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Now that was worth it | ||
Tags: Epiphany | Motivation | ||
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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 9 of 16 27 January 2011 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | ||
For me, it's sharing in the human experience of other living human beings. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| thecrazyfarang Diglot Newbie France thefarangsdiary.blog Joined 4861 days ago 18 posts - 25 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Thai | Message 10 of 16 27 January 2011 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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For me, learning a language is learning to use a tool to break down the walls that separate human beings.
I'll stop to learn when I'll be tired of human beings... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Thantophobia Groupie United States Joined 4972 days ago 49 posts - 66 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 12 of 16 28 January 2011 at 10:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Whenever I think about how many people actually speak this language, naturally, it just
amazes me. That real people actually made this stuff, made these weird methods of speaking that are so bizarre to me, I just think it's awesome. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5377 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 13 of 16 29 January 2011 at 1:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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What motivates me? Just an unquenchable desire to understand.
6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| aabram Pentaglot Senior Member Estonia Joined 5343 days ago 138 posts - 263 votes Speaks: Estonian*, English, Spanish, Russian, Finnish Studies: Mandarin, French | Message 14 of 16 31 January 2011 at 8:04am | IP Logged | ||
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In general, in broader sense my motivation is sheer amazement over how language works.
How is it possible that people can assign meaning to arbitrary sound waves and how is it possible that this works out as a viable method of communication. Language - any language - is a miracle. Foreign language is like a crossword puzzle on nation-wide scale. And I've always been keen on puzzles so there's the motivation right there. Also in the same vein, I do not believe in solving crossword puzzles with sweat and blood. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5576 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 15 of 16 31 January 2011 at 12:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Not that I've ever been lacking seriously in motivation for German, but my recent trip to Vienna has reminded me that I still have a lot to learn. I haven't really read a lot of German for the sake of reading German in a long time - I'd been reading newspapers and academic stuff and have just generally been in "studying mode" with it for the last couple of years. Now I've got a couple of books that I'm really enjoying - both non-fiction, which is my usual habit, and fiction - and it's really reminded me why I started learning it in the first place - to actually use and enjoy using it, not just study it for the sake of it. I'm reading Bastian Sick's series Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod - I got all three books in one volume while in Vienna - and a couple of translated books which are historical fiction. The historical fiction is something I'd never really paid much attention to before my girlfriend got me into it - I'm reading something about witching-hunting in the 17th century and it's brilliant. I find it particularly rewarding when I realise I've read (and understood) a whole chapter of one of the books without looking up a single word.
On the other hand, I have a terrible habit of comparing my level in one language with my level in another. This is fine usually, because I am usually confident in the languages I study and am not generally thrown in at the deep end which generally scares me to death. Does anyone else do this or is it just me? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5503 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish | Message 16 of 16 02 February 2011 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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Robert, it's inspiring to hear about this break-through moment for you. I can completely relate – it's easy to get discouraged by the hard work and almost want to give up, but then something always happens at the last minute to keep me going and remind me what an incredible bounty of languages we are lucky enough to have on this earth. German is also my number one language, and the poetry is indeed wonderful – I'm especially fond of the Romantics. Another work which I feel indescribably grateful to be able to read in its original language is Brecht's brilliant play "Leben des Galilei," which I would heartily recommend to any intermediate-advanced German students. His writing is a revelation.
Now, I realize, I just need to find similar sources for my others, to give me an equivalent motivational boost! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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