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How to choose what to learn? | ||
Tags: Choosing a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| druckfehler Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4869 days ago 1181 posts - 1912 votes  Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Korean Studies: Persian | Message 9 of 15 07 March 2014 at 4:31pm | IP Logged |
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A possibility would be to look for media in said languages and ask yourself which one you would watch/listen to for pleasure and would be happy if it became a part of your everyday life. You'll spend a lot of time on language learning and it's important to have enjoyable materials around for those times when you don't feel like going through textbooks and drilling vocabulary. I don't think I would ever have succeeded in sticking with Korean long enough to learn it without enjoyable TV and radio shows...
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| YnEoS Senior Member United States Joined 4255 days ago 472 posts - 893 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian, Cantonese, Japanese, French, Hungarian, Czech, Swedish, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish | Message 10 of 15 07 March 2014 at 5:42pm | IP Logged |
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I started with French and Cantonese, because I wanted 1 "easy" and 1 "difficult" language (for an English speaker), and these were the two languages I was more interested in. But I've also noticed many other benefits in starting with these two.
French has been useful because there are so many resources available for it that I was able to experiment with many different learning methods to figure out what seemed to work best for me. Also since Assimil ended up being my favorite beginners learning method, there was a huge benefit since they offer more language learning courses for French speakers than for English. My Cantonese studies have been a bit more frustrating, but also informative because there were fewer ideal resources available, so I had to figure out how to modify and use courses in different ways in order to learn the language more efficiently. So it helped me learn that sometimes language learning is more about how you use tools rather than the tools themselves. I'm also a strong believer that if you want to learn a language that uses Chinese characters, it's better to do so earlier rather than later. Simply because it just seems like something that can't be crammed rapidly, but depends more on consistent daily study over several years. I also hope to be able to learn Japanese and Mandarin someday, so I'm glad I've started getting the characters into my head early. It will probably be years of Cantonese study before I'm ready to seriously focus on either of those. Edited by YnEoS on 07 March 2014 at 5:42pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4640 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 11 of 15 07 March 2014 at 6:11pm | IP Logged |
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Matthew12, I don't know how old you are, but I assume you are young, in which case you shouldn't worry too much, becuase you will have plenty of time to learn several languages. I understand that sometimes it is difficult to choose (I've been there myself), but postponing a decision will not take you any closer to your goal of learning more languages. You indicate that you study Spanish and German, which seems like a good choice: big important languages culturally, lots of speakers, plenty of learning material. If you are really actively studying the two and want to start on a new one, then I would ask the following questions before deciding:
At what level are you in Spanish and German? If you are still at a basic level, personally I would avoid languages that are very close, like Portuguese, Italian or Dutch say. If you are more advanced, it is OK to go with another language of the same family, and I find it very rewarding to learn more languages of the same family, you do get some parts "for free", because you recognise words and structures, and at the same time it is fascinating to see where they differ. Would you primarily like to broaden your knowledge of Indo-European languages, or would you want your next language to be from a different family and another part of the world? If the latter is the case, you may narrow it down to Japanese or Arabic. Is there anything particular in the culture that attracts you? Do you know native speakers in one or the other language? Or are you simply curious about the challenge of learning a very different language? These are the kinds of questions I've put to myself. Throughout the years though, I have started on many languages only to stop after a short time, often because of time constraints but also because I've realised that I do not have enough interest for the country or the culture in question to keep me going. To conclude, why don't you try to find free material for one of the languages you are thinking about (like FSI), spend a few hours on it and see how it goes and whether you feel sufficiently motivated to make a serious effort. I don't think that is losing time, even if you quit you will have got a first very basic insight into a new language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4048 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 12 of 15 07 March 2014 at 6:44pm | IP Logged |
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oh yes and keep in mind, the more languages you know, the easier become learn new languages. And the more
language study you do, the more efficient you are in studying languages. So even if you study a language then you drop afterwards, it's never wasted time. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| ElComadreja Senior Member Philippines bibletranslatio Joined 7239 days ago 683 posts - 757 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog | Message 13 of 15 08 March 2014 at 5:00am | IP Logged |
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Well, the things I can use are the ones I end up knowing the best. I was high
intermediate in Spanish because I lived close to the border. It was on TV and Radio and at least half the people walking around were speaking that to each other. I don't know when I'll use it now and get better, because I have no practical everyday way to do that. When I moved to Cebu, Cebuano became the big interest and I've gotten far in that one, but I don't think I would have ever done that if I was anywhere else, and it's been on my list for a while. I currently have an interest in Hungarian. Um, I'll probably make it through the FSI course eventually, but I don't expect to be very good at it :p 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tristano Tetraglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 4048 days ago 905 posts - 1262 votes Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English Studies: Dutch | Message 14 of 15 08 March 2014 at 10:01am | IP Logged |
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hehe just to show how different everyone of us is, I live in the Netherlands and since I don't like the language so
much (especially in the verbal form, I don't dislike the written one) I constantly fail in committing myself because the only motivation I have is "I'm supposed to do it". I'm quite sure that if I was moved in a country which I admire the culture and like the sound of the language it would be completely different because it would be a pleasure to study it. But even my failures with Dutch don't mean that I'll never learn the language and start to appreciate it. You can always drop temporarily the study of the language and restart when you feel is the right moment to retry. I dropped twice, maybe I will drop other three times but I'll definitely learn Dutch. Just to end. Relax, pick one and have fun. You change your mind? Pick another one instead. Don't be afraid. The benefits of learning languages are so big that it's a pity not to do it. Just google "Benefits on learning languages" if you don't believe me ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 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 15 of 15 08 March 2014 at 11:43am | IP Logged |
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Don't change your mind too much though. I found a great quote that fits here:
"I wish I’d partied a little less. People always say ‘be true to yourself.’ But that’s misleading, because there are two selves. There’s your short term self, and there’s your long term self. And if you’re only true to your short term self, your long term self slowly decays." Always think of your long-term self when making language learning decisions. (possible exception: travel opportunities and the like) 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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