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It hurt me being multi-lingual | ||
Tags: Native Language | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Faraday Senior Member United States Joined 6118 days ago 129 posts - 256 votes  Speaks: German* | Message 9 of 49 25 September 2010 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | |||||
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"Does being multilingual help or hinder our intellectual development?"
You make a very good point. The hundreds, or thousands, of hours spent learning a language, could well be spent in pursuing a more intellectual endeavor. You can spend many lifetimes getting to know in depth the literature and nuances of a single language. The more languages you learn, the thinner you're spreading yourself. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6943 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 10 of 49 25 September 2010 at 6:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
Everyone will have his or her own pet peeve. The one I use is whether one would be in a position to write a book in expository prose in a given language without inciting the editor to instant murder. A college-aeducated person who couldn't do that in a single language is a clear candidate for being a jack of all trades and master of none. Edited by frenkeld on 25 September 2010 at 6:58pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Faraday Senior Member United States Joined 6118 days ago 129 posts - 256 votes Speaks: German* | Message 11 of 49 25 September 2010 at 6:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Ludwik, let me also point you to a few initial resources to alleviate some of the burdens you mentioned.
On the internet, there are many sites where you can practice just about any language. I believe Skype has a robust community of language learners. You're right that dictionaries are cumbersome when reading. Bilingual texts are very helpful in this regard, and if you're willing to read on your computer, there are many online dictionaries and programs with popover dictionaries, meaning that the definition of an unknown word appears when you place a cursor over it. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 5181 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 12 of 49 25 September 2010 at 7:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
Especially Vogon poetry... Edited by fireflies on 25 September 2010 at 7:45pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| kowalskil Newbie United States Joined 5174 days ago 5 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English | Message 13 of 49 25 September 2010 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
Native English speakers are privileged, in the world in which their language is international. This is not just. This alone is a good reason for supporting esperanto, or something better. Ludwik Kowalski http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life /intro.html 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6011 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 14 of 49 25 September 2010 at 9:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
Personally, I find that most native speakers are handicapped by English being an international language. Only a very small percentage of non-natives achieve a native-like model of English, and this percentage is decreasing because most non-natives use it primarily for talking to other non-natives. This can make it very difficult for a native speaker to understand non-natives or to be understood by them. But because we already "know English", we can't go out and learn the language that they're speaking. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 5181 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 15 of 49 25 September 2010 at 10:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think that non-native speakers are lucky too because they can learn English and also have another native language. In other words, they have a broader horizon even though its extra work. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kowalskil Newbie United States Joined 5174 days ago 5 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English | Message 16 of 49 25 September 2010 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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A GOOD OLD JOKE:
1) What do we call a person who speaks many languages? --> MULTILINGUAL. 2) What do we call a person who speaks three languages? --> TRILINGUAL. 3) What do we call a person who speaks two languages? - - -> BILINGUAL. 4) And a person who speaks only one language? --> AMERICAN ! Ludwik Kowalski http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life /intro.html 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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