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Parents think I’m weird... | ||
Tags: Polyglot bashing | Teenagers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6557 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes  1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 105 of 161 02 March 2010 at 8:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Jordan,
All I can offer besides the support you have gotten from everyone here is the example of at least one person that has been able to succeed thanks to languages. I'm an engineer and when I applied to college I was borderline accepted to Hopkins, the clincher was the interview - Can you tell us something about yourself that sets you apart? Fluency in Spanish, strong French, some ideas around Nauhtl/Mixtec. That discussion on languages went on for 30 minutes! Languages have been involved in every job I have had since. Today I work in the medical fields in a European environment with speakers of at least 6 languages every single day, and while English is the core language, the fact that no one needs to hesitates to switch to their native language makes a difference. Languages will create opportunity and open doors, if you want them to. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5929 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 106 of 161 02 March 2010 at 11:26am | IP Logged | ||
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Interesting thread, I can sort of relate to this. Although my parents have usually been supportive of of me studying anything, when I told them I was taking Spanish in college my dad said, "What are you going to do with Spanish?". My response was to remind that he had taken Latin in high school, and then ask if he thought taking Latin was a waste of time; especially since he does not read, write or speak it now. Then I said that I was surprised that he would question whether Spanish was useful, yet he had not complained or raised questions about the History of Rock 'n' Roll course I had taken the previous quarter. When he then wondered whether anyone could actually become fluent in a language by just taking a course in it, I said "Will taking one mathematics course make me a brilliant mathematician? Does taking one history class make me an expert historian? Even if the answer to both questions is no that does not mean I've wasted my time taking classes in those courses and foreign languages are no different."
6 persons have 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 108 of 161 02 March 2010 at 5:16pm | IP Logged | ||
It's good to see an engineer that uses languages! :D I'm really excited because I would love to use that in my future. Translating+engineering = My dream :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| quetzacoatl Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5701 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 109 of 161 02 March 2010 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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dastun, I was doing an engineering course last year at college but my depression took me off course abit and I thought that I would never make a real difference to the world and I would'nt be building anything spectacular.
However when I stopped I started looking into languages. Fate perhaps :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6557 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 110 of 161 02 March 2010 at 10:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, as a biomedical engineer, I've taught in English and in French. I've translated and written technical documents in Spanish, French and English. Presented at congresses, interviewed in those languages, directed French and German research teams and worked with doctors in 10 or more countries. Here is a point - many GPs are monolingual - how do you work with them if you don't speak their language?
Languages open doors. Always. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5486 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 111 of 161 02 March 2010 at 11:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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You know what, I need to add to this thread since I've encountered similar results.
To my friend's, I've always been known as the guy who's learning "yet another" language. Blame it on the wanderlust. Granted a few are impressed at simple sounds and basically having my friends know foreign people who spoke the language I was learning made it even more exciting since I got random chances to practice. (Granted only to find out I was seriously lacking in skill, but I digress). However, my parents were a strange dichotomy. My father was wholey supportive of any endeavour I set out for. My mother... not so much unless it had some kind of backing behind it (mainly classwork). So to my father, any language I had told him I had intended on learning, he was excited to here me talk about it (and in it!) My mother, would respond with exactly the same sort of responses yours did. "What are you ever going to use that for?", "You're never going to go there." and so forth. The strange thing happened when I told her I was interested in learning Japanese and Chinese. Initial Reaction: "You'll never use it and it's worthless." Reaction During Class: "It's so wonderful, my son is learning so&so" Reaction After Class Ended: "You'll never use it, why bother continue learning if it doesn't count towards anything." Well... I've made some wonderful friendships that have come and gone, and personally don't regret ever spending the time to learn any of the languages I've put effort into. Especially when I tell my employer I'm actively learning Japanese, Chinese, German and Russian ;-) (Trust me, if you start learning some language, tell your employer...) 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 112 of 161 03 March 2010 at 1:57am | IP Logged | ||
All I do is dream about working with a company, being called into an office and being told "Jordan, We must move you to [insert country], we need help there." I would jump up like a little kid that just won the lottery, a lifetime supply of candy, and virtual reality videogame system all in one. I would be so happy I couldn't describe it. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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