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Urban legends about languages... | ||
Tags: Stereotypes | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5500 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 25 of 81 15 July 2012 at 11:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
I wouldn't be surprised if that's an urban legend too. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5254 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 26 of 81 16 July 2012 at 12:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The main one seems to be the idea that spending time in the country is necessary and
sufficient to become fluent in the language. I've seen enough people's results here to see that it's not necessary, and met enough Spanish people who've lived here for a decade and are barely at B1 level in English to see that it's not sufficient. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6198 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 27 of 81 16 July 2012 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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You can learn a language to basic fluency in three months.
6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| LaughingChimp Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4746 days ago 346 posts - 594 votes Speaks: Czech* | Message 28 of 81 16 July 2012 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
I don't see any reason why you would stop picking up words after some time. Why do you think you can't keep picking up words and expressions until you become fluent?
We have the Internet. Edited by LaughingChimp on 16 July 2012 at 2:16pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4669 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 29 of 81 16 July 2012 at 2:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think this idea of English being "easy" stems from the fact that as the global language, people have had a strong motivation to learn it and reap the benefits. But I doubt if the underlying language is that simple. Sure, we don't have genders but there are other parts of the language that are tricky.
People in western Europe tend to regard Russian as a "very difficult" language, but in the days of the USSR many people from surrounding nations successfully learned it, because it was necessary for trade and communication in that large sector of the world. No doubt people in, say, Kazakstan deemed Russian to be "easier" than English. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6644 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 30 of 81 16 July 2012 at 3:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
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An important factor is exposure, both with English nowadays (especially in Scandinavia and the Netherlands) and with Russian in the USSR. Many people are motivated to learn English but never reach fluency.
Speaking of exposure... you can learn through it, but there is certainly a myth that if you go to the country of your language, fluency is guaranteed after X amount of time. It's possible and it should be relatively easy with the right attitude, but many immigrants do live in a bubble and/or stop improving when they've reached A2 or B1. Edited by Serpent on 16 July 2012 at 3:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5879 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 31 of 81 16 July 2012 at 9:31pm | IP Logged | |||||
Let me introduce you to some of the expat community next time I'm in Prague. 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| embici Triglot Senior Member CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4657 days ago 263 posts - 370 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Greek | Message 32 of 81 16 July 2012 at 10:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I frequently heard in Latin America that aboriginal languages are not languages but
dialects because "they do not have a coherent grammar." :( 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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