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Useful language vs. language you like | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | Usefulness | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Metaphrastis Triglot Newbie Australia Joined 4239 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, French Studies: Korean, Esperanto, Spanish, Mandarin | Message 33 of 69 01 May 2013 at 4:58am | IP Logged | ||
This comment by Ogrim nailed it for me. I will consider the 'usefulness' of a language when thinking about whether to study it, but my level of interest is the biggest factor in making the decision. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4623 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 34 of 69 01 May 2013 at 2:56pm | IP Logged | ||
Agreed. I'm very wary about labelling a language as "useless". If that were really the case, people would stop speaking it. I also don't pay much attention to the number of native speakers. People might say "Portuguese gives me access to 200 million native speakers...." but you're never going to meet them all. I could get just as much satisfaction from using Hungarian in a land of 10 million native speakers. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Tsopivo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4472 days ago 258 posts - 411 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Esperanto | Message 35 of 69 01 May 2013 at 6:16pm | IP Logged | ||
No because it is relative and varies from person to person. What is of little use to me might be of great use to you. For instance, Hungarian is indeed of very little use to me when compared with Portuguese or to the time and efforts required to learn it but people do not stop speaking it since it is useful to them. I think the answers to the OP question also relates to whether people see language learning as a tool, a mean to an end or as an end in itself. Of course, for most, it is a combination of both. - If you see language more as a tool, then it is logical to consider what each tool can do for you i.e. how useful this language is to you. Common reasons for learning a language for its uses are communication with others, interest in foreign cultures, access to art pieces from different countries, travelling and professional development. - If learning a language is the end in itself, then people are going to focus more on how interesting and enjoyable this particular language is for them. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6904 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 36 of 69 01 May 2013 at 7:31pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm looking for a nice mix of interests and usefulness, I guess.
An interest (even a moderate one) is enough for me to dabble in a language a bit. This may become a serious thing or just a short flirt, and I may or may not go back to the language after a long pause. I'm also an 'opportunity hunter'. If an opportunity presents itself (e.g. a cheap or free course of a rare language organized in my city, a cheap course book I found while looking for something completely different, a friend who stopped learning a language and wants to get rid of all the materials, lots of possibilities to practice a language etc.), I usually take it, at least to dabble in a language. However, to get beyond, let's say, A2/weak B1 level, I need to develop a stronger interest and see the language as something useful - preferably useful either professionally or for communication with natives, but a significant amount of target language media I want to access badly will do as well. Edited by Julie on 01 May 2013 at 7:38pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 37 of 69 02 May 2013 at 7:53am | IP Logged | ||
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Whether you are learning by number of speakers, for travel or business, you should be learning because
you find a language useful. Even if you make friends with those who speak the same language. Unless you are learning an ancient language to decipher ancient text like Egyptian or Babylonian. For interest sake you wouldn't just get into a language if you don't find anything useful to do with it. Some languages in the world are so isolated geographically or have so few speakers that even if learn it fluently, the opportunity of using it would be almost nil. The other day I was watching a documentary call "The Island President". The island is the Maldives in the Indian Ocean south of Sri Lanka. The language Dhivehi is related to the other Indian languages (Hindi, Sanskrit, etc. being Indo-European) but the closest relative is Sinhala used in Sri Lanka though not close-enough to be understood. With a population of barely 30,000+ what would be the use of learning Divehi? It would be more useful learning Sinhala instead. Another interesting fact is that the Maldives Islands were British Protectorate. However, they never recognize English as an official language like some of the former colonies in Africa. I have a friend living in a part of the US with few Chinese speakers yet he took Chinese classes. You can be outside of China and still find Chinese useful but you wouldn't find Devihi useful outside the Maldives. 2 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 38 of 69 02 May 2013 at 8:50am | IP Logged | ||
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I guess I should stop studying Breton then, nobody will ever speak it to me and I might
as well speak French! 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4845 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 39 of 69 02 May 2013 at 11:38am | IP Logged | ||
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Same here with Scottish Gaelic. Why not totally ignore this fascinating culture and simply speak English?
4 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 40 of 69 02 May 2013 at 12:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Speaking of usefulness, if you go to Frisia and order a beer in Frisian, someone will
probably get you the next one for free. 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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