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Which is a greater source of motivation? | ||
Tags: Poll | Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes  2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 17 of 23 09 March 2013 at 6:20am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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By "philosophical" I was simply referring to the desire to understand how a language so
different from one's own represents reality and serves as a vehicle for thoughts and expressions. I don't mean this in a strictly Sapir-Whorfian sense - I'm not claiming languages alter the way you perceive the world in any truly fundamental sense - rather just how different languages work and the adventure of trying to restructure your thoughts. Korean is one such example.
Thanks for addressing this. It's true, Russian culture appeals to me more than Korean culture at the time of me writing this. I can certainly see myself developing an interest in the latter - Korea is a beautiful country - it's just that Russia is so mysterious to me, and so vast, and its history and literature so rich, I can't help but get excited every time I think about it! On the other hand, Russian being an Indo-European language, it's not quite as interesting to me as Korean. I can truly see myself working through a Korean textbook from start to finish in order to understand how it works, not so with Russian. On the other hand, I would just love to be able to access Russian culture directly, and visit the country and get to know the place. It's one of the most interesting places in the world to me. Like I said, I'm a neurotic nut. These kinds of "dilemmas" have been plaguing me for years. To think where I'd be if I'd just bloody well LEARNED ONE OF THEM! Edited by ChristopherB on 09 March 2013 at 6:27am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 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 18 of 23 09 March 2013 at 11:32am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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You can use less grammar-heavy methods for Russian? Learn to understand. Learn to speak. Don't worry *why* it's this or that way.
Or if you have no specific plans for going to Russia, don't learn to speak yet. You'll pick up a lot just by watching/reading stuff in Russian. Maybe part of you just wants it to remain mysterious? ;) Or perhaps you sort of dislike the sound of the language but don't want to admit it even to yourself? Why *aren't* you learning both by now? It sure seems like your motivation is much stronger than for Spanish or Mandarin which you list in your profile... Time to make room for Russian and Korean? :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4671 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes Speaks: English* | Message 19 of 23 09 March 2013 at 10:17pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Having a long list of "studies" languages will likely keep one from reaching fluency in any of them. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 20 of 23 10 March 2013 at 7:31am | IP Logged | ||||||||
No doubt about that. I'll probably end up going with Russian. I think a cultural interest is ultimately more substantial long term than having an interest exclusively in the language itself, although the latter might provide an initially very high level of concentration. It seems the polls agree with me! 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6597 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 21 of 23 10 March 2013 at 3:40pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Darklight1216 Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5100 days ago 411 posts - 639 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German | Message 22 of 23 11 March 2013 at 3:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I believe "likely" is a key word. I've given this some more thought and I'm still not sure which one to pick. The beauty inherent in French is what first attracted me to it, but if French had the geographical signifcance of say Romanian or if it had an abundance of English speakers like all Native American languages/British minority languages etc. I wouldn't learn it. I guess that's more of a culteral reason for study. Edited by Darklight1216 on 11 March 2013 at 3:51pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4369 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 23 of 23 11 March 2013 at 9:09pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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That was hard, because I think I probably do need both. Ultimately I went with a cultural reason though. As much as a particular structure or syntax or feature of the language may interest me (even including things like the particular script used, or the sound of the language), I think I ultimately need something else to hold my interest once the initial attraction fades.
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