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Quality/Quantity | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| dantalian Diglot Senior Member Bouvet Island Joined 5478 days ago 125 posts - 156 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 17 of 33 05 July 2010 at 12:03am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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My view is that “quality/quantity” choice depends entirely on your intents and purposes. First and foremost you should decide for yourself why you really want to know this language or that and then all the rest goes.
For example, if you wake up one day and all of sudden feel that language X sounds cool and it is the only reason you have to learn it, then my view is that you should choose “quantity”, limit yourself to Pimsler and Co, and do nothing else. Why? Because you may just as well wake up five years after and feel that language X sounds nasty. But no one will make up your time, efforts, missed opportunities, money and all other resources you might have spent on language learning. And some of them are really irrevocable and presume ignoring many other opportunities that life may suggest, given you really must work hard should you choose intensity. On the other hand, if you, say, on the verge of committing suicide and the only thing that attracts your imagination now is the most agonizing way of self destruction, than Classical Chinese and “quality” might be your best choice. Ten years of incessant hard efforts might sound like the most sophisticated Chinese torture and the looming fatal end would look just as prominent as inevitable. But by the end of the ‘journey” a lot of things will happen and you may decide that life is not as bad as it seemed before, and a side-effect of knowing an exotic language can be of some use. I wrote all abovementioned semiseriously, but the whole idea boils down to a kind of cost-benefit analysis and my attempts to apply it to life optimization. There is no absolute virtue in langue learning including the choice of “quality” or “quantity” as such, and there are lots of other activities that are just as fulfilling. Think everything out carefully, weigh up all the pros and cons and go ahead. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6739 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 18 of 33 05 July 2010 at 12:59am | IP Logged | ||||||||
It is pretty hard to apply a cost-benefit analysis to entertainment. If you need a language professionally, you know what language it is and how well you need to know it. If languages are just a hobby for you, you will probably be frustrated with your choices no matter what you do. Come to think of it, most people are frustrated with pretty much everything they've ever done in life. So, accepting that life sucks, do we go for quantity or quality? The benefit of choosing "quality" is not that you will know your chosen language or languages well, which you won't. The main benefit is that you will stop stressing over there being 6,000 more languages on this planent, and be able to proudly tell someone who has learned several dozen languages to the B1 level that he wouldn't know what quality is if it bit him. The B1 individual will, however, tell the person of quality that he would rather be living, the presumed ability to chat up waitresses in several dozen language being the proof of being alive. Whether it might not land higher on the cost-benefit scale to limit this particular activity to one's native language and spend the rest of the time in the gym doesn't seem to be asked very often, except by people who do go to the gym instead of learning a foreign language, and even they don't really ask it, but just get on with their own kind of living without any analysis whatsoever. So, in the end there are no answers, only questions, and in the ideal situation not even those. Edited by frenkeld on 05 July 2010 at 3:21pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6661 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 19 of 33 05 July 2010 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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There are some languages I hope to be very good at, and others I just want a casual knowledge of. In that sense, I was perhaps 2-3 quality languages, and smatterings of others.
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| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5078 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 20 of 33 05 July 2010 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree. To go from ground zero to basic fluency, I reckon you just need to internalize two or three Linguaphone/Assimil type courses over a 12 to 18 month period. But in order to smash through the glass ceiling above this, you need to put in a huge amount of time - mainly listening to and reading copious amounts of content at progressively higher levels. (Probably the quickest and least painful way would be to live for a year or more in a country where the language is spoken?)
Again, I absolutely agree with this. IMO after a learner has reached genuine C2 level, even watching one or two films and reading about three books per year should be enough to keep things in good shape. Edited by Romanist on 05 July 2010 at 8:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5634 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 21 of 33 05 July 2010 at 9:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Exactly. Getting good at English is not so hard in this day and age, since its everywhere. But if your chosen language was Bulgarian or Finnish you'd have to be really focused about it unless you were able to move there...
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| dantalian Diglot Senior Member Bouvet Island Joined 5478 days ago 125 posts - 156 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 22 of 33 06 July 2010 at 12:15am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Life sucks mostly because it more or less quickly but inevitably goes to its illogical end without meeting your expectations. However some periods within can be better or worse depending on circumstances. The feeling and degree of “happiness” depends on both external events and your attitude towards them. Changing either of these elements may or may not bring about some periods of fulfillment. If learning to a higher degree leads to such positive shifts you should go on with your studies and visa versa. At any rate you should see these changes in a positive light in order to move on.IMHO.
Why do you narrow all the motivation to more or less subtle forms of vanity? It may work in some cases and may not in others. There are some other equally strong stimuli. Why does acceptance of the “sucking life” concept prompt us to such a behavior? I can't see the linkage.
I tend to agree here with your analysis of a typical learner/non-learner. Can you suggest an easier/better algorithm for decision making when it comes down to such long term projects as language learning in general and learning for entertainment in particular for those who would decide to be more careful in their choice? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5078 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian | Message 23 of 33 06 July 2010 at 12:35am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Above all you would need to have some genuine rock solid motivation, I think. Anyone wanting to crack Finnish right up to C2 level would probably have to make some real sacrifices - like staying in and working on it every evening and weekend instead of going out with friends, etc. After a while the learner starts to ask: why am I doing this to myself? (If there is not a very good answer, the whole project quickly falls by the wayside...) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5643 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 24 of 33 06 July 2010 at 1:02am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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To reach the higher language levels for me it takes MANY YEARS of time. If you just quantify my amount of English learning:
- American elementary school: 2 years - English in German grammar school: 9 years - Preparation course BEC Vantage exam: 1/2 year - Professional Course English Foreign Language Correspondent: 2,5 years If you add up all this I spent 14 years(!) of English studies to reach my present C1 - level of English. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 06 July 2010 at 1:06am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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