 days ago 136 posts - 149 votes Speaks: English*, Russian | Message 156 of 202 24 April 2009 at 5:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've been taking Russian for two years at my university, and there have always been more females than males. In fact, I was the only male in the first semester I took here (which was an intermediate Russian class).
In contrast, when I started taking Latin in high school, I remember that there were only three girls in the class (though the ratio became more equal in higher-level courses). So it's hard to make any kind of meaningful statement. I don't believe that gender itself affects language learning very much, especially after observing an abundance of remarkable male and female learners. I've also heard the notion that women like to talk more or use more words when speaking, but I don't know how accurate or meaningful that is. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6661 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 157 of 202 24 April 2009 at 5:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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In most of the foreign language classes I have taken, there has been a clear majority of female students. Perhaps male learners are more attracted to Internet forums.
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| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6892 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 159 of 202 24 April 2009 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
1 - I enjoy being able to read texts in a foreign language and love learning new words and language-related trivia. You can learn a lot about a culture by learning its language. 2 - I don't have any children so my responsibilities are limited to my duties at work and those to my partner, family and friends. Language learning is only one of my hobbies so I don't spend every free moment on learning new languages. I wouldn't say that my progress is limited by being a woman or having other responsibilities but rather on my own inability to focus on one task. I'm very susceptible to wanderlust and not just with languages! 3 - Not really. I know plenty of male and female language enthusiasts and I know many men and women who have no interest in learning a foreign language. It does seem like there are more men who blog about language learning than there are women but it would be foolish to use this to argue that men are more likely to be polyglots than women. It could very well be that women would rather spend their time learning a language than writing about learning languages. ;) 4 - It depends on the language. I learnt Spanish as a child and at school because Spanish is a widely-spoken language in Gibraltar and because I have Spanish relatives, while I chose to learn Mandarin, Italian and Japanese out of pure interest. French would be a mixture of the two as it was a compulsory subject at school but I've continued to perfect my French since then simply because I enjoy reading French literature and because I find it a useful language to know as a European. Dutch is the only language I've had to learn out of necessity. I live in the Netherlands with my Dutch partner so it only seems right if I make the effort to learn the local language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Maximus Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6751 days ago 417 posts - 427 votes Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Thai | Message 160 of 202 24 April 2009 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Can I participate in this thread if I tuck my tale in between my legs!
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