About propedeutic benefits of Esperanto (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

About propedeutic benefits of Esperanto
Tags: Learning Experience \| Conlang \| Esperanto
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

26 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

tristano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Netherlands
Joined 4050 days ago
905 posts - 1262 votes

Speaks: Italian*, Spanish, French, English
Studies: Dutch

Message 25 of 26

25 October 2014 at 6:43pm | IP Logged

Serpent wrote:

Well but being stuck is a feeling, it depends on your mindset. See goal/">zenhabits and iguanamon's posts (maybe especially those in kuji's log).

With your current mindset, you may never feel like your Dutch is good enough. But even if you stay within that
mindset, you're likely to feel less stuck in a language you like, learn for fun and face no pressure to learn. Just enjoy
the process.

It's also likely that your desire to learn other languages is contributing to your Dutch frustration. The only way to get
rid of a temptation is to yield to it :)

I guess you centered the main point. Admittedly, I wouldn' choose to learn Dutch if I didn't live in The Netherlands. I
also like the language when written but not when spoken. If it was Persian instead I would most probably feel less
stuck. Also, I don't find Dutch (sung) music appealing, thing that is very important to me. I instead find written
Dutch quite elegant.

So, the lesson here is that I do something to achieve something else without setting it as a goal I will eventually
make it. Sounds reasonable. When I ask people who learnt Dutch here in The Netherlands they often answer me that
they took years to learn it because they were not really motivated. But they eventually made it and now are fluent.

Cavesa wrote:

Oh, about Latin. I dare say it is as near to Spanish as to Italian but my experience with Italian is
extremely
limited.

I think Latin makes an awesome propedeutic for other languages. The grammar is demanding yet logical and
the courses do not try to shy away from it, they explain. The vocabulary transpires into all european
languages, including the slavic branch. It teaches discipline and respect to knowledge, in my opinion. I think
one of the main troubles of today's language teaching/learning mainstream is lack of this approach. Don't get
me wrong, I am exemely grateful for many of the changes, such as wide accessibility of audio, wider
opportunities and more focus on practice and so on. But everyone seems to be spending too much time and
efforts on making everything effortless at the expense of efficiency. Latin teaching and learning approach is
nothing like that. You either work hard and get results (and fun is a kind of reward for steps forward) or you
don't. Your course is primarily teaching you, not primarily entertaining you.

While I am one of those who failed, got stuck before reading real literatureand quit due to laziness (or not
good enough ratio work/gain, that is another way to say it), Latin has made my life much richer and not only
due to medicine studies.

Sounds awesome. Also being Italian and having other two romance languages under my radars (plus English that is
fully of latin rooted words) learning the vocabulary should be fairly easy. Also it's usually not spoken so I can
concetrate solely on the written skills. And your finally point on the benefits of having 'failed' with latin reminds me
this article. I would like to fail
in the same way @Cavesa.

The way I consider languages are a means to reach a target (people, media etc). The most fascinating part of
Esperanto seems to be its community indeed.
1 person has voted this message useful

Radioclare
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
timeofftakeoff.com
Joined 4586 days ago
689 posts - 1119 votes

Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto
Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian

Message 26 of 26

27 October 2014 at 11:12am | IP Logged

tristano wrote:

The way I consider languages are a means to reach a target (people, media etc). The most fascinating part of Esperanto seems to be its community indeed.

This is probably true :) As Cavesa has pointed out, someone who learns Esperanto isn't going to find films/TV programmes to watch in the language, and while there is plenty of music and radio, there's definitely not as much choice as for a language linked to a country. For most Europeans that doesn't seem to pose a massive problem as it is relatively easy to travel to events where you can have quite intense immersion experiences with a lot of live input. However for learners in North America I think it can be quite a serious problem as speakers are much more spread out and can't necessarily meet up with others in real life.

Incidentally, the Netherlands is arguably the best place in the world to learn Esperanto as the World Esperanto Association has its headquarters in Rotterdam, so anyone who lives there can probably avoid high postal charges when they order books :)
1 person has voted this message useful

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