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Very hard languages for bragging | ||
Tags: Show-off | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| victor-osorio Diglot Groupie Venezuela Joined 5433 days ago 73 posts - 129 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Italian | Message 17 of 53 18 February 2010 at 10:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hmmm... I'm not sure whether it's enough to speak another language in order to impress
people. Monolingual people will doubt you really speak that language and if they don't, they won't even know how hard it is to learn a language and they could see it as something less important than you think. On the other hand those who speak second languages are not usually impressed by those who speaks another second language. Unless it is japanese, in which case they could think you are "not the best speaker anyway". So I think those who want to impress people just saying they speak a language are going to be dissapointed. What do I think can cause a really big impression? Speaking fluently with a native speaker of another language in front of your mates or relatives. It doesn't matter which language are you speaking, if the native speaker starts to laugh and get into the conversation you will become God's son? 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hello Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 5421 days ago 40 posts - 45 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Spanish | Message 18 of 53 19 February 2010 at 1:33am | IP Logged | ||
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From what I heard, Estonian is a pretty hard language to learn, but I don't know much about it. Also, what exactly are click languages? Please enlighten me :o.
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| Johntm Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5423 days ago 616 posts - 725 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 19 of 53 19 February 2010 at 1:52am | IP Logged | ||
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| zhiguli Senior Member Canada Joined 6442 days ago 176 posts - 221 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Mandarin | Message 20 of 53 19 February 2010 at 9:36am | IP Logged | ||
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What a waste of time. The idea that anyone would spend so many years and effort on a language, just to brag about it, is something I'll never understand.
And as pointed out, you don't actually need to know a language and certainly nowhere near fluency to impress the common folk. Even natives will generally be too polite to call you out as a fraud. That said, my vote goes to Abkhaz. It must be a super thrill to brag about knowing a language where all the words begin with A. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 21 of 53 19 February 2010 at 5:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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On the difficulty scale, the hardest natural language I can think of is Navajo. I've never studied it, but it seems difficult for it's complex grammar (there are no cases in the language, but the verbs have a ton affixes), challenging pronunciation (tonal, but not as tonal as Chinese or Vietnamese), but it would be hard to find speakers and learning materials for most people.
The most complicated constructed language, which appears to me even harder than Navajo, is probably Ithkuil and its related language Ilaksh. Really tempting for me to learn, actually. :-) I agree though, many of these languages won't get you admiration, they'll get you confusion from most people. Unfortunately. Even I didn't recognize some of the languages mentioned (like Avar, that jumps to mind) and I've been a full-time language obsessee for around a decade. Also, Swahili might get you bragging rights, but I've actually heard that it's not that difficult to learn. But again, I've never studied this one. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7182 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 22 of 53 19 February 2010 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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This language ithkuil looks interesting! Does anyone speak it?
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| delectric Diglot Senior Member China Joined 7182 days ago 608 posts - 733 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: German | Message 23 of 53 19 February 2010 at 6:28pm | IP Logged | ||
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I see there is another language Ilaksh which is a revision of Ithkuil.
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| kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5554 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish | Message 24 of 53 19 February 2010 at 6:47pm | IP Logged | ||
This x1000. My mother is very nonchalant about me speaking Finnish and I don't think she understands in the slightest how much blood and tears went into learning and she probably thinks I only know a few phrases even though I've lived in Finland. But I know if she saw or heard me having a conversation in Finnish she would be floored. That might even be said of every monolingual you encounter. If they find out you know another language, they'll probably just assume you know how to say please and thank you and things like that. 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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