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Ceasing study of a language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| mdkhoury Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5548 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 1 of 24 03 February 2010 at 5:46am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been considering dropping Russian from my list of languages to learn. My interests
for learning languages have changed a bit since when I first started learning the language a few years ago. Also, I don't know if I will ever travel to Russia, because I am very alarmed by the population's extreme racism and intolerance. I suppose I am posting this because I was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences; did you ever just stop learning a language for which you once had so much zeal? I am just looking for general opinions or input because neither my friends nor family study languages. Also, I feel horrible that I've wasted a great time of university in Russian classes, when in hindsight, I should have chosen something else.. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tritone Senior Member United States reflectionsinpo Joined 6120 days ago 246 posts - 385 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, French | Message 2 of 24 03 February 2010 at 5:54am | IP Logged | |||||
Where did you get this idea about Russia?
It'll only be time wasted if you stop. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5960 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 3 of 24 03 February 2010 at 5:55am | IP Logged | |||||
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Have you reached a level where you can comfortably read a newspaper or have a chat? If so, then I would encourage you to at least maintain that level, even if you don't actively study the language any more. For the record, I have never quit a language that I was passionate about. I quit a couple languages that I took classes in though.
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| mdkhoury Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5548 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 4 of 24 03 February 2010 at 6:08am | IP Logged | |||||
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I don't mean this vindictively, but I was under the impression it is quite understood that
Islamophobia is rampant in Russia, and the amount of violent crimes committed against ethnic minorities, immigrants, and foreigners in general, is alarmingly high. In respons to lichtrausch, I would say my reading ability is satisfactory, but I could only have a limited chat. Did you find that you could at least maintain the knowledge you gained from taking classes? I am worried that if I stop intensively studying Russian, all of skills will decay, since it is not as accessible or "easy" as a language like Spanish. Yet, at the same time I do not know if I should continue investing a large amount of time in it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tritone Senior Member United States reflectionsinpo Joined 6120 days ago 246 posts - 385 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, French | Message 5 of 24 03 February 2010 at 6:42am | IP Logged | |||||
I think your characterization of Russia is kind of misguided, and also ironic, being that you live in the United States which has a worse reputation than Russia in this respect. Anyway, I strongly suggest that you reconsider giving up Russian. Edited by tritone on 03 February 2010 at 6:43am 9 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5960 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 6 of 24 03 February 2010 at 7:34am | IP Logged | |||||
I retained almost nothing from the languages I gave up. I was only at a beginner level anyway so I didn't even bother trying to retain what little I had learned. In the grand scope of learning a language to "fluency", the knowledge from those few beginner courses was insignificant and no great loss. However, for any language that I have studied up to a high intermediate or advanced level like Japanese, I plan to always make the effort to maintain it. That knowledge means a lot to me. If your Russian is still valuable to you, try reading/watching the news or some other media in Russian for at least an hour a week or something. That should be enough to maintain whatever passive knowledge you have acquired. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5464 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 7 of 24 03 February 2010 at 7:43am | IP Logged | |||||
You are misinformed. As is often the case, the media focus on a particular theme and run with it until it is exaggerated out of all proportion. Russia is similar to most Western countries in that every big city includes certain areas where you are likely to find yourself in danger at certain times of the day, but as long as you take suitable safety precautions, you will be fine. Please don't let media exaggeration put you off this wonderful language, country, and culture. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Spiderkat Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5812 days ago 175 posts - 248 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Russian | Message 8 of 24 03 February 2010 at 7:49am | IP Logged | |||||
So I guess you'll drop French and German as well since the same kinds of events occur there too. Next you'll drop English and leave the US. It's gonna be tough to pick a language if you think that way. Seriously, I don't see there any real good reasons for giving up Russian. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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