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Useful language vs. language you like | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | Usefulness | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| WoofCreature Diglot Groupie Canada Joined 4517 days ago 80 posts - 118 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: German, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 25 of 69 30 April 2013 at 2:12am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm kind of half way between the two. Most of the languages I've learned, I started learning out of immediate usefulness, but I've recently started Norwegian, a language that has no real usefulness to me at all. I think interest usually comes easily later once you have a grasp of the language, but I certainly don't regret starting to learn Norwegian.
I learned French without much say in the matter because my parents put me in an immersion school when I was young. It's currently useful in the fact that I use it everyday in school. Outside of school, it does have some usefulness in Canada, though not much in my region. I have been told it improves job prospects and opens up government positions. I gradually started learning Portuguese after I received an invitation to spend a month in Brazil and I noticed the similarities between it and French. I have found things that keep me learning the language, but I largely continue learning because I really enjoyed my time in Brazil and I don't want to lose all that I've learned so far. I've sometimes wished I'd learned Spanish instead because of its potentially massive usefulness, but it can be nice to know a slightly less popular language. I tried to learn Tagalog because of how many native speakers I came into contact with on a regular basis, but despite actually finding a few movies that I'd still like to watch now even that I'm not learning the language, I didn't have much interest in the country. Because of changing circumstances, I am unsure of how much contact with the language I will have, so for now I am not learning it. Norwegian is a language that has been gradually calling out to me for awhile, that I finally just gave in and started learning, though I don't know anyone who speaks it and have no immediate plans to travel to Norway. I've had an interest in the Nordic countries for awhile, though I tried to ignore it since they seemed too similar to Canada. But I really love some Norwegian comedians and since I was already watching many videos in Norwegian I decided to learn it. It's really not that useful considering the average level of English spoken in Norway and the lack of Norwegian elsewhere in the world. I almost chose German instead, because of it's usefulness, but I don't think I'd have learned it as quickly and as enjoyably as I am learning Norwegian. I think it's quite easy to develop an interest in a language after learning the basics and starting to enjoy native materials, but I find it quite hard to get past the basics unless I have an incentive to learn or an interest in language or country(ies) where it is spoken. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5000 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 26 of 69 30 April 2013 at 3:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, Medulin, I have found French and German to be very useful in the medical field as
well. Of course, I am not a doctor by far yet but I have found both to be very useful when it comes to study resources and when it comes to articles concerning new research (I translate such articles for a small non profit organisation). While researchers from small countries and languages usually publish their results in English right away, it is different when it comes to the French and German speaking ones. WoofCreature, I understand so much! Swedish has been calling me just as Norwegian has been trying to get you. But unlike you, I got distracted by German. Result: I am happy with German as I like it. And it is sooo comfortable thanks to the mass of resources and very easy travel opportunities. But I still think of Swedish and hope to have time for it this summer. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tanya b Senior Member United States Joined 4769 days ago 159 posts - 518 votes Speaks: Russian | Message 27 of 69 30 April 2013 at 6:41am | IP Logged | ||
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This is a burning question for me too, but I think studying a useful but somewhat uninteresting language is a good exercise in self-discipline.
But useful and interesting are not mutually exclusive. Fortunately there is a dazzling array of "second tier" languages--Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Korean, etc. which are both and can lead to career advancement and economic rewards. Sometimes I am bitten by the exotic language bug and I have to resist the urge to study a language that is kind of under the radar. Armenian usually satisfies that for me. But the upside of learning a language like that is the thrill and sense of pride it brings to native speakers of the language that a foreigner would learn their language to fluency. Some are so touched that they are moved to tears and you can't put a dollar value on that. Edited by tanya b on 30 April 2013 at 6:44am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5047 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 28 of 69 30 April 2013 at 2:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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I know people who are really interested in English. Many people think it sounds ugly
however. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4630 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 29 of 69 30 April 2013 at 4:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Most people who are not very much into language learning will probably only think of the usefulness of a language in terms of whether it improves your career prospects etc. However, I think that whether a language is useful or not depends on individual factors. For an opera singer, Italian and German is certainly "useful", since many of the world's greatest operas are written in these two languages. If you are a historian or a philosophy teacher,then Latin and Greek are certainly useful, etc.
If I am not interested in learning a language, then usefulness is not a motivating factor. That could only happen if I were to move to a country where the language is spoken, because I could not imagine living in a place and not understanding the local language. I study Russian because I find it immensely interesting, and although in the future it might be "useful" in my line of work, that was never a reason for studying it. And I have some definitely "useless" languages, like Romansh and Catalan. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6900 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 30 of 69 30 April 2013 at 8:11pm | IP Logged | ||
I already know the two languages that are most useful in terms of speaking opportunities, native materials etc. For me, nothing can compete with Swedish and English. I've studied all my other languages out of pure interest. I suppose most people learn their 2nd language because it's useful, like it or not. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5915 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 31 of 69 30 April 2013 at 11:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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I believe there is no such thing as useless knowledge, so I choose languages based solely on personal interest. I figure that if (or when) I learn a perticular language to a high level I will find uses for it. Edited by mick33 on 30 April 2013 at 11:31pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6900 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 32 of 69 01 May 2013 at 2:00am | IP Logged | ||
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Of course you're right. While it's highly unlikely that I'll bump into a native speaker of some of my languages (at least here in my town), they're still useful in the sense that I can do "whatever I want", study them to the level where I can read books, listen to podcasts, watch television etc.
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