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Introverts and Extroverts | ||
Tags: Introvert and Extrovert | Conversation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Aineko Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5237 days ago 238 posts - 442 votes  Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 25 of 59 18 November 2010 at 12:48am | IP Logged | ||
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This topic is becoming more and more interesting...
Since we have wondered away form language learning a bit, here are some more observation. Looks like we are talking about three different things. 'Not being social', 'being shy' and 'being an introvert' (I'm now a bit confused about the definition) are certainly not interchangeable. Person can be social and shy, that is to say, can like meeting and interacting with different people, but having problems in making first step. Also, someone can be confident and not social (simple doesn't seek social contact as much as average person because he/she is perfectly happy with their own thoughts and goes out of that circle only when there is something worth reaching out). The 'being social is the only good thing' culture recognizes first as OK, but the second case is many times seen as arrogant (or elitist). I find this quite unfair since, for example, I am not doing anything different from everyone else - seek interaction related to something that interest me. I still haven't met someone not interested in science but happy to listen about molecular signalling between plant and fungal cell in a symbiosis of endophytes and grasses :) (and yes, this can be discussed in plain English). I mentioned earlier that I find small talk very tiring. For me it is a repetitive and boring activity with a very little gain. From my experience, I have to meet a lot of people and be lucky to find few that share my interests (this of course changes by time as we tend to place ourselves in circles that are more similar to us). As microsnout said, people might see you as boring. However, by that point I have probably seen them as boring, too (I don't get why people seeing me as boring is worse than me seeing them as boring). That is why I prefer internet to a bar (unless there's dancing :) ). On net you can go straight to the topic you are interested in and given a number of people on net, higher are chances that you will meet one's you like. I still haven't heard of a language learning discussions bar :). In terms of consequences for language learning, I do agree with Arekkusu that social people have good chance to reach oral fluency faster. Edited by Aineko on 18 November 2010 at 5:53pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5422 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 26 of 59 18 November 2010 at 12:50am | IP Logged | ||
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The previous two posts on the last page are veering way off what most people would understand as meaning introvert and extrovert. Extroverts liking "shallow conversations", or being more flexible with who you socialise with immediately meaning you are spineless hypocritical sheep is hardly accurate. That covers superficial people, not extroverts. Superficial and extrovert are certainly not synonyms, even if there are more superficial extroverts than superficial introverts.
I can understand pride in being introvert, but this is really going over the top... Edited by irishpolyglot on 18 November 2010 at 12:52am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Aineko Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5237 days ago 238 posts - 442 votes Speaks: Serbian*, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Russian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin | Message 27 of 59 18 November 2010 at 1:04am | IP Logged | ||
I totally agree with this. I see extrovert as someone more interested in people themselves than in topic of conversation, and introvert as less interested in people but more in topic itself. I don't see anything wrong with being interested in people, it is not something superficial. (maybe this is also a definition of social/antisocial, for me. I only get pissed of when one is seen as better than the other). 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| skchi Groupie United States Joined 5534 days ago 57 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 28 of 59 18 November 2010 at 2:00am | IP Logged | ||
I guess that you're referring to my post. First, by "shallow conversations," I meant small talk - you know, what people talk about when they're sitting at a bar. Conversations that don't have much depth. I wasn't referring to conversations about superficial topics. Second, I did not say that extroverts like idle chatter and shallow conversations. I said that introverts don't like that type of interaction. I didn't really comment on the preferences of extroverts, but I suppose that most would enjoy any type of social interaction - from idle chatter to in-depth discussions. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| irishpolyglot Nonaglot Senior Member Ireland fluentin3months Joined 5422 days ago 285 posts - 892 votes Speaks: Irish, English*, French, Esperanto, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Sign Language Studies: Mandarin | Message 29 of 59 18 November 2010 at 2:33am | IP Logged | ||
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@skchi Glad you agree that extroverts perhaps like a wider range of conversations, both deep and perhaps are more open to shallow too.
But I disagree with this idea that people only talk small-talk in a bar. Football hooligans and the like aren't the only ones who go to bars :P Last night I went out to a bar (I don't actually drink) here in Colombia and met someone for the first time and the conversation ended up being about how this girl got pregnant at a young age and how she is dealing with life as a single mother. I learned quite a lot in the conversation and we were talking for two hours straight despite the noise and dance breaks. I'm sure other bar-goers would argue that you can indeed have deep conversations. The noise and level of distractions may irritate true introverts, but just because an introvert wouldn't be able to have a deep conversation there doesn't mean an extrovert couldn't. By definition, extroverts' flexibility allows them more chances of conversations with people than introverts. More shallow conversations AND more deep conversations ;) @Aineko Agreed. Neither one nor the other is superior for language learning. An introvert approach will allow you to study much better and analyse what you are doing (an extrovert would have little patience for this), whereas an extrovert will get much more practice and this clearly helps to make progress in another way. Each approach suits the preference and goals better. Edited by irishpolyglot on 18 November 2010 at 2:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6492 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 30 of 59 18 November 2010 at 9:34am | IP Logged | ||
Nice summary. And I would refer to such differences in approach as learning styles, but Cainntair wouldn't. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Enki Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5622 days ago 54 posts - 133 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written), English*, French, Korean Studies: Japanese | Message 31 of 59 18 November 2010 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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Splog, your videos are always helpful and informative. I like how you try to introduce a variety of different techniques to the learner.
I'm not sure the premise that introverts have a bigger gap between passive and active vocabulary than extroverts has to do with socialability. If there is a gap, it probably is because the stereotypical introvert has a bigger vocabulary in general, since traditional "introvert" activities (reading and studying rather than socializing) bring more exposure to different words. And a wider vocabulary usually means bigger gap between active and passive. Could that be possible? Just bringing a different idea. The problem could be that some people expect learning a new language will automatically change their personality. It doesn't. If you're not the life of the party in English, you probably won't be in German or Hindi or Japanese either. People who complain about a wide passive-active gap in their foreign language could probably have one in their native language as well. And a couple of posts have brought up smalltalk. No one *enjoys* smalltalk- by which I mean no one is so passionate about the weather that they are just dying to know what you think about the rain we've been having the past couple of days- it's just a social lubricant to keep interactions going smoothly. Extroverts need connections and interactions to get energized; introvert doesn't. So extroverts don't enjoy the smalltalk, I don't think, as much as the connection and interaction it brings, whereas introverts who find social interactions draining don't feel the need to find a connection in the first place. Smalltalk is the lowest common denominator to get the interaction, but it's hardly ideal or desirable. (Extroverts correct me if I'm wrong). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5123 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 32 of 59 18 November 2010 at 7:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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As a pathological chatter-box, who can make conversation with the telephone pole, I can hardly describe myself as introvert. I have however had the experience of being in a surrounding where people would try to push me into speaking, when I had absolutely no wish to speak. At the age of 18 I returned to the village in Spain where I had grown up as a child, but having focused on French for two years, my Spanish was almost gone.
I did however tag along with my friends, and on Sundays after church, about 30 of us would go to a bar, and I would be surrounded by Andalusian Spanish at a speed I was unable to follow, so I would just sit there and keep my mouth shut. Inevitably, at some point, the conversation would come to a halt for a moment, and someone would say: "Hey, Cristina, say something". 30 Andalusians would look at me, expecting me to speak, at which point my mind inevitably went completely blank, and I could not speak to save my life. Fortunately, it only took 3 months before I was up to speed again, and after that there were times I think they would have wished I was back in my mute period. :-) 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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