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What is on your radar? | ||
Tags: Choosing a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 67 08 November 2013 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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Now my definition of a language on my radar is a language I do not study today, and may not know a single
word of, but that still holds my interest and is a potential future language - it may also be a language I have already studied before. A language I would probably have or try to get some study material for. A Christmas wish list for the languages I would like to study if someone granted me an extra life or two, or a full time job as a language learner. In the thread about who you would like to meet on the forum, Chung said he and I did not share any languages, but when I read his log I realised that a lot of the languages he does are on my radar. And do you know the nice thing about languages that are on your radar? That it is equal footing for everyone regardless of how many languages you have under your belt. :-) This is the stuff which dreams are made off. Very democratic:-) Greek: In theory one of my focus languages this year, but unfortunately I have forgotten everything. Will learn it some time though. I know I will. Have got Assimil, Pimsleur and Michel Thomas ++ Turkish: Did a little bit a couple of years ago. Liked the language and the people. Have got TY ++ Arabic: Did it a bit 35 years ago. Have got TY since I thought I would be going to Tunis last year, which I didn't. Polish: Did it 20 years ago but the materials I have are ancient. Cassette tape ancient. Will get back to that though. Ukrainian: have TY, Assimil, Talkmore ++ Slovak: Have Colloquial Slovak - would like to learn it to complement what I hope will once be my other Slavic languages. Hebrew: Loved it once - will come back to it. No present century language material. Swahili: Bought an Assimil course when I thought I would be going to the Seyschelles. Doubt that I ever will now, but it would still be cool to learn it. Dutch: Have a couple of very old courses from 20 years back- might get back to it. Some native material. Portuguese: No courses, never done it, but I still hear the siren call. Have a few regular books in it. Mongolian: Have Colloquial Mongolian which I bought before going to Mongolia last year - would be very interesting to learn. Not entirely sure that I will though. It was way more difficult than Russian. I was not even able to learn:" Where is the toilet". Mandarin: Have Assimil, Pimsleur, Michel Thomas, Rosetta Stone and a heap of other beginner material for it. Will learn a bit at some point. No idea of when. Japanese: have Assimil, Pimsleur and Michel Thomas. Must learn a bit some time. Kasakhstani: A few pages of one phrase book and a couple of Internet links. Want to learn the very basics. Uzbek: Ditto. Turkmenistani: Ditto without the Internet resources. Icelandic: Have TY++ and some native material plus 50 native speakers in my family. Unfortunately I only know 5 of them, but I get Icelandic on my Facebook feed regularly. Am trying not to get interested in Slovenian, BCMS and Rumanian. So: What shows up on your radar? Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 08 November 2013 at 11:23pm 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4708 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 2 of 67 08 November 2013 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Basically every other language on this planet, so I'll keep it short...
