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Are we all a bunch of wusses? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| sajro Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6004 days ago 129 posts - 131 votes  1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 65 of 151 18 December 2008 at 10:42am | IP Logged | |||||
I also appreciate India for comfy pyjamas and delicious curry. (Seriously -- Indian food is some of the best!) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| reineke Senior Member United States https://learnalangua Joined 6455 days ago 851 posts - 1008 votes Studies: German | Message 66 of 151 18 December 2008 at 10:57am | IP Logged | |||||
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I suppose navel-gazing and visions of well-oiled natives farting rainbows and riding unicorns will win every time over boring old Europe. I mean, Renaissance, world wars, penicillin - it's all boring crud. Let's all contemplate 2000 words for "snow". Wait, aren't unicorns sort of Greek and isn't that in uh, the great country of Yurp? Edited by reineke on 18 December 2008 at 10:59am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6667 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 67 of 151 18 December 2008 at 11:31am | IP Logged | |||||
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If we're wusses, what does that say about the people who speak only one language?
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| Adumb Newbie United States Joined 5828 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 68 of 151 18 December 2008 at 1:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes, I am. However, on my wish list I have Arabic, Japanese, and then Mandarin. If I learn Mandarin, then I have to learn Cantonese. It will be rough.
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| maya_star17 Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5923 days ago 269 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English*, Russian*, French, Spanish Studies: Japanese | Message 69 of 151 18 December 2008 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
Europe has had its contributions, culture-wise. But people born/raised in the West are exposed to this so much that many of us are just too used to it to appreciate for what it was at the time when it first occured. Other cultures seem "exotic" because we're not used to them (yet) ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6673 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 70 of 151 18 December 2008 at 2:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
He he, I actually tried that once! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| unzum Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom soyouwanttolearnalan Joined 6922 days ago 371 posts - 478 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin | Message 71 of 151 18 December 2008 at 5:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think perhaps I used to have the same attitude as maya.
I looked down on people who were learning major languages, I guess I thought they were only studying them because it was easy, or because everyone else was. When my friend said she was learning Hindi, I secretly disapproved, because Hindi's the most popular Indian language (I was learning Bengali, so I was 'cooler'). I thought it was great when she said she was learning Nepali as well though (the underdog against Chinese). But, really, it wasn't an attitude that made much sense. I thought people learning French & Spanish were the worst ('cos they're just too popular) but thankfully my teacher who spoke both French & Spanish opened my eyes. I hadn't ever really bothered to learn about Spanish culture, or any of the other languages I'd dismissed, and I was surprised to find that Spanish culture was pretty interesting, and a lot different than I'd imagined. People don't learn languages just because they're popular, there are loads of other reasons, like the culture, the literature, friends, family reasons; and if someone is learning a language because it's easy or popular, who's to say it's a better or more valid reason than wanting to learn a language just because its squiggly characters look cool? Anyway, point is, this attitude is kinda contrary, wanting to learn a language just because other people aren't, or aren't interested. Why does it matter why someone's learning a language? Why can't we just be happy that they're learning a language at all? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5932 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 72 of 151 18 December 2008 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't think learning Indo-European languages makes me or anyone else a wuss. I don't believe I know or understand Western European cultures very well. The claim that we Westerners are too close to each other culturally is, I think, a misleading statement. Mass media provides incomplete, and therefore inaccurate, information on Western European cultures. So, if I want to have any real chance of learning Dutch or Spanish culture I believe I must learn the respective languages as well. Edited by mick33 on 09 December 2009 at 11:29pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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