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Parents think I’m weird... | ||
Tags: Polyglot bashing | Teenagers | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| danieldarc13 Newbie Colombia Joined 5328 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes | Message 153 of 161 24 December 2010 at 1:24am | IP Logged | ||
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My parents actually said the same things as yours, I just ignore them. I always tell them that one day they'll see how succesful I'll be and that day they will ask me for forgivenes. hey I've seen, you're interested in Medicine too, me too,I would like to become a Hyperpolyglot neurosurgeon, do you think it's possible?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5267 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 154 of 161 24 December 2010 at 3:34am | IP Logged | ||
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When I was a teenager I had a shortwave radio (precursor to the internet). My Dad thought it a complete waste of time. Listening to foreign radio broadcasts spurred my love of languages, broadened my mind and led me to traveling- which was also considered a waste of time and money. Traveling broadened my mind and spurred my love of languages even more. Now I live and work in the Caribbean and will spend a good part of my Christmas day sailing with friends.
Hobbies are great and can lead you to many paths. Keep up with your language study but do try not to be obsessed by it, that's all, just keep it in perspective. I turned out fine. You will too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dramireck Newbie Colombia Joined 5369 days ago 9 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English | Message 155 of 161 30 December 2010 at 2:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Honestly, I think that, to a certain extent, there could be some truth in you mother's concerns... Although being
highly proficient in a small number of languages could open many doors for you, dabbling in many of them could probably be considered a "loss of time" .... Some intellectual endeavors can be very demanding and will distract you of other relevant things. It is important to be a balanced person and keep things in perspective. There are many important things to deal with as a teenager: your social life, girlfriend, sports, school, etc. Besides, life is short, and you will probably be facing many responsibilities soon. When I was younger, I devoted inordinate amounts of time to learning to play the piano (that was during my undergrad studies in engineering). I also dabbled in four different languages: German, French, Portuguese and English (being Spanish my mother tongue). WIth the benefit of hindsight, I think that I should have focused more on my engineering studies. Although, knowing languages can be a an asset, you could also turn into a dilettante with only a shallow knowledge of many of them. Having said that, I think that you have the right to spend your money and time as you wish. Besides, if you manage to learn some key languages and get really good at them, it could be an important asset in your CV. My advice for you is to start looking for concrete opportunities to use your languages (such as scholarships, internships, etc). Believe me: it is not too early. Besides, I would focus in two or three languages (those that could be useful in the immediate future). As an example, some days ago, I started looking for scholarships in my field, and concluded that the most interesting ones required a knowledge of one of the following languages: French, German and English... By the way, I think that learning languages is a great hobby. From a pragmatic point of view, It beats collecting stamps, playing a musical instrument, building models and almost any activity that I can think of. You could also become a translator and profit from it. Edited by dramireck on 30 December 2010 at 5:17am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jerrypettit Groupie United States Joined 6031 days ago 79 posts - 103 votes Speaks: English* | Message 156 of 161 01 January 2011 at 1:46am | IP Logged | ||
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"The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living at it" -- John Lennon's
aunt. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6384 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 157 of 161 01 January 2011 at 2:45am | IP Logged | ||
But what about the thousands of other people who didn't make it? I think I agree with dramireck here that there should be some balance between hobbies such as language learning (and guitar playing) and time spent on one's studies. There is no way around it - spending an hour on languages takes an hour away from school work. Edited by newyorkeric on 01 January 2011 at 2:47am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6555 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 158 of 161 01 January 2011 at 2:47am | IP Logged | ||
John Lennon was murdered. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pineappleboom Groupie United States languageloft-ashley. Joined 5258 days ago 66 posts - 76 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, French, Russian | Message 159 of 161 05 January 2011 at 3:56am | IP Logged | ||
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you just gotta do what you like and try to ignore your parents. I can't imagine parents like that. Maybe it would be good for them to study languages to open up their minds.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| wenevy Bilingual Pentaglot Newbie China Joined 5082 days ago 28 posts - 36 votes Speaks: Spanish, Mandarin*, Cantonese*, Catalan, EnglishC1 Studies: French, Italian | Message 160 of 161 09 January 2011 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many teenagers spend hores and hores playing basketball, and they will never be a professional bastketball palyer.
Everyone have his own passion. Keep going! :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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