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Gender and language obsession | ||
Tags: Female Polyglot | Gender | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Sierra Diglot Senior Member Turkey livinginlights.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6936 days ago 296 posts - 411 votes  Speaks: English*, SwedishB1 Studies: Turkish | Message 25 of 62 17 March 2006 at 7:33am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm also female, if you couldn't guess from the name. :)
I do find it odd that most language classes seem to be dominated by women, yet the vast majority of, for example, posters here- a serious language forum- appear to be men. To some extent, I buy into the theory that women are more interested in the utility of languages while men seek to learn them for their own sake. Of course, it's a little harder for me to embrace this viewpoint since I myself constitute an exception; although I'm a girl, the fascination of languages for me lies in the words themselves and the process by which the "gibberish" becomes intelligible, rather than what use I have for them. Akira: "Also, I'm simply amazed/awed by the rigorous learning regime some of you follow. I love languages but I also love my violin. I think I will go nuts if I spent all my spare minutes learning languages..." I have only one other obsession, traveling, and it fortunately fits the first like a glove. I don't have to choose between them or divide my time, because each is like a facet of the other. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| timinstl Triglot Groupie United States timsviajes.com Joined 6929 days ago 88 posts - 92 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Italian, Mandarin | Message 26 of 62 17 March 2006 at 1:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm a male who is very obsessed with languages. One of my biggest problems is taking on too many languages at one time. I speak pretty good Spanish, decent conversatinal French, once spoke German, and am now learning Mandarin Chinese. On top of these I really want to learn Russian.
Without suggesting anything about the other members of this forum and certainly not meant to offend anyone, I wanted to know if anyone has come to any conclusions about homosexual men and whether or not they have more interest and ability to learn another language than heterosexual men? I am gay and several of my friends who are also gay, speak more than one language. Most of the men in my upper-level language classes have also been homosexual. What's more is that most homosexual women I know are like most of the heterosexual men I know--one language bound. Does anyone else find this interesting or to have any merit? Do Gay men and straight women learn easier than gay women and straight men? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| winters Trilingual Heptaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6856 days ago 199 posts - 218 votes Speaks: Croatian*, Serbian*, Russian*, English, Italian, Latin, Ancient Greek Studies: Greek, French, Hungarian | Message 27 of 62 17 March 2006 at 1:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am female, and quite obsessed with language learning. Many times at school I have had the chance to notice how, in general, girls tend to pick languages - both modern and classical ones - more 'naturally' and seem to be better at them than their male friends. Also, as I've been attending language competitions (the regular school competitions, just like in math or physics), I have noticed that the majority of participants were girls as well, but when it came to the top few, usually there was an equal number of boys and girls. Only my observations, though.
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| Paul Tetraglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6933 days ago 114 posts - 124 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German Studies: Italian | Message 28 of 62 17 March 2006 at 1:48pm | IP Logged | ||
Very interesting. I read somewhere that the differences between boys and girls chosing languages at school may come down to social pressures at those ages. From what i remember, boys at that age tend to be much more self-conscious, and thus probably more embarrassed about trying to speak languages than girls. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6827 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 29 of 62 17 March 2006 at 2:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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@timinstl: No offence meant, but I cannot see that homosexuality has anything to do with language learning, regardless of your personal observations. I have a gay friend who is extremely interested in languages and can speak at least five fluently. Alternatively, I have other friends (both male and female) who are straight and who are also fluent in a few languages.
@Paul: From my teaching experience, it seems to me that girls rather than boys are more reluctant to speak in class. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sierra Diglot Senior Member Turkey livinginlights.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6936 days ago 296 posts - 411 votes Speaks: English*, SwedishB1 Studies: Turkish | Message 30 of 62 17 March 2006 at 2:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Patuco, you just took the words right out of my mouth, on both counts. I would agree wholeheartedly on both of your points: My experience, too, shows that boys tend to speak up more in language classes, and I rather doubt that homosexuality has much of anything to do with language ability.
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| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6702 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 31 of 62 17 March 2006 at 11:16pm | IP Logged | ||
I must be the exception to the rule! I was always very shy to speak languages in class and I'm still fairly reluctant to speak the several I have learnt. I consider myself a passive learner and have always focused on being able to read the language than speak it. From my own experiences, my Chinese classes at university were roughly 50/50 and the most confident in class were in fact male. Perhaps this changes according to age? I can imagine that teenage boys may be less confident (or perhaps less interested) with languages than men in their 20s. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sierra Diglot Senior Member Turkey livinginlights.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6936 days ago 296 posts - 411 votes Speaks: English*, SwedishB1 Studies: Turkish | Message 32 of 62 18 March 2006 at 8:44am | IP Logged | ||
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lady skywalker: Although I said earlier that boys were, in my experience, more likely to speak up in class, your post made me reconsider this. I bet individual personality is by far the biggest determining factor in this case. Gender probably has something to do with it, but I imagine it's secondary or tertiary.
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