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Would you change your native language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 4978 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 49 of 100 18 September 2010 at 5:12am | IP Logged |
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Sometimes I think it would have been neat to speak a language with a small number of speakers as my native tongue. As others have pointed out you end up learning English anyway in that case.
However, I love English and the wide variety of books written in it so I have no real regrets about my native language. It is nice knowing all the ins and outs of it without studying it as a 2nd language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Bill_Sage667 Groupie United States Joined 5002 days ago 62 posts - 71 votes Speaks: English* | Message 50 of 100 18 September 2010 at 5:41am | IP Logged |
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I definitely don't regret having English as my native language. Although If I had to
choose one more, it would most probably be Russian. That way, it'd be quite easier for me to learn most European languages. All languages in the Romanic, Germanic (coz of English), and the Slavic family will be a piece of cake due to my nativelike knowledge of a large number of verb tenses (god, I love being a native English speaker) AND cases of nouns and verb aspects. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| kraemder Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4981 days ago 1497 posts - 1648 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 51 of 100 18 September 2010 at 10:03am | IP Logged |
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Well I guess I'm going with the popular opinion here - that English is the way to go. Someone mentioned that getting English for fr is like winning the lottery and I can't agree more. There's simply so many more opportunities and entertainment material out there for English speakers. I've heard that literature requires a native tongue. I don't agree 100% but there's something to be said for that comment. I am at times jealous that people studying English as a foreign language have so much more material to enjoy and study and tools available than I do no matter what other language I choose... but then again I wouldn't do it any different. I guess I'm more curious to see what non English speakers have to say on this.
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| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 5939 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 52 of 100 18 September 2010 at 11:09pm | IP Logged |
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Although I can think of better linguistic situations, mine isn't all that bad. My native language is English as I've grown up in the United States, but my family is Greek and I had lots and lots of exposure to that when I was little too. I then went to a bilingual school for several years, where I learned Spanish at a young age.
Between these three, it's pretty beneficial: English: Although I don't like English and would have preferred my native language to be something more interesting, it's the language that is essentially required nowadays and it's nice to speak it effortlessly at a native level. From English I get lots of Latinate and Germanic vocabulary, and grammar that opens Germanic languages up to me a little more. Spanish: Makes all of the Romance languages very easy for me and its grammar also really helps in a way that English can’t. Some sounds exist in Spanish that don’t exist in English, so that also helps my pronunciation of these in other languages. Not to mention that I can speak an important world language at a near-native level. ;) Greek: I wish this had had an even greater presence in my linguistic history and preferably to have been raised completely bilingual with English and Greek. My exposure to Greek makes the pronunciation of it and sounds that it and other languages have (but English lacks) easy, and it also has a somewhat complicated grammar and vocabulary which is really beneficial. So between those three I have a large phonemic inventory, complex inflection patterns, a good vocabulary for many languages, and three languages at a good level for a low price, and several others discounted. However, if I were to change my linguistic situation, I would have liked to have been brought up bilingually with English and Greek in Japan, attending a Japanese-Arabic bilingual school (if such a place exists) with a Russian nanny and frequent childhood visits to Spain. That way I'd get English, Greek, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish for free. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6580 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 53 of 100 20 September 2010 at 4:29pm | IP Logged |
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I don't really see the point of contemplating switching a native language without also
bearing the full consequences of that choice, which is to say "would it have been more fun to be born in a different country"? Possibly, but if language is the motive then a few years ago I might have said yes, but in the last year I've realized that it's totally realistic to learn a new language in a year (at least among the Romance ones which I always was interested in). So by now I'd say nah it's no big deal, you can learn the one you want. In terms of "regional" language knowledge, I guess I would have a leg up if my first language had been from some other region, because I have no particular interest in Slavic languages. Edited by numerodix on 20 September 2010 at 4:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| dissident Newbie United States Joined 5109 days ago 37 posts - 43 votes | Message 54 of 100 21 September 2010 at 11:46am | IP Logged |
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I would like to be a native speaker of English and Chinese. I think 2 native languages is not too much to ask as
most people have 2 parents. English is a good starting point for learning most European languages and Chinese a good starting point for the Asian ones. that would be a "cadillac" option but i would also be happy with Spanish / Chinese because Spanish is an even better starting point for learning European languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 4878 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 55 of 100 06 January 2011 at 2:45am | IP Logged |
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I would like to change my native language if I was going to live the rest of my life (or at least many years) in another country. I would like to change to Japanese. I don't like the sounds of this language, but I like the country and their history. So, my answer to this question is that I wish I was born bilingual, speaking Japanese and English as my mother tongues. I also understand almost every phrase written or spoke in Spanish, but I don't like this language. It's much closer to my native language, and I dislike how some words are pronounced. It looks like it's just wrong. Our word for time is "tempo" but in Spanish it is "tiempo", This similarity irritates me. I have not against Spanish people though (I have Spanish heritage).
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| Didgeridoo Newbie United States Joined 4950 days ago 28 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish | Message 56 of 100 06 January 2011 at 3:03am | IP Logged |
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I think it would have been a blessing to have been born in Finland, because Finnish is the native language, Swedish is common in some parts, and apparently English is compulsory in school and many Finns speak great English.
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