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Which language should I major in? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
 Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6444 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes  Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 19 17 November 2008 at 11:10am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I learned that if it's a consonant SOUND you use "a" in which case "a" is correct in front of European language. Anyway, back to the thread, it's entirely up to you to decide what language to major in. If you can't make up your mind, it might be smart to just major in linguistics to learn more than one language. But only if you can cope with linguistics, as it will mean more than just studying how to use a couple of languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6159 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 10 of 19 17 November 2008 at 11:11am | IP Logged | ||||||||
This is actually incorrect English. The correct usage is "a European language". As mentioned, it depends on the initial vowel sound. See the following link. [EDIT - Sorry amphises, I didn't spot the quote came out wrong. Just corrected the post.] Edited by DaraghM on 18 November 2008 at 4:19am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6156 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes | Message 11 of 19 17 November 2008 at 11:45am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Hey I didn't say that :p. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6042 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 12 of 19 17 November 2008 at 12:04pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Yes, apparently I am wrong. The basic rule, on which I relied for quite some time, was to write "an" before vowels and "a" before consonants.
Of course, I was aware of the ambiguity related to words starting with "h", but the general rule eluded me. It would never occur to me to write "a European". It turns out that we have to distinguish between orthography and sound, not only for h- words. This is by far the most common case, but not the only one. Somewhat counter-intuitively, the correct orthography of the indefinite article ("a" vs "an") depends on the sound of the following letter (does it sound like a vowel or like a consonant) not on its orthography. I'm glad I raised the question. One thing still puzzles me though. How do you arbitrate the differences in accent? Does this mean that British and American English pick the indefinite article differently? For the most part I'll just stick to my convenient rule of the thumb, because here in Edinburgh I can hear at least 5 different accents and it would be difficult to draw any conclusions based on pronunciation (and I'll just remember that Europe thing). Edited by Sennin on 17 November 2008 at 12:11pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6156 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes | Message 13 of 19 17 November 2008 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
The articles should be on the whole identical in American and British English, except for words like "herb" where American has lost the /h/. In that case the Yanks will say "an 'erb" while the British will say "a herb". 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cisa Super Polyglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6427 days ago 312 posts - 309 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Hungarian*, Slovak, FrenchC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin, SpanishB2, RussianB2, GermanB2, Korean, Czech, Latin Studies: Italian, Cantonese, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, Hindi, Mongolian, Tibetan, Kazakh, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew | Message 14 of 19 18 November 2008 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Hi there!
I usually don´t want to give advice, I´m too young for that yet ;), but I have a problem similar to the one of Sohcatoa, although it´s quite the opposite, since I want to major in Chinese and some people would love to push me towards Spanish. Although I just love Spanish and the Hispanic culture as well, I don´t want to major in it at all, at least not for a first degree. Now let´s get to to thread.... I see you try to give a piece of really good advice, however, Sohcahtoa asked for your help regarding her choice of languages. I know it´s hard to believe, but there may be some people out there who are not interested in Mandarin or Arabic and their culture. I don´t see the point in advising to learn to love a language/culture just because that´s the hit today. Of course, all these are really charming and I would be really delighted if more people liked them, but if Sohcahtoa wishes to continue with European languages, then let him do so and help him with his choice as he wishes. As to which language, I personally find the idea of majoring in Russian quite attractive, I myself have thought about it. ;) Russia´s doing a lot of investments and lot of investments are done in Russia, last year even more than in China, I´ve read it somewhere. Nevertheless, you can get by with Russian in all former-USSR countries. Also, knowing already one Slavic languages really helps in learning a new one, or if not, you can still understand quite a lot, especially the closely related ones e.g. Ukrainian. Anyway, hope you make the right choice and you´ll enjoy it fully, good luck! ;) Have a nice day, all of you! :) Cisa Edited by Cisa on 18 November 2008 at 2:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| CMB_001 Newbie United States ispeakthat.com Joined 5883 days ago 2 posts - 2 votes Studies: Russian | Message 15 of 19 27 November 2008 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Sohcahtoa,
Based on what's been written, my personal recommendation is to start studying Russian. Russians are returning as a major influence in the world. Yes Spanish is probably your most frequented languages, but it sounds like you're not interested in Spanish. I've been studying Russian for about a year and I love it. It's also pretty well know that Russians prefer not to speak English, or even learn English, as a matter of Russian pride. Therefore, translators will be in demand. Additionally, the Russian culture is fascinating and to truly experience a visit to Russia, you really need to know the language. Have Fun! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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