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Useful language vs. language you like | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | Usefulness | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4656 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 49 of 69 10 May 2013 at 12:15am | IP Logged | |||||
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If I were to choose the "most useful" language to me, Spanish would win easily. But that isn't really my criterion.
But as far as materials go, that is one of the reasons I can't really see myself studying "small" languages. It's already disappointing enough to me that most languages don't have the wealth of learner content, easily accessible media, and huge number of speakers that French does, but I can't imagine trying to learn a language that has only a few textbooks or something. I'm even considering not trying Norwegian because the general level of English there is high enough and the population small enough that it seems unlikely I'll ever find people with whom I can do regular language exchanges. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4659 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 50 of 69 10 May 2013 at 2:28am | IP Logged | |||||
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I like Hindi because of Bollywood.
2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4613 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 51 of 69 10 May 2013 at 8:42am | IP Logged | |||||
The other side of the coin is you won't have any difficulties asking for advice about the language. Also, speakers of small languages often warm to an outsiders efforts to learn. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| pesahson Diglot Senior Member Poland Joined 5719 days ago 448 posts - 840 votes Speaks: Polish*, English Studies: French, Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 52 of 69 10 May 2013 at 3:34pm | IP Logged | |||||
Just because they speak English well doesn't mean you wouldn't be able to find an exchange partner. They didn't forget Norwegian and suddenly there are no Norwegian speakers left. It just means you have to ask them to speak Norwegian to you. Problem solved. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4613 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 53 of 69 10 May 2013 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
Also, no Norwegian learns English by magic overnight. They require years of hard studying and oral practise to perfect the language. People from Norway know exactly how much work goes into learning a language and I'm sure many of them would be only too happy to assist. 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| dmaddock1 Senior Member United States Joined 5424 days ago 174 posts - 426 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Esperanto, Latin, Ancient Greek | Message 54 of 69 10 May 2013 at 4:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been thinking a lot about this issue lately because for the past 3+ years I've been studying Classical Greek, Esperanto, and Latin (not always simultaneously). While I wouldn't call these "useless" languages (I can read in all three and do so), I wouldn't call them "useful" in the usual sense of the word either.
Looking back on the time I spent on these, I could've certainly attained pretty good skills in one or two major languages and having decent French and Spanish would be very useful in my job. I've been telling myself that I'll get to the useful ones later on, but that time never seems to arrive. Last summer I picked up a little Italian before a big trip to Italy and Ireland. I loved the feeling of being able to speak (however basically) in practical situations. But now at home I find myself wholly unenthusiastic about Italian and studying Irish instead--a language almost as "useless" in Ireland as it is here in the US! (I should mention that there is a large population of Italians in my area and plenty of opportunities for speaking it.) I'm realizing that if I only study what I happen to find interesting at the moment, I will never attain good skills in any "useful" language as my brain appears to be wired to find them uninteresting. Yet, I'm now to the point where it is almost embarrassing to admit that for all the work I've put in, I can do basically nothing with my languages that anyone besides language buffs or classics nerds would find cool. My advice would be: Don't discount the value of practical utility too much. Now if only I could take my own advice... 5 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| breakfastfox Newbie United States Joined 4929 days ago 6 posts - 7 votes Speaks: English* | Message 55 of 69 14 May 2013 at 5:08am | IP Logged | |||||
Just word roots, both in Latin and Greek (hypo-, sub-, cardio-, pneumo- etc.). I do have about two years' worth of formal study in Latin, but I've never had to use any grammar constructions in the medical jargon. Edited by breakfastfox on 14 May 2013 at 5:11am 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 56 of 69 14 May 2013 at 8:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Ah, than it is different. We learn and use the declinations as those are part of the
terminology as well (so it would look stupid if someone said caput radius and other such mistakes) and only bits about verbs. I wonder who else uses the latin terminology as it is. I know Germans do (I have a few study ressources in German). The French use their own jargon, just as the English natives. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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