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Foreign language as a source of happiness | ||
Tags: Epiphany | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5191 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 1 of 11 10 December 2010 at 7:32pm | IP Logged |
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(This entry is based on a log entry I wrote. I thought it deserved its own thread.)
Yesterday, I had an epiphany: I suddenly realized that speaking a foreign language makes me happy. Viscerally, exchanging in another language with a person from another culture brings me a genuine sense of happiness and fulfillment. More so than eating, playing sports, singing, writing, reading, etc. I can't fake it and I can't ignore it. If the relative success I've had in learning foreign languages doesn't stem from some kind of innate talent, then it's got to be because it brings me to a level of physiological well-being that others may not experience. Maybe that's what talent is. I wondered for a long time why some people love reading, while I can never finish a novel, and why some people refrain from speaking at the beginning, sometimes even for years, while I start right from the beginning and not doing so would take all the fun out of it. It's because the part of language learning that move us internally is different. It would follow that though a method may be intrinsically sound and effective, if it doesn't resonate within you, it will be ineffective. What about you? What part of language learning brings you happiness? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| microsnout TAC 2010 Winner Senior Member Canada microsnout.wordpress Joined 5281 days ago 277 posts - 553 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 2 of 11 10 December 2010 at 8:25pm | IP Logged |
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I have felt a similar sense of fulfillment especially in the last year now that I can converse with native speakers
without feeling that I am boring them to death with slow inarticulate speech. More than speaking however, my painfully slow but steady improvement in listening ability pleases me even more. When I don't have to ask someone to repeat something or when I understand a long realistically spoken sentence as clearly as it were said in English, that pleases me. This improvement in comprehension ability has come so slowly, that I always had the impression that what I still cannot understand is basically impossible and what I can understand is so trivial that anyone could understand it. I realized just recently that this is not the case when I heard someone else fail to understand something that I thought was as clear as can be. As for asking for directions, I thought of doing that just as an excuse to talk to someone but I am afflicted with the stereotypical male syndrome of never asking for directions until I have walked to the ends of the damn city first. Thus it does not come natural to me even in English. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Gosiak Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 4936 days ago 241 posts - 361 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, German Studies: Norwegian, Welsh | Message 3 of 11 10 December 2010 at 8:30pm | IP Logged |
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I like expressing complex ideas, especially in German. Building elaborate long sentences
in der Sprache von Goethe makes me feel happy. I tend to extend the sentences to the point in which ending them becomes a challenge. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| justberta Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5395 days ago 140 posts - 170 votes Speaks: English, Norwegian* Studies: Indonesian, German, Spanish, Russian | Message 4 of 11 10 December 2010 at 9:35pm | IP Logged |
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Microsnout: I try to find my way first, but end up lost. Always. Then I must rely on
the kindness of strangers who have never uttered a word of English in their lives. I love it! Back to the subject at hand - happiness of language learning. One of my early polyglot friends, (who I hung out with before I even knew the meaning of the word) had this old typewriter that she would type Italian names on. I thought it hilarious, yet here I am currently reading my Russian Facebook friends names out loud. I find it so fascinating, especially the sound of them with the strange V or F sound at the end. (Cyrillic B I presume). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6469 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 5 of 11 11 December 2010 at 2:15am | IP Logged |
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Some of the sounds in foreign languages are very satisfying, and so are some of the words.
I even like the way many languages look when they're written. I like the way a language takes me out of my little familiar world. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I use a foreign language successfully or get a "eureka!" moment when something finally clicks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Thantophobia Groupie United States Joined 4972 days ago 49 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 6 of 11 11 December 2010 at 5:24am | IP Logged |
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Yeah, me too. Learning Japanese is a source of joy in my life. Without it, I might feel like I'm worthless and I never do anything worthful. Like my life is empty of accomplishments, pointless and dumb. Being able to say and write even the simplest phrases in Japanese is an accomplishment like no other. Japanese is such an unknown language that this will impress many, just being able to say very basic things. It's a great source of pride.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Sierra Diglot Senior Member Turkey livinginlights.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6934 days ago 296 posts - 411 votes Speaks: English*, SwedishB1 Studies: Turkish | Message 8 of 11 11 December 2010 at 6:52am | IP Logged |
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Language learning makes me feel like Harry Potter.
Every language is a whole other world of literature, conversation, comedy, movies, and culture, and for each of these worlds there's a group of people, like a secret society, who gets it all. I'm a native English speaker, so mine one of, if not the absolute, least secret of these societies. I love my language, but sadly, it means I'm a Muggle. So mysterious and foreign to me are the articles of these alternate worlds that they can be openly discussed right in front of me and I still won't have a clue. But what is this?! I can join one of these other societies? And all I have to do is spend months or years slaving away grammar and vocabulary and cultural references? Uhhh... alohomora, guys. 6 persons have voted this message useful |
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