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Parents think I’m weird... | ||
Tags: Polyglot bashing | Teenagers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Katie Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6723 days ago 495 posts - 599 votes  Speaks: English*, Hungarian Studies: French, German | Message 97 of 161 25 December 2009 at 10:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Honestly, eventually your family and friends will just accept the way you are. And when they see the progress you make (in a situation where you are able to demonstrate it), they may even begin to respect it.
I come from a long line of monolinguals. I've always had a fetish for learning languages, but only in the last 5 years came across a situation where I would be able to practice and progress in a language to a level of somewhat fluency (which I hope one day to become near native fluency!) as I have an opportunity to use it on an almost daily basis. Especially because taking advantage of that opportunity meant to learn a minority language, my family thought I was very strange indeed. But they accepted it after a while. My best comeback when they were knocking it and saying I was stupid for trying to learn a language, was to say "oh I'm sorry - would you prefer that I rotted my brain with television and video games??" :) That always halted their criticism! And now, the reality is that I have an opportunity to live in Europe and see the world (and hopefully I will continue with my enthusiasm to take advantage of that) - something that nobody else in my family has been able to do. And what of my family? Well, they are quite proud now! In the end, how you choose to spend your free time is your business. Sometimes people will agree with your choice, sometimes they won't - but if you are happy and enjoying it, try not to let it get to you too much. In your mum's defence (not sure if it's necessary or not), make sure that you are fulfilling your obligations at home and with your family. Be sure to still spend some time with them and to do your house chores etc. If you're skipping out on those things and studying instead, it wouldn't be too surprising that she's giving you a hard time (I have been in this exact situation myself). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| chucknorrisman Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5453 days ago 321 posts - 435 votes Speaks: Korean*, English, Spanish Studies: Russian, Mandarin, Lithuanian, French | Message 98 of 161 25 December 2009 at 10:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would kind of understand why your parents would say such things if you were studying something like Manchu which nobody speaks anymore, but then you're doing very useful ones like Portuguese and German, so I don't know why they would discourage it...
By the way if anyone likes Manchu here, I'm not attacking the language; in fact I want to learn it too one day. Edited by chucknorrisman on 25 December 2009 at 10:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5590 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 99 of 161 25 December 2009 at 11:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've honestly never even heard of manchu.
lol My mom really didn't care today when I told her I bought a dictionary, she just asked when it was coming. I guess she's backing off :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ninja Bunny Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5797 days ago 42 posts - 46 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Dutch, Danish, Mandarin, Afrikaans, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French | Message 100 of 161 26 December 2009 at 6:16am | IP Logged | ||
Yes. Your mother should be very thankful that she has a son who is interested in something positive and not spending his time getting drunk, shooting up drugs, or other activities that could land him in jail or in the morgue. You're a great kid, keep doing what you're doing. I'm sorry your family is unsupportive but you'll find plenty of encouragement here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| canada38 Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5500 days ago 304 posts - 417 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Japanese | Message 101 of 161 29 December 2009 at 7:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I am in a somewhat similar position to yourself. I can tell my girlfriend thinks
(although she has never said it) that studying foreign languages is an almost pointless hobby. While she doesn't ridicule me at all, she does roll her eyes when I read something in Italian and tell her the meaning (text on a food package for example) or try to pronounce the words with an accent. If I was in her shoes I'd probably laugh at the latter actually. This doesn't bother me in the least, and I can even sympathize with her opinion. However; I'm sure that in a few years time on a trip to Italy, if I can speak significantly more than just tourist sentences from a phrasebook, or I land a job promotion from speaking several languages, she'll be quite impressed then! My advice is don't give up, because studying languages is rewarding in itself and also it will likely have travel and career benefits. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Iris-Way Newbie United States Joined 5581 days ago 22 posts - 24 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, French | Message 102 of 161 01 March 2010 at 11:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Luckily, my parents don't care.
My mother is from Italian parents, so she can speak Sicilian, and also some Russian and she took Latin in school. My uncle (her brother) speaks Japanese, Chinese, Italian, French, and like 6 more languages. It just runs in the family, I guess. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5590 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 103 of 161 02 March 2010 at 12:17am | IP Logged | ||
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Welp, you're a lucky man. There's no stopping what I want to study. :P I've already made a huge gain in all of my languages since this thread was made :D
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Johntm Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5427 days ago 616 posts - 725 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 104 of 161 02 March 2010 at 4:51am | IP Logged | ||
Anyway, keep at it. It always feels good to prove someone wrong. If it brings you pleasure, go for it. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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