Understudied European languages (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Understudied European languages
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

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showtime17
Trilingual Hexaglot
Senior Member
Slovakia
gainweightjournal.co
Joined 5893 days ago
154 posts - 210 votes

Speaks: Russian, English*, Czech*, Slovak*, French, Spanish
Studies: Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch

Message 81 of 85

30 August 2013 at 3:30pm | IP Logged

Cavesa wrote:

Thanks Chung.

showtime17, I think we just disagree on what is the most important factor in "deciding" whether the language is over, under or just all right studied.

You seem to think the pure number of speakers is the way to go and perhaps all the other factors are unimportant?

I believe the numbers are not that important because they would lead to these results:
1.If we speak of european languages as of the languages spoken in Europe, than English is waaaaaay overstudied considering the number of countries and natives. On the other hand, so is Spanish. Understudied are Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and most small languages.
2.If by european languages we mean languages of the indo-european family (as we mention other continents, especially americas often), than French and German are overstudied, perhaps Italian as well. Understudied are the Indian languages, Farsi and most slavic languages.

So, it is clearly not just about the numbers. In my opinion, understudied are only languages that have large quantity and/or quality of cultural output and/or economic power which get much less attention than some languages with less "worth".

Yes, I tend to base my criteria on more quantitative factors such as number of speakers, how spread out it is in the world and also some other factors such as how often it is used as "language of international communication". With the "language of international communication" I mean the likeliness that a person speaking language A and a person speaking language B, will use that language as the common language between them.

I also happen to think that Czech cultural output is pretty large and I prefer it over Italian. Having had an Italian boss, Italians are just much better at selling themselves.

Plus your comments on the corruption and state of Czech society. Italy, and Southern Europe, is in a much worse shape in this than the Czech Republic. Seriously one word: Berlusconi. I spent some time living in Spain and after coming back to Slovakia, I had the impression that Slovakia is the cleanest country ever, where everything works perfectly. Of course that was just a subjective feeling, but in comparison to Spain and souther Europe, it seemed that way. At least in Central Europe you know who is trying to cheat you. In Southern Europe, they will smile at you and act all friendly, but it's just a mask...

Edited by showtime17 on 30 August 2013 at 3:32pm
2 persons have voted this message useful

Cristianoo
Triglot
Senior Member
Brazil
https://projetopoligRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3930 days ago
175 posts - 289 votes

Speaks: Portuguese*, French^B2, English
Studies: Russian

Message 82 of 85

30 August 2013 at 7:30pm | IP Logged

pesahson wrote:

I have no problem with the label Eastern Europe really. It basically
means "countries that were under communist rule". I do think that in some ways people
still have weird preconceptions about this part of Europe but re-labeling it won't change
anything.

To me Eastern Europe means interesting, misterious, different

4 persons have voted this message useful

beano
Diglot
Senior Member
United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4431 days ago
1049 posts - 2152 votes

Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian

Message 83 of 85

30 August 2013 at 9:29pm | IP Logged

When I grew up, it wasn't really possible to visit "eastern" Europe. But with the fall of communism and the
advent of cheap flights, these countries suddenly became accessible. I loved visiting Poland, Hungary and
the Czech Republic and found them alive with culture. I remember that German was far more readily
understood in Hungary than what English was (probably different now though).
4 persons have voted this message useful

lichtrausch
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5769 days ago
525 posts - 1072 votes

Speaks: English*, German, Japanese
Studies: Korean, Mandarin

Message 84 of 85

31 August 2013 at 3:14am | IP Logged

I have a new interest in Central Europe after reading this thread.
1 person has voted this message useful

Bruno87
Diglot
Groupie
Argentina
Joined 4191 days ago
49 posts - 72 votes

Speaks: Spanish*, English
Studies: German, Portuguese

Message 85 of 85

31 August 2013 at 4:50am | IP Logged

Speaking of Eastern Europe, my German studies got my attention to that part of the world
and I couldn't help fell in love with them. I don't sure why. They are so misterious, so
unknown, so misunderstood... or just maybe for the Sziget festival xD.

Dream of going there someday and maybe living for a while...

1 person has voted this message useful

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