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How did you choose your target language?

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
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jeff_lindqvist
Diglot
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 Message 33 of 141
29 December 2005 at 6:07pm | IP Logged 
I'm following TDC's example with chronological languages, starting with Swedish which is my native language.

English - it was taught from around third/fourth grade in school. Now it is taught from first grade (I think).

German - it was one of two options in seventh grade (the other was French). I assumed that German was easier for Swedish speakers, despite the "difficult grammar". I quit after a year (but brushed it up ten years later).

Spanish - out of the offered four options at high school (the others being French, German and Russian) it was said to be the easiest. And practical.

French - I added that after two years, due to its relation to Spanish.

Irish Gaelic - I'd played Irish traditional music for some years when I felt I "had to" learn their language.

Classical Greek - I took it the last year in high school, as a natural progression from "general linguistics" (or whatever it was called) which didn't clash with Latin (which you had to study for two years).

Russian - it was the only language offered at the university, and at that time I thought it would be fun to study it.

Languages that I've flirted with in addition to those mentioned above are Scots Gaelic (because it's related to Irish), Welsh (same reason), Japanese (some interest in Japanese martial arts), Mandarin+Cantonese (a huge interest in the Chinese martial arts), Latin (to get a good overview of the Romance languages), Portuguese (it's quite similar to Spanish). And probably some more...
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TDC
Triglot
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United States
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 Message 34 of 141
29 December 2005 at 9:10pm | IP Logged 
Whoa, you want to follow my example, jeff??? *shocked* :) Awesome :)

Anyway, your high school sounds awesome. My high school only had french, Spanish, and latin when I was there. Now, it seems they only have french, Spanish, and English as a 2nd language... I would've taken German if I could've.

The American Education System is absolutely horrible, especially when it comes to languages. :(
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LaMofeta
Triglot
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United States
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 Message 35 of 141
29 December 2005 at 11:39pm | IP Logged 
I learned Spanish because it's the most useful foreign language for an American to know. After that I briefly explored other languages such as Russian, Dutch, and Turkish, but I never settled on one seriously.

I never planned to learn another Romance language, but then I met my fiancee, whose native tongue is French, so I took on French as my next language.

After two years of French, I decided to start another language. I chose Polish because I was intrigued by its bizarre looking words and I loved its sound. I also think it is a highly underrated language. Few people study it, and yet there is a wealth of fine literature and more than 40 million speakers.

In a couple years I might add another language, possibly Turkish.


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Linas
Octoglot
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Lithuania
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 Message 36 of 141
30 December 2005 at 1:21am | IP Logged 
Malcolm wrote:
If the difficulty outweighs the usefulness and "chic", then it's not worth learning in my opinion.


I has been unable to understand what "chic" means in ralation to languages and how this word has to be pronounced as "shick" or "chick"?
I know the French word "chic" but it is related rather to fashion and "haute couture" than to languages:)


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Linas
Octoglot
Senior Member
Lithuania
Joined 6912 days ago

253 posts - 279 votes 
5 sounds
Speaks: Lithuanian*, Russian, Latvian, French, English, German, Spanish, Polish
Studies: Slovenian, Greek, Hungarian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese

 
 Message 37 of 141
30 December 2005 at 1:30am | IP Logged 
andee wrote:

Arabic: I love Morocco. Food especially. Plus, the script amazes me. The language sounds so beautiful and it is extremely descriptive. "The air today tastes like moist apricots" ..How can you get more poetic?


If you really love Morocco, you shall learn two languages - not only fuSHa(the classical Arabic), but also Darja(the vernacular language of the North Africa) as well. Of course also French and Spanish(which is spoken in former Spanish zone in North Morocco). Maybe also a little bit of Tashelhit(Berber). Then you would be multilingual as a true Moroccan :)    
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jeff_lindqvist
Diglot
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 Message 38 of 141
30 December 2005 at 7:04am | IP Logged 
This is slightly off-topic but might explain why we choose (or were forced to "choose") certain languages in school (in Sweden). :)

Back then (1980s), French and German were the two alternatives from 7th to 9th grade. Probably because of "tradition". Until some 50-60 years ago both those languages (and possibly Latin as well) were the major ones at University. Now they offer both, plus Spanish from around 4th grade, and English even earlier (depending on the school). As Sweden is quite close to Russia, I suppose that was the reason offering Russian at high school. As regards Spanish, well, there are many speakers in the world...

Edited by jeff_lindqvist on 30 December 2005 at 5:17pm

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victor
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 Message 39 of 141
30 December 2005 at 3:17pm | IP Logged 
chic, pronounced "sheek"

According to my dictionary, means "elegant" or "nice". I think it also has the meaning of "cool" and perceived as desirable. I think when the admin first used this word, he used it to mean that how others will think of the languages - essetially how "cool" it is.

Edited by victor on 30 December 2005 at 3:18pm

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TDC
Triglot
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United States
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Speaks: English*, Mandarin, French
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 Message 40 of 141
30 December 2005 at 4:43pm | IP Logged 
If something is chic it's cool, has sort of an air of mystery, and it seems like it will be very popular. Almost like your ahead of the curve. Like if you lived in Miami and you said you spoke fluent Spanish there would be no chic factor at all because so many people here speak Spanish. But if you say you speak Chinese then it's a different story.


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