Useful language vs. language you like (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Useful language vs. language you like
Tags: Reasons for study \| Usefulness
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6598 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

Message 65 of 69

16 May 2013 at 7:48pm | IP Logged

montmorency wrote:

Serpent wrote:

The *sound* of the language has been mentioned a few times, but I'd
say beauty is not the same as interest, and finding the language beautiful isn't
necessarily enough.

When I first started studying German, I didn't particularly like the sound of it, but I
found it interesting and challenging. (I actually preferred the sound of Dutch,
especially Flemish Dutch). But the more I got into it (over many years), the more I
began to appreciate beauty in it. So in that case, the beauty (or appreciation thereof)
followed the interest, rather than the other way round.

...

Another point that crossed my mind: Perhaps we need to examine our own personal
reasons for learning any language, and provided we are clear about that, we don't have
to justify to anybody else, or to ourselves, the effort we put into it.

Yeah, some languages have grown on me as well, especially Romanian, Portuguese and Danish.
And I've just realized that it's a problem for my German that its beauty is the biggest attraction for me. Although it has pretty good "average scores" (very subjective - music, football, books, traveling, people), it doesn't hit jackpot anywhere like Finnish and the Romance languages do.
1 person has voted this message useful

Trevinho
Triglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4208 days ago
4 posts - 8 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish^B2, Portuguese
Studies: French, Catalan

Message 66 of 69

20 May 2013 at 1:40pm | IP Logged

As languages cost time, money and a lot of effort I prefer to study the ones most useful to me. I speak English, Spanish, Portuguese, and some French. That gives me a global reach of I guess a billion people in 50 countries (approx). That's good value for money! I prefer languages from the same region/continent. I hope to learn Italian and Greek some day- all Mediterranean. If the country has olive trees, I might learn it's language!

Now, my minor language is Catalan. Practically I don't need ad as Spanish will do just fine. I really like it though. I learn a bit from time to time, as a hobby; though I spend far less on it than my others.
4 persons have voted this message useful

Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6598 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

Message 67 of 69

20 May 2013 at 2:39pm | IP Logged

Portugal is not a Mediterranean country :)
2 persons have voted this message useful

montmorency
Diglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4829 days ago
2371 posts - 3676 votes

Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Danish, Welsh

Message 68 of 69

20 May 2013 at 5:39pm | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

Portugal is not a Mediterranean country :)

His geography is probably still better than mine.
I used to think everything south of the USA was "South America". *blush*.
1 person has voted this message useful

Trevinho
Triglot
Newbie
United Kingdom
Joined 4208 days ago
4 posts - 8 votes
Speaks: English*, Spanish^B2, Portuguese
Studies: French, Catalan

Message 69 of 69

24 May 2013 at 12:57am | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

Portugal is not a Mediterranean country :)

Ooops! I lived in Lisbon for a year too! It was just a minor oversight on my part, as all my other languages so far are romance and mediterranean.

1 person has voted this message useful

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