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Very hard languages for bragging

  Tags: Show-off | Difficulty
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
53 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
PaulLambeth
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5377 days ago

244 posts - 315 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Icelandic, Hindi, Irish

 
 Message 49 of 53
21 August 2010 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
snoppingasusual wrote:
I think that the following languages can assure that you will be respected for knowing
them:

Greenlandic
Scottish Gaelic
Gaelic Irish
Icelandic
Finnish
Polish


That's almost my whole hitlist right there. Sheesh I didn't know my aspirations were that high. I guess I just enjoy hard languages. I didn't pick these for bragging rights or anything, their respective countries are just interesting places to visit.
1 person has voted this message useful



pfwillard
Pro Member
United States
Joined 5703 days ago

169 posts - 205 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: French
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 50 of 53
22 August 2010 at 5:52am | IP Logged 
aarontp wrote:
If you are in international business and make
lots of money travelling to China, you will look smart knowing Mandarin.



No, no, no! You have assistants to do that for you! Otherwise, excellent post.
2 persons have voted this message useful



COF
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5835 days ago

262 posts - 354 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 51 of 53
23 August 2010 at 5:01pm | IP Logged 
People will generally be impressed by those who can speak Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, Persian, etc. However, in general people will not be particularly impressed by people who know languages like Zulu, Navajo, Xhosa, Nepali or even Japanese, they'll just think you're an odd person and keep their distance.

I think this is because as far as British culture is concerned, you have to have a legitimate reason for doing something. Knowledge can't be attained for the sake of having more knowledge, you must be aiming for something specific, be it a qualification, to move abroad or for a top paying job that requires that language.

However, as more unique languages as the ones mentioned don't really have any specific purpose to the average person, most people will just think you're a weirdo for wasting your time on what they regard as a fruitless persuit.
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Arekkusu
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Canada
bit.ly/qc_10_lec
Joined 5385 days ago

3971 posts - 7747 votes 
Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto
Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian

 
 Message 52 of 53
23 August 2010 at 5:08pm | IP Logged 
It's not so much the language that impresses me, but rather the level of profiency they reach.

If someone tells me they learned Inuktitut while they lived in the North for 6 months, I'm not impressed. Potentially, anyone can go live with people X and learn their language in Y amount of time.

However, if you worked hard and reached a near-native level, then I'm impressed, whatever the language. Becoming (not growing up) near-native in any 2 languages, related or not, is an impressive achievement in itself.
2 persons have voted this message useful



akprocks
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5290 days ago

178 posts - 258 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 53 of 53
28 February 2011 at 6:18am | IP Logged 
Arekkusu wrote:
It's not so much the language that impresses me, but rather the level of profiency they reach.

If someone tells me they learned Inuktitut while they lived in the North for 6 months, I'm not impressed. Potentially, anyone can go live with people X and learn their language in Y amount of time.

However, if you worked hard and reached a near-native level, then I'm impressed, whatever the language. Becoming (not growing up) near-native in any 2 languages, related or not, is an impressive achievement in itself.


I would be very impressed if they learned more then a few words as Inuktituit is rarely spoken around white folks unless they already know it.


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