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Does language learning make you.. | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Tenebrarum Groupie United States Joined 5406 days ago 84 posts - 115 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi | Message 9 of 37 12 May 2010 at 5:58am | IP Logged | ||
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Before even considering learning another language I was very encouraging of others
learning English and would be happy to help. But now I feel that I understand their situation better. When my friend can't think of a word or way to say something in English, I know the feeling and understand how much easier it can be to just speak your native language. But of course international students here are in an environment where the language spoken is not their first; this is something I can't say I've experienced (though I'd like to!) And I often find myself hesitant to correct a person's mistakes in English because I think "I'm atrocious in the language I'm learning; who am I to correct this person who communicates so well in his/her [second] language?" 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Smart Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5339 days ago 352 posts - 398 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Latin, French Studies: German | Message 10 of 37 12 May 2010 at 6:43am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm not convinced learning languages has caused me to appreciate others learning English, but even before i started learning languages, I was impressed by anyone who could speak another language :)
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| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6783 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 11 of 37 12 May 2010 at 7:33am | IP Logged | ||
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I wonder, has anyone had the opposite experience? Has anyone who's figured out how to learn efficiently felt that other people should get on with it already, "it's not that hard" etc?
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| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 12 of 37 12 May 2010 at 9:53am | IP Logged | ||
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I have also been in situations where my mental ability was that of an adult, and my linguistic ability was that of a 2 year old, and yes, it does make me more patient with others learning languages.
I know immigrants who speak Arabic, Farsi, Pashtun and French, and are still regarded as idiots, because they speak little or no English and almost no Norwegian even after a long time in Norway. I cannot begin to imagine how tough it must be for them, going from being someone learned and respected in their community, and as an mature adult male to be at the top of the food chain, and then come here where they can express very little, and are surrounded by women in all positions of "power" - language teachers, social workers etc. I am definitely not appologizing for the way things are here - if they want to stay in Norway, this is a fact of life. Women have just as much power as men. I can however understand on a human level, how difficult and even humiliating it must be for them. Both linguistically and culturally. And that hardly helps them in becoming more fluent. 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 13 of 37 12 May 2010 at 10:54am | IP Logged | ||
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I have never believed it was easy to learn languages (not even for children), so I appreciate when people do an effort - even when the result isn't perfect yet. On the other hand my contempt for people who move to another country and don't even try to learn the local langage is absolute. I don't expct tourists to learn a language just for a brief visit (hurrah for those that do try to learn the basics!), but those that arrive and just expect the locals to switch to English are not on my list over people who deserve clemency.
7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5481 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 14 of 37 12 May 2010 at 10:01pm | IP Logged | ||
What's fun to do in Denmark? I've recently got the urge to do a Europe tour and go to every nation in Europe. Yes... 12 month sabbatical for the win! (If I can pull off getting it approved) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ubik Senior Member United States ubykh.wordpress.com/ Joined 5316 days ago 147 posts - 176 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Latin, Arabic (Egyptian), German, Spanish | Message 15 of 37 12 May 2010 at 10:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have the utmost respect for people trying to learn English. I admittedly didnt used to though. I know that if my native language wasnt English, I would be very stubborn about learning it. Its a very hard language to learn!
I have respect for the European culture in general in that it encourages mulitlingualism from a young age, but I also have even more respect for Americans who are both eager, determined and willing to learn a second language (especially NOT Spanish) simply because it IS harder to learn a language as an adult AND because AS an adult we have a lot more responsibilities and therefore less time to dedicate to it. So if an American can grow up in a culture where we really dont care about other cultures and languages and take it upon themselves to learn it on their own, then I have the utmost respect for that as well. Edited by Ubik on 12 May 2010 at 10:15pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 16 of 37 12 May 2010 at 10:25pm | IP Logged | ||
If you arrive in Copenhagen then the tourist information is within sight of the main Railway Station, and they have got multilingual staff who can give you the usual range of information, and other towns have similar offices. In fact working in such a place would not be a bad thing, if I didn't have a job already. OK, that didn't tell you much about Denmark, but we have to stick to the theme of this thread. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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