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Languages that you feel obligated... | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| expatmaddy Diglot Newbie Korea, South Joined 4329 days ago 19 posts - 27 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin | Message 17 of 58 28 January 2013 at 11:15am | IP Logged | ||
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I would say German and Italian. Mostly because it seems like a wasted opportunity not to
learn them at least to a beginner level when so much can be gained from knowing just a little bit of each. I would love to travel to either of those places- I bet speaking a bit of the language would really open some doors. My opinions might be different, were I to start either German or Italian though. I have met many people who have begun one or the other only to fall deeply in love. Unfortunately, I've got a full plate with Korean right now. So finding out will have to wait. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5101 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 18 of 58 28 January 2013 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was obligated to study Spanish in high school. I hated every minute of it, but I must grudgingly admit that it would be useful to learn it. However, I have no plans to do so.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Surtalnar Tetraglot Groupie Germany Joined 4397 days ago 52 posts - 67 votes Speaks: German*, Latin, English, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Arabic (classical) | Message 19 of 58 29 January 2013 at 12:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Spanish.
It can sound so beautiful, but it also can sound so ugly. I love it's clearness and lot of it's sounds/phonemics. Especially I love Latin-American English, it sounds really beautiful, but what I hate is Spanish Spanish - I hate its spitty th sounds, they sound horrible. Also Spanish has some ugly sounding words like "muy", but other words are in my ear very beautiful sounding. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Alanjazz Triglot Groupie United States Joined 4816 days ago 65 posts - 129 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese | Message 20 of 58 29 January 2013 at 11:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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To go off topic a little...
Surtalnar, I have to disagree with you on Spain Spanish... I think that though it's a harsh accent it has a certain charm, that it sounds at times like the Arabic that influenced it. For me, the Spanish accents I have a hard time appreciating are the Caribbean ones. They sound harsher and more mechanical to me than European Spanish accents, and I have a harder time understanding them in general (less contact with Caribbean people.) The only language I feel obligated to learn is German. I took it on a whim when entering middle school after having very limited amounts of Spanish in elementary school, because a few of my friends were taking it. My reasoning also consisted of other advanced ideas like "Spanish is for slackers" and "French is too feminine." Mandarin was so exotic that it was off the map in terms of a choice, and so German seemed to my 12-year-old mind to be the perfect middle of the road, "suitably masculine" language. (Despite that not being true in any sense.) Now, 11 years later, I feel put off by 20c German history, thoroughly disinterested in the culture, but with 6 years of academic study of the language. I am learning German conversationally to make sure that all that time in classrooms wasn't a complete waste, and to mine whatever little bits of language I can from those memories. Also, being the largest natively spoken language in Europe is a big benefit - and I know that there are a number of people from Central and Eastern European countries who have a much stronger command of German than they do of English, French or another foreign language. So, despite lack of cultural interest, and the thought that I would never return to it, here I am. Edited by Alanjazz on 29 January 2013 at 11:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gala Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4551 days ago 229 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 21 of 58 30 January 2013 at 3:52am | IP Logged | ||
The post you are challenging says nothing about Spanish opening a world of business and career opportunities (although there are certainly more than you seem to be aware of- in the fields of education and translation, for example;) the point is that the presence in the US of many Spanish-speakers presents an opportunity for language learners to achieve some degree of real-life immersion without having to travel abroad. But you just couldn't resist the temptation to expose your snobbery, could you? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ilcommunication Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6693 days ago 115 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 22 of 58 30 January 2013 at 8:13am | IP Logged | ||
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For me, it's German: an opportunity to spend a lot of time in Germany fell into my lap and I went for it headlong, but although Germany is a wonderful country I never quite warmed to the language. In all honesty I do like speaking it, actually, but it seems like the grammatical rules are never-ending (and inexplicable) and once you make a mistake the entire expression is compromised. However, even though I felt obligated to learn it, I don't regret getting it to a reasonably intermediate level and I always take the opportunity to practice with almost every German tourist I come across.
Also, to those who find Spanish to be obligatory...I used to feel a bit like that at one point, but if you manage to travel through Latin America or Spain I think that feeling will go away very quickly. To me, Spanish is a bit like Shakespeare...studying it in books is fine but it really flourishes to life once you experience it in person. Just my two cents, I'm not judging anyone for having that opinion. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Rosen93 Diglot Newbie Denmark Joined 4401 days ago 34 posts - 42 votes Speaks: Danish*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 23 of 58 30 January 2013 at 8:30am | IP Logged | ||
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English because Danish doesn't get you far outside of Denmark.
Honestly when deciding to learn Mandarin it was mostly because of the growing economic importance of the country that made me attracted to it first, but I'm starting to fall in love with the language, so I don't feel it is a sour duty anymore. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| expatmaddy Diglot Newbie Korea, South Joined 4329 days ago 19 posts - 27 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin | Message 24 of 58 30 January 2013 at 8:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Rosen, I too started Mandarin out of a sense of, 'Well, it will surely be useful'
flavored with some 'It will help me get a job'. Then I began to love it. Now I can't get enough, but I'm trying to put off learning it 'til I return to the states, since I'm physically in Korea now and feel like learning Mandarin would be wasting my Korean opportunities. Not that I feel obligated to learn Korean overall, I really do love the language... But some loves are stronger than others, don't you agree :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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