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Languages that you feel obligated... | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| vvaamim Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4955 days ago 11 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Turkish | Message 1 of 58 27 January 2013 at 9:47am | IP Logged |
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Are there any languages that you guys feel obligated to learn?
For me, it's French. My family being from Louisiana and Creole-speaking, it was kind of expected that I'd learn French. I only know a little Creole so I basically had to learn French from the ground up (and I honestly don't see Creole helping with French other than some vocab words). ...And I've hated almost* every waking moment of it. I don't know what it is about it, but I just do not like; however, I feel compelled to continue with. I abhor Parisian French with an adamant passion; I can't listen to it for more than an hour than I break. I do, nonetheless, adore Quebec French and all of its quirks. And despite everything, I'm actually not bad at it at all. As of the past couple semesters, I'm the top student in the French department. That's not to say that it's flawless--far from it--, but I'm good at it. But every time I would leave French class I would be in a terrible mood. Always. Yet I can't keep my paws off of it. I guess a love-hate relationship. Does anyone else have a similar relationship? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Tamise Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom jllrr.wordpress.com/ Joined 5244 days ago 115 posts - 161 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Dutch Studies: French, Japanese, Spanish | Message 2 of 58 27 January 2013 at 11:58am | IP Logged |
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I used to have that feeling with French too - at school I did French and German, and always preferred German but ended up doing 6 years of French but only 4 of German. I went on to study German as part of my degree and mostly forgot about French. It was always at the back of my mind though that I ought to learn it and it's a language I've always wanted to know but have never really wanted to learn. I did try to do some active studying, but really hated it. Then came the super challenge and I figured it would be perfect - I've been reading and watching a lot in French and really enjoying the language without actively studying it.
The other language I feel I ought to learn is Spanish - there though it's more that I just haven't got around to it yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6904 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 3 of 58 27 January 2013 at 12:23pm | IP Logged |
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For me, it's French as well, for at least two reasons (which are very different for yours, though).
One is that that's the one language I felt like I failed in learning. This was mostly due to a really bad course I was unlucky to attend and a combination of other factors (such as me being a visual learner which did not help me in the case of French, and most people in my beginner's course having a few years of French learning experience under their belt) but it made me feel like I had to prove something for quite a long time, and lead to some kind of a love-hate relationship. The other reason is a professional one, now I need French for my job so I re-focused on that despite feeling like learning other languages at the moment. I guess it's a love-hate relationship in my case as well (I even described it this way a while ago here on HTLAL) although it's not half as intense as yours. French is also the only language I'm actually looking forward to 'completing' it. Obviously, I'm aware of the fact you never reaally 'complete' a language; I'm just waiting for the moment when I feel I'm finally satisfied with it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5208 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 58 27 January 2013 at 12:45pm | IP Logged |
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"Obligated" is a bit too strong a word for my situation, but I feel that Spanish would be so useful to me that I'd be stupid not to learn it, especially since it's an "easy" language to me, having studied French and Italian. With the Spanish community in my city, the language would give me access to so many cool people, great parties, and hot women ;). Not to mention the travel opportunities. I'm almost surprised that not everybody here is learning Spanish.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4623 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 5 of 58 27 January 2013 at 12:52pm | IP Logged |
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German, since my wife's family live in rural Germany in a former communist area. The popular maxim "all
Germans speak good English" definitely does not apply in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg Vorpommern. I could barely say more than a few words the first time I went there and decided I better start learning. I also wanted to learn which makes an absolutely massive difference. Speaking with country folk who have thick accents and are not accustomed to modifying their speech for foreigners is a baptism of fire, but ultimately a fantastic learning experience. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4666 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 58 27 January 2013 at 1:03pm | IP Logged |
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Spanish to some extent. I particularly remember one time in college when some friends and I were out, and a friend of a friend suddenly started talking in some extremely fluent-sounding Spanish to two guys he had overheard (I had known this guy for a couple years but never knew he could speak it). It was the first time I remember thinking, "Hey, I've lived in Texas for two full decades now. Why haven't I learned to do that yet?" The Spanish speakers I've met have been pretty cool people, too, so it would be great to talk to them in their native language.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| mezzofanti Octoglot Senior Member Australia mezzoguild.com Joined 4749 days ago 51 posts - 112 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Arabic (classical), Arabic (Egyptian), Irish, Arabic (Levantine) Studies: Korean, Georgian, French | Message 7 of 58 27 January 2013 at 1:13pm | IP Logged |
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I had always wanted to learn Irish but it wasn't until my grandmother (who's family was
Irish) passed away a year ago that I felt a kind of 'duty' to pursue it. It was a very difficult time for me losing her but I was able to feel some solace through my experience with the language. Edited by mezzofanti on 27 January 2013 at 1:14pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| renaissancemedi Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Greece Joined 4359 days ago 941 posts - 1309 votes Speaks: Greek*, Ancient Greek*, EnglishC2 Studies: French, Russian, Turkish, Modern Hebrew | Message 8 of 58 27 January 2013 at 1:15pm | IP Logged |
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German I guess. I have no connection to Germany, and I have always been reluctant to learn it, though it's useful. Now more than ever, perhaps. The thing is, the more I study the more I like it, and then I hate the fact I like it. I sense a language love affair with German I never saw coming.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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