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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5336 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes  Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 33 of 65 02 May 2010 at 9:39am | IP Logged | |||||
I was wondering your thoughts of this list i made on pg2 Akao ? You seem to have skipped over it ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5835 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 34 of 65 02 May 2010 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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At 13 I was 100% certain I wanted to be an astrounout/cosmonaut. I have a journal full of rantings about my plans to that extent. Enough said.
Also on your list you have some virtual duplicates; what possible benefit to learn Danish after you learnt Norwegian, or Ukrainian after you learnt Russian? Why don't you follow the example of the guy in the cultural lounge who said he wanted to learn the official UN languages instaed? Much more useful. Plus; there are a lot of hype surrounding Mezzofanti. I wouldn't necessarily trust all of the claims about him. Just listen to some of the "polyglots" on youtube.... Set yourself an achievable goal instead and focus on quality not quantity. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| yawn Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5423 days ago 141 posts - 209 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, FrenchC2, SpanishC2 Studies: GermanB1 | Message 35 of 65 04 May 2010 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Akao, being a relatively young member of this forum myself (I'll be turning 16 in a little more than a month), even I have to say that those are pretty lofty goals to achieve. I would personally much rather just learn, say, 10 major languages to advanced or near-native fluency and maintain them throughout the rest of my life through continual usage. I believe that when people are primarily concerned with the number of languages they know, they often wind up sacrificing the depth of said knowledge, which is a shame because every language really has so much to offer. Having studied both French and Spanish to the C2 level of the Common European Framework (I'll be taking the DELE Superior in November), I'm almost dismayed at how much people overlook important aspects of the culture, politics, gastronomy, etc. a language belongs to.
I think you would be better off focusing on just languages you know you might realistically encounter in your adult life, because languages are also VERY hard to maintain -- keeping up my French alone for me is a huge effort because I don't live in a French-speaking area and none of my family knows anything about it (we're Chinese). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| noriyuki_nomura Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 5337 days ago 304 posts - 465 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Japanese, FrenchC2, GermanC2, ItalianC1, SpanishB2, DutchB1 Studies: TurkishA1, Korean | Message 36 of 65 04 May 2010 at 2:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I agree with the comments made by the above two young forum-users (oh my, made me feel so old now): you should strive to concentrate more on quality rather than quantity. At the end of the day, people judge you by how well you can communicate in the language(s) with the locals, and how much experience you have had with the culture/country/community that speak the language, rather than by how well you passively know a wide range of languages - at a superficial level.
In my humble opinion, the mere ability to speak a few (basic) sentences in a wide range of languages doesn't really make you a true polyglot. If all a person can do is to utter these few sentences and is unable to participate actively in a conversation/discussion with native speakers, then I would take it with a pinch of salt if ones claims that he/she is a polyglot... Edited by noriyuki_nomura on 04 May 2010 at 2:09pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| robsolete Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5382 days ago 191 posts - 428 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 37 of 65 05 May 2010 at 7:22am | IP Logged | |||||
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You're 13. Relax.
Attack French and Spanish for now. They're fantastic languages and you can help your friends with their homework. Practice guitar. Meet a lot of girls. Have fun. When you're a senior in high school start working on a more exotic language with a different script. Shop around, then go from there. Just, coming from someone who was faaaaar too serious about studying (sadly not languages) at 13, enjoy your freedom to be irresponsible. It'll be gone before you know it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5333 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 38 of 65 05 May 2010 at 10:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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@Rob
Well, I already have experienced irresponsibility and honestly it hasn't gotten me anywhere, which is why I gave up on it. @The rest I guess the goal was quite over-ambitious, especially when I factor in the whole "age deteriorates memory" thing. I will just learn one, two or three languages at a time to fluency, no matter how many years it takes (unless I waste five years, then I'm doing something wrong :l) then move on. I'll just see how many I wind up knowing and hopefully have a lifestyle that will allow me to maintain these languages. Thank you for the support and constructive criticism, have a nice day all. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5582 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 39 of 65 05 May 2010 at 5:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. I've made a clear goal of 6 and no more than 10 in my lifetime. :D 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5582 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 40 of 65 05 May 2010 at 5:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
I couldn't agree with this more. I'm 18 now, graduating high school in 17 school days. It's hard to believe I've been in school for almost 12 years... I sit back and wonder where the time has gone. Enjoy your childhood/teenage years while you have them. I'm moving on to college, and to be quite honest, I'm pretty scared. I know that if I fail there is NO going back. I have no choice but to succeed. Enjoy everything you have. Surround yourself with languages if you have the opportunity, but I wouldn't lock yourself in a room and study continuously. If there are exchange students at school, become friends. Languages have opened so many doors to new relationships, friendships, and a new way of thinking. Just being bilingual will really open doors for you. Enjoy everything while you have it, it's one thing I entirely regret. The invention of videogames. I got my first system when I was in 3rd grade (way later than other kids) and I can definitely say those things ruin childhoods. I wish I would have never got it. So many kids locked inside on a beautiful day, doing what? Pushing buttons, doing nothing productive. Kids still do it today. They don't even want to go outside. It's a shame. Studying languages is much much more productive (You can make a friend!:D) but I guess it's the same concept. Enjoy the time while you have it. Go outside, run around, enjoy the world around you. At the age of 13, you can learn so much about so many people, how to interact, manners, body language, everything that will prepare you for a bright future in a career. The more time you spend around people, the better you will be. I honestly miss the days of going to the pool, running around outside playing tag after dinner, and not having homework. (little, if any :D) It's hard to realize what you've missed and what you wished you could have done, but I'll have to grow up someday and be a responsible grown man. :D My advice: Study when you have some free time (when your friends can't play, it's raining, etc) and the rest of that time, spend out in the world. You can meet a new friend everyday, and who knows, they might speak a different language. You have so much to see and learn at your age, don't let anything pass you by. :) Best of luck to you in all of your studies, if you have the true will power, it is definitely possible. -Jordan 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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