Icelandic: should be studying it and speaking it already, but keep not being able to devote my full attention to it (which sucks - it's so beautiful). In 2014, I promise you, Icelandic my love. Have materials, have been to Iceland and can actually say some phrases. Mandarin: Because one day I have to speak Mandarin. I have the Assimil for this one. Portuguese/Spanish/Italian: I can pick them up quickly anyways. I have material for the first two of these. Actually I have uttered a few phrases of all of these at some point but I just don't know the grammar. I need to sit down, study either of them for some months and then I'll probably speak it. BCMS: I have a Russian textbook for this, an FSI course, a friend from Bosnia, and an uncle with a Serbian partner. I could learn this one fairly quickly too I think, and it is a toss-up between this one and Czech for my next Slavic language. Czech: I have been there and want a west Slavic language on my resume at some point...no materials Swahili: Have an FSI course. That is about it. I need to study an African language, my guess is it will be Swahili. Malagasy: Because I want to travel the jungles of Madagascar one day. I have Assimil for this one. Irish: Because I want to travel the green fields of Ireland one day. Finnish: Suomi finland metal perkele etc. For old times sake, and for metal music's sake. Tagalog: Because I want to travel in the Philippines Ancient Greek and Modern Greek: I count Greeks among my best friends and will have the opportunity to visit again. Only if I speak better Greek than they do I will probably be the most annoying person éver. Ancient Greek because I wanted to study it at school but it was never offered. Arabic: Only the Levantine variety. Just to get the other side of the equation in Israel. I already have gone for Hebrew of course. Farsi: I like Iranians, and count a few among my friends. Japanese: well. Japanese. is cool. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| KidRoberts Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4136 days ago 19 posts - 27 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Afrikaans | Message 3 of 67 09 November 2013 at 12:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Arabic - Perhaps after Farsi
Greenlandic - Just because Finnish - I'd like to go there one day Japanese - I respect the Japanese for some reason Hebrew - Respect the Israelis/read Israeli newspapers Afrikaans - I'd love to visit SA one day Swedish - So I can talk to my Swedish friends in...O_O...Swedish Cajun French - My great-grandfather was Cajun Danish - So I can watch Flammen y Citronen without subtitles Indonesian - Uhh...no idea Russian - It's such a neat language 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MixedUpCody Senior Member United States Joined 5257 days ago 144 posts - 280 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 4 of 67 09 November 2013 at 12:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Great thread, Solfrid. Depending on the day, I may want to spend the rest of my life engrossed in Chinese and Spanish, or I may want to branch out. In any case, I think I'll be happy with my level in these two languages in a few years and I'll decide then. On days that I dream about studying other languages, the following interest me more than most:
Arabic: I feel like the Arab world will be the cradle of most of the interesting events that happen in my lifetime, and I would like to get the perspective of the people living through those events. On the other hand, my primary study technique is reading a lot, and the diglossia seems to add an extra dimension that I may not cope with well. German: If I learn a 4th language, it will probably be German. I am very interested in the philosophy from Germans. Swahili: One of my favorite things about language learning is seeing the world from a different perspective, and being able to read African literature fascinates me. Ancient Greek and Latin: I feel like I will spend my retirement on these two languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4637 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 5 of 67 09 November 2013 at 12:28am | IP Logged | ||
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Danish + Swedish - Tons of matching books and audio for LR, Scandinavian movies are awesome, and I'd like to work in either country one day. I've done a bit of Assimil Swedish before, and although the pronunciation is crazy, it was still rather easy for me to get a hold of. I'd like to make Danish my Summer project next year.
German - Love/hate relationship. I study it, leave it, study it, leave it. I love the language, but I hate learning it. I've gotten through 3 Assimils & one reader so far. Japanese - I like Japanese movies & authors. I don't think I'd have the will power to learn it up to B2 though. I'd like to visit. Portuguese - Knowing three other romance languages, why not add this one? Latin - Not sure. I just really like the idea of knowing it. I can only see Danish & maybe Latin happening in the near future. Maybe Japanese also if I take a course first. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 67 09 November 2013 at 12:32am | IP Logged | ||
think about Danish. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5101 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 7 of 67 09 November 2013 at 12:39am | IP Logged | ||
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So these are languages that we aren't going to learn, right?
Italian: It sounds nice, it's the language of a country I would badly like to visit, but it just isn't really that important. Chinese: It's also the language of a country I would like to visit, but I doubt I ever will. Ancient Egyptian: needs no introduction Ancient Greek: It interests me because it is the language of the New Testament and looks cool besides that. However, when I was studying it, it really kicked my butt. Biblical Hebrew: Language of the Old Testament. Arabic: This one might be on my hit list, but it also might get dropped if the next one in line is too difficult for me. I know people who speak it which would be a real change from the languages that I'm studying. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MixedUpCody Senior Member United States Joined 5257 days ago 144 posts - 280 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 8 of 67 09 November 2013 at 12:40am | IP Logged | ||
My understanding is that they are languages we aren't currently learning, but may someday. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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