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Easiest Germanic language to study? | ||
Tags: Germanic Languages | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6010 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 17 of 28 15 August 2009 at 1:09pm | IP Logged | |||||
There's two different issues here. Telling someone that something is difficult can be quite off-putting and discouraging. So if you've set your mind to doing one thing, being told it's difficult can be damaging. But then if you're struggling with it, being told it's difficult can actually be encouraging ("it's not your fault, everyone has the same problems"). But if you're making an objective choice, difficulty is legitimately useful information. I also want to learn a Germanic language properly, but mostly out of intellectual curiosity. I have no draw to any particular country, but I'm interested in learning more about the development of my own native language. The little I've seen so far of Scandinavian languages and Dutch, and to a lesser extent German have given me a greater understanding of my own particular dialect of Scots. Many people learn things just out of curiosity, and there's nothing wrong with that. Furthermore, some teachers suggest that learning a language that you've no particular attachment to is a good preparation for learning a language that you're genuinely interested in. It lets you get used to the process of learning: if you're not used to learning languages, you'll make false assumptions that lead to fossilised errors, but the next time you study a language, you'll be less likely to make mistakes. So your errors all get made in a disposable language. On top of that, you're not learning for a test, you're not learning because your life depends on it, you're just learning, and that takes the stress away. Edited by Cainntear on 15 August 2009 at 1:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6010 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 18 of 28 15 August 2009 at 1:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
To extend the analogy: One box contains 5kg of spinach, the other 10kg of cakes. Does 10kg become easier to lift than 5kg just because the contents are more appealing? No, it is still objectively, measurably, provably more difficult. But you are more likely to make a two-mile walk with the cakes than the spinach because of motivation. The existence of motivation doesn't make the difficult easy, it only makes it achievable. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5837 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 19 of 28 15 August 2009 at 2:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In the time that's been spent debating that, the learner could have picked up a whole bunch of useful phrases that could be of use across Scandinavia, in the Benelux area or in Germany.
Just pick one and get cracking! (The difference in difference is marginal and all these languages have their own unique challenges whether they be verb endings in German, intonation in Swedish or unusual vowels in Dutch.) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| J-Learner Senior Member Australia Joined 6029 days ago 556 posts - 636 votes Studies: Yiddish, English* Studies: Dutch | Message 21 of 28 15 August 2009 at 3:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm learning Dutch, Yiddish and after those 2, German!
I agree with that, Cainntear. If you have the desire to learn it will become achievable. otherwise it doesn't matter how easy it is. But some languages are simply more complex than others - It's a simply linguistic fact. If anyone would try to tell me than Innuktitut it just as easy to learn as Dutch I would be laughing for hours.... 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5908 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 22 of 28 15 August 2009 at 3:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It looks like this thread is turning into a case of several people saying the same thing but seemingly disagreeing with each other :-)
I think I'm probably the only person here who finds some use in the distinction between time-consuming and complex on the one hand vs difficult on the other, so whatever :-) If it helps you to call something difficult then by all means do. If someone had a burning passion for Innuktitut and a deep dislike of Dutch, I would say the former would be 'easier' for that person... It's not a matter of objective complexity levels, it depends on the person's interest, which can make any language a joy to learn, no matter how complex it may be, if we have the right level of yearning to learn. You're welcome to disagree with me and that's fine, but I still maintain that personally I'd have a harder time with French or any of the other languages I don't have any particular love for, than the supposedly wicked-hard languages that I just adore. Liz 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| healing332 Senior Member United States Joined 5619 days ago 164 posts - 211 votes | Message 23 of 28 15 August 2009 at 7:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with this 100% ! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| icing_death Senior Member United States Joined 5860 days ago 296 posts - 302 votes Speaks: English* | Message 24 of 28 15 August 2009 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
Me too. But if the passion level is equal for all languages being considered, difficulty will determine how long it takes to acquire. From your earlier posts it sounds like you think someone has to have desire for a specific language above all others in order to learn it. I couldn't disagree more. I can learn any language, and for that matter, anything that is learnable to normal human beings. Strong desire is not a requirement, although it helps. In fact, I think that if a person can't learn anything unless they have strong desire for it, they are doomed to failure. It's good to be happy, but one should be able to handle it when things aren't going their way. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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