When is it worth the time? (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

When is it worth the time?
Tags: Reasons for study
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

30 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

Lemberg1963
Bilingual Diglot
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United States
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Joined 4238 days ago
41 posts - 82 votes

Speaks: English*, Ukrainian*
Studies: French, German, Spanish, Polish

Message 25 of 30

27 September 2014 at 6:08am | IP Logged

My personal cutoff is needing to use the language several times a month. I need French
and Ukrainian to talk to family. I volunteer in a hospital and frequently need to use
Spanish and Russian to talk to patients. Anything beyond that is linguistic masturbation.

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epictetus
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Canada
Joined 3881 days ago
54 posts - 87 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 26 of 30

27 September 2014 at 9:23am | IP Logged

It is a resource allocation situation for me. I do enjoy learning languages, but I must
balance that with everything else. 3 hours a day is actually a significant long-term
investment and I don't think I could sustain more than two if I were to do this for 5
years or indefinitely. If I can comfortably maintain existing languages with minimal
effort (by integrating them into other parts of my life), then the fun and high benefit-
cost ratio of learning a new language is justified.

Deciding to start Russian and move my Spanish to C1 without dropping another language is
not worth the additional time expenditure. Something else would suffer and it would be
years before I noticed any gains.
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Tyrion101
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United States
Joined 3912 days ago
153 posts - 174 votes

Speaks: French

Message 27 of 30

27 September 2014 at 7:20pm | IP Logged

I'll learn a language if there might be an opportunity to use it someday. Although I've been thinking about adding something obscure to my bag of tricks lately, too many languages are just disappearing from the face of the earth.
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BobbyE
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United States
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226 posts - 331 votes

Speaks: English*, Mandarin

Message 28 of 30

27 September 2014 at 11:14pm | IP Logged

I enjoy learning languages and it's an enjoyable way to spend some free time. So I understand everyone saying that just enjoying it makes it worth it. But there is a difference between something being worth some of your free time and something being worth your whole life.

I barely remember learning Mandarin, even though it's taken up a majority of my life for the last few years. What I do remember is all the experiences I had in China that came from my interest in Mandarin. The friends I made and the strangers I talked to. Being on stage in front 900 Chinese students. Trying to not get ripped off on an apartment, but still getting ripped off. The dinner we had with our neighbor and his wife, who invited us to say thank you for not using the toilets.

These small experiences were insignificant, but I remember them. When I was there, there was a stint where I spent upwards of 8 hours a day reading/listening. But honestly, I hardly remember any specifics out of those 8 hours. I could do that again, but if I did I would barely remember my life by the time it was over.
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BobbyE
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226 posts - 331 votes

Speaks: English*, Mandarin

Message 29 of 30

27 September 2014 at 11:15pm | IP Logged

For me, I think the ideal is something like the way Steve Kaufmann goes about it.

About an hour or two a day, the rest he spends on other things he enjoys.
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BobbyE
Diglot
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United States
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226 posts - 331 votes

Speaks: English*, Mandarin

Message 30 of 30

27 September 2014 at 11:33pm | IP Logged

soclydeza85 wrote:

Keep in mind that this whole time you haven't just been learning Mandarin, but learning how to learn another language. The next time you go to learn another language (if you do) you will know what books to get, what programs, what approaches, what to do when you hit a plateau, etc. You have also wired and trained your brain from your extensive studying of Mandarin in ways that would help you if you took up 3rd language: you'll find your listening is much more focused and attentive, you're more used to making sounds with your mouth that don't exist in your native tongue (at least this is what I have found). Also keep in mind that you are learning Mandarin, which has a reputation for being one of the toughest languages to learn, so all of the strengths and discipline you have gained from that will make it much easier if you learn, say, a European language which is much closer to your native language.

This really seems true. You hear people say, "they get easier the more you learn". In comparing my start with German with Mandarin: I didn't start working with native content in Mandarin until after a year and half, but after a month I already worked out my first German native-level newscast. It took me about an hour per minute or two of newscast, but that's about equal with the hour per three minutes of audiobook that I experienced when I started with novels in Mandarin. Cognates help a lot, but the main thing is that I actually know how to work out a native text/audio file now.

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