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TAC 2015 - Rare Languages Team Thread | ||
Tags: Telugu | Hawaiian | Albanian | Team Thread | Malay | Sanskrit | Georgian | Tagalog | Indonesian | Thai | Rare Languages | Farsi/Persian | Hindi | Hebrew | Dutch | Arabic | Total Annihilation Challenge (TAC) | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6599 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes  4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 65 of 113 22 January 2015 at 1:32pm | IP Logged |
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Yes, I love GLOSS! I would've given up on Indonesian very early if it wasn't for it. The content for the popular languages like Spanish and Portuguese is also great. And I couldn't resist doing some French lessons although I dislike the language :D
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| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6063 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 66 of 113 22 January 2015 at 5:21pm | IP Logged |
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Reasons for learning Arabic (MSA) and / or Sanskrit:
After a bit of thought, I decided to make it a two-in-one, as there are common traits. In my opinion, we learn languages for two major reasons: a. We need / have to, it's useful, it helps us get ahead in our careers, get a (better) job, etc. b. To pursue hobbies, satisfy our thirst for learning, thereby feeling better about ourselves. In spite of the fact that the Arabic-speaking world imports workforce (which is true but may be counterintuitive), learning these two languages fall into the latter category. Why, then, go for these languages? 1. I find both scripts alluring. Arabic's is arguably the most beautiful in the world. 2. Both civilisations made significant contributions to humankind: philosophy, science, literature, poetry, music, cuisine, spirituality, etc. 3. Being sacred languages, we can read ancient documents as if they had been written yesterday. 4. Both have huge untapped reservoirs of literature: in the case of Sanskrit, the amount of documents is esteemed as being 30 to 100 times as much as Ancient Greek and Latin put together. 5. On a lighter note, it's cool: if the other person practises yoga, it's very, very cool. ;) 6. You meet people from other cultures and gain surprising insights. 7. It will boost your self-esteem, even if you don't think you need it. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6063 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 67 of 113 27 January 2015 at 3:56am | IP Logged |
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Here's a small treat to Hebrew learners, or anyone interested in languages (or beauty) in general:
Project Conference Exhibit I saw this by chance when I was going to meet my Sanskrit teacher and decided to share it with you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sooniye Diglot Groupie Sweden Joined 3899 days ago 44 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Spanish, Danish, Turkish, Japanese, Croatian, Hindi, Hungarian, Albanian | Message 68 of 113 31 January 2015 at 3:40pm | IP Logged |
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A bit late, but still in before February starts I will try to sell in my languages of choice,
Albanian and Hindi. Albanian is one of a kind in the big Indo-European family, with its own branch of the tree. No close living relatives and its past is not clear. Believed by some to be related to Illyric or Thracian. Mystic and fascinating I'd say at the least. Beautiful and exotic, yet familiar-looking names. And it has the vowel, ë, which is interesting in itself. Hindi is the language of Bollywood, reason enough to study Hindi. But it is also closely related to some of the other major languages of north India, thus giving you the chance to be able to roam more freely outside the cities and communicate with the people you meet. It is written in the beautiful Devanagari. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5558 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 69 of 113 01 February 2015 at 6:38am | IP Logged |
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My main study language this year is Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi). Here are 10 compelling reasons why itʻs personally a joy to learn:
1. it's a fascinating exotic language unlike any other I've encountered before; 2. it opens up a whole new subgroup of the Austronesian language family (Polynesian) which includes Tahitian, Maori, Fijian, Tongan, and Samoan; 3. it has a very distinctive and beautiful phonology with the second smallest inventory of phonemes in the world (5 vowels and only 8 consonants); 4. the grammar is a walk in the park compared to Russian and Irish! :) 5. it's an endangered language with only 24K speakers according to the 2010 US Census; 6. for me, Polynesian culture offers very unique perspectives and ways of seeing the world, embedded in a rich history on the other side of the world in the middle of a vast ocean; 7. the Hawaiian people I meet, ranging from class kumus (teachers) to community organizers and speakers, are very friendly and down-to-earth, and invite you as ʻohana (family) into a warm and embracing culture; 8. learning Hawaiian helps me better understand, empathize with, and relate authentically to my students in class as a teacher; 9. it also helps me understand Hawaiian culture outside university, and get on more closely with Hawaiian people (whether they speak the language or not), as well as enjoy and develop a deeper appreciation of the surrounding environment, geography, music, art, and dances; 10. finally, learning Hawaiian in a Hawaiian environment with access to native speakers is a rare opportunity, and I'd be crazy to pass it up whilst I'm here. Edited by Teango on 01 February 2015 at 11:08pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6063 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 70 of 113 05 February 2015 at 12:59am | IP Logged |
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My Sanskrit teacher also teaches Hindi (actually, it's the other way around). I went to see his A.1 class presentations. They could choose an Indian city and were supposed to present it: where they are, how big, festivals, cuisine, other points of interest, etc.
They had an easy task, as the country is very diverse. The fact that much of it is still relatively unknown (apart from some popular features) also makes for interesting presentations. Some of our team members had an easy task, with well-known languages and exotic scripts; others less so. Yet we've had examples of how this could also be turned into an asset. Well done. I don't know about you, but there are some languages in our list I'd still like to see presented, so I'd like to leave this challenge open. Feel free to step up and sell your language anytime, if you haven't done so yet. As for a new challenge, I'd like to pick from the list of Magdalene's suggestions and (with a little adaptation) propose an original cultural feature. I do this for two reasons: 1. Given the diversity within our team, getting technical (grammar, etc.) can be a bit "heavy", at least for now. 2. Let's face it: we need light tasks. If some of us couldn't find the time (so far) to write a few sentences to describe how interesting learning each of our languages is, there's no point in asking for a paper on verb tenses, or whatever. The only requirement is to try and be original. Let's give the team something unexpected we've learned while studying our languages, be it about literature, people, food, science, or any other subject. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| redflag Senior Member Australia Joined 3844 days ago 123 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish, Indonesian, French | Message 71 of 113 05 February 2015 at 1:39am | IP Logged |
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I’m learning Indonesian because I live in Australia and Indonesia is our closest
neighbour so I think it’s somewhere I should know more about. I also wanted to do an Asian/non-European language and I’d be lying if all the chatter about it being ‘easy’ didn’t influence me .. . of course no language is ‘easy’ to develop a true fluency in (particularly the spoken, colloquial form) but it is fairly straightforward in the early stages anyway. My workplace is also developing a formal partnership with our equivalent organisation in Indonesia so that is a bit of extra motivation. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6063 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 72 of 113 13 February 2015 at 5:36pm | IP Logged |
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Just a little reminder of this month's challenge: give us an original cultural feature related to the language you're learning.
Ideally, it should be something that ties the language to the people, its culture, and environment. Enlighten us! On a more personal note, I'd like to point out Teango's contribution to January's challenge. I think it illustrates how a language may be interesting, regardless of the number of its speakers. I guess we all knew that somehow, but it's good to have examples. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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