Parents think I’m weird... (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Parents think I’m weird...
Tags: Polyglot bashing \| Teenagers
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

161 messages over 21 pages: << Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 17 ... 20 21 Next >>

Johntm
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5427 days ago
616 posts - 725 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

Message 129 of 161

20 March 2010 at 5:24am | IP Logged

Rabochnok wrote:

Make lots of cash with your mad language skills?

Hah, I guess that's something but not everyone learning a language does it for that (certainly I
don't).

And keeping language learning a secret is great. My dad has a vague idea that I was
dabbling in Turkish (but thinks it's some sort of Arabic.... hah!), and the rest of my family
doesn't know at all; it doesn't come up and I do feel a bit uneasy announcing it in case I have
to drop it afterwards. But I guess it'd be fun to be speaking Turkish "out of the blue" around
them if the chance came up.

My parents don't know either. My dad would like it (he wants to learn Spanish, and even though we have some Spanish stuff laying around he never does anything with it) and my mom might say "What would you ever need that for?" but she'd probably be fine with it. I'm just not telling them because they'll tell everyone I know Spanish and constantly ask how to say things in Spanish. And for the record, I don't consider myself as knowing or speaking Spanish, although my parents would say I spoke it.

They'll figure it out soon, especially if we go on a cruise that stops in Mexico this summer (I'm trying to convince them to pick one that stops in Mexico)
1 person has voted this message useful

apatch3
Diglot
Groupie
United Kingdom
Joined 6190 days ago
80 posts - 99 votes

Speaks: Pashto, English*
Studies: Japanese, French^A2

Message 130 of 161

08 April 2010 at 10:17pm | IP Logged

My Parents are very supportive of my hobbies (they pay for my classes in alliance francaise after all XD) although I have received strange looks from people like my aunt who asked me why I started studying french and what was to become of my Japanese. I detected a slight smirk on her face when I said I would continue learning Japanese at my own pace I just feel I've reached a level where its alright to explore another language
1 person has voted this message useful

Solfrid Cristin
Heptaglot
Winner TAC 2011 & 2012
Senior Member
Norway
Joined 5339 days ago
4143 posts - 8864 votes

Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian
Studies: Russian

Message 131 of 161

21 November 2010 at 2:25pm | IP Logged

I just realized how lucky I am, in that me learning languages was never an issue. My mother started teaching me English when I was 9, sent me to Spain for 6 months when I was 11 and to France for a year when I was 14. She then offered me to go a year to Germany and a year to the UK- to perfect my German and English. Today I am a little sad that I turned those opportunities down, but I was so fed up of living abroad, and just wanted to be at home with my Mom. My dad, who was a language teacher used to drill me in German grammar - as his approach to spending quality time with me.

They knew it would give me carreer opportunities later on, so they were fine with me learning languages. I do however draw a blank stare, when I tell them that I am learning Russian, but I guess that is only to be expected. It's a tad sophisticated for most Norwegian.

I wish you every luck with your language studies though. You are one of the people on the forum who are an inspiration to me, so I count on seeing more from you in the future.
1 person has voted this message useful

arturs
Triglot
Senior Member
Latvia
Joined 5276 days ago
278 posts - 408 votes

Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English

Message 132 of 161

21 November 2010 at 4:09pm | IP Logged

I'm very lucky that my parents and other relatives like and support my enthusiasm towards languages. Sometimes they like to ask, for example, why would I bother myself learning languages like Arabic or Finnish, but that's more because of interest not because that they think it's a useless thing.
1 person has voted this message useful

vickyyuchi
Newbie
Taiwan
Joined 5123 days ago
14 posts - 17 votes
Speaks: English

Message 134 of 161

22 November 2010 at 7:50am | IP Logged

datsunking1 wrote:

My mom told me today that I'm very strange/weird because I like studying languages, she says I'm "odd" and "out of the norm." I ignored her and walked quitely to my room, where I proceded to study.

she said "You need to stop thinking other countries are so cool, people will just think you're an idiot. You like anything that doesn't have to do with your own country, you'll just come off as an a**. I don't know one boy your age that does what you do, It's very strange. What's the point? All you do is waste your time, studying those stupid things that you'll never use."

I'm pretty angry right now, you think that parents would support a healthy hobby right? It's educational, and productive.

Supportive parents huh?

I can never do anything to make them happy. Ever.

-Jordan

I can imgaine how you feel...There's nothing wrong to have a passion toward learning languages! A language is more than words and sentences. It reflects how people of specific culture view things, how they deal with different situations, and so on. Languages are not only one of the most effective tools for communition but also ways to understand different cultures and to broaden one's horizons. Moreover, being multilingual could enhance one's competence in many fields. Have you talked about the advatages of learning languages and the reasons that support you to learn languages to your parents? If not, you should. I believe that if you tell them your thoughts sincerely, they can understand. However,it may takes a long time to gain their supports. Anyway, never give it up--both your passions for learning languages and your parents.
1 person has voted this message useful

Levi
Pentaglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5572 days ago
2268 posts - 3328 votes

Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian

Message 135 of 161

22 November 2010 at 6:03pm | IP Logged

Kuikentje wrote:

Weirdness is on a continuum (like most of things) but in this continuum, it's only one side because it doesn't exist another side, for example:

Excellent <-> Good <-> normal <-> Bad <-> terrible

Normal is in the centre of that, but in weirdness's continuum it is not :

Normal --> Little bit weird --> weird --> very weird --> extremely weird

Therefore, not like the good <> bad one, the majority on the weridness's continuum doesn't fall in the "normal" category but in the "weird" category. this is because the centre has the most always, therefore the majority of all the people is weird.

I have no evidence to support the notion that these so-called "normal people" really exist.
4 persons have voted this message useful

tornus
Diglot
GroupieRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5148 days ago
82 posts - 113 votes

Speaks: French*, English
Studies: Spanish, Swedish, Danish

Message 136 of 161

22 November 2010 at 6:48pm | IP Logged

my parents also think i'm a little weird to study language. they say i should only learn English and let down the other language because they think English is the only language useful to speak to people from all over the world. they encourage me to practice English, propose me to pay me stuff to improve it but will try to talk me into giving up Spanish . that why i don't told them i'm studying swedish, i'll do it when i reach a good level.

i find it's an opportunity, i know i can only rely on me ( at least on this topic ) and it makes me more independant and i'm proud of it.

2 persons have voted this message useful

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