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A language you cannot resist? | ||
Tags: Reasons for study | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| JLA Triglot Newbie France Joined 4684 days ago 25 posts - 33 votes Speaks: French*, English, German Studies: Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch | Message 1 of 94 18 August 2011 at 7:30pm | IP Logged |
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I am afraid, I might get a bit lyrical here, please forgive me :)
I have seen a lot of thread here about "is this language worth learning" and I can understand that, not everyone has enough free time to learn a language for the pleasure. But my question is, have you ever felt so much attraction for a language (and the people who speak it and their culture) that you just could not resist learning it ? It's something that happen to me with the Russian language. I think, as far as I can remember (even as a kid) I always have had a special feeling for everything Russian. I have no rational explanations for that, no Russian blood in my veins as far as I know, but no language ever brought so much emotion in me. Until now, I managed to resist, scared away by all I have ever heard about the difficulty of the language. But, recently I must admit I lost the battle and I started learning Russian, and I must say, I never enjoyed so much being defeated. Is it hard ? Yes, it seems so. Do I need Russian ? Probably not. Is it worth it ? Most definitively ! And, every time I wonder if I will ever manage it, I listen to Пелагея, and I know I have to. Now I was wondering, I am weak or did this kind of adventure already happen to some members of the forum ? (not necessarily with Russian of course) 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6226 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes  Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 94 18 August 2011 at 7:35pm | IP Logged |
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Yes - Esperanto. And I'm still resisting it with a handful of other languages.
4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5132 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 3 of 94 18 August 2011 at 7:40pm | IP Logged |
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There will always be a special place in my heart for my firstlearnt: German.
Other than this, I find pretty much all languages irresistible. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| jdmoncada Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4821 days ago 470 posts - 741 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Finnish Studies: Russian, Japanese | Message 4 of 94 18 August 2011 at 7:43pm | IP Logged |
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I think for me it is Finnish as I have fallen in love with everything about the country, its people and culture. That joy and interest helped me get through a lot of the rough spots of the language itself. It hasn't always been easy, but it's been personally worthwhile.
Unlike, JLA and Russian, though, my love of Finland wasn't something I was even aware of until I had the opportunity to be there. Then I was instantly converted. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| prz_ Tetraglot Senior Member Poland last.fm/user/prz_rul Joined 4646 days ago 890 posts - 1190 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Bulgarian, Croatian Studies: Slovenian, Macedonian, Persian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Swedish, German, Italian, Armenian, Kurdish | Message 5 of 94 18 August 2011 at 7:51pm | IP Logged |
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I have it with Croatian. Cannot live without this language and... I still haven't had an opportunity to learn it (almost a jinx) Edited by prz_ on 18 August 2011 at 7:51pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6943 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 6 of 94 18 August 2011 at 8:53pm | IP Logged |
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The nearest such language for me is Northern Saami (beating out Finnish, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak). It's the second-most endangered language (15,000 native speakers scattered in northern Fennoscandinavia) and tied with Inari Saami as the most useless one in which I've been sufficiently interested to the point of (impending) study. However I can't stop thinking about it or reading or listening to stuff in the language these days. Who cares that I still can't pick out more than the ocassional word or phrase?
Ever since I heard it used in The Cuckoo a few years ago, I swore that not only would I visit northern Lapland (check) but that I'd also start learning the language (almost check; I bought the full course for Davvin and plan to start working on it soon). Even though it'll be a tough slog to learn based on my experience with the similar Inari Saami, I beam inwardly when thinking about Northern Saami as I reminisce about sleeping under the Midnight Sun and dodging reindeers and swarms of flies on the fells of Sápmi. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5747 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 7 of 94 19 August 2011 at 12:07am | IP Logged |
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Japanese.
Once I started learning it, I didn't stop to breathe for three years. It holds a very special place in my heart. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Matheus Senior Member Brazil Joined 4868 days ago 208 posts - 312 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: English, French | Message 8 of 94 20 August 2011 at 8:57pm | IP Logged |
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This might be just a coincidence, but when I was studying English abroad (for a very short time) I met a French guy who was also obsessed with Russia and etc. He said that if he was not French, he would like to be Russian.
The language I couldn't resist in the past was Japanese, but right now I'm not so attracted to it anymore. I used to dislike the sound of French very much, but when I met a Belgium girl and she spoke things in French to me, I was like, "omg, this is so sexy". 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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