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$10,000 - what do you do with that | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| 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 1 of 41 08 May 2011 at 1:03am | IP Logged |
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I am painfully aware of the fact that this is the typical child's question. What would you do if you had.... But I still ask the question: What would you spend 10 000 dollars and let's say a couple of months's vacation on. ( I mean, if we are into dreams, let's do it properly - and we also assume that you are old enough to travel on your own). Books, language classes, trips to foreign countries, what would you spend it on?
The thing is that I recently found out that one of my friends spent 10 000 dollars on a new sofa. Had he been a rich man, I would not have battered an eye lid, but he is not. However, for him, having the perfect sofa, was something it was worth saving for a long time for. For me that is incomprehensible. My sofa costs 500 dollars, and is comfortable, which is what I need it to be. What I might have saved up money to do however, is traveling. My dream trip includes Rio de Janeiro, Ayers's Rock in Australia, Angkor Vat, Taj Mahal and Ulan Bataar in Mongolia. While I was sitting at my mother's death bed last fall I even planned the journey, wrote lists about the things I wanted to pack, and the things I wanted to see. Perhaps not very realistic plans, but they kept me sane. I would of course need a bit of money for language studies before the trip as well. I would need to learn some Portuguese, perhaps a bit of Hindi and some Mongolian. I would also like to go on the Trans Siberian Railway. The guide book about that trip says you need to speak Russian, and should know some Mongolian and some Mandarin. I am working on the Russian, and I'll get to Mongolian and Mandarin at some point. So what are your dreams? Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 08 May 2011 at 1:06am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| kmart Senior Member Australia Joined 6124 days ago 194 posts - 400 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 2 of 41 08 May 2011 at 1:30am | IP Logged |
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What an amazing dream trip - I love that for one of the destinations you need THREE languages !
Mine is so much more boring - I would just go to Italy and immerse myself in the language for as long as the money holds out, but I would need to spend a bit first on hypnosis for my husband, so that he would want to do that too - I'd just miss him too much if I went by myself, and besides, he does all the scary driving (and in Italy, that's ALL the driving!) PS. I haven't been to Ayers Rock myself (by the way, we call it by it's Aboriginal name now - Uluru), so when you come over, give me a call and we'll go together, hehe. 1 person has 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 3 of 41 08 May 2011 at 1:51am | IP Logged |
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I already spend quite a lot of mony on travelling, but I wouldn't say no to a month-long voyage around the globe (if I just could get time off my job for it, but let's say that this somehow was possible).
OK, let's assume that the flight tickets cost around 4.000 $, maybe more to cover special wishes. I actually paid half that amount of dollars for a similar trip in 1994. With minor expenses like taxes and land transport this leaves around 5000 $ for accomodation and sightseeing (food doesn't enter the equation: I also pay that at home). There is a direct route from Copenhagen to Singapore, but I have just been there so I would continue to somewhere in Indonesia to test my Bahasa. One week should be enough, maybe on Western Java and Southern Sumatera (not Bali or Zulawesi - I have been there). I have visited Australia and New Zealand, but even though they speak English there I would take a couple of days in one of those places - I wonder whether the damage to the coast of Queensland has been repaired? And from there to some Pacific Islands - maybe Fiji, but only a few days. The one destination over there I would want to visit is of course the Easter Island, but there is a just as interesting archeological site at Pohnpei in Micronesia, and it is much less known. But transport to both these places can be tricky. If I could expect miracles I would go for Pohnpei. From the Pacific you would normally fly to either Vancouver or the Western coast of USA, typiclly LA (where I have been three times), but it would be more fun to go to South America. Due to faulty batteries I came back from Chile in 1996 with just two photos, so I might spend some time there taking some new ones (and speaking seseo Spanish). The rest of the time I would spend in Brazil, but not Rio and not Iguaçu (I've been there) - maybe a place like Salvador. Or Pantanal to see some macaws and speak some Portuguese. After this the first month has probably passed, and it is time to head home. But maybe I could get a couple of days extra in Guyana and/or Suriname - because those are the only countries in South America I haven't visited. An alternative could be to fly to South Africa and back to home from there - I haven't had any chance to speak Afrikaans since I learned it. But there are many other places I would want to visit, and even one or two months wouldn't be enough. And all that for the price of one sofa! Edited by Iversen on 08 May 2011 at 2:03am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Akao aka FailArtist Senior Member United States Joined 5336 days ago 315 posts - 347 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin, Toki Pona | Message 4 of 41 08 May 2011 at 1:59am | IP Logged |
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I would honestly spend that on top notch guitar gear of my choice. Then I would use the
remaining 1000 or so on various language study materials (I'd have to be cheap with this part) since I've never been able to read anything more than 30 dollars haha Edited by Akao on 08 May 2011 at 1:59am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6650 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 5 of 41 08 May 2011 at 3:04am | IP Logged |
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I'm planning to spend my retirement travel fund on travel to less expensive places where
the dollar can stretch far enough to allow me stay abroad longer so that I can absorb the language and culture more than in more expensive places. I think most cultures are equally interesting, so I'm going to try to get a lot of bang for my buck when the time comes. Asia, South America, and Africa are definitely the continents I'll be focusing on. But, of course, I'd like to have some money left to live in Europe once again as well. We'll see! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5130 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 6 of 41 08 May 2011 at 3:06am | IP Logged |
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Move to my target language country for a time, simple as that.
But I'll go one better and say I'm planning on doing it for half that price. I actually have a plan to do this within a year. I've been working quite hard on Turkish so I can move to Turkey, at least for a year. My disclaimer is that I'll be able to work just as I currently do, as a translator. So the 5 grand is basically setup costs - flight, apartment rental, getting settled in, stuff like that. Turkey currently has a huge benefit for me as a US citizen looking to live abroad: If I have the money to buy a residency permit ($80 USD for a year - yes, you read that right) I am legally in the country for that year. About the only thing I need to consistently prove is the ability to keep 500 dollars in an accessible US bank account. And they allow foreigners to easily obtain bank accounts within Turkey, residency permit being the key. I don't know of any other country that makes it that easy for a US citizen, certainly not in any of the languages I'm currently studying. In my dream world, I'd be able to do this in any country I wanted to. Unfortunately, although the economy may be global, we're not world citizens just yet. R. == 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6372 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 41 08 May 2011 at 3:52am | IP Logged |
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Honestly, I wouldn't spend that kind of money on consumption. I'd buy capital and put it
to good use. People stay poor because they don't invest. Once I have a lot of money I can spend on a lot of fun consumption. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 5081 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 8 of 41 08 May 2011 at 4:10am | IP Logged |
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I think 10,000 dollars wouldn't be enough to all the places that I want to visit, because I have never gone abroad yet. (I'm 19 years old)
Europe has more countries that I want to visit in comparison to other continents. After travelling around Europe, I'd go to Japan and finally, Egypt. Those are the places that I'd like to visit first, but if I reach this goal, I'll search for another countries that I'm also interested, but not as interested as these places that I've already said. If I was very rich, I'd spend the rest of my life travelling around the world with the love of my life (who I haven't found yet, unfortunately). That's my dream. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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