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Ignorance is Bliss | ||
Tags: Wanderlust | Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Darobat Diglot Senior Member Joined 7190 days ago 754 posts - 770 votes  Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin | Message 1 of 25 26 October 2007 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | ||
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At least it is when it comes to picking a language to study.
Lately I have been having a terrible time trying to find another language to start learning, as wanderlust always kicks in very quickly. I have bought materials to learn Mandarin, Persian, German, Swedish, Latin, and Swahili but I cannot stick with any of them for very long. I think I've determined why my wanderlust is so ravenous, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it. Going back to when I began learning Russian, I had no previous knowledge about the workings of the language, or any language outside of English for that matter. So when I began learning Russian, I didn't know that I was getting myself into. I can almost assure you that had I known Russian has six cases, three genders, verb aspect and more, I would not have learned it - it's too difficult for a first language. But, as I was ignorant to this fact, I kept ploughing along not knowing what else to expect, and not knowing that there existed easier languages. Nobody told me Russian was supposed to be a difficult language and so it wasn’t. Ignorance is bliss. Now that I’m looking at choosing a new language to begin, I cannot help continually changing which language I want to learn, because I now have way too many reasons why each language is too difficult. I yearn for the times when I didn’t know that memorizing word gender was supposed to be a painful task. I wish I didn’t know that Swahili has fourteen noun classes and that Persian doesn’t mark vowels. I wish I could forget everything I knew about all these languages so that I wouldn’t have a reason to keep stopping. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FSI Senior Member United States Joined 6361 days ago 550 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 25 26 October 2007 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | ||
A quick hop to a book written or a film shot in these languages should suffice to remind you that you really don't know anything IN these languages :^) Don't let overthinking keep you from trying something you'd like to do. No matter how much you read about swimming, it won't change the fact that you don't know how to swim. The only way to change that will be to wade into the pool. Theory can be fun, but it means nothing if not put into practice. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Gilgamesh Tetraglot Senior Member England Joined 6244 days ago 452 posts - 468 votes 14 sounds Speaks: Dutch, English, German, French Studies: Polish | Message 3 of 25 27 October 2007 at 4:58am | IP Logged | ||
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If you decide not to learn a language just because it has some level of difficulty, you should not learn any languages. No offence, but the language doesn't just come automatically. Besides, after having learned the what you call "difficult" stuff, it feels even better and more fulfilling.
Every language has these "difficult" elements. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| silentlearner Diglot Newbie Romania Joined 6240 days ago 21 posts - 21 votes Speaks: Romanian*, English Studies: German | Message 4 of 25 27 October 2007 at 10:44am | IP Logged | ||
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As I was beginning to write this post I suddenly discovered the meaning of "Ignorance is bliss.".The opposite of ignorance is probably worry ,then it should be "Worry is hell."
I was thinking in the lines of ignoring something all together. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darobat Diglot Senior Member Joined 7190 days ago 754 posts - 770 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin | Message 5 of 25 27 October 2007 at 11:09am | IP Logged | ||
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It seems a number of people have misinterpreted the entire point of my post.
I'm pointing out the fact that everything seems easier to do until we're told that it's supposed to be difficult. Russian, a rather difficult language for most people, was actually relatively easy for me because nobody told me that I was supposed to find certain aspects of it hard. Not knowing that I was supposed to find cases difficult or verb aspect a nightmare meant I didn't. However, after being struck with wanderlust, I now know little tidbits of information about many languages (no, I don't speak any of them at all), and this is just a grand opportunity to conjure up reasons why I should pick another language instead. Usually I switch languages mostly because I suddenly have more interest in another language, but the switch is made even easier by the fact that I can say "not having all these Arabic loan words in ____ is another reason to switch." Yes, learning a language is difficult, but it is certainly much less difficult when you know nothing about what you should be having trouble with. I love the challenge of a difficult language, but sometimes not knowing that most people consider it difficult would make it a whole lot easier. It's purely psychological. I'm not complaining about it or asking for advice, but just found it to be a tad interesting. Edited by Darobat on 27 October 2007 at 11:14am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6652 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 6 of 25 27 October 2007 at 11:15am | IP Logged | ||
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I think I get what you're saying. Knowing a little about a language can be more dangerous than knowing nothing because then you actually know what's difficult about it, and that makes it easier to decide not to do it.
Like if there was a language (fictitious) called "Khroluth" and you didn't know anything about it, it would be easier (psychologically) than learning, say, Japanese, because you've heard all sorts of things about Japanese grammar, perhaps. Is that what you mean? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Darobat Diglot Senior Member Joined 7190 days ago 754 posts - 770 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin | Message 7 of 25 27 October 2007 at 11:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Exactly. Starting a language without any preconceived notions about how difficult it should be seems to make learning a language significantly easier. As soon as people start telling you about all the difficult things in it, those things become difficult for you. It's all in your mind, but it seems to matter a lot.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6652 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 8 of 25 27 October 2007 at 11:32am | IP Logged | ||
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I definitely agree. Of the languages I'm learning, the one I know least about is Gujarati, and it's the one that I have the least anxiety about. In Spanish, it's the subjunctive; in Icelandic, the case endings; in Chinese, the tones and rhythm. Gujarati, I know, has difficult parts, but I'm not interested in knowing what they are! (So don't ruin my blissful ignorance, please!)
1 person has voted this message useful |
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