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What is chic in your area... | ||
Tags: Chic Factor | Place of Residence | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Irish_Goon Senior Member United States Joined 6416 days ago 117 posts - 170 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 56 08 April 2011 at 5:40pm | IP Logged | ||
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...as far as languages go? I am from North Carolina and around here the idea of something being chic is odd.
For example, we have a very large hispanic population here so when someone finds out that you are studying Spanish they say "wow that is smart/practical of you" and if you actually speak it (being non hispanic) you will come off as very intelligent/interesting. However, if someone finds out that you are studying German, Russian, or anything else not related to Spanish then people say "why are you doing that" and seem to think that you have an abundance of time on your hands. But if you actually SPEAK those languages and don't tell the person you are actively studying it then you will seem interesting/mysterious etc. Seems kind of funny to me, but what do you guys think? Do you have this sentiment around your area(s)? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Alexander86 Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom alanguagediary.blogs Joined 4982 days ago 224 posts - 323 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, Catalan Studies: Swedish | Message 2 of 56 08 April 2011 at 6:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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That sounds pretty normal to me... Something can be chic and cool, but omg it requires
effort? That´s too much =) My family always talk about how 'they´ve always wanted to learn a language', 'how it would be lovely to speak another language', but do they ever actually DO anything towards that? NO!!! I think languages are chic for different people in different countries for different reasons. For example, people who like manga see Japanese as THE language, while I like Scandinavia and think Swedish is cool... Although I´m partial to a bit of Russian too... 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 3 of 56 08 April 2011 at 6:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Like NC, here in Florida, only learning Spanish is perceived as "practical."
And knowing languages, as you say, is interesting/mysterious/impressive but learning a language other than Spanish is seen as odd. For example, my wife told a Jewish Doctor that she works with that I was learning Hebrew and his remark was "that's an odd hobby." Also, my Mother-in-Law thought I was learning "Portuguese" in order to study the Old Testament in the original language--oh the joys of living in monolingual America... 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| portunhol Triglot Senior Member United States thelinguistblogger.w Joined 6253 days ago 198 posts - 299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: German, Arabic (classical) | Message 4 of 56 08 April 2011 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm from Central California and we have a very similar situation. Spanish is practical and a very good idea. That said, few learn it well (including the children of Hispanic immigrants). Japanese and Chinese are the next two that society (out here) deems worthy of learning. That's for business reasons mainly. Italian and French have very high chic factors but have little use here so far from Europe. The same applies to German but to a lesser degree. Depending on who you talk to, learning Russian or Arabic is either an impressive, smart choice or a frightening, stupid choice. It all depends on how people view the Cold War and the War on Terror. Just about all other languages are learned here for religious or heritage reasons. I've met people who study Tibetan and Thai for religious reasons. I've met people who study Irish, Scottish and Swedish because that's where their great-great-great...grandparents came from. People here will usually be impressed if you're fluent in any language other than English. All languages have a chic factor in Central California. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 56 08 April 2011 at 6:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Norway most people speak English, and quite a lot speak German. French and Italian has a definite chic factor, and to a certain degree Spanish. Most other languages go into the "weird" category. If you are to learn other languages it is expected that you have a specific reason to do so.
3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Irish_Goon Senior Member United States Joined 6416 days ago 117 posts - 170 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 56 08 April 2011 at 7:10pm | IP Logged | ||
Same here, learning Spanish (or any other language for that matter) is something that everyone talks about but NOBODY does...at least to a high enough level (similar to working out and saving money). The fine folks of this forum, of course, are excluded from the aforementioned. It is amusing to me that I communicate in Spanish better than a Mexican friend of mine whose parents speak very little English. But it's no big deal, just an interesting thought. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6123 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 7 of 56 08 April 2011 at 7:26pm | IP Logged | ||
This gives you the ability to tune in to many things that non-spanish speakers tune out such as: 
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| HenryMW Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5175 days ago 125 posts - 179 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 8 of 56 08 April 2011 at 11:02pm | IP Logged | ||
I've noticed that too. The skill is interesting and impressive, the work to get there is nerdy and odd. I'm in New Orleans. We're in the South but not really, so maybe it's a general thing. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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