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Answers to "Why do you learn L xxx"

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
49 messages over 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  Next >>
hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 4931 days ago
1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 17 of 49
02 December 2011 at 9:00pm | IP Logged 
vonPeterhof wrote:
Having to constantly justify one's preferences to others does tend to make people touchy about such questions.

Why justify it at all? It's your preference, say so (even state the reason if you want), and move on. The fact that you get "touchy" over it is your problem, not the person questioning you.

R.
==
2 persons have voted this message useful



NickJS
Senior Member
United Kingdom
flickr.com/photos/sg
Joined 4760 days ago
264 posts - 334 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese

 
 Message 18 of 49
02 December 2011 at 9:52pm | IP Logged 
I've found it has been my friends who has told someone that I'm learning a language, not
myself - but as my friends are Chinese, the other person just presumes that I'm learning
it to communicate with my friends better.

And my own personal explanation to most people is that I've always liked Asian fighting
films - so the language comes with the territory.
1 person has voted this message useful



HenryMW
Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 4975 days ago
125 posts - 179 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, French
Studies: Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 19 of 49
02 December 2011 at 10:00pm | IP Logged 
Ari wrote:
Seems a lot of people will answer very rudely to people who are curious
about their hobby. This makes me sad.


I agree. When people ask me I tell them because it's fun and interesting. That's usually
enough for most people.
2 persons have voted this message useful



vonPeterhof
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4573 days ago
715 posts - 1527 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German
Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish

 
 Message 20 of 49
02 December 2011 at 10:56pm | IP Logged 
hrhenry wrote:
vonPeterhof wrote:
Having to constantly justify one's preferences to others does tend to make people touchy about such questions.

Why justify it at all? It's your preference, say so (even state the reason if you want), and move on. The fact that you get "touchy" over it is your problem, not the person questioning you.

R.
==
I wasn't talking about myself (at least, not about my present self), I don't get touchy about this or feel the need to justify my preferences. In fact I sometimes deliberately exaggerate my "weeaboo" mannerisms just to mess with people. I was just trying to empathize with the posters who talk about being surrounded and questioned by ignorant people who find their linguistic interests abnormal. And by "having to justify one's preferences" I meant "being bullied/pressured/goaded into justifying one's unconventional preferences". I thought that on a forum full of somewhat nerdy people what I meant would be kinda obvious...

Edited by vonPeterhof on 02 December 2011 at 10:57pm
4 persons have voted this message useful



hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 4931 days ago
1871 posts - 3642 votes 
Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

 
 Message 21 of 49
03 December 2011 at 12:00am | IP Logged 
vonPeterhof wrote:
...
And by "having to justify one's preferences" I meant "being bullied/pressured/goaded into justifying one's unconventional preferences". I thought that on a forum full of somewhat nerdy people what I meant would be kinda obvious...

You're only "bullied/pressured/goaded" because you (generally, not you personally) permit it.

This question/topic comes up ALL the time in one form or another here on HTLAL. It's equally as tiring to see it come up all the time in threads.

As an aside, just because we're in a forum where people speak or learn more than one language, it doesn't make them "somewhat nerdy." Feel free to identify yourself that way if you wish, but don't lump everyone under that same label.

R.
==
1 person has voted this message useful



vonPeterhof
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4573 days ago
715 posts - 1527 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German
Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish

 
 Message 22 of 49
03 December 2011 at 12:17am | IP Logged 
hrhenry wrote:
vonPeterhof wrote:
...
And by "having to justify one's preferences" I meant "being bullied/pressured/goaded into justifying one's unconventional preferences". I thought that on a forum full of somewhat nerdy people what I meant would be kinda obvious...

You're only "bullied/pressured/goaded" because you (generally, not you personally) permit it.

This question/topic comes up ALL the time in one form or another here on HTLAL. It's equally as tiring to see it come up all the time in threads.

As an aside, just because we're in a forum where people speak or learn more than one language, it doesn't make them "somewhat nerdy." Feel free to identify yourself that way if you wish, but don't lump everyone under that same label.

R.
==
Fair enough. I'm still new around here, so I haven't yet figured everything out, or witnessed any recurring debates. I did not mean to offend anyone. The semantics and differing perceptions of "nerd", "geek" and other related terms are interesting topics in their own right, but I guess I should stop derailing the thread and leave that discussion for another day.

Edited by vonPeterhof on 03 December 2011 at 12:20am
3 persons have voted this message useful



prz_
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Poland
last.fm/user/prz_rul
Joined 4660 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 23 of 49
03 December 2011 at 1:01am | IP Logged 
Ari wrote:
Seems a lot of people will answer very rudely to people who are curious about their hobby. This makes me sad.

Actually, I'm not sure if all of them are simply (and positively) curious.
2 persons have voted this message useful



SamD
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6460 days ago
823 posts - 987 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian

 
 Message 24 of 49
03 December 2011 at 1:32am | IP Logged 
Because life is too short to go around speaking only one language.


4 persons have voted this message useful



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